0351 – Sounds That Drown

2021.12.17 – 0351 – Sounds That Drown

What loudness means

‘Authority’ does not mean talking loud. ‘Authority’ comes, as we have seen before, from understanding the story and having the confidence to explain its significance to your listeners, with appropriate vocal expression. 

The louder you are, the more control of a conversation or of someone you are trying to achieve. That’s not ‘authority’, that’s ‘bullying’. 

Shouting does not necessarily mean excitement. It does, though, usually mean simply more noise.

Sounds that drown

If you were live at a busy event, a party, building site, factory or roadside for example, you’d naturally project your voice so you are heard over the background. So it stands to reason that if you are recording a voiceover where you have background atmos that is either played in as you record, that you also project to similar extent, to create ‘audio authenticity’. (The script may say something like “factory sound effects (SFX)” or could even be more specific, such as “Sacha is loading the machine with wooden planks in the factory”.

You need to work with the director or studio producer so you create a mix that is believable - and that of course is tricky if the effects are mixed in at a later stage in the production process, after you’ve gone. You’d also have to rely on having being told that, in the mixdown, you would appear to be ‘on location’, so you’d use appropriate projection in the recording, and are neither yelling or being drowned out.

The same goes for a music track (a ‘bed’) underneath your voice: the levels of you and it in the mix need to sound natural to the listener so they can hear you and also be moved by the music, as the director requires.

Achieving the best result will be a combination of projection, distance from the microphone, and the recording levels set by the producer or studio engineer. And a good sound will also be achieved by your imagination: whether the effects are being played-in ‘live’ as you record or not, try to imagine that you are in the location indicated by the script. Visualise yourself doing what your character is described as doing, delivering the lines written, and to the target audience that’s been outlined to you, and what they may be doing as they listen. Yes – act!

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. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.