Get A Better Broadcast, Podcast and Voice-Over Voice
1,002 episodes - English - Latest episode: 10 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
0700 – Post-Dialogue Attributions In Audiobook Narration
December 01, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.23 MB2022.12.01 – 0700 – Post-Dialogue Attributions In Audiobook Narration Mark any ‘post-dialogue attributions’, where the name of the person who just spoke is written after their statement, (“Merlin said”, “Trayvon interjected”, “Marsha replied”, “Neville whispered”, “she said with a tremor in her voice”), so you know which voice to use for the preceding comment, and how to read it. You may also need to be aware that on occasion there may be a discrepancy between what someone says and how they...
0699 – Preparing a Text For Audiobook Narration
November 30, 2022 00:01 - 4 minutes - 2.76 MB2022.11.30 – 0699 – Preparing a Text For Audiobook Narration Preparing the text Since you’re reading a long piece, it’s essential to skim the book beforehand. Mark unfamiliar words and check their pronunciation (imagine a character called Romè, but because of how your screen is set up, you have recorded the whole book calling them Rome, like the city…). Fantasy and science fiction books will inevitably have invented words and even languages within them. Work out how you will say these, ...
0698 – Story-telling For A Young Audience
November 29, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.77 MB2022.11.29 – 0698 – Story-telling For A Young Audience Story-telling for a young audience For younger pairs of ears, think particularly about the storytelling journey. Children’s books are often very much about emotion and change: the lonely girl who finds friends with seven dwarves; the poor boy who climbs a beanstalk and escapes from a new land with a pot of gold and so on. So play with those feelings and colour the changes which help the story arc: make the princess sound lonely, make J...
0697 – Potential Problems When Voicing Audiobook Characters
November 28, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.6 MB2022.11.28 – 0697 – Potential Problems When Voicing Audiobook Characters A potential problem - When you create a very distinctive voice for a minor character, who then has a greater role than you’d anticipated! Maybe you’ve developed a deep, gravelly, heavily-accented voice for a few lines, and then in book two of the series, that character is the lead… your vocal health is in trouble! Male and female voices - Don’t worry too much about reading a male role if you’re female and vice versa. ...
0696 – Voicing ‘Minor Characters’ in Audiobook Narration
November 27, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.03 MB2022.11.27 – 0696 – Voicing ‘Minor Characters’ in Audiobook Narration Minor characters - You don’t need a totally unique voice for each character. Listeners know you are telling a story, not pretending to be different characters or that the production has a cast of hundreds. Have changes in your voice, but don’t worry about creating 30 or 40 different characters, some of whom will only have a line or two. Similar characters - When the book calls for several similarly-sounding characters ta...
0695 – Audiobook Character Voices
November 26, 2022 00:01 - 4 minutes - 2.73 MB2022.11.26 – 0695 – Audiobook Character Voices Character voices (This is in addition to the in-depth look at character voices in the ‘animation’ section previously.) The main character – Create a voice that you can use in various emotions and one not so strong that it exhausts or hurts you. Individuality – having said that, each main character’s voice must be somewhat distinct from each other (and from you as ’narrator’), and consistent from page to page, matching any ‘character clues...
0694 – Projection And Pace For The Audiobook Narrator
November 25, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.44 MB2022.11.25 – 0694 – Projection And Pace For The Audiobook Narrator Projection – we have looked at loudness before, but as a quick reminder that with audiobooks especially, people will be listening alone perhaps through headphones, so talk to them with a one-to-one volume. A ‘big’ narration will be exhausting for everyone. Pace – don’t read too fast. Allow the listener to ‘see’ the scene you are painting with the words. Obviously, the speed goes hand-in-hand with the content (you will...
0693 – Impartiality For The Audiobook Narrator
November 24, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.46 MB2022.11.24 – 0693 – Impartiality For The Audiobook Narrator Be interested, invested and informed …– only read the genres you enjoy to be more emotionally connected to the text and to draw the listener in. You are the knowledgeable guide on the journey through these characters’ lives; don’t mislead the listeners and even though you may surprise them, you should not be surprised yourself at what happens in the text. … and impartial – you are watching the scene from the sidelines, have ...
0692 – Analysis and Agility For The Audiobook Narrator
November 23, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.74 MB2022.11.23 – 0692 – Analysis and Agility For The Audiobook Narrator Analysis – be somewhat of a student of literature. Understand what makes a story, a story and how one moves through a sequence (the characters, the setting, the plot, the conflict and tension, and the resolution) and the six common themes in literature (good vs. evil, love, redemption, courage and perseverance, coming of age, revenge) and how a story arc can develop. Having basic knowledge will help you with your delivery ...
0691 – The Audiobook Narrator’s *Own* Character
November 22, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.19 MB2022.11.22 – 0691 – The Audiobook Narrator’s *Own* Character The narrator’s own character Depending on which POV you are reading the story from, your ‘character voice’ will be different. If you are one of the characters (First Person POV), be careful not to have such a strong accent characterisation that it becomes annoying to the listener and awkward for you to perform for any length of time. If you are the ‘author’ (Second Person or Third Person Omniscient or Limited), then you need to h...
0690 – The Narrator’s Various Points of Views
November 21, 2022 00:01 - 9 minutes - 6.3 MB2022.11.21 – 0690 – The Narrator’s Various Points of Views Narration - First understand who you, the narrator, are in the story. That is, whose point of view (POV) is the story told from?[1] · First Person POV – when you as narrator say “I” and “we” (it’s how we all speak in real life). It is a more personal viewpoint (and so used in memoirs, romance and young adult fiction), but can suffer from feeling a bit too introspective. “I was furious as I tore at the thick undergrowth wit...
0689 – Fiction Audiobook Narration Skills
November 20, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.63 MB2022.11.20 – 0689 – Fiction Audiobook Narration Skills Fiction skills for an audiobook narrator First a few definitions: Solo narration – when a reader either differentiates between each character with their voice (different pitch, race, gender, accent and so on), or, when they do not, and presents a ‘straight’ narrated read with no variation between the different people in the text. Narrator – the person telling the story as written by the author, and also the word used for you, the per...
0688 – Non-Fiction Audiobook Narration Skills
November 19, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.11 MB2022.11.19 – 0688 – Non-Fiction Audiobook Narration Skills Non-fiction for an audiobook narrator Recording a non-fiction text is considered by some to be more straightforward than recording fiction. That’s because you’re delivering information, instruction, or facts, rather than navigating a narrative of characters and conflicts. Others say that’s just why non-fiction is difficult: the text can be flat and featureless and was usually not written to be read aloud. Indeed, the ‘read’ may in...
0687 – Vocal, Physical and Mental Health For Narration
November 18, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.3 MB2022.11.18 – 0687 – Vocal, Physical and Mental Health For Narration Good vocal, physical and mental health – you will be spending a lot of time by yourself in a booth, concentrating, so you need to be mentally strong. A lot of reading will require a lot of vocal strength: warm-up exercises, hydration and built-in rest breaks. In the booth itself, you need to have everything set up ergonomically so you are not under too much stress physically as you read. You need to build in breaks at natur...
0686 – Clarity, Consistency and Concentration in Voice Acting
November 17, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.55 MB2022.11.17 – 0686 – Clarity, Consistency and Concentration in Voice Acting A clear voice – people will be spending a lot of time with you, so you need to have a voice that will not jar or grate on their ears. Consistency – consistency in the style and energy of your read, and for fiction books, each character’s voice and accent. Concentration - In non-fiction especially, this could be content-rich and technical texts with long and unwieldy sentence structures, and with fiction books you ...
0685 – ‘Punch And Roll’ Voice Recording
November 16, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.22 MB2022.11.16 – 0685 – ‘Punch And Roll’ Voice Recording VOICE BOX Learn the ‘punch and roll’ technique to save recording time This is when you mark (‘punch in’) the point in your recorded audio where you made a mistake. The DAW (Digital Audio Workstation recorder), then plays back a few seconds of you speaking before that point (the ‘pre roll’), at which moment it starts recording again. This enables you to make your correction and continue recording. Doing this will speed up your editing ...
0684 – Voice Over Eye>Brain>Mouth Control
November 15, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.47 MB2022.11.15 – 0684 – Voice Over Eye>Brain>Mouth Control Eye-Brain-Mouth Control – you have to be good at reading accurately, just sticking to the text. You will probably have skim-read the text before you start[1], and in the studio, you need to be able to scan ahead as you read: more mistakes mean more editing time, leading to a disjointed read and less money-per-minute for your work. [1] You’re unlikely to have time to go through the book in advance, marking it up sentence -by-senten...
0683 – Narration Stamina
November 14, 2022 00:01 - 1 minute - 1.17 MB2022.11.14 – 0683 – Narration Stamina Stamina – you will need to read a lot of words in a short period of time: 4-6 hours in front of a mic each day is not unheard of for an audiobook narrator. So, you need committed energy and the ability to sound the same at the end of the day as you did at the start. Performing a 30-second spot is like running a 50-yard dash; a 60-second spot is like a running 100-yard dash; an audiobook is like running a marathon. Marc Cashman, backstage.com[1...
0682 – Natural Narration Foundations
November 13, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.93 MB2022.11.13 – 0682 – Natural Narration Foundations Natural Narration Foundations In the main, we have been looking at short reads, commercials and news stories and the like, but sometimes you may have a longer read to perform, such as an audiobook. Longer reads need to be approached in a slightly different way than shorter ones. Instead of a series of short sentences about the attributes of a car for a commercial, or the misdemeanours of a politician in a broadcast news story, there ar...
0681 – Audiobook Narration
November 12, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.9 MB2022.11.12 – 0681 – Audiobook Narration Audiobook narration Audiobooks have become increasingly popular[1] as people consume books while commuting, exercising or doing chores and with the ease of listening via smartphones and Bluetooth. There are broadly two different types of books: non-fiction and fiction, each with different skills required of the voice actor and also some cross-over themes. Narrating your memoirs Memoirs are not quite fiction or non-fiction, and it makes perfec...
0680 – Voice Acting In Gaming
November 11, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.19 MB2022.11.11 – 0680 – Voice Acting In Gaming Games Voice acting in the video game business is similar to doing animation work, although the portrayals have to be more ‘realistic’ than say, those ‘cartoon-caricatures’ of people or animals. In fact, gaming actors are more like those in movies – they just can’t be seen on screen. Your skills Adaptability - Although you may read as a cast ensemble together (so each actor ‘works off’ one another, because it may be easier to direct eve...
0679 – Concatenation Concerns
November 10, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.42 MB2022.11.10 – 0679 – Concatenation Concerns Character creep can cause particular problems when combined with concatenation. This is where a voice-over has to read a short list of incomplete sentences, and then a long list of places, numbers, or other ‘options’. You will have heard examples on transport services, telephone booking systems and sat navs: the original sentences are completed by the computer selecting the appropriate word or phrase from the second list (“The train now standing on...
0678 – Character Creep
November 09, 2022 00:01 - 1 minute - 1020 KB2022.11.09 – 0678 – Character Creep Character creep If you try and be someone who you’re not[1], then there is a chance that over the course of a contract or studio session, your ‘persona’ might change. It may mean that you cannot keep up the voice that you created for the role, perhaps because it is too demanding vocally, or you forget how to create it. Maybe it’s not a specific decision, but the voice may lose its edge, vitality or accent, which is why it is called ‘character creep’. Thi...
0677 – Keeping In Character
November 08, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.37 MB2022.11.08 – 0677 – Keeping In Character When you have developed a voice from scratch and you’re comfortable with it and do it well, keep it and add it to your cast of characters, and then build another character that builds from that one. Merge the ‘evil witch’ with the ‘young woman’ say, to have another voice. Aim for quality not quantity of these voices. Write a few notes describing their voice, their personality and how they hold themselves (because the voice changes depending on the sh...
0676 – Vocal Exaggeration In Animation
November 07, 2022 00:01 - 2 minutes - 1.9 MB2022.11.07 – 0676 – Vocal Exaggeration In Animation Vocal exaggeration in animation[1] You must have the muscular strength to host the vocal gymnasium that is required in animation. Work on the instrument daily to achieve vocal strength. The voice you use will, for much of the time, be more, well, animated in animation. More ‘over the top’, energetic, projected and with greater variety and intensity. So you need to be physically fit – it’s virtually a sport as you ‘inhabit’ the part. B...
0675 – Using Props To Get Into A Character Properly
November 06, 2022 00:01 - 4 minutes - 3.08 MB2022.11.06 – 0675 – Using Props To Get Into A Character Properly Using props As well as holding yourself in a certain way to get into your character’s voice, some voice actors also hold an appropriate prop. Your voice may sound more authentic if, when playing an elderly person, you not only stoop but also hold a walking stick. A better ‘bossy voice’ may come from you standing on a box in the studio, the more dominant position making you sound more authoritative. Wearing a certain hat or c...
0674 – Be A ‘Moody’ Voice Actor
November 05, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.39 MB2022.11.05 – 0674 – Be A ‘Moody’ Voice Actor So, develop various attitudes in your voice: the tone, volume, speed, and energy. And remember that a character is more than one ‘mood’ and will go through various situations that you need to show in your voice. They may usually be fun, but then on occasion, frustrated, confused, or concerned … confident or shy, determined, silly, serious or self-important … and a million other attitudes. So you have to be able to think how your character will vo...
0673 – Animation Attitudes
November 04, 2022 00:01 - 3 minutes - 2.07 MB2022.11.04 – 0673 – Animation Attitudes Animation ‘attitudes’ You should be good at reacting as well as acting, be able to read a situation and know what your character would do in that situation. This is not slow-turnaround theatre, TV or movies with lots of rehearsals and retakes and time to find your motivation. The characters may be drawn already, and you have to not only read the words that they will appear to be saying, but also react to what it has already been decided they do … and...
0672 – More Non-Verbal Sounds in Voice Acting
November 03, 2022 00:01 - 50 seconds - 589 KB2022.11.03 – 0672 – More Non-Verbal Sounds in Voice Acting · The performance may also require you to bring more physicality to your voice: your character may be out of breath, or I dunno, calling to someone in a tunnel. Obviously one of those will require more breath, the other more projection, perhaps with a tone of concern, so consider how your character may react with different moods and emotions as a story develops or in subsequent episodes. · Linked with this, when reco...
0671 – Non-Verbal Sounds in Voice Acting
November 02, 2022 00:01 - 4 minutes - 3.03 MB2022.11.02 – 0671 – Non-Verbal Sounds in Voice Acting · What is the rest of your body doing? The face obviously, but also your back and arms… Physically become your character, how they stand, how they use their hands: hands in pockets, upright, chin out, hunched over, shaky hands… · Personality and colour will come from your addition of ‘non-verbal sounds’, all of them in your character’s voice of course: an “eek” and an “ahh”, a “huh?!” and a “hmmm”, a “pffft” and a “tssk”,...
0670 – Voice Acting Mannerisms
November 01, 2022 00:01 - 9 minutes - 6.15 MB2022.11.01 – 0670 – Voice Acting Mannerisms Other voice mannerisms Now consider ‘fleshing out’ your character. Don’t add to the words on the page, but don’t only read the words on the page. · What are the voice qualities? More breathy, raspy, growly? · Is the pitch higher or lower than your usual voice? (a lot of boys’ voices are done by women as it avoids the problems of puberty when the actor outgrows the sound of his character). · What is the accent? Your accent...
0669 – How Visuals Help Your Animation VoiceOver
October 31, 2022 00:01 - 7 minutes - 4.91 MB2022.10.31 – 0669 – How Visuals Help Your Animation VoiceOver Of course, attributes of animated characters are usually extreme and will have been drawn in conjunction with the story editor. Everything you see is a clue to your character’s voice: · a larger person might have a bigger and lower voice. One with a larger, fatter face may sound more ‘jowly’ · a tall and thin person might have a thinner and higher voice · or, go against type and create an ‘opposite’ voice ...
0668 – Getting An Animation Voice That Fits The Visuals
October 29, 2022 23:01 - 4 minutes - 2.87 MB2022.10.30 – 0668 – Getting An Animation Voice That Fits The Visuals Getting a voice that fits the visuals When auditioning for an animation role you will be sent a ‘vocal reference’, a few lines of the script, as well as a character brief: a description and personality profile of the person or object you are reading for, their role and ‘journey’: “Barnard is a British steam engine. Played by a man in his 40s/50s, Bernard likes routine and safety, is dull, grumpy and easily annoyed. In t...
0667 – Your Character’s ‘Voicernality’
October 28, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.32 MB2022.10.29 – 0667 – Your Character’s ‘Voicernality’ It’s more than the ‘voice’ Remember that a character’s voice (including your very own!) is partly based on one’s physicality: how they talk is affected by how they walk, how they hold themselves as they speak, how they stand and sit, their physicality, their energy and more. All of these elements help create their ‘voice personality’, what voice actor Katie Leigh calls ‘voicernalities’. Some of these factors affect the voice indirectl...
0666 – The Value of Creating Character Catchphrases
October 27, 2022 23:01 - 4 minutes - 2.92 MB2022.10.28 – 0666 – The Value of Creating Character Catchphrases For example, perhaps you have created a character voice you call ‘Perfect Pat’. Pat is, as their name implies, bright and positive and speaks at pace with a smile in their voice. That ‘attitude’ is helped by imagining their neatly brushed hair, business wear, and wide-open eyes and arms. Imagine a puppy dog in human form, maybe an eager and positive religious minister, whose ‘character catchphrase’ that you say aloud to ‘f...
0665 – Creating a Character Catalogue
October 26, 2022 23:01 - 7 minutes - 4.81 MB2022.10.27 – 0665 – Creating a Character Catalogue Play around with it and practice and then when you think you have the character, give each a name (‘Smoking Susan’, ‘Sharp-suited Shaun’…) and a bit of a back-story to help you remember them, and then log each one in your ‘voice bank’ of voices that you can use for characterisations in the future. Your ‘catalogue of characters’ may include: · their vocal and physical attributes · a key catchphrase of theirs that, when you sa...
0664 – How To Steal A Character Voice
October 25, 2022 23:01 - 1 minute - 1.21 MB2022.10.26 – 0664 – How To Steal A Character Voice Concentrate on listening, not just hearing but truly paying attention to voices: · their accent · their pitch, projection, pace and so on (all the elements we have looked at before and with which you will by now be familiar) · where they speak from – their chest, their nose and so on · how they convey emotion in their voice. How do they (or might they) speak when they are frustrated, sneaky or passive-aggress...
0663 – Creating a Cast of Core Character Voices
October 24, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.18 MB2022.10.25 – 0663 – Creating a Cast of Core Character Voices Creating a cast of core character voices (This section is also of use for the following part on ‘audiobook narration’ when you may be required to speak in the voices of different characters.) When you’re given an audition animation script, is not the time to start creating a voice for the character you’re about to play. That process has to start way earlier with you developing your very own ‘cast of characters’ which you ‘kno...
0662 – Characters in Cartoons, Animations and Gaming Acting
October 23, 2022 23:01 - 5 minutes - 3.49 MB2022.10.24 – 0662 – Characters in Cartoons, Animations and Gaming Acting Characters in Cartoons, Animations and Gaming Acting This is when the character you develop a voice for is heard but not seen in, for example: · Cartoons · Animations · Anime · Feature films · Games · Toys · Robotics · Puppetry · Websites · eLearning … In this section, we won’t be looking at actors in drama (such as BBC radio’s ‘continui...
0661 – The Variety of Voiceover Opportunities 2
October 22, 2022 23:01 - 8 minutes - 5.92 MB2022.10.23 – 0661 – The Variety of Voiceover Opportunities 2 · Gaming – Acting in character for online games · Live events (aka ‘Voice of God’) – from large sporting arenas to smaller concerts, theatres, balls and awards events. These may be live or recorded · Narration – Not necessarily audiobooks, but TV, radio or movie documentaries, and news articles. It may also include the voice-over in a film or TV show to move the storyline along, explain a backstory or add de...
0660 – The Variety of Voiceover Opportunities 1
October 21, 2022 23:01 - 6 minutes - 4.17 MB2022.10.22 – 0660 – The Variety of Voiceover Opportunities 1 Voiceover Categories These could be as wide-ranging as – but not limited to – the following: · Animation – which may include character voices in TV cartoon shows and movies such as Tom Hanks playing Woody in “Toy Story” or Kristen Bell as Anna in “Frozen” · Announcements – recorded messages in places such as elevators, doctors’ waiting rooms, large stores and airports · Audiobooks - a narrator reading wor...
0659 – Specialised Scriptreading Skills
October 20, 2022 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.83 MB2022.10.21 – 0659 – Specialised Scriptreading Skills This chapter is looking at the variety of scripts you may be asked to read as a voice actor and the specialised skills that are called for in those various styles. They may be commercial or non-commercial and will be written and laid out differently because of the message, duration and intended audience. And what attracts you to, or will help you be good at one style or another, maybe the sound and quality of your voice and how yo...
0658 – Re-takes and Re-records
October 19, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.26 MB2022.10.20 – 0658 – Re-takes and Re-records Re-takes and Re-records If at all possible, try to avoid having to re-do lines. Whether in a pro-studio or a home-studio, the re-take may stand out: · It’s very difficult to recreate exactly the same setup - Make notes of mic and desk settings from your original studio session, to more easily replicate the original setup if you have to re-do lines later … or use pre-sets on the recording software so that as far as tech goes you are doi...
0657 – Avoiding Studio Hiccups Caused By Hiccups
October 18, 2022 23:01 - 4 minutes - 2.95 MB2022.10.19 – 0657 – Avoiding Studio Hiccups Caused By Hiccups Sneezing and hiccups This is another situation which will come sooner or later, and may either be a sneeze you feel approaching or one that suddenly attacks. There’s not much you can do about the latter unless you are quick enough to turn off your mic or turn your head. Hearing a sneeze on air is rare, and not particularly pleasant. If you feel a sneeze on the way, and if you can’t go to another item or stop recording, ...
0656 – On-Mic Panting
October 17, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.47 MB2022.10.18 – 0656 – On-Mic Panting Being out of breath This usually happens because you’ve run in the studio late or in the nick of time. You’ve probably not done a sprint, but the tense situation, panic and knowledge of what’s expected add to make a slight breathiness increase dramatically. With a newsreader the problem is much worse than for music presenters: they only have short (or possibly no) audio to play during which they can catch their breath, and a tone of formality is expec...
0655 – Why We Get Studio Giggles
October 16, 2022 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.59 MB2022.10.17 – 0655 – Why We Get Studio Giggles These are signs of nervousness and panic. Such laughter is seldom sparked off by genuine humour; it is the psyche’s safety valve blowing to release a build up of tension. Anything incongruous or slightly amusing can trigger it[1]. The audience doesn’t always see the joke, especially when the laughter erupts through a serious or tragic news item. Self-inflicted pain is a reasonable second line defence. Some presenters bring their mirth under co...
0654 – Dead Good Advice On Studio Corpsing
October 15, 2022 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.58 MB2022.10.16 – 0654 – Dead Good Advice On Studio Corpsing Corpsing (that is, laughing uncontrollably) ‘There’s one hazard that no amount of preparation can avoid: the collapse into inappropriate laughter. The Today programme website still treasures the moment when Charlotte Green kept a cool head while reading a news item about a Mr Twatt. And she would have sailed through it too, if it wasn’t for the next story — about a plucky sperm whale’[1] The smallest reference to something ...
0653 – When your Insert Goes Down
October 14, 2022 23:01 - 4 minutes - 3.24 MB2022.10.15 – 0653 – When your Insert Goes Down In a radio or podcast studio, confusing the audience with technical jargon can compound the problem, like: “I’m sorry, but that insert seems to have gone down”. Or, “We don’t seem to have that package”.’ A package to most people is what they get from Amazon. Practise what you are going to say when something goes wrong until it becomes almost a reflex action.[1] When that report does eventually arrive, the audience will have forgotten what it i...
0652 – Classic Voice-Over Cock Ups
October 13, 2022 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.46 MB2022.10.14 – 0652 – Classic Voice-Over Cock Ups “Police are finding it difficult to come up with a solution to the murders … the commissioner says the victims are unwilling to co-operate.” (US Radio) “Well, the blaze is still fierce in many places, and as a result of this fire, two factories have been gutted and one homily left famless.” (Australian Radio) “Following the warning by the Basque Separatist organisation ETA that it’s preparing a bombing campaign in Spanish holiday resorts, Br...
0651 – When To Expect Verbal Trips and Slips
October 12, 2022 23:01 - 4 minutes - 3.05 MB2022.10.13 – 0651 – When To Expect Verbal Trips and Slips Many fluffs occur when you are expecting trouble, like a difficult foreign name, or when you have already fluffed and their mind is side-tracked. The irony is that the difficult name is usually pronounced flawlessly, but actually stumbles over the simple words before and behind it in the sentence. The art of the accomplished recovery is to prepare for every contingency. The worst mistake any presenter can make is to swear on ...