I have no idea if my voice matches me. From being a teenager, I was often complimented on 'speaking nicely', and my husband's family thought I was 'really posh' when they first met me! I'm not 'posh' at all, but I have quite a clear voice.

Ive been told by others that I have a great speaking voice, but to me it sounds like a very soft baby whine when I hear it played back-lol! It is funny how a person can sound so different in their own head as opposed to the reality of it....tg I dont listen to my own very often!

Rae, Urban Warrior Princess!

What a fun post!
I'm not sure, when people talk with me at the phone they say I have a sweet voice..

Like others have mentioned, I detest hearing myself on a recording. Seems like my voice isn't what I think it should be, whatever that is. It sounds nasely and odd. I have no idea if people think it matches my style. Hopefully, someday I will meet some of you lovely YLFers and you will tell me what you think!

Oh, rock on! UWP yessss!

I love this thread so much!! Voices are absolutely the first thing I focus on when I meet people, for obvious reasons, and they have a great deal to do with the mental pictures I form of people. Since I'll never be able to see anyone and get a more accurate image, those mental pictures become lasting for me...so voices are key!

I'd say my voice probably does match my classic, dressy style. Different people have described it as soft, girly, musical, sexy and "cultured." For those living in Canada, a few people have said "you sound so CBC." Sorry this reference will make no sense to the international readers, but my countrymen will instantly have a much better idea of how I speak. I spent much of my life singing, and people have said they can tell. The major contradiction is my laugh, which is very loud and sounds braying to my ear. Corey's too, I think, since a recent giggling fit with a local girlfriend actually managed to wake him up. I'm not a big fan of hearing myself talk either, but have had to get used to it for work.
I've heard a few YLF-ers talk, and it's always such fun to be able to picture a voice when I read their posts. Marianna's voice is low, measured and calming. Maya has a very sweet voice that was different than what I pictured and makes her sound a few years younger than she is. April's voice makes the word elegant come to mind...it's so lilting and musical. Lisa's moderately pitched voice is so warm and friendly. Mac has a fabulously expressive, melodious voice that shows influences of her wide travels. Then there's Angie's voice, with its beautiful accent. Her lively, flowing speech pattern somehow makes me think of water. Greg has a fabulous accent and cheerful tone to his speech, too, which manages sounds deliberate without being slow.
Una, for some reason I always pictured you with a lower voice, though I hadn't called the raspiness evident in that clip...but it sounds so awesome!

Michelle, your descriptions are great! I feel like I can hear those ladies now too! I always hear you in a modulated "NPR" voice - very elegant, cultured and calming somehow. Wish there was a way we could all record ourselves saying hello to each other!

I just realized I didn't really answer your question Una! Does my voice match my style? I don't think it necessarily does or does not. I have never heard anyone comment that I sound differently than or even exactly like what they expected. I suppose it does kind of reflect my love of neutrals with the occasional bright: my voice is mid-range-just-bordering low in terms of pitch and my language tends to be erhm colorful 0:) It's also very clean and I like clean lines.

Bumping...just because this thread is awesome.

This is a very interesting question.
I can tell you that Sveta's voice matches her style, warm but with a certain regal tone about it.It is a very reassuring voice.

About my own voice, I don't particularly like to hear my recorded voice because to me it sounds very child like. But from what I've been told I do have a sweet voice .And I've been told that the way I speak matches the way I look.
Can't wait to hear the other voices of YLF

I'm bumping this thread because we have so many new voices on the forum and I almost asked the same question again. I'm getting YLF dementia...

I enjoyed this thread...
No one ever said anything about my voice... But mine is more loud, hearty laugh kind of voice :).. Used to be in a debate team

But with respect to my style well let me not compare :D... I dont know my style

Love this revived thread! Agree that Rae has a very sultry voice. And I think it's cute that she's asking you "What does UWP mean?" I guess it wasn't so long ago that UWP got started! Feels like you guys have been UWP's forever!

Loving this thread, so glad it got bumped back up!

Like Dianthus, my 'electronic' voice sounds pretty different from my in-person voice. I think in person I have a slightly deeper voice that is a better match, but I *can* go into higher registers when excited, which is rather odd in comparison to my appearance and style alike. On the phone, though, I sound positively like a little girl --- pretty damning when so much business is conducted without ever meeting people in person!

Interesting point from Nakidra about accents too --- I keep getting told I have a British accent, and have to keep clarifying that no, I haven't spent any time in the UK, ever, at all, apart from the odd airport-skimming sojourn of a few hours. And this has been the case from waaay back, when I started going to school. Less problematic since my teens, when I finally mastered a few variants of 'Indian accents' that I use to blend in with folks I spend more time with --- I tend to unconsciously echo other people's accents and verbal idiosyncracies anyway; but apparently I still fall back on the 'stiff upper lip' default when speaking to strangers!

I missed this before - I have always had a deep voice - sang alto in the school choir. I have an ear for accents too probably because I lived in England until I was 10 then came to Australia but my mother's family is Irish & my father's is Swedish - whew!

Fun thread. I have been told I am "well spoken". I know my voice can vary slightly depending on the setting, but for the most part it is fairly consistent. I do community radio, present to large groups for work, and do voice overs (community based work) so I am actually used to hearing my voice and I don't mind it. My voice is deeper rather than high and I think it's in keeping with my personality and style? I might have to ask a couple of friends and see what they think.

It is interesting that some YLFrs can imagine the voices of other members.
For me, everyone has MY voice, which is fairly high and girlish I think, especially when I hear a recording of it.
I hope to meet-up with some locals one day, and although I feel like I know you guys by sight and style, the voices will be a complete surprise to me.

I have a horror of shrillness and as a result I often get asked to speak up.

Una, I have noticed that girls and women with husky voices are often fairly extroverted -- starting in early childhood. My theory is that people enjoy listening to them and they get used to being the center of positive attention. Am I crazy? Honestly, in my experience it's rare to meet a shy and retiring woman with a husky voice.

I'm told that I sound like Sofia Vergara, when she is not exaggerating her accent, so there you go.;)

ETA: I think I come across the forum as more hot headed and opinionated that I really am IRL. I'm super mellow and easy going. I am just very direct when someone asks for my opinion and since that is the majority of what we do here....You guys just don't get to see the sweeter side... LOL...

My voice is pretty girly, though not too high. I feel it as really low, but when I hear myself on recordings it's not. I also have a really Spanish Posh accent because I'm Catalan (speak two mother tongues) and we Catalans tend to pronounce every single sound -in contrast with the more relaxed pronunciation of the middle and south of the country. In case you were wondering, yes, that affects my English pronunciation too, which is SO annoying, especially with the 's'.

Interesting. I've always hated hearing my speaking voice on tape, yet I've always had a good singing voice. People say I sound just like Debbie Boone ("You Light Up My Life" hit single). There's something about the way I speak, though--never quiet, and not without a bit of a Southern accent combined with an accent that no one can quite pinpoint--that I've never been happy with. On the plus side, people have difficulty guessing where I'm from, and never get it right. I guess that's good, though. I've never wanted my accent to sound too regional. What type of voice do you fellow YLFers think I should have, based on my personality?

I grew up in the Ottawa Valley, in a little town called Almonte and I have a little bit of that accent still (although I have lost a lot of it, I had friends from high school visit recently who still live there and I could tell my accent had changed).

Here's a link to a clip: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/.....alect.html

The lady in that clip is one of my friends' grandmother!

Right now my voice is horrible due to a cold, but I guess I have a nice voice? I worked as a long distance operator for Bell one summer and always had comments on my voice. I think it sounds nasal and bad when I hear a playback, however.

I am quiet and reserved until you get to know me, and then you will find I never shut up.

Heh, I had a jolt of confusion when glancing thru these and saw Rae asking you what UWP was !?!!! Okay, then, it was 10 months ago!

Very interesting. I also flinch at hearing my voice recorded. I don't like it much, though I guess it's not too bad. It's just a bit nasal for me. I also have been very conscious of not using a Long Island accent, and usually people say, "You don't sound like you're from LI!" (Up here in Mass., they'll make fun of it by calling it Lawn Guyland). But maybe a few times in my life I've had someone say that I DO sound like I'm from there, and I DIE a little inside

It is funny how people do end up sounding the way you imagine they would. Descriptions of Rae and Una and so forth are spot-on to what I picture.

Someone said that in Eastern Europe, the voices of men and women both are attractively lower and deeper. It's kind of the opposite in Asia with a lot of women--at least in Japan and among some young women I see around here, they talk with such artificially squeaky, girly, cartoonish voices....it used to drive me crazy in Japan. Many women did not do this--it was a specific type of girl who thought it was "cute."

ETA: not voice-related, but when I was a teenager and met a pen pal in Europe for the first time, she had only a photo of me that was a head shot. For some reason she thought I would be taller....! Perhaps there are "tall" faces and "short" faces. I do find Katie Holmes's little-girl face incongruous with her extremely tall body, and could easily imagine her petite.

The main problem I have with my voice is that here in the Deep South, it doesn't sound "sugary" enough. You know, that sweet Southern voice that allows you to tell someone off and that person would still take what you said as a compliment. Seriously, because I work in a public office and perception is reality, I literally have to work to sugar coat every word that comes out of my mouth. It's annoying because my personality is more direct and natural--never intentially rude or anything--but definitely not sugary sweet. I've never had problems communicating with anyone in any of the other places I've lived, as my personality is outgoing and friendly. I never meet a stranger. But here in the Deep South, alas, I have to speak slowly and so sweetly that it's sickening. This is what I work on each and every day to improve P.R. It's not easy when you haven't grown up with that sorta thing.

My mother was from the midwest--farm country--and was friendly to a fault but direct like I am--definitely NOT sugary sweet. And, she taught me be polite but not to be a doormat. What do you do when your personality conflicts with what people expect? Well, you learn to speak very. very. very slowly, smile no matter what (biggest grin you can possibly put on your face), and coat every word with Aunt Jemima's syrup. LOL!

Hmm, I'm not sure what others think of my voice since I think I have a skewed perception of it. I don't mind it in person, but I think it sounds awful in recordings. I grew up in SoCal and it's interesting that some people can tell immediately that I have a slight Valley Girl accent, but others claim I do not have it at all.

I am a quiet person but my voice is not quiet. It's loud and I talk fast. I guess that's sort of in tune with my style. Funny thing is, when I was in kindergarten I had a (ridiculous) teacher who told me that I spoke too loudly and that I should try to sound more like another girl in the class who basically spoke in a breathy whisper all the time (and incidentally always dressed in pastels). So for a year or so I went around whispering. =P

Some of my friends have mentioned that when my voice gets "quiet" or "really calm and monotone" it's scary because that generally means that I am either really upset (trying not to cry) or really angry (trying not to scream). I guess if I start dressing all in monotone or something, it's probably also a sign that something is wrong.

ETA: I prefer lower pitch for women's voices and higher pitch for men's voices, oddly. So, basically, altos and tenors. With very low, bass male voices I actually sometimes have trouble understanding them, especially for some reason on the phone.

Fun thread! I enjoyed reading all your comments very much.

I found out after seeing myself on video many times that I laugh a lot. I mean, almost constantly. And that fits with my personality, cause I am a total goofball and generally enjoy myself.

My style persona is saucy, simple, and colorful, with a dash of retro and contrast. I would say it matches my voice, but it's hard to say why. I guess my voice is giggly, and my look is giggly too. I just like to have fun.

Regarding why your voice sounds so different inside your head, it's because you have all these air-filled caverns inside your head (sinuses) that resonate with every sound you make. You hear those resonate in addition to hearing what comes out of your mouth. Others only hear what comes out of your mouth, so sad for them -- they don't get the full experience. ha ha

I have no idea if my voice matches my style! It probably matches my body though. I don't know. Nobody ever comments on my voice. It's pretty average I guess -- medium pitch, medium volume, unremarkable timbre (I assume). My speech pattern is more distinctive than my voice itself. I talk too fast, especially when it's something I'm enthusiastic about, and I'm pretty animated, with lots of hand gestures and silly facial expressions. I'm always horrified when I see myself on film.

LOL at Rae asking what UWP means! I didn't even notice that! Look what time can do...

What an interesting topic! I have a young voice, everyone thinks I'm one of my daughter's when I answer the phone. I hate my voice on video, very little girlish - but then my style is feminine and all girl, too! I sing soprano....