Get A Better Broadcast, Podcast and Voice-Over Voice

2022.06.09 – 0525 – Finding The ‘Sweet Spot’ Having said that, a greater mic-to-mouth distance will give your voice a lighter pitch, with more treble, a thinness to the sound and more of the room acoustics, especially if you turn up the recording level.   Conversely, standing away from the mic and raising the voice can make it sound as though you are speaking live on location – useful for giv...

2022.06.08 – 0524 – How To Get The ‘Barry White’ Effect   VOICE BOX Moving the mic slightly towards or away from you raises other issues to do with what’s called The Proximity effect.   This is a phenomenon that leads to an increase in low frequency response, the shorter the distance is between mic and mouth. This can create problems, but at the same time it opens up ways to shape the so...

2022.06.07 – 0523 – Why Six Inches Is A Great Length So, what is “the right mic-to-mouth position”? It’s usually about 6-8 inches’ distance. Indeed, a good rule of thumb is the literal rule of thumb, the distance between the ‘noise creator’ of your mouth and the ‘noise receiver’, the mic, should be around about the same as the span between splayed tip-of-thumb to tip-of-small-finger, or a bit long...

2022.06.06 – 0522 – Microphone Headsets Some radio presenters as well as podcasters and YouTubers use microphone headsets in which the mic is incorporated into the headphones, similar to the ones you might imagine an air traffic controller wearing. The mics on these are obviously smaller than a desk mic, but shop around and you can find good quality ones. The advantage is that you are never off-mi...

2022.06.05 – 0521 – Reading Scripts From A Screen In 2020, I started to read radio news bulletins from a screen. Before that, scripts were always printed out and reading them on air often meant that your head was nodded down to look at sheet on the desk in front of you. That of course cause a ‘kink’ in the throat and a subsequent reduction in the quality of presentation. Now, off-screen reading me...

2022.06.04 – 0520 – The Mic-To-Mouth Position Mic position Look back at earlier in the book when we discovered how to sit and breath better. Hopefully you are still using that ‘home balanced-breathing position’ (from which you can vary slightly), to enable a good flow of air to and from your lungs.   In a TV studio it is sometimes ‘natural’ urge to lean in to the camera, but doing so squashes...

2022.06.03 – 0519 – Mic Stands, Arms and Mounts Mic stands, arms and mounts It makes sense that desk mics are those on a stand, on a desk. And touch of the base of the stand, or a knock of the desk itself, may likely be heard through the microphone.   That’s why many studios have the main mic held in an Anglepoise-type arm, which can often be adjustable inasmuch as you can alter the height or...

2022.06.02 – 0518 – Types Of Mics Types of mics Most microphones in audio studios are on table stands or arms fixed to the desk which are height and/or distance-adjustable. TV presenters use either fixed, direction mics out of shot on the studio ceiling or, more likely small lapel mics powered by a battery/transmitter pack attached to their belt or (under a skirt or trousers) to their leg, or in a...

2022.06.01 – 0517 – What You Need To Know About How Mics Affect Your Voice OK now we are in the studio, the next important piece of kit to make the most of your voice is of course, the mic.   Speaking with a microphone is different from speaking with another human being. And there are various ‘mic environments’ each of which will make your presentation and voice projection a little different:...

2022.05.31 – 0516 – The Clap Test For A Better Voice The Clap Test As you are treating your room, check the acoustic changes you have made by carrying out the ‘clap test’: stand in the middle of your space and make a single sharp clap. How does the sound, well, sound? It should sound crisp and clear, with no other echoes, thinness or muffles. The technical term is that is should sound ‘dead’ (with...

2022.05.30 – 0515 – Treating Your Studio: At The Very Least Do This If sound-treatment is challenging for you to try to at least do three things: ·        Have a sound-wave absorber on your table – as you will be sitting here in front of the mic and the recording device, your voice is likely to bounce off the hard surface and back into the mic, changing its...

2022.05.29 – 0514 – The Difference Between Sound ‘Proofing’ and Sound ‘Treating’ There is a difference between ‘sound-proofing’ and ‘sound-treating’. The former is stopping the unwanted sound getting in and can be a big an expensive job, whereas sound treating is quicker, cheaper and easier and involves working with the sounds inside the room. Ideally, they will both be done, but if you can’t then...

2022.05.28 – 0513 – All About Acoustics What is in your studio space is important for your voice because if your sound bounces around too much, it will appear to be ‘thin’ and ‘hollow’ rather than warm and natural.   Then consider how the room itself sounds: the acoustics. ·        The size of the room – usually a smaller room is going to be easier to b...

2022.05.27 – 0512 – How The Studio Space Affects Your Voice   THE STUDIO Recording location The studio space will affect your voice because too much other noise may be a distraction, you may be lost in the mix, or the acoustics of the room will simply alter how your voice sounds.   Outside of a professional recording studio, the podcaster will ideally choose a recording location that has...

2022.05.26 – 0511 – What’s Stuff About The Studio Got To Do With My Voice? What’s all this got to do with my voice? Knowing more about studios, mics and the electronic processing of your voice will simply help you sound better. For example, knowing the best mic for your voice, how far to sit from it, how to hold it and what side to speak into.   Knowing this, as well as the rest of the studio...

2022.05.25 – 0510 – Your Voice In The Studio This Part of the book is divided into three chapters. First, we will look at the different equipment in the studio. Don’t worry we won’t be getting too technical and talk about the transmission chain, but there are a few bits of kit in a home or pro studio that you need to know about and about how to use it right to make the best of your voice. For...

2022.05.24 – 0509 – Vocal Variety Variety If your inflection patterns are too consistent, then you're sounding bored rather than interesting. Depending on the material, sometimes your delivery should be fast, sometimes slower. Sometimes you should be excited, sometimes calm. Sometimes your voice should carry a smile, sometimes you should sound dead serious. By constantly varying your pattern (with...

2022.05.23 – 0508 – Your Injection Into The Output Rapport begins with realising that each ‘consumer’, viewer or listener is an individual who in most cases, has invited you into their home, their world, their ears. Consider yourself a guest, an acquaintance or even a friend, who’s been welcomed in because you have a story to tell.   You can easily forget about the audience. Cocooned within t...

2022.05.22 – 0507 – Personality and Rapport PERSONALITY AND RAPPORT Good presenters are ones who establish rapport with their audience.   “A lot of people have complimented me for sounding warm and I think that’s important… warm but authoritative at the same time. You can read really bad news without emoting about it but on the other hand not being cold and too factual either and I think I’m...

2022.05.21 – 0506 – Stop Thinking What You’re Doing Finally - stop thinking about what you’re doing When you read a story or a script for the first time, be mindful as to its immediate meaning. What jumps out of the page at you? What’s surprising or shocking? What’s confusing or concerning? Capture the sense of discovery and realisation so you can bring it to your performance later, to make it mor...

2022.05.20 – 0505 – Rehearsing Conversationality Rehearsing reading out loud makes you a better communicator; it’s a skill that must be learnt and practiced so it sounds as though you are speaking off the top of your head. Another killer of the conversational read is being in the ‘performance zone’. If you feel as though you are ‘acting the part’ of a voiceover artist or newsreader, that should be...

2022.05.19 – 0504 – A Giveaway That You’re Reading   A Giveaway That You’re Reading Sometimes it’s obvious you’re reading something because it contains too much information that you couldn’t possibly know or remember. As an example, here is something that if read as written will definitely sound as if it is being read: “On Thursday July 7th 2005, three bomb explosions hit London Underground t...

2022.05.18 – 0503 – 20/21 - Suspensions and Stumbles   20 - Suspensions and Stumbles Consider leaving in any genuine slips and trips - so OK, your recording may not be not perfect but it will be more naturalistic. Again, you can’t do this in a news script or voice-over session, but you may be able to in a podcast. 21- Focus on The Message – Not Your Voice Or Breath All this will give the impr...

2022.05.17 – 0502 – 19 - Unlock the Full Stops   19 - Unlock the Full Stops Free the periods and commas to recreate a natural verbal fluidity. Don't pause where the full stop/period is. Instead, ignore them – and break the flow of the words where it feels more natural to. And that’s not necessarily at the end of a grammatical chunk. And we saw before, sentences are an artificial way to marsha...

2022.05.16 – 0501 – 18 - Play With Your Voice   18 - Play With Your Voice When you are able to, surprise yourself with what you can do with your voice. For example, you don’t just say “ no ” as a single note and syllable, it could be “ Noooo ”. Imagine for example that your other half is teasing you for taking a newly baked bun from the cooling tray. They know you have taken it, and you know...