When you hear your voice on a recording, you're only hearing sounds transmitted via air conduction. Since you're missing the part of the sound that comes from bone conduction within the head, your voice sounds different to you on a recording.
The anatomy of the skull makes it so that if we are hearing our own voice live, we truly do hear it differently than a recording. The cognitive dissonance of hearing a voice that your conscious brain knows is yours but not automatically recognizing yourself is perfectly natural: but it makes us uncomfortable.
Always ask permission before recording someone. Good practice is to record at 44.1 kHz/16 bit (CD standard). High quality MP3 files (192 kbps or higher) may be used if needed due to limitations of the recorder or storage space. Best practice is to record audio at 44.1kHz/24 bit or 96kHz/24 bit.
Different positions for different styles
If you are recording a slow, wistful, reflective ballad, it may be that sitting is the best position for recording that style of vocal. In contrast, if you are recording a lively heavy rock anthemic track, you are much more likely to want the singer standing.
Your recording level should average between -18db and -10db on the peak meter. It would be best if you never peaked over -6db (on your peak meter). Loudness happens in the mastering stage, which comes at the very end of your production process.
You hear your voice differently when it's recorded because of the so-called "internal sound." The voice people hear when you speak is not affected by the resonance caused by your mouth, body, and skull; to you, your voice will sound deeper and more enveloping than others might perceive it.
Making Sure You're Hydrated
To clear your voice, drinking water for the 2 hours before you sing can help hydrate and lubricate your vocal cords. The lubrication from the water will help prevent irritation so that your voice is performance ready. Drink only room temperature water before you sing.
To create crisp vocals, use a higher shelf, moderate saturation, then for your de-emphasis attenuate less than you originally amplified. This causes the saturators to work harder on high frequencies, resulting in a crisp sound and then balances out the spectrum so the effect isn't too aggressive.
If you talk too long, cheer too loudly, sing too much or speak in a pitch that's higher or lower than usual, you may experience hoarseness. Also, your vocal cords naturally get thin and limp with age. It's perfectly common for your voice to get raspier as you get older. A cold or sinus infection.
The recorded voice, in comparison, can sound thinner and higher pitched, which many find cringeworthy. There's a second reason hearing a recording of your voice can be so disconcerting. It really is a new voice – one that exposes a difference between your self-perception and reality.
The bone-conducted sound typically sounds lower in pitch compared to air-conducted sound. This means that when you listen to your own recorded voice, it tends to sound less 'rich' and 'full,' and more 'thin' and 'nasal' because you're no longer hearing the lower-frequency, bone-conducted portion of the sound.
Voice disorders affect the ability to speak normally. These disorders can include laryngitis, paralyzed vocal cords, and a nerve problem that causes the vocal cords to spasm. Your voice may quiver, be hoarse, or sound strained or choppy.
But because our vocal cords vibrate when we speak, there is a second internal path. Vibrations are conducted through our bones and stimulate our inner ears directly. Lower frequencies are emphasized along this pathway. That makes your voice sound deeper and richer to yourself than it may sound to other people.
Yet for those who believe they “can't help it” when they find some voices more irritating than others, science suggests they may in fact be right. Responses in the amygdala (emotion processing part of the brain) that correlate with acoustic features and rating of unpleasantness.