Thursday, February 4, 2010

Why no podcast?

Every once in awhile, I get asked the question "Why haven't you done a podcast?"

Honestly, the question makes me choke---always.

First off, I have never quite got to the point where I understand why anyone would want to hear me talk. Honestly, I am making this stuff up as I go along. There is no grand plan here.

Secondly and more importantly, to borrow the description from my god-daughter, I sound like I have "a toad in my throat."

For those who do not know I suffered though twelve years of speech therapy while I was in school. There was a good deal of mocking my voice while I was growing up. There is still a slight amount of mocking; my wife occasionally gives me a hard time because I can not pronounce certain words properly. Basically, the pain goes deep.

I have made a tape of the last two Open Full Moon rituals that I conducted. These tapes were made just in case I said something brilliant during the ritual (hey, it could happen). A year and a half has passed since the first one was made; I have still yet to actually listen to it.

Why? Because I LOATHE listening to my own voice, more than most people do. One of the techniques used in speech therapy is to have you listen to a tape of your own voice. My voice sounds nothing like I think it does. And my phone voice, which might end up being my podcast voice, doesn't even sound like my ordinary voice...there is always that first couple of times a person talks to me on the phone; they are never quite sure that it is really me, and not my wife.

And yes, I sound like a woman on the phone. Proof of this happens everytime a telemarketer calls me "Miss" on the phone.

So bottom-line: Don't expect to hear my charming voice on your iPod anytime soon. I do not care how much you think it might be helpful to hear how I say certain terms---if I have to listen to the podcast before releasing it, then it is not going to happen.

(Needless to say, these comments also apply to video podcasts.)

1 comment:

Frater Yechidah said...

If it's any consolation I hate listening to my own voice too. I think everyone does. My Radio teacher in college said something about it being that we hear our voices differently in our head due to something or other (I probably wasn't really listening :P), which means they sound deeper in our head than they really are. Oh well!

LVX,
Dean.