# Listening to something thru a recording

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listening-to-something-thru-a-recording/201195>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 12, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listening-to-something-thru-a-recording/201195 "2003-09-12T13:56:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tikiman420](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@tikiman420](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tikiman420)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listening-to-something-thru-a-recording/201195/1 "2003-09-12T13:56:11Z")

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I am a drummer and often record my playing to listen to my flaws and fix them. Almost every time I play, I feel like i’m playing awesome and im doing perfectly…then when i listen to the recording it sounds AWFUL and totally uncoordinated. whats the deal here? Is it a difference of left and right brain? On a same note…why does your voice sound different on a recording than it does when you are just speaking? Thanks in advance.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listening-to-something-thru-a-recording/201195/2 "2003-09-12T14:07:18Z")

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The difference in hearing your own voice is due to the fact that you’re hearing it purely as sound waves in air, as opposed to air and bone/flesh when you speak - normally, a considerable amount of the sound you hear when speaking gets to your ears via your skull (put your fingers in your ears and talk, you’ll hear it) - typically this consists of the deeper notes and so your voice sounds more resonant and ‘musical’ to yourself that it does to others.

Dunno about the instrument thing, but I have observed the effect you describe.

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**Author:** ![wet\_marble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e0b2c6/32.png) [@wet\_marble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wet_marble)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listening-to-something-thru-a-recording/201195/3 "2003-09-12T14:07:38Z")

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Your voice sounds different because of the internal resonances in your skull. When you listen to a recording, you don’t hear those resonances, hence the difference.

No clue on the drums though.

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**Author:** ![NoGoodNamesLeft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@NoGoodNamesLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoGoodNamesLeft)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listening-to-something-thru-a-recording/201195/4 "2003-09-12T14:45:51Z")

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The drums probably sound different because your mind knows what it should be hearing, and fills in the gaps.

Ever been at a concert, and the band plays a new song you don’t know? You can barely make it out! But when they play the songs you know, you can hear it a lot better because your mind is filling in the missing bits with what you expect.

I suspect somethign similar is happening with your drumming.

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**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listening-to-something-thru-a-recording/201195/5 "2003-09-12T15:25:07Z")

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Objectivity.

During performance the brain is fairly busy managing the mechanics of the thing (and, in your case, telling you how wonderful you’re doing). When you listen to a recording you can devote a lot more brain power to criticism.