psychological problem?

[crybabyemokids]

I'm a 17 year old podcaster and i cohost a show with one of my friends but i have this weird feeling and maybe you guys could relate too, and in some cases, help me out with this.

I have a weird feeling that my voice sucks. I always feel that my cohost is totally better than me and hes holding the show together. I thought that this was a problem only with me, so when i confronted him, he was thinking the exact same thing as me. But the pressure is enormous. Before i make a show i plan a certain level of quality that our show should be made on, not the best, but definately at a certain high level. But the second i finish recording, editting the show, and i playback the final version, I feel i could've done better and that the show's never going to be "famous".

We've gotten quite a good response and so far all the feedback we've gotten has been good, yet this thought always creeps through my mind every time i record and I'd have to rerecord and maybe get it right on the 9th take.

I want your guys' honest opinion and let me know if this is a psychological problem, and in which case, how can i overcome this fear and record the podcast on the first go

I swear, if this problem continues, one of these days, i might as well quit podcasting all together.

Thanks again,
Jay
Cry baby emo kids
www.crybabyemokids.com

[Chuck_Justice]

I'm a 17 year old podcaster and i cohost a show with one of my friends but i have this weird feeling and maybe you guys could relate too, and in some cases, help me out with this.

I have a weird feeling that my voice sucks. I always feel that my cohost is totally better than me and hes holding the show together. I thought that this was a problem only with me, so when i confronted him, he was thinking the exact same thing as me. But the pressure is enormous. Before i make a show i plan a certain level of quality that our show should be made on, not the best, but definately at a certain high level. But the second i finish recording, editting the show, and i playback the final version, I feel i could've done better and that the show's never going to be "famous".

We've gotten quite a good response and so far all the feedback we've gotten has been good, yet this thought always creeps through my mind every time i record and I'd have to rerecord and maybe get it right on the 9th take.

I want your guys' honest opinion and let me know if this is a psychological problem, and in which case, how can i overcome this fear and record the podcast on the first go

I swear, if this problem continues, one of these days, i might as well quit podcasting all together.

Thanks again,
Jay
Cry baby emo kids
www.crybabyemokids.com


Really, don't worry about it, It's human nature to be over critical of one's own work, it's what makes us strive to improve ourselves. If you're getting good feedback, that's all that counts.

As far as your voice is concerned, Don't worry about that either, while I can't speak for everyone, I know I still can't get past the way mine sounds... It's so different when you hear it played back isn't it? It's like that for everyone.
It just takes a little getting used to.

The bottom line is this, If you like what you're doing, keep doing it. If you don't, change it until you do. But don't worry about the parts of the show you can't change,(like your voice) rather focus on the stuff you can... like your content. If the content's good, and you have passion for what you're doing, then your voice doesn't matter. I think anyone here will tell you pretty much the same thing.

Keep in mind, I have not listened to your podcast, so I'm saying anything about your show, or content specifically, I just wantesd to try and help with your problem, and I hope that I have.


Chuck Justice

[Scorpio Moon]

Hey Jay,

I just listened to your podcast (show 3). Solely based on that show, here are my comments:

Your voice doesn't suck. It's very calming and soothing. You do sound self-conscious and you do sound as though you're holding back your true personality. It's not the essence (or the "sound") of your voice that is lacking, it's that you're not allowing yourself to relax and let your natural charisma come through.

I'm sure, when you're hanging out with a friend--someone you know and trust--you don't speak as you do on your podcast. You probably put more emotion and emphasis on the things you're saying. You act naturally. When you make a bit of a mistake, you correct yourself and carry on without giving it a lot of thought.

That's what you need to capture on your podcast.

When I first began my career doing voiceovers, the best advice I was given was to imagine I was speaking to ONE person while I was recording. Don't worry about how popular your podcast will become or how many people are (or aren't) listening. Speak as though you were talking to a friend.

This is podcasting, not radio. It doesn't have to be perfect. And people will connect with you more if you leave in some of the flaws. Cut yourself some slack and know, as the months go on, the more shows you do, the more at ease you will feel and the easier it will be.

Your co-host does carry the show in a sense. It's not because he has a better voice. It's because he seems more relaxed and more chatty. The things he is saying sound more natural. You sound totally uncomfortable.

To help get relaxed, why don't you guys spend a bit of time chatting? Rather than just introduce songs, talk about why you chose the song you did, why you like the band, talk about the first time you heard a certain band or how you were introduced to a band, etc. Feed off of each other. Share more of yourself. Let us listeners get to know you.

Final thought: besides working on relaxing, you guys need to work on the sound levels. Every time you guys came in after a song, the level was different than before. Sometimes you guys could barely be heard. Sometimes you guys were too loud. Try and even it out.

Seriously, you have a great concept for a show, you're choosing excellent (albeit non-podsafe) music and you both have decent voices. Just work on relaxing and work on the sound levels.

[ovation]

One of the hardest things to do is "learn" to hear what your real voice sounds like.

In the beginning, most folks will over compensate, trying to make the voice they hear in the eyes sound like the one they hear when they speak.

Remember - you hear your own voice after it's come out of your mouth, bounced around the room and found it's way back to your ears. Put that together with the internal portion that you hear fromthe vibrating bones in your head and you can see that it's very different.

The trick is to "learn" the real sound. It takes most folks about a year of regular experience to get it. During the learning time, is when you'll hear the "DJ" effect or unrreal sound voices. Eventually, you figure it out and are able to produced exactly the sound that you want on mic.

Scott

PS - Maybe I'll dig out a few tapes of me at 17 and share them with you. Yuck!

[crybabyemokids]

oh my god you guys, you were right!
I realised that i was probably way too sensitive about my voice, and was sort of faking it.

Since my cohost andy lives thousands of miles away from me, all we could do was skype, so i skyped him for like 1 hour and we talked about everything from girls to hollywood gossip lol. No we're not little girls, but it really helped, now i feel relieved.

I'll probably skype all my podcasts now, AND TALK ABOUT THE BANDS MORE, instead of making a script and then recording them in parts and then mixing them all together(lol i think im the only fool who does that :( )


Well the only problem with Skype is that suddenly out of nowhere it would lag like hell, and then sometimes it would crack or whatever and make him sound like a robot. I'll give this a chance though, thanks a lot you guys!

PS, About the whole podsafe music thing, i have a question, i probably should be posting this somewhere else but eh.

Well, i'm aware of the whole podsafe music movement, and honestly, in all respect to the bands that are on there, it's FAR from what i want to play on my show.

Out of the 6 songs we play on average on our show, 4 are played with the consent of the artist(messaging on myspace) and the other two are, well, "stolen". I emailed MOST of the record labels as well as bands asking them if it was right to play their songs(in some cases multiple times), and haven't gotten a response from them. Should i take their silence as consent or should I wait till they reply(if they ever do) but since I do a biweekly show I'm under certain deadlines and so often just play the song.

So far out of the 10-15 odd bands that I've messaged on myspace, all of them have replied with the affirmative, and i'm also in talks with a band for doing an interview :D

Maybe i'd get in trouble if I played Green Day or Weezer but that's not going to happen

Anyways thanks a lot guys for the help really appreciate it, hopefully you'll notice the changes in the future ;D

[deadwhiteguy]

I can relate I think my voice sounds horrible as well.

Don't worry about it. EVerybody says I have a good voice for this sort of thing as well, but I still think it sounds horrible. I suspect if you are getting feedback and people listen then you are doing something right.

Just relax and go with it.

Jason

[Andy Parnell]

Traditionally, in radio, the presenter tends to have the personality that is the person everyone wants to be around at the party. It is generally this kind of person that does the best at presenting. The Journalist or Radio Reporter on the other hand, may actually be a bit more introvert in their personality but are very good at being known as 'an ideas man'. Now here's the trick. In traditional radio, the Presenter and Radio Reporter tends to have a totally different personality profile to the Radio Technician or Sound Engineer.

Yet in Podcasting, you're all these roles AND the researcher, producer and editor! You're never going to be able to excel at all of these roles and need to shine where your talents are best and get by as best you can where they are not.

I therefore think that the kind of show we should be working towards may well depend not only on our interests but on our personality. Work WITH your personality and adjust the show to suit it.

If you're good at the tech head stuff, play that role so that the sound quality is better. If the other guy is more the presenter personality type, if he's good, he'll get you working with him to act as a kind of sound wall and your team will fit the content accordingly. Hey, people spend years at University and in the workforce learning all this stuff! Don't expect it all to happen overnight!

Finally, content is KING. No doubt about it. Everything else only adds value to it. Get the content wrong, people will soon unsubscribe as quick as you can blink.

Hope that helps,

Andy