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
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Episodes
0650 – Verbal Trips and Slips
October 11, 2022 23:01 - 5 minutes - 3.51 MB2022.10.12 – 0650 – Verbal Trips and Slips Trips and slips ‘Things’ happen. Verbal and technical slips and trips. Mouths and machines can stop working. The wrong bit of audio can come out of either of them! [1] At the same time, it is also the case that given how well equipped and familiar news people are with the demands of the job, there really should not be flaws in most news programmes. A high level of professionalism is really the expectation of everyone no matter if they are in f...
0649 – Practicing Talking To Time
October 10, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.56 MB2022.10.11 – 0649 – Practicing Talking To Time Practice Talking To Time As we saw in episode 427 Take some copy which has a required duration indicated on it, and read it aloud like you might in a demo, and with a stopwatch to hand. How many words did you read in 30 seconds? Or how many seconds were you over? Keep practicing until you can sensibly get the copy in the seconds required, several times in a row. Then take another script and repeat the exercise before return to the ...
0648 – Talking To Time
October 09, 2022 23:01 - 1 minute - 1.24 MB2022.10.10 – 0648 – Talking To Time Talking to time Developing a sense of time is hugely important for most people speaking ‘on mic’. As a voice artist you may need to record a script to the half-second accuracy. For example, a director may ask you to record a three-word tag-line “just very slightly faster”, or dub an actor’s voice or deliver a commentary over pictures in just the time the corresponding video sequence has available. Music presenters often need to have a sense of time...
0647 – Why We Hit Script-Reading Speed Bumps
October 08, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.29 MB2022.10.09 – 0647 – Why We Hit Script-Reading Speed Bumps Why We Hit Speed Bumps · Not being prepped-up, to rev-up – if your engine of articulation is not properly warmed up then it could seize up! On TV dance shows, neither the pros or the celebs go straight onto the floor and perform. Athletes don’t just put on shorts and sprint. You have to gear your speaking gear, into gear. See our section on exercises to go through, various humms and glides and your equivalent of a practice...
0646 – Speed-Reading
October 07, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.36 MB2022.10.08 – 0646 – Speed-Reading Speed reading With commercial reads especially, you have to be able to talk to time, and that may mean talking faster than you may usually do. But this can often lead to getting tongue-tied, and the almost inevitable slips and trips, and the subsequent loss of confidence … and increased time in the studio as you record take after take. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
0645 – Rehearsing Cold Reading
October 06, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.37 MB2022.10.07 – 0645 – Rehearsing Cold Reading Rehearsing Cold Reading It is easy to practice this at home or at work – sight-read stories from the newspaper, or print off the national summary and make yourself sight read it, changing the tone for each story as appropriate. Read loads of material aloud, sight unseen so you can get into the habit of adapting your vocal will build up your vocabulary, not just the meaning of the words, but also their pronunciation and also the context in which...
0644 – Script-Reading and Peripheral Vision
October 05, 2022 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.94 MB2022.10.06 – 0644 – Script-Reading and Peripheral Vision Peripheral vision It also helps to be able to read in your head more than a few words ahead of what you are actually saying out loud. If a story has just flashed on your screen and there is no opportunity to read it through fully off-air before you go to it on air (perhaps there is no audio left to play), then you can allow yourself a second’s pause to scan the script for key words to give yourself a sense of what is to come. Then as...
0643 – Warming Up To Cold Reads
October 04, 2022 23:01 - 1 minute - 1.22 MB2022.10.05– 0643 – Warming Up To Cold Reads Warming up to cold reads Sight-reading is what many rolling news presenters have to do: pick up a news script and read it straight off, with the correct pacing and intonation so it makes sense to the listener. One trick is to be able to sense from the first few words of the story what tone you should deliver it in. This can sometimes be tricky: a story which starts “a police officer who saved a woman from a burning house …” could continue, “…has...
0642 – Sight-Reading Scripts Tips
October 03, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.14 MB2022.10.04– 0642 – Sight-Reading Scripts Tips Cold-Reading (or ‘sight-reading’ or ‘off-the-page’) This is when you read a script aloud previously sight-unseen. You’ve not had a chance to proof read it, spot any awkward words or phrases and may not even know what it’s about. You won’t have read it aloud before, for example, breaking news, a fast-turn around commercial session or if you are a ‘Voice of God’ at an event. If you are reading an audio-book, you’ll have to read pretty cold too: ...
0641 – Extracting Distracting Fillers 2
October 02, 2022 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.66 MB2022.10.03– 0641 – Extracting Distracting Fillers 2 · Increase your confidence and reduce your nerves – again, we have looked at this topic together in the past, but this will include factors such as knowing the material, the audience, the studio, the kit, the colleagues; vocal and muscular exercises; vocal health and so on · Slow down – It may be that your mouth is working faster than your brain and you are running out of words to say and so filling in the gaps with meani...
0640 – Extracting Distracting Fillers 1
October 01, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.19 MB2022.10.02 – 0640 – Extracting Distracting Fillers 1 Overcoming Fillers Not all filler words need to be cut out, especially if you’re aiming to sound conversational (although it would be odd in a news bulletin, or if you’re sticking to a timed and signed-off script, to insert umms and errs!). And anyway, removing them all from your authentic speech pattern may get in the way of you genuinely connecting with you audience. Eliminate most of your filler words though and you will insta...
0639 – Why “Umm” May Make You Sound Dumb
September 30, 2022 23:01 - 1 minute - 783 KB2022.10.01 – 0639 – Why “Umm” May Make You Sound Dumb You may not realise you’re using these words, but they could be really distracting to your listeners and the impression they give is that you’re poorly prepared and lacking confidence. “Umm” can make you sound dumb. You can of course, edit out these words and phrases from a pre-recorded show, but it’s a very time-consuming process and it’s very difficult to then have an impression of natural flow, eloquence, and confidence in the reco...
0638 – Do You Like “like”?
September 29, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.51 MB2022.09.30 – 0638 – Do You Like “like”? Do you like “like”? Many people find the developing use of this word infuriating. Critics say that it makes speakers sound stupid (“It’s like, when you’re, like…”), and there’s even an app, LikeSo[1], which listens to your speech and promises it can stop you using the word. “Like” tends not to, in comparison to “umm” and “err”, have an audible silence either side of it and it is used in many different ways, not just as a ‘filler’[2],[3]: It is u...
0637 – Umm, Err, Well, Kinda
September 28, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 1.95 MB2022.09.29 – 0637 – Umm, Err, Well, Kinda Filler words It’s easy for your ad-libs, conversations and questions to be littered with verbal crutches (properly called ‘disfluencies’): · Sounds - such as “err”, “OK”, “umm” · Words and phrases - “y’know”, “I mean”, “you know what I mean”, “kind of thing”, “actually”, “basically”, “literally”, “right”, “sort of”, “so”[1] and the like. And indeed, “like”. [2] When Do We Use Filler Words? We use fillers in different situation...
0636 – Giving Good ‘Libbing’
September 27, 2022 23:01 - 9 minutes - 6.19 MB2022.09.28 – 0636 – Giving Good ‘Libbing’ Giving Good ‘Libbing’ Be aware of adlibbing minefields. You may find yourself travelling down a conversational cul-de-sac unless you are very sure of your territory. So always engage your brain before putting your mouth into gear – think before you speak. Mostly then our adlibs come from preparation, and what we say just gives the impression of spontaneity. You may look or sound like you are making it up on the fly – but if you really are doing ...
0635 – Killing Your Presentation With Bullets
September 26, 2022 23:01 - 6 minutes - 4.39 MB2022.09.27 – 0635 – Killing Your Presentation With Bullets Killing It With Bullets Usually what appears to be a spontaneous adlib has actually been prepared to a certain extent, either a moment before we speak or after several hours of research. But the usual and best way to prepare is with a few notes (what some call ‘an invisible script’) – that may be a key word or two of something you just thought of, or a series of thought-out back-up bullet points. Benefits of using bullets: It ...
0634 – When To Ditch The Studio Script
September 25, 2022 23:01 - 6 minutes - 4.11 MB2022.09.26 – 0634 – When To Ditch The Studio Script The role of the script A script is great when you need to fit in the accepted role as a broadcaster, maybe on the news bulletins or news programmes. It is expected that you will be confident and assured, fluent and natural. As we have seen, to read a script conversationally is an artificial construct and I’ve shown you how to do it. (What would you prefer to hear – a newsreader stumbling through an unrehearsed bulletin bursting with up-to...
0633 – Other Voice Skills: Adlibs, Cold Reading and Talking To Time
September 24, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.61 MB2022.09.25 – 0633 – Other Voice Skills: Adlibs, Cold Reading and Talking To Time OTHER SPEAKING SKILLS An alphabetical list of other conversational considerations, from ad-libs to coping with verbal slips, filler words and fluffs… and a few hot takes on cold-reading. Ad-libbing This is what you say off the top of your head without a script, and is another good skill for any broadcaster or podcaster to have – although voice-over actors will of course have little use for it as they a...
0632 – Giving Yourself Voice Direction
September 23, 2022 23:01 - 4 minutes - 2.84 MB2022.09.24 - 0632 – Giving Yourself Voice Direction Self-directing If you are a voice actor working from home, an ‘amateur’ podcaster[1], or broadcaster without an active producer or manager, then you will need to direct yourself and be able to notice what you need to do to improve. The problem you may have to overcome is that, if you don’t have a director, part of you is critically listening to yourself and your performance all of the time, and so you’re not fully immersing yourself in ...
0631 – Your Role As A Voice Script ‘Meaning Miner’
September 22, 2022 23:01 - 1 minute - 994 KB2022.09.23 - 0631 – Your Role As A Voice Script ‘Meaning Miner’ Your Role As A ‘Meaning Miner’ Sometimes when direction or a Brief is unclear, you need to do the hard work yourself. Well, you should always do much of this, but occasionally you need to get your hands dirty and unearth the hidden meaning in a script. Mine the text to find the seam of the story arc, pick away to discover the hidden message of what the advertiser wants the listener to do. Find the golden words that will help ...
0630 – Voice-Over Studio Direction
September 21, 2022 23:01 - 5 minutes - 3.21 MB2022.09.22 - 0630 – Voice-Over Studio Direction Taking direction Pay attention, listen, ask questions, take advice and understand the process. Some directors don’t know how to explain things very well and it can be a challenge to interpret what they mean. Some directions may be straightforward. “A bit brighter” will suggest a lightness in tone and a slightly quicker read. But try and remember, or make notes, of what you did on different takes of the recording, so you can better int...
0629 – Getting Feedback On Your Voice
September 20, 2022 23:01 - 6 minutes - 4.46 MB2022.09.21 - 0629 – Getting Feedback On Your Voice VOICE BOX Giving and Receiving Notes Directors: · Only have you give the feedback not everyone in the control room. · Realise that everyone has different expectations about feedback or Notes: o For some it’s “tell me what to do” o “Share with me what you think I should do” o “This is what I’m doing, is it OK or not?” · Don’t give too much information back to them in the first couple of reads. · Th...
0628 – Voice Over Guide Tracks
September 19, 2022 23:01 - 6 minutes - 3.9 MB2022.09.20 - 0628 – Voice-Over Guide Tracks Guide Track In some circumstances, a ‘dummy track’ of someone else reading the voice-over script may already have been recorded before you go into a studio. This is usually done on fast and tightly-edited video productions (think movie trails or promo videos) but may also be on audio creatives, again where there are lots of elements. It’s done so the editors can help shape the item in pre-production, sequencing the different clips tog...
0627 – How Voice Directors Can Help You Feel Part Of The Production Team
September 18, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.61 MB2022.09.19 - 0627 – How Voice Directors Can Help You Feel Part Of The Production Team VOICE BOX Directors – make your talent feel part of the team: · Introduce them to those in the gallery · Include them in conversations from inside their booth · Explain what’s happening · Try not to turn your back on them when discussing the recording with the client Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
0626 – The Limits Of Line-Reading
September 17, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.34 MB2022.09.18 - 0626 – The Limits Of Line-Reading Second, in asking you to “sound like this” it’s likely they will be putting other elements into their read that they may not realise. And you as a professional will be copying not just their tone, but their speed, pauses, intonation, phrasing and so on. Which they may not have intended. And, think about it: you’ll end up doing an impression of them, doing an impression of you reading the script! That way no-one knows what’s going on and what’s...
0625 – Line-Reading For Voice Training
September 16, 2022 23:01 - 4 minutes - 2.91 MB2022.09.17 - 0625 – Line-Reading For Voice Training VOICE BOX Line reading A director may read your script to you, in the style they want you to emulate: a line-reading. This is slightly different from a line-by-line read mentioned above, as it’s when a director speaks a phrase or sentence exactly how they want it (regarding intonation, accent, pace and so on) and they record you repeating it back them exactly. Professional voice-over artists (or VT- voice talent) should rarely need this ...
0624 – What’s Really Happening in a 1-by-1 Voice Over Read
September 15, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.39 MB2022.09.16 - 0624 – What’s Really Happening in a 1-by-1 Voice Over Read · “I must be rubbish. They’re asking me to record every line one-by-one!” – this isn’t that unusual. It may be down to the timing or the exact intonation that’s needed. Perhaps your sentence, or just a phrase, has to fit with those of other people as part of a poem or montage. Maybe it’s got to fit with the beat of music or pictures. Or it may be that the director is not just thinking of the overall Takes they li...
0623 – Don’t Nix The Mix
September 14, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.33 MB2022.09.15 - 0623 – Don’t Nix The Mix · “Is this going to be mixed with music?” – as we saw before, when you talk with music underneath you, it affects your read. Music elevates a voice and having it behind makes it more impactful, doing a lot of the ‘emotional lifting’ of the recording. You adapt your style (notably usually the pace and rhythm) to work in harmony with the track. If you can hear now, the bed that will be mixed with your vocals later, then you will be better able to ...
0622 – Take Your Time and Sound (More Than) Fine
September 13, 2022 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.48 MB2022.09.14 - 0622 – Take Your Time and Sound (More Than) Fine · “This is taking ages…” Every job will have its challenges and it’ll all take as long as it takes. Work with the director/producer/sound engineer as they try and get the best out of you. Instead: understand that they may be trying out various styles of read to see what you can do with your ‘voice personality’ in case between you all, you discover something new that they hadn’t thought of. Sometimes this ‘off-the-wall’ app...
0621 – What To Do If Your Script Has Alarming Timings
September 12, 2022 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.48 MB2022.09.13 - 0621 – What To Do If Your Script Has Alarming Timings · “There’s no way I can fit all of this script into just 30 seconds” – there are too many words for the time allowed and you’re tempted to gabble to fit it all in. Instead: maybe the script has just been ‘over-written’ and there are a few words that can be lost or phrases that can be re-written. Obviously, this is down to the producer, not you – although you may perhaps make a polite suggestion if asked. If you have t...
0620 – Don’t Introduce An Excuse For Your Poor Voice Performance
September 11, 2022 23:01 - 1 minute - 965 KB2022.09.12 - 0620 – Don’t Introduce An Excuse For Your Poor Voice Performance · “Yeah, I’m rubbish today because the cat was sick, I had a row with my daughter and I the bus was late” – Everyone has a similar story, and they don’t need to hear about yours. Winding yourself up will only make you nervous. Instead: Breathe, relax, de-stress with the exercises we’ve already gone through. Listen to the direction, and to how you follow it in your read. Be positive and collaborative. ...
0619 – When It Hits That the Script Is Sh*t
September 10, 2022 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.61 MB2022.09.11 - 0619 – When It Hits That the Script Is Sh*t · “This script is really bad. It’s so poorly written, it makes no sense and ungrammatical” – don’t complain about the copy, it may’ve been written by the studio producer or the client themselves. Instead: The grammar may not look right, but it will probably sound right, and it’s your job to make it work. If you still think the words works better on the page than in your mouth (maybe too formal, awkward, or with a difficult rhyt...
0618 – How To Return After A Verbal Slip
September 09, 2022 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.62 MB2022.09.10 - 0618 – How To Return After A Verbal Slip Turning Voice-Over Worries Into ‘Wonderful’ · “Sorry, I slipped on that. Sorry. I gotta concentrate. That was stupid…” – trips, slips and stumbled are natural with a new script. Instead: Slow down, take a breath and concentrate and remember it’ll take a few reads to get the rhythm and the writer’s intended meaning. Ask a producer if they’d prefer you to carry on after any slip, or go back and do that sentence again, or the whole ...
0617 – How To Make A Sound Engineer Your Friend
September 08, 2022 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.31 MB2022.09.09 - 0617 – How To Make A Sound Engineer Your Friend How To Make A Sound Engineer Your Friend · Turning up on time and being ready microphone-ready · Be confident and competent in sight-reading. OK the odd slip or trip, but be able to see it and say it pretty quickly. · Be able to interpret what the message is and who it’s for · Be comfortable not only in reading to time, but being able to shave off or add a few seconds to the duration of the read · ...
0616 – The Voice-Over Studio Workflow
September 07, 2022 23:01 - 5 minutes - 3.77 MB2022.09.08 - 0616 – The Voice-Over Studio Workflow Let’s just take a quick look at what happens when you go into a voiceover studio. · Read the Brief and the script · Assist the studio engineer in setting the mic position and levels, the level of your headphones and talkback and the position of any script stand · Have a first run-through of the script and get any questions answered about style or speed, timing and tone, projection, pronunciation and contractions (can...
0615 – Voice Director Skills
September 06, 2022 23:01 - 5 minutes - 3.51 MB2022.09.07 - 0615 – Voice Director Skills The skills of a director[1] · They are a bridge between the actor and client. They are likely to work with voice artists more often than the script writer or the sharp-suited client, so they can explain what’s going on, know what language to use, how to get the best out of you and how to get the written word to be an effective spoken word. They understand that voice work is an art and not a science. Oh, and that sharp-suited client? They may...
0614 – Talking About Studio Talkbacks
September 05, 2022 23:01 - 4 minutes - 3.23 MB2022.09.06 - 0614 – Talking About Studio Talkbacks Talk-back mics The gallery production area will have mics which are used to ‘talk back’ to you in the studio. Sometimes these may be left on (or ‘open’) as you record, either by mistake or deliberately, which means you will hear the coughs, comments, conversations and script suggestions from the producers, directors and clients, live, in your headphones as you read. This can be quite off-putting, so request that their mics can be muted so ...
0613 – How ‘Control Room Characters’ May Shape Your Voice
September 04, 2022 23:01 - 6 minutes - 4.33 MB2022.09.05 - 0613 – How ‘Control Room Characters’ May Shape Your Voice The Control Room (AKA: ‘gallery’, ‘production area’, ‘ops’ [operations area], or simply ‘studio’!) While you are alone in the studio, other people will be in the area just outside, where the recording actually happens. There could be several people in here, even eight or ten people in an agency studio situation. Maybe a creative director, a creative writer or two, clients, an account manager, a rep from the marketing d...
0612 – Taking Voice Production Notes
September 03, 2022 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.5 MB2022.09.04 - 0612 – Taking Voice Production Notes Always keep a record of the takes that you do in a session, the number and the direction requested of you for it. That’s because in some recordings you may have upwards of 50 takes, with notes on each one. If you keep a written track of ‘what you did when’ then it will be easier to not only go back and reproduce a read in a certain way (“yeah, I think Take 23 was the kind of brighter sound we wanted…”), but also gives you a ‘roadmap’ of wher...
0611 – What To Take Into A Voice Recording Session
September 02, 2022 23:01 - 6 minutes - 4.58 MB2022.09.03 - 0611 – What To Take Into A Voice Recording Session Performance Ok here we go. All that training and preparing comes to the moment the red light goes on! But we’re not there yet. Not quite. What to take into a recording session: Headphones – closed-back or in-ear types Comfort and confidence Health Water – in a spill-proof bottle To top up your hydration To give you something to do as the director and colleagues discuss the next take To give something to do when you...
0610 – Top ‘Studio Day’ Tips
September 01, 2022 23:01 - 5 minutes - 3.86 MB2022.09.02 - 0610 – Top ‘Studio Day’ Tips On the day of a recording or live ‘mic moment’ · Eat early - Don’t take a growling bear into the studio with you: the mic will hear it as it will gurgles. Fizzy drinks will make you burp. Spicy food may cause acid reflux. · Lots of water – to top-up your systemic hydration · Exercise and fresh air – to be mentally and physically alert in the often small, windowless studio where you may be for hours at a time · Mornin...
0609 – What Is Not In Your Briefs
August 31, 2022 23:01 - 4 minutes - 2.81 MB2022.09.01 - 0609 – What Is Not In Your Briefs · Context is important for the style of the read. Words on a page describing a family of tigers, their lifestyle and diet could be read one way if the visuals are of them all playing on the savannah, but another way if the shot is of the dominant male stalking prey. Context may also refer to whether the recording is part of a series, either under the same title, or by the same producer or the same production house. It may be that what’s...
0608 – Your Voice Mixed With Music
August 30, 2022 23:01 - 5 minutes - 3.64 MB2022.08.31 - 0608 – Your Voice Mixed With Music Music and rough cuts – commercials, commentaries, documentaries and so on, often have the voiceover second-tracked together to play over the top of a music score. The choice of music for a documentary, commercial or whatever sets the ‘emotional attitude’ of the whole piece: hope, fear, confidence, desire or optimism for example. So as a reader, it’s useful to know what that music is. That way you can adapt your style, attitude and pace to fit ...
0607 – Your Voice Over Role
August 29, 2022 23:01 - 7 minutes - 4.67 MB2022.08.30– 0607 – Your Voice Over Role What is your role? – You are never ‘the voiceover’. Depending on the script, the situation, the story, the audience and so on, you may be a frazzled dad coping with the kids, a corporate CEO, a first-time DIYer, a reassuring uncle. And that relationship is important: your attitude will change if you are giving advice to that frazzled dad as a friend, or interfering neighbour, or parenting expert… in the same way as, for say a corporate e-learning proj...
0606 – Who Will Hear Your Voice?
August 28, 2022 23:01 - 4 minutes - 3.12 MB2022.08.29– 0606 – Who Will Hear Your Voice? Where will this recording be played? – Again, it can change your tone as a voice actor if you know that it’s for TV or radio or cinema, or to be played in an airport lounge. It could be a corporate script for a video that every staff member will see, alone at their desk and through headphones… or played on the big screen at the annual staff announcement event. For example: a voiceover for the ‘blood donation service’ may at first sound quite ser...
0605 – What’s In Your Briefs
August 27, 2022 23:01 - 6 minutes - 4.45 MB2022.08.28– 0605 – What’s In Your Briefs What’s in your briefs Who is this for? - In other words, who is your target audience, the listener you want to hear this message and act upon it. That should usually be much narrower than “everyone”, so it could be a grandmother in her 70s, or a young businesswoman in her twenties, or new parents. Every different audience will lead you to have a different tone, or attitude, when you read the script. You can usually have a guess by looking at the scr...
0604 – The Brief For A Voice-Over Recording
August 26, 2022 23:01 - 2 minutes - 2.03 MB2022.08.27– 0604 – The Brief For A Voice-Over Recording The brief for a script recording A written brief, a short but clear sheet of directions, will help everyone involved in a recording session in several ways: You, the ‘voice’, will have set targets for issues such as the tone and pace, the target audience, the characterisation, giving you time to prepare. Similarly, the director, producer and client all know the same information, so they are all approaching the recording with the sam...
0603 – Pre-Prep To Keep In Step
August 25, 2022 23:01 - 6 minutes - 4.83 MB2022.08.26– 0603 – Pre-Prep To Keep In Step For radio and podcast presenters specifically, your preparation may include: · Planned spontaneity - Have a rough idea of what to say, maybe not every single word, but blocks of topics and bullet points within them of the points you want to make and how to transition from one block to another. A road map if you will, and one that you can veer off if you want to improvise and extemporise in the moment. Pre-read and rewrite if allowed, to s...
0602 – On The Day Prep To Get A Better Voice
August 24, 2022 23:01 - 3 minutes - 2.11 MB2022.08.25– 0602 – On The Day Prep To Get A Better Voice Prepping promotes polished performances. ‘With-the-script’ and ‘on-the-day’ Preparation. For anyone talking on mic, your preparation will include: · Hydration – yep, that again! Hydration preparation! It will take 24 hours for water you have drunk to properly benefit you systemically. Sipping water on the day is great, but that’s only a ‘top up’, to ease a tickle, to clean your mouth or to use a few seconds while you look a...
0601 – How The Way We Sound Shapes Our Identities
August 23, 2022 23:01 - 2 minutes - 1.48 MB2022.08.24– 0601 – How The Way We Sound Shapes Our Identities How The Way We Sound Shapes Our Identities Our voices convey so much more than just information. They can tell other people something essential about who we are: our age and gender and personality (our feelings, our temperament, our identity). On this episode of the Hidden Brain podcast (link below), the presenters look at the relationship between our voices and our identities, how advances in technology might help people with ...