Get A Better Broadcast, Podcast and Voice-Over Voice

2021.12.17 – 0351 – Sounds That Drown What loudness means ‘Authority’ does not mean talking loud. ‘Authority’ comes, as we have seen before, from understanding the story and having the confidence to explain its significance to your listeners, with appropriate vocal expression.  The louder you are, the more control of a conversation or of someone you are trying to achieve. That’s not ‘authorit...

2021.12.16 – 0350 – Voice Extremes: The Louder Voice From a whisper to a booming voice of a ‘hurry, hurry, buy now, offer ends on Saturday’ commercial, your volume speaks volumes about the message and the character.   The ‘size’ and drama of a louder delivery can indicate urgency, importance, confidence, power, resolve or anger. A softer voice can convey a secret, an intimate word, a warmth,...

2021.12.15 – 0349 – Projection And The Audience The audience Your volume will alter depending on how many people are listening, where they are and what they are doing. We have seen some of this already when we discussed vocal proxemics and how you adjust your projection if you can’t see your audience. Let’s develop that a little. What if your audience is captive? Not in a hostage situation you und...

2021.12.14 – 0348 – Projection And The Message The message Lowering your volume has a double effect: it not only makes your voice softer and quieter, but it also becomes more resonant. As we saw earlier, this means the sound is more-full and more pleasant to listen to. Think about it, a loud voice or shout is far from ‘smooth’ or ‘rich’ or ‘resonant’. Therefore, a softer voice may be appropriate f...

2021.12.13 – 0347 – Projection And The Location The location We have already seen how we usually speak louder outside than in, and, obviously speak louder when there are other noises to compete against. But there are other elements which affect the volume we choose to use too. We may speak more loudly when we are trying to excite, and perhaps more softly when encouraging – but I’m sure you may be...

2021.12.12 – 0346 – Projection And Character Volume is a key part of presentation from a script, whether in voice overs, voice acting, reading or presenting, and that volume needs to be appropriate for the character, the location, the message and the audience. The clues to the volume you use will be in the script, the written or studio direction, or in the outline / brief / specs provided by...

2021.12.11 – 0345 – Imagining Your Hidden Audience – Where They Are Summon up an image of where that person will be when they are watching you on tv or listening to you on the radio, will also alter how you talk live, or record a piece of copy. Will it be played on breakfast TV? Is it for an instore commercial? Is it for a podcast? If you are presenting on the radio, you are likely to have a diffe...

2021.12.10 – 0344 – Imagining Your Hidden Audience – Who They Are Imagining Your Hidden Audience Who are they? One way to achieve an appropriate ‘point of vocus’ for your projection is by putting a photo of someone at a distance from you in the studio, that you’d imagine an actual listener to be if they were with physically you. So, if the voice-over is personal and intimate then the image would b...

2021.12.09 – 0343 – The Point of Vocus The Point of Vocus Put simply, the microphone is usually positioned in our ‘inmate’ zone 6-8 inches from our mouth. If it was a human ear rather than a mic that we were talking to at that distance, we would be very friendly indeed with that person! Our voice would drop in volume, the tone would change (and so too would the content – but that’s another book)....

2021.12.08 – 0342 – Vocal Proxemics – Part 2 So, you have a different voice when you are with your lover in the ‘ Intimate Zone’ ( a very soft level that you might use to tell a secret to a friend or whisper ‘sweet nothings’ to a lover), than you use to a room of people in a ‘ Public Zone’ (a louder volume used in front of lots of people who may be further away).   Translate that into the stu...

2021.12.07 – 0341 – Vocal Proxemics Vocal Proxemics Associated with ‘Human Spacing’ are our vocal proxemics : the kind of voice we use in each Zone. The further away someone is, the louder and less personal your voice becomes. ‘Proxemics’ is a branch of linguistic science which describes the effects of nearness or distance in signalling attitudes.   We all [1] have an inbuilt ‘virtual voice v...

2021.12.06 – 0340 – Your 12-Inch Voice Sometimes people refer to a “ 12-inch voice ”. But what is that?   It is the volume required for you to be heard only up to a 12-inch radius around yourself (approx. 30 centimetres). 12 inches is certainly in the intimate zone! Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your con...

2021.12.05 – 0339 – Human Spacing And Its Part In Projection Theory Human Spacing What the barbecue has illustrated is Human Spacing, the ideas of anthropologist Edward T. Hall [1] from which we understand the projection needed to speak conversationally [2] . It’s because, as we have seen, there are very specific ‘social rules’ about this social distance [3] .   The Public Zone This is genera...

2021.12.04 – 0338 – The Anniversary Party Analysis VOCAL PROXEMICS AND THE FOUR VARIETIES OF VOCAL VOLUME Your natural volume We are not ‘prehistorically programmed’ to speak to people that we can’t see, let alone speak to millions of people all at once but supposedly in a friendly one-to-one conversational way. The two elements are in dichotomy. So, we try and manipulate our mind to create a fals...

2021.12.03 – 0337 – Projection Advice to BBC Presenters On 2nd January 1928, 5XX (the forerunner of the BBC) broadcast its first ‘Daily Service’ from Savoy Hill in London, with The Rev H.R.L Sheppard C.H., D.D. A booklet “Hints For Preachers” was published for those who would be speaking on this new medium and were unsure how to ‘use it’. The advice:   “Remember that your vast audience isn't...

2021.12.02 – 0336 – The Feedback Loop – Part 2 When we are in a studio, we don’t have this verbal and non-verbal feedback loop because the audience is unseen: we can’t see their nods of agreement, or hear their “ uh-huhs ” of understanding, and so it’s tricky for us to adjust our mode of delivery, and therefore to sound natural.   We need to create a construct of conversationality while readi...

2021.12.01 – 0335 – Mouth Open, Eyes Closed I once knew a man who spoke in a very loud voice. He commanded the conversation both with his volume and also with his body language, because when he spoke in his overbearing, bumptious tone… he’d close his eyes.   What he was doing was shutting out all external signals that would have told him to cede the floor: he would not see someone stepping ba...

2021.11.30 – 0334 – The Broken Feedback Loop In a face-to-face or even voice-to-voice conversation (such as a phone call), most people constantly monitor their role in relation to others: ·        taking turns so they don’t monopolise a conversation ·        the speaker adds verbal checks to confirm that the other pers...

2021.11.29 – 0333 – The Big Projection Problem The big problem is that in our line of work - broadcasting, podcasting or voice-overing – we are in an ‘unnatural situation’. A million years ago, our prehistoric ancestors would talk, live, to a handful of people who were standing nearby. Then as communities grew, people would talk live to larger crowds standing in front of them. Today, we sit alone...

2021.11.28 – 0332 – Presenting Projections on TV and Radio In television a conversational projection is more appropriate because the reader has an illusion of eye contact with the audience, and television audiences offer more of their undivided attention than do radio listeners. Radio presenters have to work harder to cut through distractions and background noise before reaching the listener, espe...

2021.11.27 – 0331 – Interpretations of Projections Loud speakers can come over as assured and energetic - or aggressive or bumptious, full of themselves, larger than life, maybe a bit of a bully. They can’t or won’t monitor how their message is being received – and so don’t dial back from 11, and leave the listener feeling attacked and wanting to disengage from the message.   Softer speakers...

2021.11.26 – 0330 – Why Various Voice Volumes Are Vital Why ‘Various Voice Volumes Are Vital’ So why is cranking the dial up or down so useful both with scripts and adlibs?   In natural English-presentation, more volume and projection are used: ·        to add emphasis to important content ·        when we are exc...

2021.11.25 – 0329 – What Is ‘Energy’? Energy (or ‘presence’) This is slightly different from both volume and projection, but does have elements of those within it.   ‘Energy’ is subtle and complex, and is a mix of various elements of your body and mind. So, an ‘energetic presentation’ might be a mix of varying degrees of: Your Body ·        Volume – but...

2021.11.24 – 0328 – The Shower Head Analogy Projection is ‘your voice with focus’. Think of the settings on a shower head: one may be a wide ‘rain shower’ spray, another a ‘full body’ spray covering a smaller area, and then a ‘intense jet’ that uses the same overall force of water but concentrates it in a smaller more-clearly targeted area. So, think of the soundwaves leaving your mouth as being m...

2021.11.23 – 0327 – What Is ‘Projection’? Projection – There is a subtle difference between ‘volume’ and ‘projection’, where the latter is a more nuanced way of ‘throwing one’s voice’ when speaking on mic in a studio to ‘reach out’ to those who you cannot see. Projection is more about the power of the voice rather than the volume. It suggests intensity and focused strength . Like a focused laser b...