Member Article

Do I really sound like that?

With Dr Simon Raybould, Curved Vision Theatre

I’ve been doing a lot of work with clients who needed to record their voices recently – it wasn’t a policy, just the way things worked out – and it’s reminded me of the fundamental of working with a microphone: this is that a microphone will apply Murphy’s Law and highlight the bad things…. or at least you’ll notice them. They were always there; it’s just that a recording allows you to hear them a bit like other people hear them. That’s the point many people start to panic with the almost universal cry of “Do I really sound like that!?”

Don’t.

Remember that a microphone and recording system can’t invent things, just allow you to hear them. Other people have been hearing it ‘naturally’, by which I mean they listen to your content if they can. You, however, already know what you’ve said, obviously, which means that you’ll be listening to the way you say it far more than other people will – and you’ll be looking for problems too. That’s artificial and unhelpful. Unless you’re doing it as part of a specialist training course in voice & presentation skills, there’s no point in listening back to yourself: you’ll never like what you hear, so there’s no point. I’ve honestly never met anyone who said they were totally happy with a recording of themselves. Don’t waste your time.

You might like to know that on our own training courses we don’t record people for that very reason, and we get great results without doing so! Of course that’s a bit of an over-simplification to make a point, so if you’ve got any questions or comments,get in touch.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .