Perfectionism

[Availle]

One of Phil's - unfortunately too rapidly changing - signatures was:

When a child begins to walk and falls down 50 times, she NEVER says to herself: "Maybe this is not for me".

And another pearl of wisdom from the depths of the internet I found very enlightening (and true):

Never worry 'bout what other people may think.
They don't do it that often.

[Johndec]

The above pearls of wisdom reminded me of a great philosophy I always try to keep in mind:

If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.
― Ecclesiastes 11:4

[commonsparrow3]

What you said about your dad is very, very moving and I thank you with all my heart for sharing it with me so freely. I have a little booklet, in which I write everything down that I want to remember...it's something like my treasure chest for thoughts and words. Your dad's sayings "Close enough for folk music" and "We're not lost, we're having an adventure" will find their way into my booklet in a minute, as they express so lovingly what life is all about.

My dad was an encouraging person. It's nice to think that he is still encouraging folks.

You've created a wonderful website, Maria, full of deep thoughts and poems that speak to my heart...I'd love to add it to my favourites if this is okay with you.

Thank you for the kind words! I haven't written anything new on that website for a long time, until just recently. But of course it's okay with me if you want to read my old stuff!

One of Phil's - unfortunately too rapidly changing - signatures was:

When a child begins to walk and falls down 50 times, she NEVER says to herself: "Maybe this is not for me".

I love this one! Well, actually, I love all of Phil's ever-changing signatures! They've brightened many a day!

[ClaudiaSterngucker]

@Availle @Johndec Yes, these 3 quotes are fantastic and taken right out of real life! Each of them makes me reflect on my own behaviour and maybe...hopefully...a little bit wiser. Merci!

[ClaudiaSterngucker]

I'm having a serious problem with these mouth noises and clicks. I'm afraid that they ruin my recordings. I agree, mild mouth noises can easily be ignored and taken as human and natural. But mine are not acceptable anymore; by now, I cannot even listen to my own recordings anymore, without feeling annoyed and disgusted by my mouth and lips. I'll go to a pharmacy and ask for a spray containing artificial saliva; maybe the extra moist helps keeping even my mouth noises at bay.

[moniaqua]

Ehm, are they not acceptable to you or are they also not acceptable to others? As far as I know you by now I guess, they only aren't acceptable to you

For the noises - drink plenty of plain water (might also be hot water with nothing in it or some nice tea), relax(!!!) and then - the techniques one uses for singing also help here. It's all about having the right balance between relaxing and tension in the right places. You anchor your breath in your belly, like you fill a glass from the bottom up. The chin is relaxed an open, you smile only with the eyes ("glücklicher Dorftrottel-Blick" - bitte Wertungs-frei sehen). The breath comes out slowly, belly - well, it will go in, but as reaction, don't push! The breath you need will fall in all by itself after the phrase, just keep your mouth and throat open and relax ("reflektorische Atemergänzung"). And what comes in then will be enough, as long as you don't push or are tense or some other things we all tend to do, promise!

[commonsparrow3]

Several months ago, I was driving myself nuts trying to get rid of what I thought were unacceptable jaw-movement clicks in my recording. My MC reassured me that what seemed so loud and obvious to me was actually barely noticeable and completely normal and acceptable. I think we all tend to hear our own noises more acutely than other people do.

[ClaudiaSterngucker]

@moniaqua @commonsparrow3 Thank you so much for your quick answers and your support and understanding! These mouth noises almost drove me to desperation this afternoon. You two are angels!


I printed out your advice and quickly memorised all points - and it helped! I concentrated so much on avoiding these dreaded mouth clicks that I didn't even notice how tense I was in my belly, mouth, throat, neck, shoulders and jaw. I couldn't believe my ears when I listened to my recording afterwards, but the mouth noises had diminished considerably (the good and loud laugh I had when I read "glücklicher Dorftrottel - Blick" had a very relaxing effect, too. Yeah, dieser Blick is familiar...hihihi ). I can see now how breath control and a good technique can make all the difference! Mille mille grazie! Now, I will practice to maintain these good posture, relaxation and breathing habits for longer recordings, too...it's all too easy to fall back into being tense and breathing wrongly after a few sentences.

[aradlaw]

Well Claudia, I've never had issue with your Weekly Poetry readings.

[ClaudiaSterngucker]

@David Most probably, you are a gentleman that simply ignores all my clicks!

It's pure luck that I've been able to make one single weekly poem - recording (out of so many attempts) with a more or less acceptable amount of mouth noise, really.

[moniaqua]

Hm. And Peter Plapperblatt, there it was luck, too? Definitely I didn't have any issues with mouthclicks or so and I am not a gentleman

[Newgatenovelist]

Hello Claudia,

I heartily agree with the advice you've received. Drinking more water helps to minimise the mouth noises. And yes, things that sound deafening to us when we're listening on headphones probably won't even be noticed by listeners.

One small tip I would add is not to close your lips at the end of a sentence or phrase. I don't know if this is something that will help you, but I know it's something that's helped me. I think most of us do it naturally when speaking, and then, when we start to speak again, there's a little pop/click at the start of the next sentence when your lips part to speak. (I'm not trying to make you feel self-conscious, I just know how I feel when listening to my own files.) This isn't something to worry about, but perhaps it's another trick you can test.

Erin

[lurcherlover]

Hello Claudia,

I heartily agree with the advice you've received. Drinking more water helps to minimise the mouth noises. And yes, things that sound deafening to us when we're listening on headphones probably won't even be noticed by listeners.

One small tip I would add is not to close your lips at the end of a sentence or phrase. I don't know if this is something that will help you, but I know it's something that's helped me. I think most of us do it naturally when speaking, and then, when we start to speak again, there's a little pop/click at the start of the next sentence when your lips part to speak. (I'm not trying to make you feel self-conscious, I just know how I feel when listening to my own files.) This isn't something to worry about, but perhaps it's another trick you can test.

I would certainly agree with this - and would advise that you just accept them and/or forget about them.

Mic technique can help a lot. Depending on the type of mic you are using (polar pattern i.e. cardioid - omni etc) you could with an omni speak across the mic rather than into it at a distance of say 18 inches or in your currency 45 cm. Adjust the gain just a little and then if necessary increase the gain a bit more in Audacity or whatever DAW program you are using. This means the clicks are not getting into the mic too much and are not getting too much recording gain, and any later adjustment (increase) will be minimal and not have much of an effect on the odd click.

With a cardioid or hyper-cardioid mic you should avoid speaking from the side(s) as this will colour the recording - a lot with a cheaper mic - not so much with an expensive mic with better design. But avoiding clicks by not closing mouth - or opening mouth more slowly - may be the best solution.

In fact I've just experimented much to my Lurcher's amusement, and found that very fast mouth opening makes quite a lot of noise, whereas slow or very slow makes little or none at all!

[ClaudiaSterngucker]

I'm very thankful for your great and extremely helpful advice and your infinite patience with me. I think this is very special...all of you in this forum are very special! I wrote a list with all of your advice; and I use it as a check list before recording - just like a captain uses his check list before taking off. I hope that with time and a LOT of practise, all these important points will become second nature to me, too. I'm doing my best to heed your advice as good as I can! Mille mille grazie!

[Newgatenovelist]

The advice has all been sound, but perhaps the number one thing I ought to have said was to be patient with yourself. These things take time, or at least they did (and do) for me. You're trying to learn lots of new things at once, and all while you're trying to form new, positive habits, too. It can seem like quite a lot. Just give yourself time and eventually it will come. You might not even realise how much progress you've made until you look back after more time has passed. It's sort of an evolution...