Why do I hate the sound of my 'real' voice?

[Markluzz]

I will admit I like the voice I hear when I talk and such, but when I record myself talking or hear it I sound completely different and think I sound awful or retarded.

Also when I sing I have made it into State contests, and my voice teachers and choir teachers and even judges who have never seen me will say I have a nice voice. However when I listen to myself sing in recordings I think I sound downright awful or very mediocre.

This confuses me and i'm wondering is there any reason why I always think my voice (when talking or singing) sounds terrible. And no i'm not a depressing person or anything but i'm honest about things and honestly I hate my voice in recording.

[gamon500]

I will admit I like the voice I hear when I talk and such, but when I record myself talking or hear it I sound completely different and think I sound awful or retarded.

Also when I sing I have made it into State contests, and my voice teachers and choir teachers and even judges who have never seen me will say I have a nice voice. However when I listen to myself sing in recordings I think I sound downright awful or very mediocre.

This confuses me and i'm wondering is there any reason why I always think my voice (when talking or singing) sounds terrible. And no i'm not a depressing person or anything but i'm honest about things and honestly I hate my voice in recording.

Record yourself with a quality mic (meaning a studio mic) and then play back on quality speakers, and that's what you really sound like. If you still don't like it, then...

[Deleted]

Almost everybody does.

this, i think i sound terrible, but everyone else tells me my voice is fine, but when i listen to a recording of my self it sounds like i got a mouth full of cheese.

[Markluzz]

this, i think i sound terrible, but everyone else tells me my voice is fine, but when i listen to a recording of my self it sounds like i got a mouth full of cheese.

That's similar to what I hear. Whenever I record my voice I think I sound downright awful but in a way I know I can't be that bad or I wouldn't have had any vocal success in competitions and such.

[Dacien]

I've gotten used to the sound of my voice on video, but some of my mannerisms bug me lol!

[Kasierith]

Because you know your voice well enough to identity every single microproblem in it, even things that don't even exist. You know your voice better than anyone, so even the slightest deviations are jarring. I go through the same thing with the piano.. it sounds wonderful when I play it, but when I look back, I hear absolutely every note mistimed by even the slightest degree

[Willeonge]

Had to do a public speech thing that was recorded for one of my college programs. Was so awkward watching the video afterwards, I use my hands so much when I speak.

[Maxilian]

Almost everybody does.

Same here... when i heard myself i sound like a retarded :S

[Catta]

I dont recognize my voice at all when i hear a recording of it... prolly has much to do with us never hearing it from the outside but its always traveling away from our ears

[Markluzz]

Because you know your voice well enough to identity every single microproblem in it, even things that don't even exist. You know your voice better than anyone, so even the slightest deviations are jarring. I go through the same thing with the piano.. it sounds wonderful when I play it, but when I look back, I hear absolutely every note mistimed by even the slightest degree

Hmmm that does make sense.

[Symphonic]

I think it is because we are accustomed to hearing our voices from within. By that I mean, our vocal chords are inside us, our ear drums too. When we talk we hear more than just the sound coming out of our mouth, it is more full, more rich.

So when you hear a recording of yourself, you don't get the full effect of what you're so used to hearing. So it sounds weird. But everyone ELSE is accustomed to your voice they hear, which is normal to them, but weird to you.

I think everyone thinks they sound weird on recordings. Even professional mic recordings.

[eriseis]

I've gotten used to the sound of my voice on video, but some of my mannerisms bug me lol!

Well, you do live in Cali...


...jk!

[Aryl]

Not sure anyone likes how they sound/act on videos.
Many singers have said they can't watch themselves perform because it makes them cringe etc...

[Thelxi]

I wonder what people that don't like their voice would have liked it to sound like.

[SansCoeur]

Almost everybody does.

Yep, when I hear myself on feedback over Vent or Mumble, I sound like some kind of redneck hillbilly. It highly annoys me because I don't hear my accent when I talk.

[Catta]

Well i actually like my voice when i hear it recorded than when im just speaking... But its not always i realize its actually me talking...

[Grizzly Willy]

My guess would be because what you're hearing is not what you hear when you talk normally. Instead of having the additional input of the vibrations in your skull influencing your perception of your voice, you just have the sound waves coming from an external source. You're accustomed to hearing your voice with the vibrations influencing your perception, but without it your voice sounds off, even though you still recognize it as your own, creating a disparity between the two.

[nixcookies]

I too like my voice but when ever I hear a recording of myself I want to cringe and it's a source of deep embarrassment.

I'm not going to lie, I sound like a raving homosexual who's about to reach his climax over a recording but in person I have quite a deep voice.

[Rakeer]

SCIENCE TIME!

its a pyschological affect. When you speak and hear yourself in your head its normal. You hear your 'normal' voice so much that when you hear your recorded voice and know its you your brain draws the connection, sees that they sound way differently and says since ht erecorded one is so different, it must be wrong and all things wrong are bad. Thats why, as stated above, most people hate the sound of their own voice.

[Drekker17]

Yeah I hate my voice too, I sound like a little kid...