Cathy Hay | Part 2

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by PlainSalted »

Koalaty_knits wrote:
Sun Apr 24, 2022 7:17 pm
PlainSalted wrote:
Fri Apr 22, 2022 1:40 am


I don’t know what it’s going to be like, but the word ‘retreat’ gives me the ick due to the way it’s often used by self-help gurus. But this one is free and online, so I don’t see many ways in which it’ll be that bad. I think it’ll just be some self-help speakers talking about self-care and w plug for FR. Nothing new.
It's like you've watched it! I'm working on the first video. It's over an hour, and is a lot of self-help. The videos all get deleted on Friday, because she doesn'y want them clogging up our schedules.
Can you share the link to people who aren’t signed up?
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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by popmypopcorn »

Voilá! After holding out the carrot, the enrolments are suddenly open for new subs 8-)

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by HillCountry_254 »

I have always tried to watch Cathy's YouTube videos because I like the orderly, methodical pattern design process. I say that I have "tried" because I have unsubscribed numerous times because I became too frustrated with the low, cracking whisper voice that she employs. I am an American, so I admit that some part of my frustration might be because of the accent differences. But she has admitted that the cracking whisper is a deliberate affectation that she adopted, and she has said that she is working to eliminate it. She obviously does it for attention. It did seem to be improving in her most recent YouTube videos, so I joined the retreat invite. Unfortunately, the cracking, croaking whisper is in full force on the retreat videos. During the first few seconds of each video, her voice has been louder and clearer...but then it immediately descends into an unintelligible mess. I could not even tell you what each video is about, because I cannot make it thru more than a minute or two here and there without shutting it down.

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by sporkspeaks »

The inconsistency with her voice is more than a bit off-putting to me. When she gets into the whispery, crackly region, it might as well be an ASMR video which is a complete turn off.

Did she say that the affectation is from an abusive relationship or something?

She obviously puts in an effort with editing and filming. It would be nice if she spent a little of that energy on speaking as clearly as she can to communicate with an international audience.

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by Mako Shark »

sporkspeaks wrote:The inconsistency with her voice is more than a bit off-putting to me. When she gets into the whispery, crackly region, it might as well be an ASMR video which is a complete turn off.

Did she say that the affectation is from an abusive relationship or something?

She obviously puts in an effort with editing and filming. It would be nice if she spent a little of that energy on speaking as clearly as she can to communicate with an international audience.
I remember a few years back her putting out a video explaining her voice, and yes, it had something to do with a former partner that frequently complained she spoke too loudly, or something along those lines. She started speaking more softly as a result and supposedly it stuck. I thought I recalled her saying she was getting some form of vocal coaching to rid her of the habit, but it doesn’t seem to have made that much of an impact.

Assuming it’s true, I can somewhat sympathize. I had a former research mentor who told me I sounded “whiny” every time I disagreed with him, regardless of how diplomatic I tried to be and how carefully I chose my words. Eventually I developed a complex about it and believed my speaking voice must somehow be inherently unpleasant, and I began modulating my voice much lower and softer. After a while, a female colleague tipped me off to the fact that my mentor did that with ALL women because he noticed that calling us “whiny” would immediately cause us all to stop arguing.

I worked with a speech therapist to regain my normal speaking voice, but it only took me a couple of months until I was back to normal. I suppose that could be different for everybody though. Then again, with CH I’m always a touch skeptical.

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by chipn dip »

she adopted the whisper as she claimed her partner at the time said they preferred when she didn't use her 'teacher voice' on them

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by Iamnothere »

She said the whisper is due to a past abusive relationship, and was seeing a coach to help her with it (not sure if she still is). I can't comment on how long it "should" take to work through it, as we have no idea the depth of what she experienced, and healing varies between person to person. We only know what she shared, and with her saying it stems from an abusive situation, I just leave it at that.

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by Koalaty_knits »

PlainSalted wrote:
Mon Apr 25, 2022 7:51 am
Koalaty_knits wrote:
Sun Apr 24, 2022 7:17 pm


It's like you've watched it! I'm working on the first video. It's over an hour, and is a lot of self-help. The videos all get deleted on Friday, because she doesn'y want them clogging up our schedules.
Can you share the link to people who aren’t signed up?

That's the link for the first one. I have to say, I'm not super impressed that they get deleted, or disabled, after Friday. It's her content, and she can do whatever....just please don't pretend disabling the videos is for my benefit.

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by PlainSalted »

Koalaty_knits wrote:
Wed Apr 27, 2022 2:27 pm
PlainSalted wrote:
Mon Apr 25, 2022 7:51 am


Can you share the link to people who aren’t signed up?

That's the link for the first one. I have to say, I'm not super impressed that they get deleted, or disabled, after Friday. It's her content, and she can do whatever....just please don't pretend disabling the videos is for my benefit.
Thanks!
It’s to create that sense of exclusivity that she uses a lot in her marketing. Either you’re in or you’re out. None of this is for our benefit
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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by popmypopcorn »

The titles sound like blogs written 10-20 years ago. Practice and you'll get better day-by-day, wow holly crap! Now that's a table turning relevation! :roll: Maybe she's reaching out for young sewing-reenacting newbies, idk, but I don't feel the urge to listen to 1-1,30 hour long vlogs about the same old thing, no matter how talented she or her friends are (of whom I could not recognize anyone, perhaps y'all might know 'em)...

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by Koalaty_knits »

As someone who was totally 'there' for all things Cathy Hay/Foundations revealed a couple years ago, and reading what a lot of people wrote on the live chat......it really thrives off people who are sad/feeling aimless. There's a video later where Foundations revealed ''success stories'' talk about their process and how they liked the group, and I think one with the 'mentors'. Considering it took me all week to get through one, I don't think I'll get that far.

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by popmypopcorn »

Koalaty_knits wrote:
Thu Apr 28, 2022 7:10 pm
As someone who was totally 'there' for all things Cathy Hay/Foundations revealed a couple years ago, and reading what a lot of people wrote on the live chat......it really thrives off people who are sad/feeling aimless. There's a video later where Foundations revealed ''success stories'' talk about their process and how they liked the group, and I think one with the 'mentors'. Considering it took me all week to get through one, I don't think I'll get that far.
IMHO majority of this apathy is due to the last 2 years of lock-downs & restrictions :( Making a new dress feels completely aimless, if nowhere to wear it.

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by hysterically_adq »

sporkspeaks wrote:
Tue Apr 26, 2022 3:01 am
She obviously puts in an effort with editing and filming.
But does she? She isn’t Noelle, but she isn’t putting all that much effort in. She has an editor so she isn’t spending time there. She isn’t Abby with multiple takes and jump cuts. So, it isn’t like the editor even has that much coverage to work with. She has one camera she speaks to and another maybe for close ups if what she is working on calls for it. She has good equipment, yeah.

Her effort goes mostly into her self help bent and then of course the jacket or whatever she is working on.

I would like to see her work on her voice only because she made public her struggle. She doesn’t owe it to anyone to keep us abreast of her progress or challenges in that area. However, it’s like the elephant in the room since she did make videos about it in the past and it’s one of the few things that set her apart (in addition to her talent but lack of productivity and her age which I find refreshing given she is not in the average age of costubers.)

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by Julienne »

hysterically_adq wrote:
Sat Apr 30, 2022 1:49 pm
sporkspeaks wrote:
Tue Apr 26, 2022 3:01 am
She obviously puts in an effort with editing and filming.
But does she? She isn’t Noelle, but she isn’t putting all that much effort in. She has an editor
Hiring an editor is an effort. An expensive one. And a smart one. Shaming someone for hiring an editor is like shaming a historical accuracy costume nerd for not making their own shoes. as if the self-made ones would necessarily be any good.

But then I prefer costubers who can sew over costubers who can film and edit and then spent three days to fuck around with a five seconds shot but can't be bothered to spend five minutes on inserting a closure.on their historybounding wardrobe that they supposedly wear in real life.

There is a reason why all the popular costubers who make their own well shot or edited videos have shitty, unfinished or basic clothing. Karolina Z's is held together by glue and duct tape. BB is a year overdue on her Edwardian white dress and Rachel Maksy's finishes all her clothing in three days and they look like it.

As for Noelle, she did mention once that her friends told her that they enjoy when she put the most random (off-putting) stock music over her sewing montages. I wonder what other helpful (off-putting) editing tips were sent Noelle's way.

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by Ezzy »

HillCountry_254 wrote:
Mon Apr 25, 2022 11:59 pm
I have always tried to watch Cathy's YouTube videos because I like the orderly, methodical pattern design process. I say that I have "tried" because I have unsubscribed numerous times because I became too frustrated with the low, cracking whisper voice that she employs. I am an American, so I admit that some part of my frustration might be because of the accent differences. But she has admitted that the cracking whisper is a deliberate affectation that she adopted, and she has said that she is working to eliminate it. She obviously does it for attention. It did seem to be improving in her most recent YouTube videos, so I joined the retreat invite. Unfortunately, the cracking, croaking whisper is in full force on the retreat videos. During the first few seconds of each video, her voice has been louder and clearer...but then it immediately descends into an unintelligible mess. I could not even tell you what each video is about, because I cannot make it thru more than a minute or two here and there without shutting it down.
You and I have the same feeling and experience with CH then. I just can't stand her voice, I unsubbed long ago. Sometimes I return to see if something changed, or if she made any progress on whatever before all the PD drama. I just can't watch more than a couple of minutes though, so I usually just skip through her videos to see if anything interesting happens and I leave it at that. Her personality doesn't resonate with me and the voice is off-putting and fake in my opinion. And I'm allowed to have one.
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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by parodia1347 »

No update since April 1st? :(

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by hysterically_adq »

parodia1347 wrote:
Sat May 07, 2022 7:50 am
No update since April 1st? :(
Her watch count has dramatically dropped since the peacock dress fiasco. Her sewing videos regularly got her 100k views or more. She was lucky if her self help videos got her half that number of views. Yet, her last two sewing video view counts are on trend with her pre-peacock self help videos. She simply isn’t making the view count that she did during the peacock dress series and her channel isn’t growing.

I wonder if her heart isn’t into making videos anymore? Especially when it feels like the kind of videos she likes to make are the self help variety and the audience isn’t really there for it (those numbers are lower still than pre-peacock.)

I’ve noticed that with everything opening back up and events coming along again, those that have a business outside of being a content creator are making less video content. I don’t blame them (and I wasn’t shaming anyone above either. I *wrote* Cathy hired a editor so she wasn’t spending her time editing. The reply was in regards to where Cathy is spending her time. She has had an editor for awhile, so the time spent finding one has been long spent and she isn’t spending time now editing.) Maybe the payout for just posting the final dress on Instagram is larger than the payout for making a video (or a series of videos) for YouTube? If people are following you because they just want to see the end product of your make then Instagram might be the proper medium. Why bother making a series of videos if the people who watch them only want to see if you actually get the thing done?

I mean, Rachel’s audience doesn’t really care about her end product. Rachel’s product is her and by connection her video style. They cheer her on even when she is vulnerable and shares a fail. People are watching for Rachel. On the other hand, Cathy’s real product is Foundations Revealed. If YouTube videos aren’t driving new sign ups there then why make monthly videos? Just post on Instagram the final product and use that to drive people to your business.

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by popmypopcorn »

The pattern drafting vids' views are gradually halves of the prior. She should learn the lesson here: people aren't into the same content over-and-over-and-over-again. Watching her fussing with such a simple pattern is emberassing for the viewer after awhile, she had the possibility to keep us engaged with this project, but not at this pace. Right now I feel the same way too: just show us the finished mantle for mercy's sake! CH please make a 1 hour long pattern drafting vlog and move on to the next phase with your future projects!

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by Deanna »

Ironically the PD discourse drove massive numbers to CH's channel, and all those people are leaving again. I don't think that's a bad thing--those were not her customers to begin with. But she seems to be struggling to hold onto her target audience too, which is potential FR customers. I think a slightly higher pace when it comes to videos might help--I think most of us are over the pattern vlogs and want to move to *making the dress.* She has literally moved houses tho, so I can't fault her for missing April. Curious to see what May will bring.

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Re: Cathy Hay | Part 2

Post by Nisidhe »

Deanna wrote:
Tue May 10, 2022 2:11 am
Ironically the PD discourse drove massive numbers to CH's channel, and all those people are leaving again. I don't think that's a bad thing--those were not her customers to begin with. But she seems to be struggling to hold onto her target audience too, which is potential FR customers. I think a slightly higher pace when it comes to videos might help--I think most of us are over the pattern vlogs and want to move to *making the dress.* She has literally moved houses tho, so I can't fault her for missing April. Curious to see what May will bring.
It's possible that the entirety of the drama surrounding the PD (the estrangement with BB, the potential financial cost of the dress overall, her funding for said project) has dug at even her core audience. I would be surprised if Foundations Revealed was sustainable long-term because of the "exclusivity" when there are multitudes of sources offering similar information for free or far lower cost. FR relies on a) her ability to employ multiple experts with both the knowledge and the empathy for students to present their information in an entertaining and helpful way, and b) subscribers' willingness to pay for such close collaboration in the learning process. If she can't keep that presentation going on FR, FR won't last long on a shrinking income.

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