I remember getting a tape recorder, a very small reel to reel model. It was quite the bit of technology for a kid to play with, back then only the grown ups were allowed to fool with that stuff! But my sister and I got to play with that little machine. I remember we recorded this little ditty: bean soup makes you poop, clam chowder makes it louder. We thought it was hilarious and a bit naughty as well. Saying the word poop anyway. Ah, those innocent days.

It was with that first recorder that I heard my own voice for the first time. I didn’t like it and I don’t like it now. I’m reminded of that because of a post I made some years ago where I read a poem I had written and accompanied it with a slide show. I listened once again and I still don’t like the sound of my voice. It doesn’t sound like my voice, at least not the one I hear when speaking. What sort of sorcery is this?

I have thought of starting a vlog. That’s just a video blog. My thinking is to just select some of my favorites and read them. I was thinking about that again just yesterday. Now I’m rethinking that idea, I need someone else to do the reading I guess, Morgan Freeman or maybe Sam Elliotte. Those A.I. voices are just creepy as far as I’m concerned.

But I wonder how others hear my voice, in a recording I mean. Does it sound the same way as when I’m speaking in person? Other people sound like themselves when I hear them recorded, why don’t I? Does it make a difference what equipment is being used to make that recording? Is there auto-correct for your voice?

The sound of your voice does influence the way others perceive you. Accents play a major role as well as vocabulary. I definitely write differently than I speak. The vocabulary is different in most cases. I tend to write in a more formal way than I speak in person. Is that pretense? Or is that what they call projecting? I don’t know, I often speak in the past tense. That’s just because I’m old and have more to say about the past than I do the future.

On social media we often never hear the sound of the person’s voice. I mean those that are leaving those snide remarks, negative comments, and calling you names folks. In fact, I have the sound turned off most of the time to avoid all those annoying ads and random music blasting out.

I have seen advertisements for text to speech programs, Chat GPT or something they call it. It will read your text and convert into “human sounding” speech, so it says. I haven’t tried that yet but have had the computer “read aloud” and I didn’t like the voice very much. The computer talks funny.

Putting a voice to a picture. That’s what I’m talking about. Today that is quite an easy thing to do with all the tech we have. I remember at one time making a home movie was a big deal, real high-tech stuff. Today I have VHS c sized tapes on the grandkids and playing them back is getting difficult. Difficult in having the equipment to play them back on, that is. How many of you have a “super 8” movie projector today?

I do not know how to share my slide show with audio to this blog. It can be seen on my Facebook page however, a page I call B’low the bridge. You type that in the search bar and I will appear, like magic. That still kind of freaks me out.