Why does your voice
sound so weird on recordings?
I remember the first time I
heard myself on a tape recorder.
Somewhere back in my adolescence my big sister and I and some friends
had the momentary use of their dad’s machine. One of those suitcase-sized
reel-to-reel jobs.
All being blessed with a dramatic bent, we decided to
produce a radio show. It was a Dragnet-style mystery (entitled “Killnet”) where
a major movie star at a big Hollywood party gets murdered. Well, my scream won
the audition for the opener, but I also scored a bit of dialog. When we played back our proud creation I was
horrified. That’s what I sound like?
I was Ricky Nelson from Ozzie and Harriet,
for heaven’s sake. Before his
voice changed, that is.
Later, out of college with my
voice radio-ready for real, I still sounded like a pre-teen boy in the announce
booth. Flashing forward to middle age recording automated attendants for AT&T,
it seemed the phenomenon prevailed. But obviously I wouldn’t be getting voice work if
that’s the way I really sounded.
So why does your voice sound
so weird on recordings? There’s a scientific explanation, but the upshot is –
it doesn’t.
Your inner ear plays tricks
on you, see. It not only sends you the sound vibrations coming out of your
mouth, but the vibrations traveling through your bones as your vocal chords
move. According to Amanda Green and Matt Soniak in 25 of Your Most Pressing Questions Answered, “This combination of
pathways enhances certain vibrations, lending your voice a fuller, more
resonant quality that ‘air only’ recordings don’t replicate.” Not sure I follow,
but thank goodness we don’t sound so bad to other
people’s inner ears!
(Quoted article from fall
issue of mental_floss)
No comments:
Post a Comment