Hillary Clinton promoted job creation and gender equality during a speech she gave Saturday night in Detroit, but MSNBC's "Hardball" was less interested in what she said than how she said it.

"One of the trickier things to teach people about public speaking is that the microphone works, you don't have to actually yell," MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell told "Hardball" host Chris Matthews, noting that "there's a private version of Hillary Clinton that's very winning and very charming, that's because there's no microphone."

"When you're going up every octave with every word, people are like, I have to get some popcorn and get away from this," former RNC chair Michael Steele said. "You'd think after all the years, she would figure that out."

The former secretary of state's speaking voice has long been a topic of conversation. Various pundits, including Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward and Fox News' Geraldo Rivera, have referred to her voice as "unpleasant," "unrelaxed" and "bitter." Even Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, who also has a tendency to raise his voice, said Clinton's "shouting" was "uncomfortable."

Although most of the criticism has come from men, Matthews insisted that "it had nothing to do with gender." He pointed out that Trump wouldn't be remiss in softening his tone.

Watch the conversation in the video above, and check out her Super Saturday speech below: