Your voice on a recording - who else is traumatized?

[VaKim]

Only sort of tongue-in-cheek here, but how do you ever get over realizing what you actually sound like when you hear your voice recorded? It is just horrifying to think I sound like I do! I need to go out and buy a cowboy hat and put my hair in pigtails or something. 

 

Anybody else ever been shocked by what you actually sound like?

[Liz CA]

Long ago, when the first recording devices became available, my whole family sat around stunned, listening to themselves.  :)

[Slache]

Yes. I'm unbelievably annoying. It was terrifying.

[zoobie]

I sound much deeper in my head. My voice on recordings is awful. AWFUL. I sound fluffy.

[VaKim]

Just a side question here: does anybody actually like how they sound recorded? 

[Guest]

When you hear yourself, you hear not only the sound waves in the air (which is what everyone and recorders hear); you hear also through the vibrations in your bones and muscles, which are slower and therefore lower vibrations.  That's why your voice sounds lower to you.

 

And knowing this, I still wince everytime I hear my voice on recording!  It sounds so nasally to me.  

[alisoncooks]

Yesssss.  

I sound very young.

And very country.

 

I sound much more urbane in my mind...

[MistyMountain]

I hate listening to myself in recordings. I cringe thinking that is what I sound like.

[JustEm]

I have always hated my voice on recordings. But I try to just ignore it when I hear it. My 6 year old dd recently realized what her voice sounds like to everyone else and she was mortified. She got very upset and confused until I explained why she hears it differently.

 

It always makes me wonder what other people think they sound like

[bettyandbob]

I have a horrible nasal sound to my voice. I hate it. For a long time I pretended that was just the recording device. 

[theelfqueen]

I do like my recorded voice but I have had extensive vocal training both for speaking and singing. I've been a guest on a couple of podcasts and I was pretty pleased with the sound.

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[shawthorne44]

Oh, yes, totally!    

 

The funny thing is, my voice is precisely like my mother's.   So much so, that I could pretend to be her and would screen telemarketers.  If it wasn't one, I would say, "Hold on a sec", then I'd catch my mom up on what was said and mom would come on the phone never mentioning the switch.  

 

Mom's voice is fine.  Mine is ghastly on a recording device.  

[Guest]

Just a side question here: does anybody actually like how they sound recorded?

I sound a little more California valley girl than I sound in my head, but my tone quality and enunciation is quite nice. I used to hate the sound of myself recorded but then I realized it wasn't bad, just different than the resonance inside my skull when I'm speaking :)

[SKL]

I sound like a little girl.  I find it amusing.

 

What's really funny is how I laugh.  When I was in high school, I took a short electronics course and they let us see how our voices looked in sound waves or whatever.  I started laughing at mine and that was when things got crazy.  :P  I hadn't realized that my laugh was more of a gasp than anything else.  :P

[Laura Corin]

I don't mind my voice too much.  I'm a low alto, so my voice is naturally deep, even when heard through the air

 

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0dzfQEEhTE3

Edited August 25, 2016 by Laura Corin

[Bluegoat]

I hate it.  It's would almost be worthwhile to take some lessons.

[mellifera33]

I sound like a child who doesn't enunciate. I don't know how people can stand to listen to me.  :laugh:

[VaKim]

I don't mind my voice too much.  I'm a low alto, so my voice is naturally deep, even when heard through the air

 

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0dzfQEEhTE3

That gorgeous accent couldn't sound bad no matter what, lol.

[wapiti]

There was a video recording project in 8th grade, circa 1981/82.  It was horrifying.  I can still see and hear it in my mind.

[Laura Corin]

That gorgeous accent couldn't sound bad no matter what, lol.

 

Thank you.  You're sweet to say so.  

 

Our cleaning lady said something interesting the other day: everyone in my family has a different accent.  Mine is southern English softened by many years living overseas and 29 years living with a Texan; Husband's is not very Texan, but is American softened by living overseas and with me; Calvin is a combination of his parents' accents plus a lilt left over from having had a Filipina nanny when he was small; Hobbes is more straight-ahead middle class English; my Mum speaks as if she were in Brief Encounter (born in 1924 and RADA trained).

[SKL]

There was a video recording project in 8th grade, circa 1981/82.  It was horrifying.  I can still see and hear it in my mind.

 

Around the same year, each student in my class was assigned to write, act, and record a TV commercial.  I couldn't do it.  I finally asked for a different assignment.

 

A few years later, in college to be a teacher, I had a brief lecture recorded.  That one went fine.  I guess I had learned not to care if I was recorded for posterity looking like an idiot.  :p

 

Edited August 25, 2016 by SKL

[gingersmom]

I like my voice. My accent is undefined (no one can guess where I am from).

[Liz CA]

I sound much deeper in my head. My voice on recordings is awful. AWFUL. I sound fluffy.

 

This is common. If you cup your hands behind your ears and bend them slightly forward, you should hear your voice more accurately.

These are fun:

 

https://www.presentationmagazine.com/basic-voice-improvement-techniques-14877.htm

Edited August 25, 2016 by Liz CA

[TABmom]

I sound exactly like my sister. Exactly. If we were reading off a script, we probably wouldn't be able to tell ourselves apart!

[TABmom]

oops! Double post!

Edited August 25, 2016 by TABmom

[Liz CA]

I sound exactly like my sister. Exactly. If we were reading off a script, we probably wouldn't be able to tell ourselves apart!

 

MIL cannot tell two of her sons apart on the phone. :)

 

[regentrude]

Just a side question here: does anybody actually like how they sound recorded?

I had the same initial reaction that I did not like my recorded voice because I felt I sounded nothing like that.

However, I have gotten used to my recorded voice:

1. I m a singer and have recordings of vocal music from my performances. I know this is what I sound like, and on some performances, I am quite content with the way I sang.

2. I have created a complete semester's worth of video lectures for one my classes, which I recorded and edited myself.

So I have gotten used to the way I sound, and I like them because they are pretty darn good, even if I say so myself.

[Guest]

I sound like a field mouse on helium.

[AK_Mom4]

My recorded voice sounds just fine.

I do have some hearing issues but my voice doesn't sound much different to me on recordings than in real life.

[PrincessMommy]

I hate listening to myself in recordings. I cringe thinking that is what I sound like.

 

me too.

[JumpyTheFrog]

I think I sound like a kid.

[AnnE-girl]

I hate my recorded voice. Ds and I did a little scene in a program at church as a little boy praying and talking to Mary that has been uploaded to YouTube, but as much as I want to see it, I don't want to listen to myself!

[Janeway]

My voice is horrible. It sounds edgy. As if, I am nervous or unstable or something. I don't know. I cannot stand it though. 

[SounderChick]

I sound like a man :( I don't notice until it is recorded. 

[MrsRobinson]

I sound a little more California valley girl than I sound in my head, but my tone quality and enunciation is quite nice. I used to hate the sound of myself recorded but then I realized it wasn't bad, just different than the resonance inside my skull when I'm speaking :)

Another Valley Girl here. I cringe when I hear my voice. I've told dh more than once that I wish he could hear my voice the way I hear it. I'd sound much more intelligent. :)

[purplejackmama]

I'm more shocked to see myself in pictures. What the heck? I'm old, and fat and not who I once was. Sigh.

[shawthorne44]

I'm more shocked to see myself in pictures. What the heck? I'm old, and fat and not who I once was. Sigh.

 

I am MUCH more attractive in my head.   

[momto10blessings]

Yep. I sound like a 5 year old.

[purplejackmama]

I am MUCH more attractive in my head.

Me tooooooo!!

[shawthorne44]

I just had an idea.  I've heard that in Heaven our bodies are a beautified version of ourselves.  I wonder if that basically means people will see us the way we think of ourselves.  

 

You know that show with the woman detective who can't forget anything?  Unforgotten or Unforgettable ... something like that.   In my head I look a lot like her.  I wouldn't tell anyone in IRL life that because, well, I don't.  

[AnnE-girl]

I'm more shocked to see myself in pictures. What the heck? I'm old, and fat and not who I once was. Sigh.

This too. I swear I still look like I did in college. Sadly I'm carrying about 25 more pounds and the beginnings of crows feet.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I'm used to my singing voice, but I HATE my speaking voice!  I sound like a whiny 10 year old.  I have to use a special "phone voice" to be taken seriously on the phone.  I have another special voice for placing my order at a restaurant (otherwise, the waiter can't hear me, and I must repeat myself).  In order to be heard by a voice sensitive microphone, I must lower the pitch of my voice.  Drives me crazy.

[Ailaena]

I don't mind my voice too much. I'm a low alto, so my voice is naturally deep, even when heard through the air

 

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0dzfQEEhTE3

 

I went so far as to go to the website but could not bring myself to listen to that. It's like, after all these years I just got scared of I have no idea what. It was weird. I'm weird. I just totally weirded out this thread...

 

So to awkwardly keep on track, I sound exactly like a 12-year old girl. Except sometimes when I play with voices and can sound like a 6-year old ;) And I clearly remember the first time I heard my voice: I was 8 and I was in total disbelief because I did not sound like that in my head :p

[Ausmumof3]

Oh yeah... I sound like a little girl no wonder my kids don't listen to me!

[Reefgazer]

You become used to it once you hear it over several times.  But if you really have a specific reason or two for hating your voice, you could consider lessons/therapy to lose an accent.

[musicianmom]

*

Edited May 21, 2022 by musicianmom

[The Girls' Mom]

My voice sounds a lot like my daughters' voices.  However, my accent is soul crushing..lol.  I have a very, very, very country accent.  I can't seem to ditch it.  Thankfully, my kids did not pick it up.

[madteaparty]

Yes! I was recording my little DD the other day and realised how bad my accent has become. I thought it was supposed to go the other way.

[MorningGlory]

I always warn my students before they hear me for the first time.  :p Honestly, I am a bit embarrassed by my drawl and am so envious of my husband's crisp, clear voice...even recorded. He could be a radio spokesman or narrator or the like. Jealous!!! 

[kewb]

I hate the way I sound in a recording.  I can't believe anyone finds my voice in any way appealing.