I’m embarrassed whenever I hear my own voice in recorded format, be it video or audio. I don’t sound like that in my own head. In my own head I sound perfectly normal… but when I hear my voice as others hear it it sounds just awful! I can’t stand it and I cringe in embarrassment. According to this thread I’m not alone.
So what about you? Do you like the sound of your voice? Dislike it? Don’t care one way or the other?
You are definitely not alone. I like the way I hear my voice when I’m speaking, but recording are just awful! However, other people tell me pretty frequently how nice my voice is… I don’t get it!
It horrifies me to here my own voice when it’s been recorded. There’s something wrong with all those recording devices, I don’t sound anything like that. Cameras have the same problem too.
I think I have a lisp in recordings that I just don’t hear in my own head. No one though, that I’ve ever talked to has ever said anything about it or mocked it or even brought it up in any way. I have no idea what to think of that.
It is not pleasant to hear as it lacks all of that rich masculine resonance that I hear inside my head.
I was treated to listening to my voice earlier today—I record my guitar lessons on an MP3 recorder to remember those awesome smooth licks my guitar teacher plays. And then there’s my dorky voice in the middle of it all as we talk about the different scales and chords and such. Oh well. I must endure.
Eh…I’m not that fond of listening to myself talk, anyway, but the few times I’ve heard my recorded voice as an adult, it wasn’t that bad. Higher pitched than it sounds in my skull, though; more than I like.
I love hearing spoken recordings of my voice – it’s a voice of excellent timbre animated by clear intentions and informed by sophisticated intonations. When paying attention, that is – otherwise, monotone sets in and think Peter Boyle in “Young Frankenstein.” Singing voice is good too, just intonation problems and I’d rather sound like Dr. John or Keith Richards than a choir boy.
I hadn’t heard my own voice in a long time, and was pleasantly surprised recently when I made a kitty video to put on You Tube. It wasn’t nearly as annoying as I remembered. Of course, I don’t think anyone really likes the sound of their own voice, it always sounds weird.
It was weird getting used to hearing my voice being edited down the hall and even odder when I had put on the headphones and edit it myself.
Another strange thing: I get compliments on my voice when I have a cold. Maybe the hoarseness makes me sound like Kathleen Turner or something? No idea.
I’m always amazed when I hear my voice “objectively,” especially since it sounds so fine to me normally. But to others, I’m a cross between Snagglepuss and the Cowardly Lion. And I’m not the only person who hates it. Once in a while, when I’m talking to someone out in public, a passerby will just stop and stare at me, trying to figure out what I am. Waiters too.
It’s not bad when I speak normally, but when I make modifications, like for singing or dramatic reading, I often find I overdo whatever I’m trying to do. I also will record things several times if I haven’t recorded in a while, as I will pick up habits that sound cool in my head, but lousy outside.
For example, for a while I was trying for a higher, warmer voice in singing, and I sounded like a muppet, horribly nasal. Or I tried a lower voice to sound more manly, and I sounded like I had a cold.