Variance: Voice Recognition

Some of you will not be surprised to hear me recommend that you record and listen to your voice. The fact remains, you cannot hear your own voice as others do so you don't really know what you sound like.

Adding a new wrinkle, we are all working from home and have little control over how the technology on the other end is rendering our voices. But, we can check how our system is sending out the sound to a well-equipped recording platform. In other words, you need some of your Zoom recordings.

The object is still the same. Listen without judgment. If there is distortion on the call try to remember what the signal was like and if you had trouble hearing others. Listen carefully to your voice at a medium volume. And ask yourself some questions.

• Are the words clear?
• Can you be understood?
• What about the volume and clarity of the sound?
• If that were not you, what would you believe about the person that speaks in this way? Does that align with what you would like to convey?

Once you have listened to and assessed several recordings you can begin to get a feel for your digital sound. You can also immediately improve your sound through the use of an inexpensive external microphone. I recommend this one as it is consistently the best microphone for speech quality. One reservation: The stand that comes with it is pretty flimsy so you might need to upgrade that at some point. I also recommend that you can also use headphones through the microphone interface to give you feedback on your sound.