Get A Better Broadcast, Podcast and Voice-Over Voice

2023.07.14 – 0925 – Pause and Breathe, Focus and Relax Pause and Breathe High levels of adrenalin affect the body’s chemistry for violent action which it doesn’t get. Burning off energy by filling your blood with oxygen will help you replace this missing activity. A bout of steady breathing does this. Breathing is the key-thing, as I always say!   Take a few minutes to centre yourself. Breath...

2023.07.13 – 0924 – Pre-Performance Routines   Pre-performance routines Having a routine reminds the mind of what’s coming next: a live show or a session recording. We’ve spoken about all of these before:   A mental warm-up , perhaps on the bus or train on the way to the studio or sitting in the car outside. Release tension and let go. Imagine you are somewhere warm, maybe on a beach or...

2023.07.12 – 0923 – Positive Self-Talk During The Studio Session – or pre-performance routines immediately before Positive self-talk Remember that you were chosen for your talents ahead of everyone else. So really, the hardest bit is over! You have to have as much confidence in yourself as the client or producer does. Of course, you’ll be nervous but perhaps try and break any tension with some lig...

2023.07.11 – 0922 – Step By Step Positive Songs Listen to a Positive Song Music is a great emotion-bringer, so when you get up on your ‘big day’ pick one that gives you positive energy and brings a smile to your face. This could be something from your childhood or a recent song that you can’t stop listening to.   [Snooker player] Ali Carter suggested that Whitney Houston inspired him to...

2023.07.10 – 0921 – Nutrition and Hydration   Nutrition and Hydration Eating gives you the fuel to stay focused and keep going under pressure. Healthy food of a single ingredient (so fruit, vegetables and so on), is preferable to processed additive-ridden ready-meals which can affect your gut and your brain. There’s a huge link between one and the other, and if you eat like a slob, you’r...

2023.07.09 – 0920 – Rest and Relax Preparation – Your Voice We have covered plenty of exercises to help you have a strong, healthy and agile voice, both in how it sounds and also how it sounds with particular words, scripts, the intonations and emotions. Remember two of my philosophies on this topic: ·        Breathing is the key thing – belly-breathing will...

2023.07.08 – 0919 – Does Practice Make Perfect?   Preparation - The content - Be familiar with the script, the format, the role, the studio tech … If you’re not prepared, you will know it, even deep down. Prepare, and prepare for the unexpected: what to do if there’s breaking news, you have to ‘fill for time’ for a minute, the guest is not who you were expecting, you’ve lost your notes. That...

2023.07.07 – 0918 – Counselling For Mic Fright   Psychological help and counselling If your jitters are more serious and long term, therapy or cognitive behavioural therapy [1] may help discover the reasons, put things into perspective and suggest long-term coping strategies. If your fears relate back to long-standing difficult psychological events, it will help to identify and work through t...

2023.07.06 – 0917 – Have a No-Stress Rehearsal Have a Mental Rehearsal Visualise success – Research shows that our brain reacts the same in a real situation as in an imagined one, so do what athletes do and start training your brain into thinking positively and practice seeing yourself performing well. Develop and practice pre- and during- ‘performance’ routines so you feel more familiarity with w...

2023.07.05 – 0916 – Remind Yourself Why You Care   Remind yourself why you care Why is this broadcast, podcast or voice-over opportunity important to you? Tell yourself, out loud, how excited you are about this what it is that you, the product, or your guest are about to share with listeners.   From your perspective, you really know that this is what you want to do, and you’ve put y...

2023.07.04 – 0915 – Renaming and Reframing Mic Fright   Re-naming and re-framing: Positive self-talk Our physical reactions to different emotions are often similar. Think how you feel when you’re excited and when you’re frightened; both emotions may result in increased muscle tension, tremor and palpitations but we interpret them differently. Excitement is perceived as a positive ‘stress’ whi...

2023.07.03 – 0914 – Be “Channelin’ The Adrenaline”! “ Channelin’ the adrenaline ”! Remember, if you are nervous, it shows you care. You want to perform well, you want to be careful and professional, not slipshod and slapdash. Of course, the presence of some of these chemicals can give you the edge. Some arousal leads to better performance: you may feel sharper and wittier, have rapier-like questio...

2023.07.02 – 0913 – Know Your Nervous Triggers   OVERCOMING MIC FRIGHT BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER YOUR STUDIO SESSION   BEFORE Pre-performance routines the weeks and days beforehand Those ‘butterflies’ in your stomach? They’re normal. But you have to teach them to fly in formation, like a squadron of drones, and harness their combined energies to give you wings and allow you to fly!  ...

2023.07.01 – 0912 – Your Mindset At The Mic INTRODUCTION Performance anxiety is rarely researched and so we understand very little about the specifics of this complex condition. We know some hacks… but we also know that long term mental health is very serious. Again, consult a medical professional for more long-term treatment for what may be underlying issues.   Millenia ago our caveman ances...

2023.06.30 – 0911 – Your Guests’ Nerves Don’t forget the guests They get nervous too. The presence of a microphone can cause some people to panic. Perhaps that’s not surprising in some situations: pouncing on an unsuspecting member of the public in the street, shoving a microphone in their face and asking them intricate questions about the international monetary fund is sure to make someone clam u...

2023.06.29 – 0910 – How The Audience Reacts To Your Nerves How does the audience react to your nerves? Nerves not only affect you; they also affect your listeners. They want to feel taken care of, that they are in safe hands. They’ll feel comfortable, if they think you are.   If you sound nervous, they may: ·        Question your competence – “why is sh...

2023.06.28 – 0909 – How Video Meetings Can Cause Stress VOICE BOX How video meetings can cause stress: More focus is needed to process non-verbal communication such as facial expressions, tonal variation, body language The self-awareness of being watched may make you feel that you are performing and lead to performance anxiety Delays or latency: even a 1.2 second delay can make you perceive the re...

2023.06.27 – 0908 – When You Simply Can’t Speak At All The clinical name for hoarseness is ‘dysphonia’ and complete (or almost complete) voice loss is ‘aphonia’. Often the symptoms are caused by infection, physical abnormality or disease, but emotional distress can also be at the root, when it is referred to as a ‘psychogenic’ voice disorder. Extreme performance anxiety may include paralysis: free...

2023.06.26 – 0907 – The Vocal Effect Of Mic Fright Vocally: ·        When stressed, the muscles that control the larynx can become tense. [1] (Periods of prolonged muscle tension in the larynx can lead to a lack of coordination of the vocal control system that can cause vocal fatigue and even vocal damage.) ·        Te...

2023.06.25 – 0906 – The Respiratory Effect Of Mic Fright Respiritorally: ·        Held tension will restrict your ability to drop your diaphragm and open up your lungs ·        ‘Fight-or-flight breathing’ into your upper thoracic chest cavity and the clavicular area of your throat, meaning your breaths will naturally b...

2023.06.24 – 0905 – The Physical Effect Of Mic Fright Physically: ·        Sweating under the arms, down the back and clammy hands ·        A stomach somewhere between a butterfly house or churning like a cement mixer and in extreme cases, vomiting (or a feeling of it) and diarrhoea or a feeling to rush to the toilet ·...

2023.06.23 – 0904 – The Mental Effect Of Mic Fright The effect of nerves and stress on the body   psychosomatic /ˌsʌɪkə(ʊ)səˈmatɪk/ adjective 1.   A physical illness or condition caused or aggravated by a mental factor such as internal conflict or stress 2.   relating to the interaction of mind and body.     Extra adrenaline upsets your natura...

2023.06.22 – 0903 – The Studio ‘Caveman’ This survival mechanism developed so humans could react quickly to life-threatening situations. But even though we don’t experience many saber-toothed tigers down the high street, our mind can still perceive some unusual situations as stressful, triggering the original reactions.   Of course, very often we can neither fight or flee: our ‘caveman brain’...

2023.06.21 – 0902 – Mic ‘Flight and Fight’ Mic fight and flight [1] The ‘fight or flight’ response is well known: an automatic physiological reaction that’s perceived by the ‘caveman’ in us as stressful or frightening. The sympathetic nervous system is activated, triggering an acute stress response that prepares the body to confront it, or get away from it. A cascade of adrenal...

2023.06.20 – 0901 – Lack of Prep Time ·        Lack of time or effort to prepare mentally – perhaps you are tired, ‘under the weather’, in pain or returning after a break. There may be distracting ‘life events’ in your head: deaths and illnesses, relationship breakdowns or financial pressures. Even if you can’t step away from these physically, try and do so...