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Product: Audio: Recorder
What I *Really* Sound Like   (0)  [vote for, against]
"No way, that's not my voice. Here listen!"

Surgically implant piezo pickups in the skull, somewhere close to the inner ear, one for each ear. Run a line from each of these microphones out of the head, where the signals can be recorded.

Record the subject speaking normally, save the recording, and give it to the subject so that he may prove to others that his voice really isn't that silly sounding (to his elf).
-- absterge, Aug 20 2004

I'm not keen on surgically implanting anything in my skull, but perhaps we could stuff a removable microphone into my ear. by the way why is this better than a regular mic?
-- dentworth, Aug 20 2004


Because it can get closer to that nice voice that you hear *inside your skull* when you speak. You know how you think you sound; this way it would be possible for others to hear how you think you sound.
-- absterge, Aug 20 2004


And why would anyone care how I think I sound ...?
-- bpilot, Aug 21 2004


Why, because you currently think you're singing *on* key, of course.
-- thumbwax, Aug 21 2004


I wonder if inside his head, Frank Sinatra sounded terrible.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 21 2004


I'm interested in this because I always sounded like a boy on recordings. as I got older my resonance deepened and I *think * I sound more female.
-- dentworth, Aug 21 2004


//really isn't that silly sounding (to his elf).//

To his elf?

How come he has an elf? I don't have an elf! Why don't I have an elf?
-- DesertFox, Aug 21 2004


[dentworth], you can just listen to a conventional recording of yourself. [thumbwax], your voice coach can use that regular recording to give you some feedback on your progress. I'm just trying to find a point to this idea. It's a policy of mine that I *will not* drill two holes in my skull unless I know why.
-- bpilot, Aug 21 2004


Hey, don't look at me - you're the one singing off-key.
-- thumbwax, Aug 21 2004


and I really hate to hear me singing on a recording. Let's just can this plan...man.
-- dentworth, Aug 21 2004


//surgically implant piezo pickups in the skull//

...Or cup your hands from your mouth to one of your ears. And prove to your self how you actually talk, am I talking crazy talk again?

Or get an acoustical engineer to calculate the sound variations from various ears in your skullmeat based on sonigrams taken from all over your body and such to gain mass, density, etc.
-- sartep, Aug 22 2004


My hunch is that it isn't the tone of our voices which we object to when we hear them replayed. It's the fact that we've spent years kidding ourselves that we're excellent communicators, and in memory we filter out the 'ums', 'ahs', and general lack of dynamism in our voices.

Record your elf everyday, listen back to how you sound, and improve your oral skills until you're happy with your own sound.
-- Fishrat, Aug 22 2004


[DesertFox], I sugest you go find your (s)elf. Your honour.

I'm not sure I want to know how other people think they sound really. Its still a clever idea though.
-- RobertKidney, Aug 22 2004


I wonder how impressionists get around this problem. I mean, when they sound like Winston Churchill to us, presumably they don't sound like Winston Churchill to themselves.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 18 2007


I already have voices in my head.
-- nuclear hobo, May 19 2007


You can do this with just about any sound editor. I use Audacity because it's free. Turn up the resonance near your speaking frequency -- 130 Hz for a baritone, 400 Hz for a soprano -- and turn down the 2000-5000 Hz range where nasal sounds happen. Play it back and see if it doesn't sound exactly like your old familiar elf.
-- eritain, May 19 2007



random, halfbakery