Karaoke Forums

Just a takeoff on one of the threads below, but I have to say, 90% of the people I talk to whom I consider to be top caliber singers actually DO NOT like the sound of their own voice. I think it is interesting that people like Barbra Streisand, who is an amazing vocalist, will NOT listen to herself. There are others as well who have made a career out of music and don't like to hear themselves.

I am in that group ... To me I sound nasally and, frankly, I just don't like the tone of my voice. When I bring it up, or we are discussing voice 'sounds' people just get mad at me and chuckle when I say I don't like my voice...and then they proceed to downgrade their own voices!

Does anyone really LIKE their own singing voice?

Know what you mean KK. I think you become a lot more self critical when you listen to your own voice. Not particularly on the same subject but when I look in the mirror I don't seemed to have aged that much, but when I see I photo of myself I look like an old fart, which I am. They say though "the mirror never lies" or does it

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Regards
Brian

I like my own voice only after adding lots of echo or other vocal effects. Raw, amplified, with no effects I can hear every imperfection, then I DON'T like my voice.

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glow=yellow][scroll][shadow=red] Correction..."LIZ" says..  :whistle: You just can't go wrong with TomTom onboard !![/shadow] [/scroll][shadow=gold][/shadow][shadow=cyan][/shadow][/shadow]

I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who actually "likes" the sound of their own voice. It just doesn't happen. (well, I guess that's wrong.... I've met a few people who can't seem to get enough of their own voice- always singing along loudly with EVERYone else at karaoke... bursting into song in between singers so you hear them.... those kinds of people, yeah, I guess they're in love with their own voice... but that's not so common)

Never really thought about this question much. I guess I don't like nor hate my own voice... I just accept it as being my own and go with what I got.

There are things about my voice I don't like, things my voice does that my ears don't always agree with;) And I wish I had more range... wish I had perfect pitch... wish my voice didn't insist on bending notes where it doesn't belong... but I think I've come to just "get along" with what my voice itself sounds like. (cause I can't change it, right?)  

Long ago, I wished SO bad that I could cross every genre and fit in without everything that tumbled out of my mouth sounding country or bluegrass. But, over the years I've realized- If I COULD sing anything I wanted and fit in with each genre... I'd still choose to sing just country and bluegrass. So, I quit arguing with myself and let it be:)

.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Nope...don't really care for my voice.  I'm kind of OK with my singing voice, but I HATE my speaking voice.  I'm am to the point where I can listen to my recordings, but I am hyper-critical (part of why I never ask for critiques when I sub - anything you might find to critique, I've already agonized over plus 3 other "problems").  I do think part of not liking your own voice has to do with the fact that you hear things that other people miss - or aren't really an issue to anyone but you.  At some point, I have to just say "It's good enough..."  So, far, no one has ever had nearly as bad a reaction to something I've done as I have. *laugh*

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"I hold the key to an open door....will I ever be free...?"

I find I have to listen to myself to get better, as disgusting as the process is. Some other people seem to like my voice, but to me it seams heavy and not agile. That is definitely a voice type, but I would prefer a more lyrical voice.

I can't stand my voice.

However I also have expectations regarding what a singer in my preferred genre should sound like.  IOW..  If I sounded like the following singers, I would NEVER be singing.


Elvis Costello
Bob Dylan
Mick Jagger

(plenty of others too)


Reason I dislike my voice is I compare it to what I want to sound like.  I want a voice that "covers", not creates.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

The singers who love the sound of their own voice are tone deaf and discussed in the other topic of AWFUL singers    :yes:

But I agree in regards to your own voice sounding.....differant ?

It is an "audio illusion."  Sounds like a magician.    Because the way we hear ourselves is basically from the inside (inner ear and skull bone resonance) and some of the outside (outer ear canal) we sound different to ourselves.   When you hear your voice on a recording, that is exactly how evereyone else hears you.    It takes getting use to because now you are actually hearing yourself with just "your" ears.    Like everyone else hears you.   So it sounds radically different.  You have heard your voice from the internal standpoint, all of you live.   Most people upon hearing their voice as other do, hate the way they sound.  It's so foreign to what and the way you have always heard yourself.    People that know you are use to hearing your voice, so on a recording it would sound the same to them.

Your voice is unique.  Very rarely do two people sound the same, unless they are trying to.   You know instantly who is on the phone with only a few words spoken.   You instantly picture them and remember their name.

I remember hearing myself on the answering machine the first time.   I kept saying i don't really sound like that do i?     After you get use to hearing yourself, you can learn to like it.    It can't be changed.   It's the only voice you have.   That's how you sound.    I never sing without reverb.    But i constantly change my voice for different songs.  Nobody ever knows it's me singing.

It was no different when I acted.  Actors often loathe seeing themselves, can't watch themselves.  Similar





Yeah,  I think without using a playback device all we perceive while we sing is vibration creating an external sound.  I think how we EVENTUALLY hear ourselves is how others may hear us, yet initially bias and dislike impede our hearing ourselves with any objectivity.

I started singing for the first time using digital playback (or actually singing at all seriously) three months ago, and still haven't gotten used to my voice.  Although I think I'm learning a few tricks !

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

see I am the direct opposite, I am ok with my speaking voice and dont like my singing voice ...but that comes from desensitisation after having to listen to air checks when I was a radio announcer. I try and desensitise myself with my singing voice by listening more than I would normally...still doesnt sound great  LMAO

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

I don't like my recorded voice at all.  I sound terrible!!  I hope that I sound better when people hear me live, otherwise I really really feel sorry for all my friends!!!  LOL... Hey it's karaoke and I have fun.

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Will sing or fish for food!!I'm not quite right!!

I think that's why I'm OK with my singing voice now - desensitization.  I've had to listen to it because of recording and I can now be somewhat objective about it.  My speaking voice just bugs the heck outta me....but I almost never have to listen to it objectively.

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"I hold the key to an open door....will I ever be free...?"

I guess I don't like my speaking voice or my singing voice. There was a recent discussion on the vocalist list about learning to love your voice and that it will make you a better singer. I have only been singing for two and a half years, so I am not sure I have had enough time to develop that love.

I don't have the patience and craftmanship to record, so I need to pay someone else to do it for me. When I sing on SingSnap, I can hear the little warts and know that some of them would disappear with a proper recording job. But I can also hear the deficiencies, and I don't hear the good points like others seem to.

And boy, is it hard to get a decent evaluation of your singing! I tried it here, and got some good input, but when you can't get a range you don't know how you compare. I think I am better than a lot of singers and not as good as quite a few others. But when someone tells someone who can't hit a note that they are "awesome", what am I to think when someone tells me *I* am awesome.

no

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

The more I drink......the better I  sound!

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

So, for any of you (fortunately in the minority) who want to ban bad singers, are you ready to ban yourself?

On a serious note, you all realize that the primary reason we sound different to ourselves than what we hear on a recording is because we hear ourselves, primarily, through our nasal cavities, which is not how anyone else hears us!

I have the ability to imitate other voices (Kermit the Frog is one of my best) and this goes for my singing too. When performing, I tend to imitate the original artist more often than I use my "own" voice.

All along, I thought I was doing it because it's fun and entertaining to the audience. (After all, there are people who make money in "Tribute Bands")

But after reading this thread, I'm thinking it may be deeper than that...

after reading above i guess i'm gonna be run out of town if i say i like my voice, so i won't say it....but i do hate my talking voice