VO Studio Tech: Headphones Are Weird

I’ve been working with a number of newer voice actors, narrators, and podcasters recently, and our sessions reminded me how weird it is to hear yourself through headphones when you are speaking. Hearing direct audio feedback doesn’t throw me off too much any more, however that little voice in my ear continues to lie in wait, looking for the chance to trip me up.

A primary effect of hearing our own voice through headphones while speaking into a microphone is that we begin to lean into the luscious texture of our voice. Quite simply, it becomes very easy to fall in love with the more intimate sound burbling into our ears. Hearing that more melodious tone tends to nudge us ever closer to the microphone, where the proximity effect begins to emphasize low notes we didn’t know we had.

Listening to ourselves as we record creates a vicious cycle, one that tends to make us forget about any actual acting choices we once hoped to make. That can make us sound “announcery”, like we’re “riding the pipes”, or just “playing notes.” When this happens, the first suggestion I’ll make to a newer voice actor is to take their headphones off when recording, or at least pull one ear cup back. That lets us actually hear ourself “in the room” – the way that we normally perceive our spoken voice.

Another potential distraction is related to more music-focused recording software. In applications such as Pro Tools, Reaper, or Studio One, you can “Monitor” the track in which you are recording. There’s typically a selector button which enables this. However, with this type of recording software, the “Monitor” function is actually sending the audio back to you only after it has looped into and out of your computer hardware. This adds a delay – or “latency” – to the signal you hear. Your voice returns to your ears noticeably with a noticeable lag, causing even more of a distraction. Most people find it hard to actually speak when their words come back in this manner. Luckily, current audio interfaces let you “Direct Monitor” from the hardware itself, so you can turn off any software monitoring inside of those multitrack recording systems.

For most of us recording auditions or self-directed work at home, there’s no compelling reason to use headphones as we’re speaking into the microphone. Most benefit greatly by hearing the more natural sound of our voice in a space, rather than being amplified directly into our ears while we are speaking. Granted, there are some workflows such as punch-in (punch & roll) recording for audiobooks or live-directed sessions, where we need to have some audio feedback. In that case, the “one-earcup-back” method can balance those requirements.

But if you haven’t done so in a while, it might be worth seeing how your auditions change if you aren’t that aware of yourself when recording. For an audition or two, try using the headphones to make sure you are on mic and there aren’t any weird sounds in the background. Then take them off and focus on the performance.

Wondering if your audio quality meets professional standards? For a free review of your vocal recordings, please use the upload tool on my Audio Review page.

Please share! If this resource has been helpful to you, please share with one of the buttons below!
You can also sign up to receive these and other advance announcements via email each week.