0342 – Vocal Proxemics – Part 2

2021.12.08 – 0342 – Vocal Proxemics – Part 2

So, you have a different voice when you are with your lover in the ‘Intimate Zone’ (a very soft level that you might use to tell a secret to a friend or whisper ‘sweet nothings’ to a lover), than you use to a room of people in a ‘Public Zone’ (a louder volume used in front of lots of people who may be further away).

Translate that into the studio situation. The ‘Personal’ voice level is one to use when you’re neither making-out… nor want to shout. It’s this voice level that’s best for communicating with people via broadcast, podcast or video. You give the impression you are sharing your thoughts with one single person in the room with you, about 2 metres away – the other side of the studio desk, say. After all, most of your radio or podcast listeners are alone when they consume your content (ok, ‘alone’ but multiplied many times over), so simply speak as though you are in the room with one of them, not all of them.

Imagine them sitting the other side of the desk in your ‘Personal Zone’, and talk to them in that voice. Don’t talk to the microphone or to the other side of the room, talk to the empty chair opposite you, and you should get the projection of your voice about right.

It’s a bit like the ‘point of focus’ you have when you are looking at an object depending on how near or far away it is. Let’s call it ‘a point of vocus’.

Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart

Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection and projection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a career spent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode!

And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTER BROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE.

Look out for more details of the book during 2022.

Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart

Peter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. 

He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (see contacts clink above) and presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with various formats. He has read tens of thousands of news bulletins and hosted 3,000+ podcast episodes.

The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience?

This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects.

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