Get A Better Broadcast, Podcast and Voice-Over Voice

2022.08.23– 0600 – Vocal Confidence Through Familiarisation With The Script And Situation ·        Familiarisation with the subject – the knowledge of the script, not just the words, but the meaning and the significance and intention of it, and the role your ‘character’ plays in conveying the message. Plus, who that message is targeted at, and what you want...

2022.08.22– 0599 – Vocal Confidence Through Familiarisation With Yourself ·        Familiarisation with yourself – we have to turn nervous self- consciousness to self- confidence . That is, moving from being aware of every element of who you are and where you are and what you are doing to a more overall approach: that you have put in the time and the trainin...

2022.08.21– 0598 – Vocal Confidence Through Relaxed Breathing     ·        Relaxed breathing – we have looked at this a few times. If you breathe properly your whole body relaxes, your mind calms. You are less tense, so your voice strengthens. You have breath control to get to the end of a sentence without panicking. Your heartrate steadies. You ar...

2022.08.20– 0597 – The Vocal Confidence Quotient   The Confidence Quotient Effortless attention is when the challenge and the skill, are in balance. That balance is called ‘confidence’.   To put it another way:   (Relaxed breathing + familiarisation with self, subject and situation = confidence) = you sound credible and authoritative   Let’s look at those elements briefly over...

2022.08.19– 0596 – Work Variety To Increase Your Vocal Experience   Work variety Some of that practice may come from lots of work in which you’ll be experiencing different kinds of reads and learning new styles, and keeping your eye-to-mouth co-ordination and staying in the ‘zone’. But if you have less work, then practice is good to make sure you are ready when the phone rings or the email pi...

2022.08.18– 0595 – Why We Sound Different In Our Headphones Self-feedback Your voice is very personal to you – get used to hearing it, learn to like it – but be aware of what you need to do to improve it. And then practice! Why do we sound different when we listen to a recording of ourselves?   It’s to do with the way we usually hear ourselves. When we speak, we hear our own voice two differe...

2022.08.17– 0594 – Wrapping Up Presenting Unboxing Videos   On screen presenters, whether that is for livestreams, or video conferencing or pre-recorded videos for YouTube or webinars, often find it difficult to talk and do something else at the same time. It sounds odd as we do it all the time in real life, but whether it’s an unboxing of a new product or simply holding and describing a book...

2022.08.16– 0593 – How To Practice Ad Libbing Skills Looking lots Really looking at the world around you. On your walk or commute to work (be careful if you are driving!), take an effort to notice what you pass by. Perhaps take a different route occasionally to force yourself to see what’s different. And then sharpen your awareness and increase your confidence by giving an out-loud running comment...

2022.08.15– 0592 – How To Practice Talking To Time Practice Talking To Time You will also benefit from being able to ‘talk to time’, that is to fill exactly 10 seconds - or 7 or 12 or whatever - and to make sense and be a complete sentence. This is useful if you ever have to present a programme or bulletin that has a ‘clock end’, as well as knowing how to shave off a second or two (or half!) from...

2022.08.14– 0591 – The ‘Two Brains’ Skill You Need To Master Practice Having Two Brains A way to practice receiving information and delivering it at the same time is to ‘parrot’ someone else’s news bulletin, or links on the radio. At home (and probably when you are alone!), listen to a station and repeat the script as it is being said . Or repeat ads a split second after the voice-over does so on...

2022.08.13– 0590 – How To Practice Sight-Reading Practice Sight-Reading Another way to help you sight-read is to read aloud and ad-lib around the credits at the end of a TV show as they scroll up.   Doing this will help your muscle memory of sight-reading: being able to take almost any script and anticipate where it is going to get a good inflection and tone from the get-go. And if you have r...

2022.08.12– 0589 – How To Practice Script-Reading Accuracy Practice Accuracy Keep up your eye-to-mouth accuracy by reading lots of every style, and out loud . It could be bedtime stories to the kids, newspaper or online articles, billboard ads as you are stuck in a traffic queue… some couples even read novels aloud to each other, taking turns at each chapter. Anything. To yourself, to someone else...

2022.08.11– 0588 – The Cheeky Hack To Sound Like Other Voice Artists   Listen to Other Voice Demos Go onto voice agent websites and listen to the demos of other voice artists. After all, they have got an agent so must be doing something right! Work out what it is: ·        How are different voice used for different messages and scripts? ·  &nb...

2022.08.10– 0587 – Life’s Free Voice Training Opportunities Listening lots Don’t skip through the commercials on radio or TV, the internet or cinema! Watch and listen to every ad that comes on. [1] ·        Listen mindfully – that is, really listen ·        Think: o  What is the service or product being adver...

2022.08.09– 0586 – 10,000 Kicks To A Better Voice   Continual Practice   I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. Bruce Lee   You have to be continually ready for your next live or recorded voice session, much like an athlete must always be ‘match fit’. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. Practice won’t make...

2022.08.08– 0585 – The 3-P Formula For A Better Voice THE THREE P’s FORMULA If you want to claim you have a professional presentation (albeit sounding adlibbed), then you need to work at your craft. In the same way the starter guitarist doesn’t launch instantly into riffs and jams, you need to do the work to underpin your future career of having ‘your mouth on the mic’. Get the fundamental foundat...

2022.08.07– 0584 – How To Be An Auto-Cutie 3     Look at the lens ·        Keep looking the camera lens ‘in the eye’ in the same way as you’d look at someone if they were in the room with you. That doesn’t mean a stare or a glare, but with a natural ease (one of interested, informed involvement) alongside occasional glances at your paper-notes or m...

2022.08.06– 0583 – How To Be An Auto-Cutie 2   Rehearse ·        Have the font set to suit your sight. Although, the larger the font, the fewer words will appear at a time, it will save you squinting or slipping up and getting panicked. You can often switch the text from white on black to black on white if that makes it easier for you to read. You may a...

2022.08.05– 0582 – How To Be An Auto-Cutie 1   How to be an auto-cutie   The speed of the read ·        The prompter operator should follow your pace. That is, you don't need to speed up or slow down to follow the words appearing, but trust that the words will be there when you need them. Don’t play ‘cat-and-mouse’: if you go quickly the scroll of...

2022.08.04– 0581 – Prompts On Using Your Voice With A Teleprompt   Teleprompters While we are talking about reading from a screen, a few words on systems [1] which project the words you have to read, onto the lens of a TV camera, or alongside the lens of a mobile phone.   Teleprompter positives ·        In using a teleprompter, presenters naturally...

2022.08.03– 0580 – Video Call Voice Confidence Tricks Video confidence tricks: So once you have set the lights and background how you want them, find the button on your video-platform that allows you to turn off your ‘self-view’, which may help you feel more confident … because you wont have the dysmorphia we spoke about a few days ago.   Then: ·     notes to one side...

2022.08.02– 0579 – Why Video Calls Lead To Vocal Loading But then neither is the whole tech and protocol of video-conferencing: Talking to people we can see and hear but are not physically with and so can’t see their full body language The now-disrupted turn-taking rhythm we are used to in a conversation and working out the protocol if several people talk at once and how to give way How we can do...

2022.08.01– 0578 – How ‘Zoom Dysmorphia’ Affects Your Video-Call Voice   How ‘Zoom Dysmorphia’ Affects Your Video-Call Voice [1] Seeing ourselves (and others) on screen can cause micro-stresses, and so, tension in our frame, shallower breathing and a potentially lighter voice. ·        What we think of our face, hair, clothes and voice, room background...

2022.07.31– 0577 – How To Prepare Your voice For Video-Calls How Your Schedule Affects Your Video-Call Voice Video-calls are perhaps more likely for those working from home, but try not to roll out of bed and go straight to your laptop and sit down and talk! Think what you used to do before our lazy lockdowns: busily getting ready, moving around, up and down the stairs, twisting into the car seat...

2022.07.30 – 0576 – Why Video Calls Are Exhausting   And don’t forget video-calls are really quite exhausting [1] And dullness saps your energy – mentally, physically and vocally.   Webchats: ·        Need more concentration on the conversation – as there’s little change of scenery. Dull backgrounds, green screens or even people wandering around in...