0359 – Volume, Mics and Processing

2021.12.25 – 0359 – Volume, Mics and Processing

Studio work is different from stage work: as we have already discussed you usually don’t need to be projecting your voice or raising it beyond the level of a normal animated conversation with someone sitting close to you. That is, a level that if someone was siting almost touching you, they’d neither lean in to catch what you were saying, nor move away. Presenters who shout, are often pushing their listener away from them. Again, it is this real, conversational voice that will connect you with your audience. 

Having said that, it can be tricky to gauge your volume when you’re wearing headphones … and when you are using a sensitive mic … and perhaps faced with a desk of volume knobs and faders which may also have altered your sound.

A tip here is to take your headphones off from one of your ears. Listening to yourself through headphones gives a false sense of our voice, it’s ‘too close’ and unnatural (we don’t hear ourselves like this when we talk with friends), and therefore won’t help a natural read. Take an ear off, and you will better connect with your ‘real you’, with less projection and promotion, and more authenticity and credibility. You’ll be focussing more on what you’re saying to entice, engage, explain, educate, entertain… and less oh how you’re saying it. Just like in life. 

(There’s more on mic technique, later.)

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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