0360 – Volume and Your Vocal Strength

2021.12.26 – 0360 – Volume and Your Vocal Strength

A loud voice, when it is necessary, comes from having a good foundation in ‘vocal strength’, and as we saw earlier, the foundations of that come from things like good breath support, how you sit and stand, and relaxation. It’s a bit like a family car and a supercar: they can both do 50mph but the supercar will do it more easily and comfortably with more support. It is a capability more within its range.

When you raise  your voice and shout, your larynx is raised, and you produce a loud, high and strident voice - you don’t shout with a low voice. Simply using volume verging on shouting without support, can cause tension in your upper body and damage your vocal folds leading to a loss of voice or sore throat. Speaking loudly, rather than shouting, produces less range and folds that are strained.

Conversely, talking quietly may have its roots in a physical problem, or indeed cause one. You may have an inherent weakness in your vocal cords, or a breathing problem (either to do with your lungs or maybe your frame). If you ‘choose’ to talk quietly or not very often, your voice may grow weak from lack of use. Whispering can cause ‘vocal troubles’: lots of air going through strained cords is not good for them, so simply speak softly instead.

The Goldilocks volume (not too loud, not too soft, but just right), is your real, conversational one, in which you can use your full natural vocal range without it being forced or faked, too high or low, too loud or soft which may lead to damage.

Remember your voice is the instrument through which you make your living.

And again, breathing is the key thing. Breath is your ‘volume controller’ and it all starts with diaphragmatic breathing.

We looked at this early on in the course – breathing using your stomach muscles. Doing this means you take in more oxygen more efficiently and avoids strains on parts of your body that aren’t meant to be used for breathing, such as your back, neck and chest muscles.

You can control your projection using the same stomach muscles you use in good breathing, and as you might expect, good projection is also an effect of confidence, which will give you better breathing and a better voice too.

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. 

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