0352 – Screaming And Shouting – Part 1

2021.12.18 – 0352 – Screaming And Shouting – Part 1

Screaming and shouting

It may be that a script, say in an animation, calls for you to scream – the epitome of projection. This can potentially cause damage to your folds if you don’t prepare correctly, and could limit your work for the next few hours, days or longer.

‘Hydration before violent projection’ is part of the answer. Wet folds are less easily damaged than dry ones slamming against each other. But as we have seen this is more than sips of water on the day, your whole system needs to be hydrated ahead of a screaming session, more than ever.

Another classic tip that’s as useful for ‘extreme screams’ as any other voice work, is the warming up. Don’t go in and simply shout at the top of your voice, you need a lead up to such pressure on your voice. What’s important here is the warming up of the folds and throat which we have seen before, such as swooping up and down the notes in your range with hums, or low ‘err’ sounds into vocal fries, for example.

For the shout or scream itself, st and up so you have the best airflow for the sound and projection. Be well-grounded (again we looked at this before), so with a ‘steady stance’ with (to paraphrase Paula Abdul), one foot forward, one foot back and the soles firmly on the floor. You may also want to loosen the knees a little. A variety of semi or full crouching positions may help you get a more guttural, natural sound, and gesticulations (perhaps arms aloft or out wide, or maybe fists) may also help in the characterisation.

You won’t need to do a great ‘lungful of air scream’. The bigger your breath in, the more pressure will be built up, and the greater the tension in the throat as that carbon dioxide is driven over the folds. So try a ‘less airified’ projection and see if you can achieve a similar sound with less harmful results.

Beware of overly-tensing your body for the shout or scream. You are already going to put the body under pressure vocally and it may feel natural without you realising it, to tense your throat, raise your shoulders and freeze your face as you make the sound, but a more relaxed body may achieve the same sound without putting your ‘frame under strain’ so much.

Watch the levels on the mic, so stand back from it and turn the levels of the recording and headphones down!

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. 

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flow

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