Get A Better Broadcast, Podcast and Voice-Over Voice

2023.02.14 – 0775 – Vocal Fold Haemorrhage      Continued talking may lead to ‘vocal nodules’ on your folds, which are common with loud, tense, constant talkers. (Polyps are similar but usually occur after a single cough or shout, rather than long-term abuse, and happen when the folds haemorrhage.)   Know your body. If your body is hurting (even a sore throat), stop. It’s a sig...

2023.02.13 – 0774 – Voice Advice From Justin Timberlake and Larry Hagman     ‘Resting’ actors Larry Hagman was best known for playing ruthless oil baron J. R. Ewing in the 1978–1991 primetime television soap opera ‘ Dallas ’ and the befuddled astronaut Major Anthony Nelson in the 1965–1970 sitcom ‘ I Dream of Jeannie ’. For 20 years he undertook “ silent Sundays ” after a doctor suggeste...

2023.02.12 – 0773 – Polyps, Nodules and Phonal Trauma     Treating your voice badly, shouting [1] , smoking or straining it, is not showing it the respect it deserves. These actions can lead to ‘phonal trauma’ such as nodules or polyps (small growths) on your vocal folds. These can be painful and if they heal at all can take a long time. At an extreme, they may need to be removed in an o...

2023.02.11 – 0772 – The Greatest Vocal Athletes     The voice-overs with perhaps the most vocal stamina have to be the audiobook narrators. Recording day after day for a total of 70 hours is not unheard of, and on top of that (for fiction books at least) creating and remembering different voices and accents for different characters, and reading with different sets of emotions and volumes...

2023.02.10 – 0771 – Vocal Conditioning Through Proper Pacing   If your body is tired, your voice sounds tired: it’s one of the first areas where your lack of zeds shows itself.   Before a recording session, get plenty of sleep so your voice doesn’t sound too husky or in a lower register than the producer was expecting when they booked you from your demo reel.   Voice overuse and mis...

2023.02.09 – 0770 – Why Having A Secret May Be Hurting Your Voice   Whispering – Normal speaking is with a regular airflow and closure. With whispering you get no closure and you need more effort to make a lesser sound. Try it right now and feel the strain your vocal cords are under. What you are doing is pushing them into an unusual shape and then passing extra air over them that only a...

2023.02.08 – 0769 – Why African Elephants In Underpants May Be Hurting Your Voice   Vowels Say the following phrase aloud, word by word: “ African. Elephants. In. Our. Underpants ”.   Each word begins with a vowel, A, E, I, O and U. And as we saw before, it’s these sounds that are made with a lot of potential pressure on the larynx. Say “ African ” again and you will feel that the initia...

2023.02.07 – 0768 – What To Say To An Anaesthetist Surgery – Intubation is when a tube is fed into your mouth (‘endotracheal intubation’) or nose (‘nasogastric intubation’) and then into the airway to help you with breathing, deliver anaesthesia or medications, and bypass a blockage. Be aware of the potential damage to your vocal folds during intubation anaesthetics, and prior to planned surgery m...

2023.02.06 – 0767 – How A Kettle Can Help Your Voice   Steam inhaling - can help the health of the vocal folds and the mucous membranes that line the nasal and mouth cavities. Steaming once or twice a day for 10-15 minutes will: ·        allow the water vapour to get into places that no lozenge, gargle or linctus can ever reach, soothing and moisturisin...

2023.02.05 – 0766 –Voice Problems Caused By Shouting and Smoking   Shouting – causes the folds are slammed together harshly. Consider why you are shouting – perhaps it’s because of a loud and busy newsroom, or maybe you are going slightly deaf…? If you are tempted to pick up some part time work say behind a bar where you have to raise your voice to be heard, you may want to think of another j...

2023.02.04 – 0765 – How Snoring May Be Causing Voice Problems   Mouth breathing and snoring - can dry your vocal folds (as we saw previously, part of the job the nostrils have is to humidify the air as it enters your body). Although it’s OK to take gasps of air through your mouth as you speak, try to otherwise inhale through your nose. That’s especially true at night otherwise for many hours...

 2023.02.03 – 0764 – How Meds Can Hurt Not Help Your Voice   Medications – Again, sticky-sweet, tongue colour-changing over-the-counter lozenges do not touch your vocal cords. Although they might have a placebo effect (you feel as though they are helping, and so your confidence returns), the ones with anaesthetic or numbing properties may actually be causing further damage, giving you a...

2023.02.02 – 0763 – How Your Voice Is Affected By Oestrogen, Progesterone and Androgens   Menopause can also affect the voice. [1] Vocally speaking, oestrogen: ·        affects how supple the vocal folds’ upper surface (the mucosal layer) is ·        supports the folds’ mucus-making glands ·   &nbsp...

2023.02.01 – 0762 – How Hormones Affect Your Voice   Hormones - We know how boys’ voices change as they go through puberty, but so do girls’. Testosterone and oestrogen not only affect the voice directly in the vocal folds, changing their shape and so the sounds they make, but also indirectly as the overall body shape changes. Muscles and ligaments develop which can lead to increased lung cap...

2023.01.31 – 0761 – The Voice Enemies Of Air Con, Carphones and Coughing   Air conditioning – a dry throat can be caused by heating or air conditioning in homes, offices, trains, planes and cars. Try getting more natural air into your life, or invest in a humidifier.   Carphones – you tend to talk louder on them as the mic is further from your mouth, because the signal may not be good, y...

2023.01.30 – 0760 – Signs Your Voice Isn’t As It Should Be     (How To Use Your Voice For A Four Hour Show And Not Damage Or Lose It)?? Signs that your voice isn’t as it should be Of course, only you really know how your voice usually sounds and how you usually feel, but there are some tell-tale red flags that may indicate a current or looming problem:   Effort - it all needs more c...

2023.01.29 – 0759 – Potentially Unhelpful Vocal Rest     Potentially ‘unhelpful’ vocal rest   This might include: Not speaking for two days before a studio session to “ prepare my voice ” – as an athlete might do gentle warm-ups before a big race rather than lie in bed all day, so you should give your voice gentle exercises   A voice actor or presenter who feels exhausted after...

2023.01.28 – 0758 – The Importance Of Voice Naps     If you are using your voice a lot, try and schedule some specific ‘voice naps’ into your day, where you don’t talk for 5-15 minutes at a time on several occasions throughout the day. By taking ‘voice naps’ you can top up your ‘voice battery’. This may mean: ·        Planning your schedule – sprea...

2023.01.27 – 0757 – Outside Elements Damaging Your Voice     As well as external environmental issues such as: ·        Air humidity - dry air is thought to increase the stress on the vocal folds, so beware of studio air conditioning. Anything that cools it down or warms it up can dry out the air. ·       &nb...

2023.01.26 – 0756 – Your Vocal Battery     PROFESSIONAL VOCAL STRAIN It is of course better to ‘defend not mend’ – and prevention is easier than a remedy. So, look after your folds and everything else that helps your body create a great sound.   Be aware of how much you are using your voice during the day, and how much rest you are giving it.   The ‘Vocal Battery’ Think of your...

2023.01.25 – 0755 – Why Your Evening Meal Could Be Killing Your Voice   Acid reflux [1]   This is when digestive juices (made up of strong acids and enzymes) find their way from the stomach into the oesophagus. Known by doctors as GERD (‘gastro-esophageal reflux disease) or GOR (‘gastro-oesophageal reflux), symptoms include heartburn, indigestion, coughing, belching, general discomfort a...

2023.01.24 – 0754 – Why ‘Thirst’ Is Unreliable   Your unreliable dehydration warning system When you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated. That’s because whereas the body treats food with a ‘store now - use later policy’, excess fluid will simply be excreted. You’ll just pee. So, the ‘thirst mechanism’ is unreliable. To stop feeling thirsty (and so, dehydrated), and because your thirst is...

2023.01.23 – 0753 – Hydration Oughta Be Water, But… Where hydration comes from Hydration oughta be water, plain, pure and at room temperature. But if you’re struggling to drink enough try: ·        Try flavouring your water with fruit ·        Drink caffeine-free tea like chamomile, ginger, or peppermint tea · &nb...

2023.01.22 – 0752 – Hydrate to Sound Great. Here’s Why… The more dehydrated you are: ·        The drier the cords ·        The poorer the quality of your voice ·        The less you will get from each breath ·        The shorter the time yo...

2023.01.21 – 0751 – A Moment On Mucus So, hydration affects the folds specifically in two ways: ·        ‘Systemic hydration’ is the term for hydrating your whole body, the cells and the tissues from inside out ·        ‘Topical (or ‘surface’) hydration’ affects the moisture levels of the surface of the vocal folds, ke...