Ugh, cheap fix that won't last.

Ever tried setting a timer?

Cutting reverb on my vocals made them way clearer too.

Stumbled upon an interview once where a creator mentioned how draining those quick park or grocery store interactions can be. They said the silence isn't personal, it's just that their social battery for the day is often completely used up from being "on" for the camera. Your compliment was likely appreciated, but they might have just hit their limit. Maybe next time a simple smile and nod is the way to go, just as polite and quick.

My buddy Alex found an old barber's strop in his dad's garage last year, tucked behind some paint cans. It was this crazy thick piece of leather, almost like a belt but denser, with the stamp from a local tannery that closed in the seventies. He said it had no flex at all, just a rigid board that still had dried old compound in the grain. That thing probably hadn't been touched in twenty years and the leather showed zero wear, nothing like the floppy ones he buys now.