When I hear myself sing, which I only do in my car to and from work everyday now just to practice (which is about 2 hours total), I actually like the way my voice sounds. It is at least tolerable.
My workplace also sells a huge number of products, one of which is earplugs. So again while singing in my car, but with earplugs this time, I still like the way my voice sounds regardless of if I have one or two earplugs in. Not quite as much as without the earplugs but I still like it.
I started this practicing after I just tried winging it after buying a Sterling Audio ST51 Large Diaphragm FET Condenser Microphone and it sounded terrible. Thinking back I was probably singing out of my pitch range which made it difficult to keep the notes I was trying for, but it still sounded terrible even when I sang the same part but an octave or two lower just for an attempt at harmony.
It embarrassed me to the point where I went and bought Melodyne from a friend. I haven't had a chance to use this with my DAW yet due to his version being old and incompatible with it.
Anyways, after doing a decent amount of research and also having a couple lessons on recording and mastering vocals in this free class I attend, I realized that I hadn't done anything terribly wrong when I tried recording my voice. I added a compressor and EQ'd it to raise the bass and high frequencies since it sounded seriously lacking in bass tones. I was an appropriate distance away from the mic. Since the room I'm in has a TERRIBLE echo, I recorded myself in between a little fort I made out of my comforter. I did this because I used to be in a band way back in high school and we recorded in a studio once and the guy liked us so was explaining a lot of what he was doing since we didn't technically pay him to mix or master our recordings but he was a good guy ^_^.
Anyways even after all of this, I still sounded like I was 13 in that stage where my voice is cracking. It wasn't literally cracking, but the high parts sounded atrocious.
What gives? For the tl;dr type, how do I get that sound from my head that I like? I thought wearing earplugs was supposed to make you hear your voice more as it actually is.
I remember reading somewhere about how your not used to hearing how your voice actually sounds and something with how your brain automatically blocks the common wavelengths in your voice to improve hearing other things or something? Please any help would be appreciated. I know my voice is not good or anything special but I honestly don't think my voice is that bad