Get A Better Broadcast, Podcast and Voice-Over Voice
1,002 episodes - English - Latest episode: 9 months ago - ★★★★ - 4 ratingsYear THREE of short daily episodes to improve the quality of your speaking voice.
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 VOICE OVER VOICE.
Look out for more details of the book during 2024.
Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart
Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021, 2022, 2023 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.
The 'Peter Stewart' show is perhaps of great interest to those in broadcast voice overs, the broadcast voice, how to start a voice podcast, broadcasting voice training, your speaking voice, breathing technique, and conversational speaking. You may also find it useful if you are searching for information on voice coaching, voice training, voice overs, podcasting, broadcasting, presenting, being a voice over actor and newsreading, audio branding, public speaking, the recorded voice, vocal tips, performance, vocal health education, vocal technique and voice over training.
Music credits: all Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
"Beauty Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flow
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Episodes
0400 – Pauses To Engage Attention Before Significant Content
February 04, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.7 MB2022.02.04 – 0400 – Pauses To Engage Attention Before Significant Content To engage attention before significant content A brief moment of silence adds suspense, adds anticipation and indicates incoming important information that may require attention. “This just in from Downing Street” [pause] “There are new rules for the lockdown…” “We are just getting news in from Paris…” [pause] “The Princess died at around 4.30 this morning…” “A statement from The White House in the last few minu...
0399 – Pauses As Script Divisions
February 03, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.43 MB2022.02.03 – 0399 – Pauses As Script Divisions As script divisions to aid understanding Pauses divide a script into ‘sense groups’ for the ‘heard word’, the same way that a comma or full stop/period does for the written word. A dash or ellipses (…), comma, full stop/period, paragraph, page or chapter – they all indicate in text or when translated into speech, different kinds of pause to help marshal thoughts and aid understanding. In these situations, the length of the pause may dif...
0398 – The Importance Of Pauses In Lists
February 02, 2022 00:01 - 4 minutes - 2.5 MB2022.02.02 – 0398 – The Importance Of Pauses In Lists Sometimes you have a list of two or three items in a sentence: So, on an airline when the cabin crew offer you a meal (we used a similar example previously): “Would you like chicken or fish with vegetables or pasta?” Are you being offered: · “Would you like chicken / or fish with vegetables / or pasta?” o Chicken, fish with vegetables, or pasta? · “Would you like chicken or fish with vegetables / or pasta...
0397 – My Manager’s A Jerk…
February 01, 2022 00:01 - 1 minute - 1.07 MB2022.02.01 – 0397 – My Manager’s A Jerk… “What’s that on the road ahead?” “What’s that on the road, a head?” A pause can make all the difference between seeing traffic problems, and the scene of a murder… If your friend said to you: “My manager who’s in the New York office / is a jerk” the pause would indicate that they have more than one manager, and they are referring to the one in New York, rather than the one in London or Paris. If instead they said “My manager / who’s in the N...
0396 – Pauses As A Signpost To Meaning
January 31, 2022 00:01 - 1 minute - 928 KB2022.01.31 – 0396 – Pauses As A Signpost To Meaning As well as the above reasons, you pause to help signpost the sense of the sentence. You can pause between setting up a statement and presenting it: “Crafted in stunning 9ct white gold / each of these studs boast a brilliant-cut solitaire diamond.” You can pause to make a statement stand out: “This / is the BBC” or as I say at the end of my podcast: “From London / I’m Peter Stewart” But the meaning is the key-thing. Remember that for ...
0395 – When We Pause
January 30, 2022 00:01 - 1 minute - 960 KB2022.01.30 – 0395 – When We Pause When we use a pause Not all pauses are created equal. We use them to help both the reader and the listener in many different ways. Pauses – together with intonation - aid understanding Pauses should be at speech-natural places within a script, rather than appearing at random within it. But you don’t pause at every comma or after every phrase. The commas are there in the main to help you and not to dictate to you and to break whenever you reach one will ...
0394 – Don’t Fear The Silence
January 29, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.67 MB2022.01.29 – 0394 – Don’t Fear The Silence “Pauses strengthen the voice. They also render thoughts more clear-cut by separating them.” Rhetorica ad Herennium - the oldest surviving Latin book on rhetoric, dating from the late 80s BC Broadcasters can fear silence. We want to have a wall of sound on air – music and talking, or music and talking. It causes some people to talk, without ‘saying anything’, verbal diarrhoea just to keep the volume meter waggling on the studio desk. Sile...
0393 – Pauses: An Introduction
January 28, 2022 00:01 - 1 minute - 988 KB2022.01.28 – 0393 – Pauses: An Introduction PAUSES The huge majority of this book is about noise and sound. From how words are written to how they are uttered … their volume, intensity, pitch and pace. But now we’re going to look at what’s missing. Literally. The silence. The bits between the words. The change of pace that’s a reduction to a complete standstill: the pause. Pauses are hugely important and effective, and they go hand-in-hand with ‘pace’. They are perhaps t...
0392 - How Fast We Can Speak… and Listen
January 27, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.67 MB2022.01.27 – 0392 - How Fast Can We Speak… and Listen? How Fast Can We Speak? “In just 600 milliseconds, the human brain can think of a word, apply the rules of grammar to it and send it to the mouth to be spoken.” How Fast can We Listen? The average rate of speech for an American is about 125 words per minute; the human brain can process about twice that speed (“the average adult can readily comprehend spoken audio at 2X speed or at a compression rate of 50%. This roughly corresponds...
0392 - How Fast Can We Speak… and Listen?
January 27, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.22 MB2022.01.27 – 0392 - How Fast Can We Speak… and Listen? How Fast Can We Speak? “In just 600 milliseconds, the human brain can think of a word, apply the rules of grammar to it and send it to the mouth to be spoken.” How Fast can We Listen? The average rate of speech for an American is about 125 words per minute; the human brain can process about twice that speed (“the average adult can readily comprehend spoken audio at 2X speed or at a compression rate of 50%. This roughly corresponds...
0391 - Backtiming 2
January 26, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.55 MB2022.01.26 – 0391 - Backtiming 2 Of course, the duration of a song or a report is known in advance, but there are variables such as live interviews (especially with non-professional guests who may talk in in half-sentences or whole paragraphs!). At the end of a show, presenters may adlib to fill time, or a buffer item such as a weather report is included, which can often be extended or cut short depending on an over- or under-run. On radio, presenters can often dip a song to get to a new...
0390 - Backtiming 1
January 25, 2022 00:01 - 5 minutes - 3.68 MBBacktiming Some stations or programmes hand back to a network (possibly automatically) at a certain time. As this has to be ‘to the second’ there may be silence (‘dead air’) if a presenter ends too early, or a ‘crash out’ if their output is taken over mid-way through a sentence or story. So, each script is timed at the average speaking rate of three words per second. With this figure, the presenter or producer calculates the time they need to have started reading the script by, if they are...
0389 - How To Talk To Time
January 24, 2022 00:01 - 1 minute - 967 KB2022.01.24 – S2024 – 0389 - How To Talk To Time A sense of timing can be developed in the same way as an experienced driver can tell the speed of a car as it passes, or while they’re in it, and with experience you will be able to slightly adjust your reading rate ‘speedometer’ (or a ‘read-ometer’!) to say, shave a second or two off a script: · Taking shorter breaths – or longer ones (that can be edited out) that will allow you take fewer breaths over the duration of the script · ...
0388 - Talking To Time
January 23, 2022 00:01 - 1 minute - 1.05 MB2022.01.23 – S2023 – 0388 - Talking To Time One of the skills of a broadcaster is being able to talk to just the required length of time to ‘hit a junction’ (for example, a news bulletin or commercial break), up to the vocals in a song introduction or before a ‘music bed’[1] runs out. Similarly, a commercial voice over artist must be able to talk to time, to fit the approved copy into the time allowed for that commercial, while keeping correct characterisation, inflection, phrasing and pau...
0387 - Rehearsing Your Read-Speed
January 22, 2022 00:01 - 1 minute - 954 KB2022.01.22 – S2022 – 0387 - Rehearsing Your Read-Speed Rehearsing Your Read-Speed Ever seen the rehearsal rooms from the tv shows “Strictly Come Dancing” or “Dancing With The Stars”? You will have seen, or can imagine, how the pros show the celebs the steps: slow to start, then get fast. And it’s like that with learning a new instrument, a new song, heck even reading itself … and now with script-reading: start slow, practice getting your tongue around the words, a phrase at a time. Pra...
0386 - Slow-Speed Speed Traps
January 21, 2022 00:01 - 1 minute - 922 KB2022.01.21 – S2021 – 0386 - Slow-Speed Speed Traps · By itself, reading slowly does not make you sound more authoritative or serious. You still have to understand the content, have intentional intonation, proper pronunciation, a sense of context and so on. · And neither does a slow read, by itself, make a script easier for a listener to understand. Telling a tale like a tortoise may actually make it more difficult to absorb – the listener becoming so frustrated with your rela...
0385 - Slowing Down To Highlight Importance
January 20, 2022 00:01 - 1 minute - 1.04 MB2022.01.20 – S2020 – 0385 - Slowing Down To Highlight Importance Saying a single word or phrase slower, slightly elongating its pronunciation, highlights it within a sentence and so can be used as part of your arsenal to highlight its importance. These variable speeds contrast with the text around it, and therefore take on additional significance. · “The cost is over one-billion pounds…” · “The death toll stands at fifty-thousand people” · “The statue is ove...
0384 -The Message Given By ‘Slowing Your Talking’
January 19, 2022 00:01 - 1 minute - 1.06 MB2022.01.19 – S2019 – 0384 -The Message Given By ‘Slowing Your Talking’ · Slower speed may add tension, or suspense before a surprise, (and you can use the pause – which we discuss later - as a ‘drumroll’ before a punchline, or a release) · A slower speed is often required for a video voiceover, to give the viewer time to absorb any images or graphics on screen · Complex, sadder or formal content may benefit from a slower, calmer pace · Slowing your pace will ...
0383 - The Message Given By ‘Slowing Your Talking’
January 18, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.56 MB2022.01.18 – S2018 – 0383 - The Message Given By ‘Slowing Your Talking’ · Slower speakers can be seen as ‘slow-witted’, overly-thoughtful and lacking in confidence… · Or as so super-confident they can go at their own speed, despite what others may think, they may be thoughtful and considering every nuanced word in what they say. Again the context and content of your message will help you decide which image you want to project. · Or be perceived as tired - as though th...
0382 - EXTREMES OF SPEED - The Slower Read
January 17, 2022 00:01 - 1 minute - 1.07 MB2022.01.17 – S2017 – 0382 - EXTREMES OF SPEED - The Slower Read EXTREMES OF SPEED - The Slower Read “Slow down, you move too fast, You got to make the morning last” The 59th Street Bridge Song (“Feelin’ Groovy”), Simon & Garfunkel 1966 If you want to communicate an important point well, naturally, you may need to fight the urge for urgency. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
0381 - The Speed of T&Cs
January 16, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.17 MB2022.01.16 – S2016 – 0381 - The Speed of T&Cs These ‘disclaimer statements’ are often heard at the end of an ad … so, after the enticing offer comes the ‘boring bit’ and information on the limitations. Let’s be honest, the client doesn’t want to highlight this detail and certainly doesn’t want to spend vital airtime having it read at the same speed as the main deal. But in 2008 the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority ruled[1], perhaps not unreasonably, that disclaimers on radio adverts ...
0380 - Fast Talking Speed Traps 2
January 15, 2022 00:01 - 1 minute - 867 KB2022.01.15 – S2015 – 0380 - Fast Talking Speed Traps 2 · A fast read can lead to reduction in intonation, leading to a machine-gun fire style as you rush to squeeze more script into fewer seconds · If you are reading quickly, you have less time for your eyes to ‘read ahead’; and your brain to process what’s coming up … which could lead to more tongue-tied talking · Saying a word or phrase faster tells your listener that it is ‘insignificant information’ (remember we c...
0379 - Fast Talking Speed Traps
January 14, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.09 MB2022.01.14 – S2014 – 0379 - Fast Talking Speed Traps Some people speak fast naturally and can still be understandable and engaging. But: · If you read a script too fast, then for the listener it might be like watching the landscape from an express-train window: they get a general idea, but not a full understanding. To use another analogy: they will be gobbling down your nuggets rather than digesting them · If you talk too fast, there’s a chance people will miss things, the d...
0378 - The Message Given By Talking Fast
January 13, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.52 MB2022.01.13 – S2013 – 0378 - The Message Given By Talking Fast The Message Given By Talking Fast · Fast talkers are often seen as confident and clever. It’s almost as though they have so much great content to share that they can’t wait to get it all out…. · Or they can be perceived as nervous and excitable, unable to control themselves, “letting their tongue run away with them”. So, think of the image you are giving when you rattle off like a cattle-market auctioneer: verb...
0377 - Being Chased By The Music
January 12, 2022 00:01 - 6 minutes - 3.79 MB2022.01.12 – S2012 – 0377 - Being Chased By The Music · You are being ‘chased by the music’ Many presenters like to talk with music running underneath them. Such a track is called a ‘bed’. It makes them feel safe and less exposed as they can pause for a moment and know that there’s no silence or ‘dead air’. But music beds can encourage someone to talk too fast as presenters confuse pace for ‘momentum’ or ‘excitement’. Although your delivery should mirror the bed (a lugubriou...
0376 - The Script’s Too Long Or The Time’s Too Short
January 11, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.22 MB2022.01.11 – S2011 – 0376 - The Script’s Too Long Or The Time’s Too Short In a commercial voice-over situation, the duration of the piece is of the essence. If the spot has to be a certain length (to fit with the pictures, or because that’s the duration that has been bought, or it’s the duration of all commercials on that network so all breaks are balanced on different transmitters), then that is the length it has to be. This can cause some problems: · The script writer might ha...
0375 - Why You May Talk Fast
January 10, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.3 MB2022.01.10 – S2010 – 0375 - Why You May Talk Fast · Fast-talking may be from how you were brought up. Perhaps you had several siblings and in a busy home you had to take any gap in a conversation to blurt out your contribution as fast as possible, and then keep talking to keep attention and ‘hold the floor’ · It may be that you have developed a fast-talking speed: perhaps as a sports commentator in a fast-moving play-by-play event such as basketball or ice hockey where you ha...
0374 - Extremes Of Speed: The Faster Read
January 09, 2022 00:01 - 1 minute - 1.28 MB2022.01.09 – S2009 – 0374 - Extremes Of Speed: The Faster Read EXTREMES OF SPEED - The Faster Read Usually, your listeners won’t have a second chance to process what it is that you have said. There’s no easy ‘rewind’ button on live radio or video and certainly not in an auditorium presentation. When speaking face to face, we can change our pace in response to the feedback we get and our feeling of their understanding of the topic – but not with pre-recorded audio, or live audio in a rad...
0373 - Changing speed within a story
January 08, 2022 00:01 - 6 minutes - 3.94 MB2022.01.08 – S2008 – 0373 - Changing speed within a story Changing speed within a story On occasion you may change the speed within a paragraph or a story: starting slowly because of the content which is new, important and serious: ‘Multiple fatalities this morning, as a bus carrying commuters into the city, left the road and mounted a pavement in Stockbridge…’ And then, when giving information later in the story that is less important, throwaway or a ‘filler fact’, speeding up sli...
0372 - When You May Change Your Reading Rate
January 07, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.73 MB2022.01.07 – S2007 – 0372 - When You May Change Your Reading Rate For example, a weather script on a sunny summer’s day may be quite rushed – listeners are expecting it to be blue sky and high temperatures. But tell them about a forthcoming storm and your speed will slow (and your tone will also change) to reflect the severity of the situation. A lighter story can be read more quickly than a serious one, a complex story will be presented more slowly (although not patronisingly so) than a st...
0371 - Changing Your Reading Rate
January 06, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.22 MB2022.01.06 – S2006 – 0371 - Changing Your Reading Rate Changing Your Reading Rate If you speak too slowly an audience may lose interest; if you speak too quickly, they may lose the thread of what you are saying. If you keep up the same pace throughout you may sound like a wall of sound – or a smartspeaker A.I device with a monotonous pace and style of delivery. It’s important therefore to consider variety if you want to move your content from ‘boring’ to ‘absorbing’. Having a subtl...
0370 - The Average Read Rate
January 05, 2022 00:01 - 4 minutes - 2.73 MB2022.01.05 – S2005 – 0370 - The Average Read Rate The Average Reading Rate This is one which is comfortable for the reader, clear to the listener, and which suits the style of the content. For example, on a radio station that could be anywhere between 140 and 220 words per minute, depending on whether it’s a music station or a news station. The standard calculations are: · Conversational speed - about 150 words per minute · A scripted read (spoken with more fluency and ...
0369 - Your Natural ‘Read Rate’
January 04, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.75 MB2022.01.04 – S2004 – 0369 - Your Natural ‘Read Rate’ YOUR NATURAL READ-RATE There is no ‘correct’ speed to read. It is likely to be determined by: · the amount you have to say · the time that you have got to say it in · the content of the script and · the energy that you are being asked to bring to it. Let’s take a look at each of those. With a commercial voiceover, it may be that you are asked to say “Probably the best lager in the world” and make i...
0368 – The Speed of the Read
January 03, 2022 00:01 - 4 minutes - 2.56 MB2022.01.03 – S2003 - 0368 – The Speed of the Read With voice skills I often think of one of the last scenes of the classic film “The Wizard of Oz,” when Toto pulls away the curtain to show the Wizard pulling various levers, spinning dials and cranking handles. Reading aloud or presenting, also involves changing (albeit with more finesse and care) so many different ‘settings’: your pitch, tone, projection, and also your speed (sometimes called ‘the tempo’). In this chapter we’ll look at th...
0367 - The Speed of the Read - Introduction
January 02, 2022 00:01 - 5 minutes - 3.36 MB2022.01.02 - S2/002 - The Speed of the Read - Introduction A new year and a new topic to get your teeth in to. Today, an overview of the skills in reading fast and slow, and everything in between - including dead slow or stop: the pause! Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021, 2022 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 ...
0366 – A Look Ahead To Season 2
January 01, 2022 00:01 - 5 minutes - 3.41 MB2022.01.01 – S2001 – A Look Ahead To Season 2 Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021, 2022 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 ...
0365 - The End of Season One
December 31, 2021 00:01 - 4 minutes - 2.96 MBIn which I look back at the voice topics covered in Season 1 of the unique, daily podcast series. 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 wonder...
0364 - Bonus Guest Episode - Live Announcing
December 30, 2021 00:01 - 9 minutes - 5.3 MBThe last of three bonus episodes in which I’m joined by a fellow broadcaster and voice over artist ANTHONY DAVIS with his own insight and perspective on voice and presentation skills. Anthony is a British broadcaster, writer and voiceover artist, born in London and now based in LA, he’s worked on radio and TV shows, in news and presentation, and has voiced campaigns and commercials, documentaries and live events. Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart Through thes...
0363 - Bonus Guest Epsiode - Voice Overs and Accents
December 29, 2021 00:01 - 7 minutes - 4.4 MBOver three bonus episodes I’m joined by a fellow broadcaster and voice over artist ANTHONY DAVIS with his own insight and perspective on voice and presentation skills. Anthony is a British broadcaster, writer and voiceover artist, born in London and now based in LA, he’s worked on radio and TV shows, in news and presentation, and has voiced campaigns and commercials, documentaries and live events. Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart Through these around-5-minut...
0362 - Bonus Guest Episode - Mics and The Fonzie Factor
December 28, 2021 00:01 - 8 minutes - 4.48 MBOver the next three bonus episodes I’m joined by a fellow broadcaster and voice over artist ANTHONY DAVIS with his own insight and perspective on voice and presentation skills. Anthony is a British broadcaster, writer and voiceover artist, born in London and now based in LA, he’s worked on radio and TV shows, in news and presentation, and has voiced campaigns and commercials, documentaries and live events. Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart Through these aroun...
0361 – Projection Through A Mask
December 27, 2021 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.2 MB2021.12.27 – 0361 – Projection Through A Mask As I write this, the world is still mid-pandemic, and even though the use of masks has declined somewhat it’s a chance to write some notes on what we have learnt since early 2020. Wearing a mask: · it is harder to be heard, which can lead to a strained voice o so, you need to be clearer with your diction · it is harder to be heard, which can lead to a muffled voice o so, you need to consider a greater variety of modulation,...
0360 – Volume and Your Vocal Strength
December 26, 2021 00:01 - 3 minutes - 1.88 MB2021.12.26 – 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 s...
0359 – Volume, Mics and Processing
December 25, 2021 00:01 - 1 minute - 1.22 MB2021.12.25 – 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 re...
0358 – Volume In Character
December 24, 2021 00:01 - 1 minute - 916 KB2021.12.24 – 0358 – Volume In Character A certain volume or projection may be part of a character you play – perhaps in an animation, video game, commercial, voiceover or book reading. You need to be able to recall the vocal characteristics of that character so they sound the same page after page, or (hopefully) booking after booking. You can make notes describing the level but that can be a tricky. What you may find better is a description of who you ‘channel’ when in character, the kind o...
0357 – Volume Variety
December 23, 2021 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.28 MB2021.12.23 – 0357 – Volume Variety One of the most important tools to use to engage and persuade is a variety of voice volume - there is a huge power in dropping or raising your voice. To read every story with the same projection level is wearing on your voice and on the listeners’ ears and is not conducive to understanding. Information as a wall of sound is less-easily interpreted than ‘light and shade’, where you might present significant news with more projection than a lighter ‘and fin...
0356 – Getting A Louder Voice
December 22, 2021 00:01 - 1 minute - 1.18 MB2021.12.22 – 0356 – Getting A Louder Voice This obviously depends on which of the above issues (or others) is the cause but here are a few pointers: For (suspected) physical reasons – consult your family doctor or GP in the first instance about issues to do with breathing, and talk with them about a possible referral to an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) specialist, or a speech therapist. For confidence issues – speak with a doctor about any worries, insecurities or anxieties you may have an...
0355 – Reasons Why Some People Talk More Softly
December 21, 2021 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.64 MB2021.12.21 – 0355 – Reasons Why Some People Talk More Softly There may be physical, psychological and social reasons someone speaks softly. Physical: · Weakness in their vocal cords or breathing problems · Nerves can lead to a feeling that your vocal cords are ‘closing down’ – we looked at this previously – a mental attitude that can lead to tension and shallow breathing · Lack of practice! If someone has not spoken for a while, perhaps working from home, their voic...
0354 - Voice Extremes: The Softer Voice
December 20, 2021 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.04 MB2021.12.20 – 0354 - Voice Extremes: The Softer Voice The softer you sing, the louder you're heard Donovan, musician, ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine (9th November 1967) We saw some elements about a quieter voice earlier, when we looked at the situations in which we used different volumes, and compared ‘loud’ with ‘soft’. The advantages of the ‘soft sound’: · People responded better to being ‘connected with’ rather than being ‘talked at’. It’s a matter of ‘telling not yelling’ · ...
0353 – Screaming And Shouting – Part 2
December 19, 2021 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.25 MB2021.12.19 – 0353 – Screaming And Shouting – Part 2 Remember that screaming and shouting isn’t necessarily about sheer volume. A similar affect may be achieved perhaps by a shaking voice and a whimper, an “urgh” or exclamation may replace a ‘level eleven’ guttural shout. And even if you are specifically screaming or shouting, the microphone itself can do a lot of your work for you. After all, you’re in a recording studio, not an open-air theatre, and the effect of loudness can be made mo...
0352 – Screaming And Shouting – Part 1
December 18, 2021 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.38 MB2021.12.18 – 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...