WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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Flash, the old timey sounds that
recall baseball from the '20s

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were equal parts
acting and technology.

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Hey guys and dolls.

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Trace here with the
latest in vocal repartee.

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One of my favorite things to
do when I'm doing a fake accent

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is an old timey
newsreel announcer.

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Just throw on a quick flash
and then use normal sentences.

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It sounds way better.

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Flash, rebels take
the planet of Endor.

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So why did those
guys talk like that?

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Firstly, they didn't
actually talk like that.

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They announced like that.

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And they acted like that.

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Around the turn of
the last century,

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America was still proving
itself as a nation.

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At the time, parts
of the Northeast

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and mid-Atlantic regions
had a certain affectation

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in their accent.

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It was like a blend of
British and American,

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but not entirely either.

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It came from certain groups
of the American aristocracy

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and fell out of favor
after World War II.

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It was also taught as a manner
of speech for Hollywood actors.

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You might recognize the accent
from someone like Cary Grant.

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Well, I imagine you've had wide
acquaintance amongst policemen.

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I'll have to call one
if you keep that up.

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But when you electronically
record the human voice,

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things get even stranger.

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It was recently discovered that
French bookseller douard-Lon

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Scott de Martinville
was the first to record

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the human voice.

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In 1857, de Martinville
patented the phonautograph,

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a simple device that recorded
the vibration of sound waves

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onto soot-covered paper.

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That invention
eventually evolved

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into Edison's phonograph,
which could actually

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play the sounds back.

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But it sounded really tinny.

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This had to do with
the lack of technology

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at the time for capturing bass.

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And as recording and
reproduction improved,

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the sound got better,
and reproduction, more

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and more accurate.

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Then we were presented
with a new problem--

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we hated the way our
voices sound when

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it was recorded, right?

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What the hell is that?

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In case, you're wondering, yes,
that is what you sound like.

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And a higher pitched
version of yourself

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is really what it is, with a lot
more [ANNOYING SOUND] in there.

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But when you speak,
you can hear yourself.

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So why does it sound different?

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Your bones.

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Sound vibrates everything
around it, including our bones.

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So when we speak our voice,
goes out of our mouth,

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through the air, and
then into our ears.

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But it also goes
through our skull

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and resonates into
the backs of our ears,

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making our voice sound deeper.

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So why do we hate it so much?

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Because mirrors lie.

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They lie to you,
and you lie to you.

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We spend our hives looking
in the mirror perfecting

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how we think we look.

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But that is not you.

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That's a reverse image.

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Your left side is you right.

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Your right side is your left.

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The whole world is upside
down-- well, flipped anyway.

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We spend our lives perfecting
the sound of a voice

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that only we hear.

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So when we hear it
as others do, it's

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similar to the one
we know and love.

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But it's not quite right.

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What is your favorite accent?

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British?

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Southern?

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Jack Sparrow?

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Throw your favorites,
and why, in the comments

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so we can talk all about it.

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Thanks for tuning in
to DNews everybody.

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Find us on social media.

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We are out there.

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I'm Trace.

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See you later.