Re: own voice versus recorded voice perception

["Kent Noel Walker, Mr" <kent.walker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

BEN'S FIRST QUESTION: "Why does one's voice sound different to them when
they hear it played back from a recording?"

Answer: It is different.

Ben's question appears to address a conundrum that has faced the audio
engineer since the era of Edison and Berliner.  I am tempted to spew-on but
instead will refer you to these gentleman:

-"Stereo is an attempt to create the illusion of reality  through the
willing suspension of disbelief² ­ Richard Heyser

-http://www.stereosoundbook.com/pages/chapter4.html


BEN'S SECOND QUESTION: "And why do people normally dislike the sound of
their recorded voice?"

Answer: Is this really true?  I know plenty of folks that love the sound of
their own voice, and plenty of folks that love the sound of their recorded
voice. If this is true, perhaps this is because the voice is disembodied?

Peter Lennox <P.Lennox@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> ³...In fact, the experience of "I surely don't sound like that..." is
mitigated when one hears a recording of oneself via a Soundfield microphone.
with ambisonic playback...²

With regards to this affective response "dislike", it seems possible in this
situation that the "naturalness" of the recorded voice might be negatively
correlated (i.e. I would rather hear my own voice playback through my mobile
phone than on a 5.1 surround sound recording). While tastes do vary, there
is research that suggests the above "haute technologie" is not always the
mitigator we hold it up to be:

http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~kentw/wordpress/docs/aes_sweden_final.pdf

I have often had success creating natural voice-overs in the studio using
one high-quality microphone with is routed to the center channel (one
high-quality loudspeaker).  This is the industry standard practice.

Just my 2-cents.

--------
Kent Walker

Tenure Track Lecturer
Audio Engineering Technology
Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business
Belmont University, Nashville TN, USA

ph. 615-460-5435
walkerkn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~kentw/