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Hearing My Own Voice [message #64981] Mon, 29 November 2010 09:52 Go to next message
Lancelot is currently offline  Lancelot
Messages: 99
Registered: February 2010
Viscount
Can someone explain why it sounds different when I'm listening to myself on a recording? I mean I think I'm not the person who is on the recording because it has a different tone and pitch. Do I have a hearing problem?
Re: Hearing My Own Voice [message #64988 is a reply to message #64981] Mon, 29 November 2010 18:49 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Adveser is currently offline  Adveser
Messages: 434
Registered: July 2009
Location: USA
Illuminati (1st Degree)
The different pitch might very well be coming from a sample rate clocking problem. I know when I try to record my voice using 44.1 using audacity my sound card doesn't want to play along.

Your ears hear the mechanical/acoustical resonance of your vocal system. Like a circuit it has many components. We get to hear the output signal before it is completed. Sound vibrates and escapes through our Eustachian tubes so you experience a signal no one elses ears can hear. Also there is the shroader frequency that vibrates our voices inside our head. When you talk and someone else hears it, it is mono. When you talk and you hear it it is stereo, and each channel is a mixdown of a 3-signal source.

The sound quality is far better in your head and very saturated with the highs all rolled off It sounds glorious. I wish we could record it with temporary implants somehow just to have a reference for mixing the audio. Needless to say you can get away with a lot in your head that is intolerable to someone else.


Re: Hearing My Own Voice [message #65007 is a reply to message #64981] Tue, 30 November 2010 13:04 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Corded is currently offline  Corded
Messages: 16
Registered: November 2010
Chancellor
Adveser pretty much covered what I was going to say. I once heard a voicemail I had left for someone and asked..."Wow? Do I really sound like that, like, right now?" and everyone said I did. What we hear as we speak is a sound filtered through the muscle, tissue, and bones near and around the path from our vocal cords to our internal ear organs...a recorded sound we listen to travels a much different path.
Re: Hearing My Own Voice [message #65128 is a reply to message #64981] Fri, 03 December 2010 00:17 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Lancelot is currently offline  Lancelot
Messages: 99
Registered: February 2010
Viscount
Thanks for the explanation. Is there a way where we can record our voices and hear the same pitch as what we hear directly from our vocal chords?

What about the recording artists? Why do they place big headphones on their ears while singing? I think it is not for minimizing the noise because most studios are closed rooms.
Re: Hearing My Own Voice [message #65150 is a reply to message #65128] Fri, 03 December 2010 13:56 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Adveser is currently offline  Adveser
Messages: 434
Registered: July 2009
Location: USA
Illuminati (1st Degree)
Lancelot wrote on Fri, 03 December 2010 00:17
Thanks for the explanation. Is there a way where we can record our voices and hear the same pitch as what we hear directly from our vocal chords?

What about the recording artists? Why do they place big headphones on their ears while singing? I think it is not for minimizing the noise because most studios are closed rooms.


You need a 2-way PA speaker with a crossover of above 3Khz to really hear yourself. Headphones don't really cut it unless you seriously EQ them to death. I could explain how to do that if you wanted, but the bottom line i that there is no cheap way to practice singing accurately.

I recently got a PA with a built in amp and the difference is astounding. The crossover will not let one sing in a high pitched voice. It imposes proper technique on it's user. You can hit the high notes all day long, but you can't rely on the overtones to carry the notes.


Re: Hearing My Own Voice [message #65180 is a reply to message #64981] Mon, 06 December 2010 15:42 Go to previous messageGo to next message
GuitarStrings is currently offline  GuitarStrings
Messages: 45
Registered: December 2010
Location: Ohio
Baron
Wow, you learn something new everyday! I've always wondered why my voice sounds so high when I speak to people on the microphone. I know I can't possibly sound like that in person, but with my laptop mic, I sound like a child.

This is especially problematic because I like to do a bit of karaoke over voice servers just for the hell of it. I'm really paranoid about how my voice sounds while singing and need to sing a song over and over till I think I sound 'normal'.

Now I know what to look for to really hear myself. Thanks!


The time I burned my guitar it was like a sacrifice. You sacrifice the things you love. I love my guitar.
Jimi Hendrix


Re: Hearing My Own Voice [message #65218 is a reply to message #64981] Thu, 09 December 2010 17:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Adveser is currently offline  Adveser
Messages: 434
Registered: July 2009
Location: USA
Illuminati (1st Degree)
Try singing the "tonality" of the notes (not to be confused with timbre, which is also known as "tone" by a lot of people), rather than the pitch. Once you start hearing it on a consistent basis and in every note you'll be able to reproduce it flawlessly and you can be confident you are hitting notes perfectly on key no matter how off the timbre of your voice in your head is from reality.



Re: Hearing My Own Voice [message #66307 is a reply to message #64981] Fri, 25 February 2011 02:23 Go to previous messageGo to next message
MusicDiva is currently offline  MusicDiva
Messages: 42
Registered: October 2010
Baron
I know exactly what you mean. Hearing my own voice has always freaked me out. I love recording myself singing, but I don't have a very high-quality system so it ends up sounding really weird. I feel like my voice sounds like a little girl lol.
Re: Hearing My Own Voice [message #66511 is a reply to message #64981] Sat, 05 March 2011 11:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
woofer is currently offline  woofer
Messages: 20
Registered: May 2010
Chancellor
When you hear yourself after being recorded, you are hearing yourself as others hear you. It is quite disconcerting at first. The first video that I did, I kind of freaked out and stressed out over the sound. But you get used to it after a while.
Re: Hearing My Own Voice [message #66723 is a reply to message #64981] Mon, 21 March 2011 08:23 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
RadioDinosaur is currently offline  RadioDinosaur
Messages: 15
Registered: March 2011
Chancellor
Hearing your own voice does take some getting used to. Naturally, it will sound different from the outside than what you hear in your head. Also, depending on what equipment you were recording on. Lots of mics have compression and directional mics will make your voice sound crisper or could even deepen your voice. After some time you do get used to it.
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