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, discretion, or indeed indiscretion.
Getting the volume and energy right can often be the key to the read. Let’s look at the two extremes.
Notes on: THE LOUDER VOICE
Be careful when projecting that you still have in mind that you are talking to your audience and not at them. Too much volume becomes impersonal; the listener feels that they are not the only one at the receiving end but part of a crowd; that you are broadcasting rather than telling or communicating. Think of the 50s-style American TV and radio presenters who announced (in an affected way only ever heard in such broadcasts) rather than explained or advised or told. Styles have moved on and that kind of volume is not the conversational style that is usually required outside of some commercial voice overs or ‘voice of god’ introductions.
“You're just talkin’ loud / And saying nothin’”
Lyrics “Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing” by James Brown and Bobby Byrd, 1970
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZkjo3mNmsA
Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart
Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection and projection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a career spent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode!
And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTER BROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE.
Look out for more details of the book during 2022.
Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart
He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (see contacts clink above) and presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with various formats. He has read tens of thousands of news bulletins and hosted 3,000+ podcast episodes.
The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience?
This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects.