Wednesday, December 19, 2007

The Camera never Lies.....

They say "the camera never lies" when one looks at photos of oneself and thinks that doesn`t look like me. But, I`m now asking "does the microphone lie?"

I recently took part in an event in which I had a part to read. Listening to a tape recording of it afterwards, if anyone had asked me whose voice that was, I certainly wouldn`t have said mine! It didn`t sound a bit how I sound, or should I say - how I think I sound? I know that, having had a cold a few days previously (and being uncertain at one stage whether I would be able to do it, which I`d have been very disappointed about if I hadn`t), may have made me use my voice a bit differently pitched to normal, but even so, surely I should recognise it myself. Even my parent who was also listening to it asked me, "who was that?" as she too didn`t recognise it as me!

I wasn`t aware until listening to it either that a few of the words I used came out more with a local dialect accent than I realised I used.

So do the microphone and tape recorder lie, or do we not sound how we think we sound? Do our voices all sound different to ouselves to how they sound to others?


It was certainly interesting listening to that tape!

3 comments:

Leigh said...

Oh please let me know the answer, if you ever figure this one out! I sound horrible on tape!

eija said...

Try this (or just imagine... *grin*):

Speak or sing outloud. How did it sound?

Then put your head inside a bucket and repeat the singing/speaking. How did it sound now?

The same effect applies to listening to your own voice in a "live" situation versus recorded. When you speak, you hear your voice as if it was coming out of a bucket of sorts (i.e. your scull) but when it comes from a recording, the scull effect has been removed.

Yeah, it's a shock, I know. The first times I heard it made me not want to speak/sing ever again. Ever...

Ivy, I sent you an e-mail a few days back, but I'm not sure if I have a correct address (I took it from your Into the Bible -account). Would you please e-mail me at

heavenlytrain
( at )
gmail.com

tx!

-e-

Ivy said...

I`ll go and hunt for a bucket to try it out!!

I`ve now replied to your email, Eija, thanks.