2022.02.23 – 0419 – The Problem With Pauses
PROBLEMS WITH PAUSES
In commercial voiceovers, the pauses are often edited out to leave a ‘word-wall of sound’. I was once asked to record a daily podcast for an (in)famous media company. They loved my voice and presentation style, but had one request: could I please go back and edit out all of my breaths from the recording as “people don’t want to hear them”. Errr!
Removing breaths disrupts this natural rhythm and therefore interferes with our understanding of the content, but it’s done to cram more information into the time allowed.
Granted people don’t want to hear big gulps or suck-in breaths, but they are a normal part of speech that we hear, live, every day. And of course, we naturally take a breath in adlibbed speech certainly, where it makes sense in a thought block, and therefore that creates a pause which the listener considers natural.
And pauses are pertinent in an ‘ad read’ for reasons mentioned before: they can help draw attention to key words or phrases such as a feeling the product suggests, the name of the business, the strapline or special offer.
Alternatively, some radio and podcast presenters edit pauses into their show, to add suspense.
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