u/Flimsy-Stomach-8804

I’ve been playing guitar for a few years (only as a hobby for myself really, never tried performing or anything) and I’ve recently been trying to learn to sing so that I can actually have full songs rather than just unaccompanied guitar. As the title says, I have a few questions and could do with some advice.

1. How does this sound?
   I feel like when singing in this sort of falsetto-ish/head voice/mixed register (some parts are falsetto for sure, but not sure what the rest classifies as tbh), there is a very fine line between something that sounds really good and something that is painful to listen to, but I find it quite hard to judge myself as I’m used to my own voice.

2. Does anyone have any taps/advice when it comes to avoiding mucus in the throat when singing?
   I get very bad hay fever and seem to have some form of post nasal drip type thing all year round. Generally not a huge issue, but has been a noticeable issue since I’ve started trying to sing. In lower registers it isn’t as much of a problem, but I’ve noticed especially with any sort of falsetto, it always feels like I need to clear my throat. I’ve seen that you shouldn’t cough or aggressively try to clear your throat, so I try to avoid that, but what is the other option when I feel it build up half way through a song? You can probably hear it a little at certain points in this clip. I have slight asthma also, so I might just be a lost cause😂, but again, any tips/advice is appreciated

3. What should I trust more? Headphones or my phone speaker?
   With any recording I make, I listen back through AirPods, and a lot of the time I can think it sounds pretty solid, but if I play it through my phone speaker, I always thing it sounds off and way worse. Obviously in terms of audio quality this is expected, but I feel like it affects things that are not explained by that. My voice starts to sound slightly out of tune with the guitar (don’t get me wrong, there are some pitch issues through headphones too, but it seems so much more frequent through the speaker), my voice starts to sound much more flat and dull (flat tone, not in terms of pitch necessarily), everything just generally sounds worse. When I listen to others through both and compare, I notice the expected audio quality difference, but I don’t notice anywhere near the same level of drop off in their actual voice. Is this just a mental thing? Or maybe with the way I record? I don’t have any mics or anything, so literally just record myself playing and singing at the same time on my iPhone in a pretty open room. Or is there something else?

Sorry for such a long post, but I thought I’d ask everything at once rather than making multiple posts.