Get A Better Broadcast, Podcast and Voice-Over Voice
1,002 episodes - English - Latest episode: 8 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
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Episodes
0151 – Length Is Not Important
May 30, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.56 MB0151 – Length Is Not Important One problem is often that people write the same way they used to write essays at school or university, or are too used to writing in a business setting – reports, and presentations and so on. Another is that they write to be read with the eye, not read with the mouth. Put those two factors together and you have scripts, whether for news or voiceovers, which are often unwieldly and overwritten, too formal and too formulaic. So don’t write to be read, talk t...
0150 – When We Write For The Eye And Not The Ear
May 29, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.62 MB0150 – When We Write For The Eye And Not The Ear Here are some of the scripts I refer to in today's episode: The new three-tier system for coronavirus restrictions has come into force in England. We are used to hearing information in conversations in a certain pattern – a rhythm and a structure. Therefore, scripts should mimic that style if we are to read them aloud with ‘conversational conviction’. In short: write the way you talk. So, let’s help you, with my copy about ‘copy’, that yo...
0149 – If A Script Is Easily Understood By The Reader, It’s More Easily Understood By The Listener
May 28, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.63 MB0149 – If A Script Is Easily Understood By The Reader, It’s More Easily Understood By The Listener Big-buck, big-brand broadcasting businesses have brilliant creatives and productions. But there’s also elearning, internal videos, podcasts. And with calls for more voices, the scripts come from more sources, and that’s where problems creep in. A bit like everyone thinks they are a photographer because they’ve got a camera on their phone, or can be a voice-over because they’ve been talking s...
0148 - Why A Good Script Can Help Your Presentation
May 27, 2021 23:01 - 1 minute - 1.18 MB0148 – Why A Good Script Can Help Your Presentation So, why is a good script important in helping you get a better voice?: It will be clearly laid out Sentence structure will be clear The sentences will be short-to-medium There will be an understanding of rhythm in the sentences For voice-over scripts, they will have clear ‘production direction’ Any awkward words will be clearly signposted and explained And many more! And yet, a lot of scripts are simply ‘not great’! == Through ...
0147 – How Better Writing Leads To Better Reading
May 26, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.5 MB0147 – How Better Writing Leads To Better Reading How a script is written can make a huge difference to how you read it. So first we’ll look at preparing your own script, and then we’ll look at how to mark-up someone else’s and how to identify what you need to inflect and why, where you need to pause and so on. Not every presentation needs to have a specific word-for-word script. Obviously a signed-off commercial campaign needs to have one, so too a news bulletin or documentary voice over:...
0146 – How To Say Acronyms, Dates, Numbers and Scores
May 25, 2021 23:01 - 6 minutes - 4.51 MB0146 – How To Say Acronyms, Dates, Numbers and Scores Acronyms Acronyms are sometimes spelt out and sometimes read as words. There is AEE union, the Association of Engineering Employee (“A-double-E”), but then again there is the teaching group “BECTU” (“BECK-too”) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is more commonly known as ‘AIDS’, the office of president is ‘POTUS’. Dates In most parts of the world, the format is day > month > year, but in the US it’s month > day > year, so the ...
0145 – Word Blindness
May 24, 2021 23:01 - 4 minutes - 2.94 MB0145 – Word Blindness We all have words with which we have ‘blocks’ when it comes how to say them. This may be because of a fear of pronouncing them incorrectly and looking daft or because you simply find them awkward to say. In the first category, there’s where you put the stress in the word ‘laboratory’ (it’s not the same as in ‘lavatory’ – which I’m always fearful of doing). There’s an obvious fear of mixing up the initial syllable of ‘country’ when you mean to say ‘county’, and ther...
0144 - How To Make A Word Easier To Say
May 23, 2021 23:01 - 5 minutes - 3.72 MB0144 – How To Make A Word Easier To Say Writing a pronunciation phonetically One of the easiest ways to write a word phonetically is to break it down into syllables, clearly indicating any inflection and run-on sounds, for example aluminium is written as al-you-MINNY’m’ – with the run-on indicated at the end of the word with the ‘m. Be careful if you write that a word “rhymes with…”, as in doing so you may be presuming to know how their accent pronounces that other word! Let’s take the...
0143 – Saying An Awkward Name Is Not A Game
May 22, 2021 23:01 - 4 minutes - 3.17 MB0143 – Saying An Awkward Name Is Not A Game People’s names Like places, these can often be awkward to pronounce: are Smith and Smyth said the same way, or is that second one ‘smithe’? What about Cholmondeley (actually pronounced ‘chum-ly’), or the surname Death (which is often said as Dee-ATH). “Eyewitness John Montmorency (pron: MONT-mor- ENSY) says at least a dozen police vehicles are at the scene…” The acclaimed British actress Julie Hesmondhalgh has such an unusual name, her...
0142 – The BBC’s Official Pronunciation Test - The Answers
May 21, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.53 MB0142 – The BBC’s Official Pronunciation Test See how accurately you would have read this script, I’ve borrowed from one of the BBC’s online training courses: “Police in Fife say they’ve seized heroin worth £30 million in a raid on a house in the Kirkcaldy[1] area. Other officers are searching a barn near Kingussie[2] where a 27-year-old man was arrested earlier today. More arrests have been made at Machynlleth[3] and Pwllheli[4] in Wales, Puncknowle[5] in Dorset, Ansty[6] in West Sus...
0141 – The BBC’s Official Pronunciation Test
May 20, 2021 23:01 - 1 minute - 1000 KB0141 – The BBC’s Official Pronunciation Test See how accurately you would have read this script, I’ve borrowed from one of the BBC’s online training courses: “Police in Fife say they’ve seized heroin worth £30 million in a raid on a house in the Kirkcaldy area. Other officers are searching a barn near Kingussie where a 27-year-old man was arrested earlier today. More arrests have been made at Machynlleth and Pwllheli in Wales, Puncknowle in Dorset, Ansty in West Sussex and at Maghabe...
0140 – Quirky Ways Of Saying A Word
May 20, 2021 11:30 - 5 minutes - 3.38 MB0140 – Quirky Ways Of Saying A Word Local and regional pronunciations As far as local pronunciations go, any regional TV or radio station should have a written guide (and perhaps an audio one as well) to unusual names and places in their area, thereby reducing the possibility of newbies falling headlong into pronunciation bear-traps and taking the station’s credibility with them. Listeners may not care (or know) if you mispronounce the name of the city of Vienna in Georgia, USA (it’s ‘...
0139 – Pronouncing Foreign Words
May 18, 2021 23:01 - 6 minutes - 4.22 MB0139 – Pronouncing Foreign Words Foreign names Foreign names can be quite awkward to come across, but with the increasingly global village, they are much more likely to appear. A produced commercial script should have been past so many people to sign it off, that a pronunciation is supplied. If it’s not, perhaps in the case of a news story, a call to native speaker of that language (or maybe the country’s embassy or consulate) might be helpful. Alternatively, there may be some occasions...
0138 – Pronunciation Guides
May 17, 2021 23:01 - 6 minutes - 4.25 MB0138 – Pronunciation Guides Pronunciation guides Pronunciation guides are available online: use a reliable one such as ‘The Oxford BBC Guide to Pronunciation’[1]. For BBC staff, the Corporation has its own Pronunciation Unit whose staff are on hand to answer questions especially on newly-emerging names. For that of a foreign politician who is suddenly in the news, the experts are able to quickly carry out brief research of person, their country of origin and language to see what the ‘ro...
0137 – Misheard Words
May 16, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.78 MB0137 – Misheard Words Communication confusion A particular problem in clear communication may occur for your listener if they mishear one word for another which could make sense – but have a very different meaning. Depending on your accent: “Can” may sound like “can’t” – “The president said he can/can’t support the bombing” “Facial” is very similar to “fatal” – “The driver received facial/fatal injuries” “Million” can sound similar to “billion” – “… will cost seven million/billion pound...
0136 – Why English Is Such A Tough Language To Learn
May 15, 2021 23:01 - 1 minute - 1.21 MB0136 – Why English Is Such A Tough Language To Learn VOICE BOX Our Strange Lingo[1] The Chaos I take it you already know Of tough and bough and cough and dough? Others may stumble, but not you, On hiccough, thorough, lough and through? Well done! And now you wish, perhaps, To learn of less familiar traps? Beware of heard, a dreadful word That looks like beard and sounds like bird, And dead: it's said like bed, not bead— For goodness sake don't call it deed! Watch out for mea...
0135 – Pismronunciation Errors
May 14, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.9 MB0135 – Pismronunciation Errors Some speaking errors may be because of a lack of understanding of the language (maybe if English is a second language), not having seen it written down, or having seen it but not heard it.[1] [1] A colleague once pronounced the English city Middlesbrough as ‘middles-BRUF’ as they’d never heard it said before (it’s ‘MIDDLES-brer’). == Through these under-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading...
0134 – “Where’s My Demmyster?”
May 13, 2021 23:01 - 4 minutes - 3.05 MB0134 – “Where’s My Demmyster?” PRONUNCIATION You may have superb articulation, with every twist of the tongue and every placement of the palate and location of the lips perfect in every way, but how you say an individual, specific word is incorrect.[1] Pronunciation is linked with articulation, but also includes the subtleties of the light and shade of stress and intonation within a word (which we’ll help you with in a later chapter). And as we will see, better pronunciation is also...
0133 – Verbal Fluidity
May 12, 2021 23:01 - 4 minutes - 2.99 MB0133 – Verbal Fluidity Verbal fluidity A little fluidity in your speech sounds more melodic than the almost-stuttering caused by giving stress to very single letter, down to, literally, the last ‘t’. The Prime Minister said she wanted to go ahead, but we don’t know the President’s response. You would be unlikely to sound the ‘m’ in “Prime” as doing so would cause a stop between that sound and the following sound, also an ‘m’. So, run them on to say “priminister”, but not “pry m...
0132 – Diction For Communication
May 11, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.66 MB0132 – Diction For Communication Diction for communication Times and expectations change, so exacting and over-clear clarity of every single syllable is usually unnecessary. It can make you sound at best old-fashioned and at worst pedantically petulant. Heck, even the Queen has changed how she speaks![1],[2] So even though there are few calls nowadays for a cut-glass pronunciation such as Celia Johnson in the 1945 film “Brief Encounter”[3], appropriate diction is still important for...
0131 – The Voice Over Wannabe Who Faked His Audition Tape
May 10, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.4 MB0131 – The Voice Over Wannabe Who Faked His Audition Tape “I’ve been chewing a lot of gum, and I’ve only found one with an all-day flavour … pop it in your mouth in the morning and it’ll be pepperminty right through til nightime. The name? ‘Five Gum’ – find it in a cool black pack. Five Gum – for all day flavour.” == Through these under-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection and projection, the roles played by bette...
0130 – Overcoming Articulation Issues
May 09, 2021 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2 MB0130 – Overcoming Articulation Issues Some articulation issues may be because of a physical problem with the tongue or palate. Winston Churchill, actors James Stewart, Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis, and James Earl Jones, and singer Carly Simon all had similar problems which they overcame.[1] Whether it’s rhotacism (unusual pronunciation of the letter r, or too much emphasis on this sound), a lisp (the sound produced when s and z are pronounced like a soft ‘th’ sound), stutter (repeating s...
0129 – More Of The Most Common Articulation Alterations
May 08, 2021 23:01 - 5 minutes - 3.18 MB0129 – More Of The Most Common Articulation Alterations Distortions – either in vowels or consonants, sometimes down to a regional accent Omissions (or deletions) – when certain sounds are not included Syllable errors - weak syllables are left out of the pronunciation == Through these under-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 techni...
0128 – Some Of The Most Common Articulation Alterations
May 07, 2021 23:01 - 4 minutes - 2.58 MB0128 – Some Of The Most Common Articulation Alterations Here then, are some of the most common ‘sound-alterations’ to ‘standard English’ articulation. Substitutions - Swapping sounds (or, when reading, ‘letters’) for other sounds Additions - Including extra sounds, where they don’t exist Affectations – ‘putting on’ a pronunciation because of a misplaced sense of ‘coolness’ or ‘authority’, and sometimes those pronunciations becoming recognised new words or spellings. == Through t...
0127 – The US Waitress Who Didn’t Understand My UK Accent
May 06, 2021 23:01 - 5 minutes - 3.26 MB0127 – The US Waitress Who Didn’t Understand My UK Accent VOICE BOX It is well acknowledged that we often adapt our diction or pronunciation to fit in with those around us. If you’ve ever spent time in another country or another area of your own you may have started to speak in a similar way to those who were born and raised there. A friend of mine who moved to the north of England speaks with a southern accent until she talks about the bathroom, when ‘barth’ is replaced with ‘bat...
0126 – Don’t Be A Dick With Your Diction
May 05, 2021 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.46 MB0126 – Don’t Be A Dick With Your Diction DICTION If ‘articulation’ is the process of moving the jaw, tongue, lips and palate to produce different sounds, ‘diction’ is the use of those different ‘packets of sound’ to create understandable words. Don’t be a dick with your diction Again, as I have said several times, I’m not saying you must or should change the way you speak, I’m just putting these ideas out there to be of some help if you want to change. And remember it doesn’t real...
0125 – Ten More Great Accent Tips
May 04, 2021 23:01 - 5 minutes - 3.23 MB0125 – Ten More Great Accent Tips Some other accent tips · Vocal fillers of other languages may also be important · You have to have a good ear… and a good mouth · Listen to authentic, native speakers, speaking in an English accent · That a character’s voice is more than just their accent · Just focus on one accent at a time · Practice and get confidence by using your newly-learnt accent on people who don’t know your real one Some ...
0124 – Accents Are Not Just How A Word Sounds
May 03, 2021 23:01 - 5 minutes - 3.62 MB0124 – Accents Are Not Just How A Word Sounds Accents are not just how the words sound All accents have a character. Think of a soft projection of highland Scottish, a harsher New-Yorker, the slow drawl of someone from a southern U.S state, the almost operatic excitability of an Italian speaker. Of course, everyone is different but there are ‘cultural averages’ and is partly to do with the melody or song of the accent. Italian has one kind of melody and ‘bounce’, German has another,...
0123 – How A Rat Can Help You Learn A New Accent
May 02, 2021 23:01 - 4 minutes - 2.88 MB0123 – How A Rat Can Help You Learn A New Accent Unsurprisingly, you can learn other accents via mimicry: simply listening and accurately repeating how a native speaker speaks, including the subtle nuances. And there are some resources to help you do that. There are several short texts (including “Arthur The Rat”, “Comma Gets A Cure” and “The Rainbow Passage”) which are contain all of the phonetic constructs in the English language – every consonant and vowel structure, and when one ...
0122 – How Different Languages Have Different Pitches
May 01, 2021 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.13 MB0122 – How Different Languages Have Different Pitches VOICE BOX Language experts[1] say that our speech is made up of a huge number of frequencies – base tones and overtones. It’s claimed that every language has a different range, for example British English moves between 2,000 and 12,000 Hz and French much less so between 125 and to 2,000 Hz and Russian between a wide 125 to 12,000 Hz. It’s thought that a new-born baby can recognise the entire range of human speech sounds, but by ...
0121 – Learning Accents
April 30, 2021 23:01 - 4 minutes - 3.02 MB0121 – Learning Accents Learning accents We looked at vowels and consonants earlier and how they are formed, and it’s true to say that accents are usually down to how you sound the vowels. Yes, consonants are sometimes pronounced differently from your native tongue, but they are much more likely to be the same. There are vowel sounds in some languages that do not exist in standard English. So it’s not a matter of making the same sound but in different situations, you have to first perf...
0120 – Speaking’s Most Important Body Part
April 29, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.62 MB0120 – Speaking’s Most Important Body Part What is the most important part of the human body when it comes to speaking? Arguably the ears: we need to be able to hear sounds and process them before we can reproduce them. And similarly, we all adapt to be able to process different people’s voices. So, scientists say, it is amazing that even though my vocal anatomy is different from yours, if we met we would both be able to hear and understand each other. We are able to calibrate our b...
0119 – The ‘Global Accent’
April 28, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.85 MB0119 – The ‘Global Accent’ A global accent With around 2 billion speakers (either as a first or second language), English is the most understood language in the world. Spread by traders, invaders and slave owners, explorers, teachers and preachers through the printed word and, literally, the word of mouth, it’s now mostly learnt via American TV and films (rather than, unfortunately, through the culture of its motherland). It is though the language of entertainment, information and bus...
0118 – How Advertisers Use Accents To Sell Us Stuff
April 27, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.58 MB0118 – How Advertisers Use Accents To Sell Us Stuff VOICE BOX Marketers know exactly how to manipulate our feeling towards different accents. Call-centre switchboards are so sophisticated that they often route calls from different geographical locations or from customers with specific enquiries, to operatives with certain accents. So a bank customer from Alabama might get an adviser with a similar Southern accent, even though the call centre may be at the other end of the country. T...
0117 – Voice Morphing
April 26, 2021 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.2 MB0117 – Voice Morphing Voice morphing There’s is nothing wrong in having two or more speaking styles: a ‘personal voice’ and a ‘professional voice’. Linguists refer to ‘style shifting’: a kind of chameleon camouflage in which we unconsciously or deliberately alter our speaking style depending on who we are talking with and factors such as our perception of the relative social class of us and them, and what we want from the interaction. We all do it all of the time: one to use with f...
0116 – The Story Of Bailey And The Beach
April 25, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.3 MB0116 – The Story Of Bailey And The Beach Bailey was brought up in New Zealand and so spoke English with that fantastic accent. She was a great newsreader and applied for a job at a radio station in the south-east of England. The news editor didn’t mind the slightly different inflection, Bailey was perfectly understandable and her slight accent added a certain point of difference to the sound of the station. Just because her vowels in ‘short e’ words like ‘dress’ or ‘bed’ sounded more like ...
0115 – How An Accent May Make Or Break Your Career
April 24, 2021 23:01 - 4 minutes - 2.67 MB0115 – How An Accent May Make Or Break Your Career If you are working for a regional radio or tv station then having a pronounced accent from outside that area may cause you problems, particularly if it’s from the ‘wrong side of the river’ in a neighbouring state or an area with whom there’s some historical, sporting or religious antipathy.[1] Presenters with an accent from a foreign country may have an added problem, certainly for broadcast stations who will want to reflect their liste...
0114 – The Accent That Killed
April 23, 2021 23:00 - 1 minute - 1010 KB0114 – The Accent That Killed When the Tribe of Gilead defeated the Ephraimites in The Bible, they used accent as a means of identifying surviving Ephraimites trying to escape. People were asked to say the Hebrew word "Shibboleth", which means ‘stream’. People from Gilead pronounced it with a ‘sh’ sound, whereas Ephraimites did not, so anyone who said "Sibboleth" was killed on the spot. According to the Old Testament 42,000 people failed the test.[1] [1] Non-native English speaker...
0113 – All About Accents
April 22, 2021 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.1 MB0113 – All About Accents ACCENTS Accents are wonderful things. None of us think we have one, but we all do! They are what helps make us who we are, reflecting our family history, heritage and where we grew up. They are the product of the dominant speech patterns of those around us, picked up almost by osmosis, as to fit in to a group. We emulate or mimic the sounds from the community and culture around us, including from TV and movies. Accents are wonderful[1]… as long as th...
0112 – Six Tongue Exercises – Including The One You Won’t Be Able To Resist Trying
April 21, 2021 23:01 - 4 minutes - 2.55 MB0112 – Six Tongue Exercises – Including The One You Won’t Be Able To Resist Trying VOCAL YOGA - Peter’s PT for the tongue These exercises stretch your tongue, releasing tongue root tension to give you a more resonant voice and gain fine control and make the most of the tongue’s ability and agility. · Stick your tongue out (sorry mum!) Curl it back to touch your chin, then up towards your nose, then left and right. Do this action three times. Then combine all four points in a circle...
0111 - Face Yoga
April 20, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.33 MB0111 - Face Yoga VOCAL YOGA - Peter’s PT for the face Pull a face! - Make an exaggerated expression and then release, and express again. The Lion – a scary face, baring your teeth and angry eyes The Clown – full and bright, with your mouth wide open The Lemon Eater – tight and acidic == Through these under-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 sit...
0110 – Getting’ Lippy With It! Pucker Up For Some ‘Lip PT’
April 19, 2021 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.33 MB0110 – Getting’ Lippy With It! Pucker Up For Some ‘Lip PT’ VOCAL YOGA - Peter’s PT for the lips · Humming – yes something as easy and straightforward as this can help loosen your lips and free up your facial muscles ready for a voice session. · Lips trills – like humming this is an opportunity to wake up your resonators especially after a night’s sleep. Simply make a shiver-type noise that a child would as they push a toy car around (‘brrrrrrr’). You may need the power of q...
0109 – Morgan Freeman’s Favourite Voice Exercise
April 18, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.62 MB0109 – Morgan Freeman’s Favourite Voice Exercise VOCAL YOGA - Peter’s PT for your throat · Here’s how to reduce tension in the back of your mouth and throat, and create a better resonance in your voice. You will notice that when you say ‘car car car’, the back of your tongue touches the roof of your mouth. Now say ‘ga ga ga’ and the tongue moves down a bit. And when you pronounce ‘ha ha ha’ it clears away completely to allow a breathier sound. Take a breath and repeat the ‘car’ sou...
0108 – Tension-Busting Jaw Exercises
April 17, 2021 23:01 - 1 minute - 1.07 MB0108 – Tension-Busting Jaw Exercises VOCAL YOGA – Peter’s PT for the jaw · Beware of clenched teeth which may be a sign of stress. The most relaxed position for your jaw is with the teeth slightly apart. Open your mouth slightly and carefully move your lower jaw from side to side. Do this slowly and gently and just six times a side. · Be like a cow chewing cud. Pretend to do this, or loosen your jaw by chewing gum or a toffee before you go on air or start a shift. As this w...
0107 – The 1941 ‘Radio Announcer’s Test’ To Help With Speaking Skills
April 16, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.64 MB0107 – The 1941 ‘Radio Announcer’s Test’ To Help With Speaking Skills The Radio Announcers Test[1] This was created by Radio Central New York in 1941 to test new announcers’ speaking skills. It covers a variety of vowel and consonant sounds and you can either say it line-by-line, in just one breath without sounding rushed or out of breath, or read line 1, then 1 and 2, then 1,2 and 3 and so on. Potential staff would be graded for clarity, enunciation, diction, tonality and expressiveness...
0106 – Our Amazing and Unique Alphabetised Exaggerated Articulation Exercises
April 15, 2021 23:01 - 6 minutes - 3.82 MB0106 – Our Amazing and Unique Alphabetised Exaggerated Articulation Exercises VOCAL YOGA – Peter’s PT for Articulation Traditional tongue twisters are great to warm up your mouth and to help increase your clarity and overall oral muscularity, because despite their name they also help you develop the better use of your jaw, lips and soft palate too. Our Amazing And Unique Alphabetised Exaggerated Articulation Exercises Start slowly and carefully. Make sure the start and end of each word i...
0105 – Mouth Clicks And Audio Processing
April 14, 2021 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.11 MB0105 – Mouth Clicks And Audio Processing Mouth clicks and audio processing What is audio processing? After sound is recorded it often goes through a professionally post-production process. This obviously won’t happen if you are going live to say YouTube/Zoom from your phone or laptop, but will happen if you are live or recorded from a professional studio, or if your home studio has a processer as part of the audio chain between the mic and the output (for example, if the sound goes th...
0104 – Cutting Mouth Clicks By Balancing Proximity, Projection And Levels
April 13, 2021 23:01 - 3 minutes - 1.88 MB0104 – Cutting Mouth Clicks By Balancing Proximity, Projection And Levels So the closer you are to the mic when you speak, the softer your voice will be and the input level on that mic channel will be tweaked to achieve appropriate recording level. If you get close and shout then the input level will need to be low to avoid distortion on the playback of the recording. If you move away from the mic and also drop the loudness of your script, then the mic input level will need to be increas...
0103 – Mouth Clicks And Mic Technique
April 12, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.27 MB0103 – Mouth Clicks And Mic Technique Mouth clicks and mic technique Whatever the cause, being too close to the microphone will certainly accentuate clicks. It stands to reason, if someone whispers in your ear you are far more likely to hear their tongue, cheeks and lips at work making those word-formations. This could be sensuous in some circumstances but, maybe not when you’re trying to understand an ad, notice the news or follow a thought leader. How your voice is picked up by the m...
0102 – Kissing When Speaking: The ‘Lip Smack’ Sound
April 11, 2021 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.38 MB0102 – Kissing When Speaking: The ‘Lip Smack’ Sound Subconcious vocalisation Finally (although you may be able to think of some more), distracting and unnecessary non-verbal sounds may be the subconscious ‘kiss-sound’ as someone vocalises an in-breathe a split-second before talking. As this often happens in a news-reading situation just before a new story, and because the sound can also sound like a ‘tut’, it could be mistaken for a comment on the item that’s just finished, so impartia...