Get A Better Broadcast, Podcast and Voice-Over Voice

2022.12.01 – 0700 – Post-Dialogue Attributions In Audiobook NarrationMark any ‘post-dialogue attributions’, where the name of the person who just spoke is written after their statement, (“Merlin said”, “Trayvon interjected”, “Marsha replied”, “Neville whispered”, “she said with a tremor in her voice”), so you know which voice to use for the preceding comment, and how to read it. You may also need to be aware that on occasion there may be a discrepancy between what someone says and how they say it: “I’m completely overwhelmed”, followed by “she said sarcastically”, so you know to say that in a sarcastic way (in this instance), before you get to the direction.Think of what the character is doing when they are speaking in the text: “Robin pulled the bow back as far as he could, struggling as the string cut into his inexperienced fingers. “He has to die” he muttered under his breath, and then with more resolve as the arrow flew from the bow “Die! DIE!”. So, you have to show that the character is experiencing several emotions (exhaustion, focus and then fury), all in a couple of lines.Your in-character breathing will also add to the visual for the listener: a sharp intake of breath in surprise or shock, an exhale of relief, in an action scene when someone is out of breath or tired, sounds natural. As a narrator, some editors may remove or reduce the volume of many of yours, especially those at the start of paragraphs, so they don’t distract the listener. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.30 – 0699 – Preparing a Text For Audiobook Narration Preparing the textSince you’re reading a long piece, it’s essential to skim the book beforehand. Mark unfamiliar words and check their pronunciation (imagine a character called Romè, but because of how your screen is set up, you have recorded the whole book calling them Rome, like the city…). Fantasy and science fiction books will inevitably have invented words and even languages within them. Work out how you will say these, consistently (you may be able to contact the author for a steer?) “Do you ever hear a ‘typo’ in an audiobook?I’m listening to a chapter on John Cage, and the reader just read 4’33”as “four feet, thirty-three inches”.In a different book, in a passage about a 19th haberdashery, est. 1887,the person read it as “estimated 1887”.Cheryl Graham (https://twitter.com/FreeTransform)Clearly mark every chapter – so you can see where there is a natural pause in the story arc, and where you may want to take a physical break. Mark every new character’s first appearance – that way you know whether or not to use their ‘previous voice’ or if they need a new vocal sound. Highlight character descriptions – especially those which give clues as to how they will speak. This could be specific (“Tom was South African…”, “…she whined in her nasal voice…”), but also indirect: their social-economic background, class, or job, their physical characteristics such as their size or age and so on. Beware of new information that emerges during the course of the book: “…which reflected her upbringing in Berlin…” “From smoking 40 a day for 40 years…” Oh! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.29 – 0698 – Story-telling For A Young AudienceStory-telling for a young audienceFor younger pairs of ears, think particularly about the storytelling journey. Children’s books are often very much about emotion and change: the lonely girl who finds friends with seven dwarves; the poor boy who climbs a beanstalk and escapes from a new land with a pot of gold and so on. So play with those feelings and colour the changes which help the story arc: make the princess sound lonely, make Jack sound frightened and then relieved as he escapes the giant.Look carefully at the rhymes, rhythms and repetitions in the sentences, how the author plays with the words in an almost musical way and bring that out in your telling of the tale. (Some say that having a musical background helps with reading aloud, giving you a greater sense of timing, tempo, tone and rhythm.)Add a bit of playfulness to the words (say words like “surprise”, “discovered”, “lonely”, “strange” or “sighed” in the appropriate tone of surprise, discovery and so on), and to the phrases (“he drank the potion and started to shrink”, elongating “started to shrink” with a sense of wonder, and maybe with “shrink” said in an appropriately higher pitched voice to indicate the small size).  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.28 – 0697 – Potential Problems When Voicing Audiobook CharactersA potential problem - When you create a very distinctive voice for a minor character, who then has a greater role than you’d anticipated! Maybe you’ve developed a deep, gravelly, heavily-accented voice for a few lines, and then in book two of the series, that character is the lead… your vocal health is in trouble!Male and female voices - Don’t worry too much about reading a male role if you’re female and vice versa. Nothing will sound worse than putting on a ‘fake’ falsetto or forcing your voice into a deep growl. After all, you will be reading the lines of ‘real’ people, not some cartoon characters. Instead, make their voice more about an aspect of their attitude. We’ve looked at this before: a sassy character may talk faster and with a lighter pitch and a slightly arrogant tone for example. A character whose trait is mild-mannered may speak slower, more quietly and with a softer tone. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.27 – 0696 – Voicing ‘Minor Characters’ in Audiobook NarrationMinor characters - You don’t need a totally unique voice for each character. Listeners know you are telling a story, not pretending to be different characters or that the production has a cast of hundreds. Have changes in your voice, but don’t worry about creating 30 or 40 different characters, some of whom will only have a line or two.Similar characters - When the book calls for several similarly-sounding characters talking with each other (“The four friends, Bob, Dave, James and Pete, each cracked open a beer and started talking about what had just happened…”), how will you make each voice distinctive from the other? Consider elements such as pitch, nasality, rhythm and speed… all of which we have spoken about before. If they are minor characters appearing only once, then differentiation is less important. Acting - On the whole, you’re not ‘acting’ each character: you just have to give a flavour of the personalities, not a full exposition. You are illustrating a character … not putting on ‘a voice’. The voice comes from the characteristics of the person, so you act the character rather than purely giving them a voice. Just enough is enough. If you are too OTT then the listener will hear you, and not the story. So: You don’t need to shout or scream as the actual character might do; use some mic technique, and pull back from the mic to make it immersive without blasting the listener. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.26 – 0695 – Audiobook Character VoicesCharacter voices(This is in addition to the in-depth look at character voices in the ‘animation’ section previously.)The main character – Create a voice that you can use in various emotions and one not so strong that it exhausts or hurts you. Individuality – having said that, each main character’s voice must be somewhat distinct from each other (and from you as ’narrator’), and consistent from page to page, matching any ‘character clues’ in the text (their attitude, age, background, looks and so on – we have looked at all this in some detail already). Consider how that character sounds in different situations and with different emotions:·        Arrogant·        Patronising·        Smarmy·        Sexy·        Embarrassed·        Secretive·        And so on…What are their gestures? How do they move when they speak, are they hunched, where is their breathing coming from (the stomach or the chest?), is it quick and snatched or low and slow and deep? How do they walk, how would they run? See the image of the character: where they have got their hands, you have them too. How they have their eyes, you try too: small, beady, shifty, wide-eyed? Your voice will find the appropriate sound almost naturally. Be careful of stereotyped accents of characters which may cause offence. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.25 – 0694 – Projection And Pace For The Audiobook Narrator Projection – we have looked at loudness before, but as a quick reminder that with audiobooks especially, people will be listening alone perhaps through headphones, so talk to them with a one-to-one volume. A ‘big’ narration will be exhausting for everyone. Pace – don’t read too fast. Allow the listener to ‘see’ the scene you are painting with the words. Obviously, the speed goes hand-in-hand with the content (you will read the description of a romantic landscape more slowly than that of a sports event that’s about to erupt into violence), but it’s a good rule of thumb to allow visual language to sink in. Also, make sure you vary your pace. We saw before how we vary our delivery speed, depending on the information we are giving (new or complex detail is slower, familiar or unimportant asides are more ‘thrown away’). So, if there’s a fight scene, your narration and dialogue need to be snappy and moving, maybe the tone is heavier too. And if it’s a sad or suspenseful scene take your time over the words and the pauses, to reflect the sense of the action. If the characters are creeping into a forest at night, then reflect that in your narration, speaking quietly too. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.24 – 0693 – Impartiality For The Audiobook Narrator Be interested, invested and informed …– only read the genres you enjoy to be more emotionally connected to the text and to draw the listener in. You are the knowledgeable guide on the journey through these characters’ lives; don’t mislead the listeners and even though you may surprise them, you should not be surprised yourself at what happens in the text. … and impartial – you are watching the scene from the sidelines, have a full view and are telling the listener what you can see from your vantage point. Because of your narrator’s role, you may know more than the characters, indeed, in your role as ‘narrator’ (rather than ‘voice actor’), you will know how the story ends. You should keep this information free of emotion and simply allow the listener to react when you tell them. Just tell them like it is, without favour or bias, as an objective storyteller. You are a trusted guide and know the terrain, and the ups and downs of the story, and do not lead the listener onto the wrong route with misleading intonation. You are never surprised by what a character does. That’s not to say a narrator never shares secrets: almost inevitably you will have access to the character’s thoughts and emotions and may, through the author, share those with the listener but without taking sides, in an unbiased-balancing act.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.23 – 0692 – Analysis and Agility For The Audiobook Narrator Analysis – be somewhat of a student of literature. Understand what makes a story, a story and how one moves through a sequence (the characters, the setting, the plot, the conflict and tension, and the resolution) and the six common themes in literature (good vs. evil, love, redemption, courage and perseverance, coming of age, revenge) and how a story arc can develop. Having basic knowledge will help you with your delivery in terms of pace and pitch and tone in different situations (surprise, irony and so on) and help explain to the listener what is going on via your voice. Agility – be careful not to merge the role of ‘me, the narrator’ with ‘me, the characters’. “He said”, “she replied” and so on are said in your voice to avoid listener confusion. After you, usually, as the narrator you know what’s going to happen next or are privy to the thoughts of the characters and you can’t let this knowledge ‘bleed through’ to the characters themselves. You also need agility to swap between different characters having a conversation, and you the narrator with interjections “she said”, “he explained”, “as they clambered aboard the carriage” … Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.22 – 0691 – The Audiobook Narrator’s *Own* CharacterThe narrator’s own characterDepending on which POV you are reading the story from, your ‘character voice’ will be different. If you are one of the characters (First Person POV), be careful not to have such a strong accent characterisation that it becomes annoying to the listener and awkward for you to perform for any length of time. If you are the ‘author’ (Second Person or Third Person Omniscient or Limited), then you need to have a voice that is ‘neutral’, and different from any character whose dialogue you will speak. Delivery – This needs to be consistent according to the text, story arc and author’s intention: possibly slower at times of tension, fast in action scenes. Be aware of any repetitive speech pattern or cadence that will mean that although listeners may not know what you are going to say, they can predict how you’ll say it. Keep the energy up, and by that, I don’t mean a ‘power’ but don’t allow your presentation professionalism to drop on day three, hour three of a five-day recording session: a tired voice, sloppy articulation, a rushed delivery, running out of breath, character voices merging into one another. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.21 – 0690 – The Narrator’s Various Points of ViewsNarration - First understand who you, the narrator, are in the story. That is, whose point of view (POV) is the story told from?[1]·        First Person POV – when you as narrator say “I” and “we” (it’s how we all speak in real life). It is a more personal viewpoint (and so used in memoirs, romance and young adult fiction), but can suffer from feeling a bit too introspective. “I was furious as I tore at the thick undergrowth with my cane. How dare she speak to me that way!”·        Second Person POV – when you use “you”, the ‘unspoken ‘me’ talking to ‘you’. It’s rarely used in novels but is in games (“you come across a panel with hieroglyphics scrawled on it and a lever on either side. Which one will you pull?”) and non-fiction.·        Third Person POV – using “she” “he” “they” and “it”.o  Third Person Omniscient is when the narrator knows everything, the thoughts and feelings of all the characters (think “War and Peace” and epic fantasy books) and is less common today: “Neither Marsha nor Mohammed knew what was going to happen next, that the gunman was already watching them, determined to stop their plan. And that he would be successful.”o  Third Person Limited is when the narrator only knows the thoughts of one person. Think of the ‘Harry Potter’ series, told from Harry’s perspective and with knowledge of his motivations, but not those of say, Ron and Hermione. “Natalie knew that she wanted to feel this way forever”. It’s also a common perspective in romance, thriller, epic fantasy and young adult fiction.o  Third Person Multiple is like the ‘Limited’ but when the author switches the perspective between scenes or chapters. So, the story may be told from the POV of the murderer in one chapter, the victim in another and the detective in the third. Note that the narrator is still ‘impartial’ (the chapter is not in the ‘First Person POV’), it’s just that information is being given from another vantage point, but it can be awkward for the listener to follow such regular changes through the story. George RR Martin uses this technique in the ‘Game of Thrones’ series.  Usually, the narrator tells a story from (in order of popularity), the view of one of the Third Person perspectives, then First and Second POV. It’s important to have a passing knowledge of this because it tells you how much insight you will have about what is going on in the story. For example, in ‘First Person’ you as the narrator, won’t know what someone else is thinking or their motivations. In ‘Third Person Limited’ you may only be able to offer the listener insight into one character’s thoughts and feelings. Although a movie and not an audiobook, Morgan Freeman’s off-screen delivery in “The Shawshank Redemption” is a standout in the narrative style. He’s telling the story through his on-screen character, Red, and yet also describing events outside of Red’s knowledge. This, together with Freeman’s gentle yet authoritative tone, gives an omnipresent feel to the film. [1] Adapted from: https://kindlepreneur.com/point-of-view/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.20 – 0689 – Fiction Audiobook Narration SkillsFiction skills for an audiobook narratorFirst a few definitions:Solo narration – when a reader either differentiates between each character with their voice (different pitch, race, gender, accent and so on), or, when they do not, and presents a ‘straight’ narrated read with no variation between the different people in the text.Narrator – the person telling the story as written by the author, and also the word used for you, the person who is recording the story – perhaps giving a voice to the ‘written narrator’ the person whose viewpoint the story is written from (more on this below).Dialogue - a scene in which the different characters verbally interact with each other  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.19 – 0688 – Non-Fiction Audiobook Narration SkillsNon-fiction for an audiobook narratorRecording a non-fiction text is considered by some to be more straightforward than recording fiction. That’s because you’re delivering information, instruction, or facts, rather than navigating a narrative of characters and conflicts.Others say that’s just why non-fiction is difficult: the text can be flat and featureless and was usually not written to be read aloud. Indeed, the ‘read’ may include foreign phrases, maths equations, sidebars, footnotes, charts, illustrations, abbreviations, explanations and appendixes, all of which (depending on the director’s instructions) may have to be read and recorded.Non-fiction texts can be detail-rich, with long dense paragraphs littered with parenthesis and sub-clauses which can be difficult to vocalise with intonation. It may help to break the sentence up with some / marks so you can more easily see the different phrases which link together, which ones balance or oppose each other, or add extra information. Try and see such convoluted sentences, at first glance complex and unwieldy, more like a tree: the main trunk from which there are branches, and then twigs, to help you use a different tone for each section of the structure.But that doesn’t mean there’s no ‘acting’. Help communicate the message of the book by imagining taking to several people in the audience, possibly with a sense of (almost ‘ad-libbed’) fluency to make you appear to be the expert author: conversationally authoritative. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.18 – 0687 – Vocal, Physical and Mental Health For NarrationGood vocal, physical and mental health – you will be spending a lot of time by yourself in a booth, concentrating, so you need to be mentally strong. A lot of reading will require a lot of vocal strength: warm-up exercises, hydration and built-in rest breaks. In the booth itself, you need to have everything set up ergonomically so you are not under too much stress physically as you read. You need to build in breaks at natural pauses in the text, so you can eat, stretch, connect with others and see sunlight. Seeing the sense in the script – Although you will need to read the text exactly, word for word, bear in mind that writers write but we are the audio storytellers. So read for understanding by paying attention more to phrasing, rather than strict script punctuation. For example, in a chase scene, you may run sentences on from one another to give pace and urgency. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.17 – 0686 – Clarity, Consistency and Concentration in Voice Acting A clear voice – people will be spending a lot of time with you, so you need to have a voice that will not jar or grate on their ears.Consistency – consistency in the style and energy of your read, and for fiction books, each character’s voice and accent.Concentration - In non-fiction especially, this could be content-rich and technical texts with long and unwieldy sentence structures, and with fiction books you may need to be able to switch effortlessly from one character to another, remember accents and ‘the story so far’ (more on each of these skills later). Audiobooks are often recorded at home so you need to be a self-starter and be able to manage all the different aspects of the job: the reading, recording and self-directing and critiquing. And keep your mind, and your eye, on the text so neither wanders to the shopping list, what the time is and whether you need a toilet break. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.16 – 0685 – ‘Punch And Roll’ Voice RecordingVOICE BOXLearn the ‘punch and roll’ technique to save recording timeThis is when you mark (‘punch in’) the point in your recorded audio where you made a mistake. The  DAW (Digital Audio Workstation recorder), then plays back a few seconds of you speaking before that point (the ‘pre roll’), at which moment it starts recording again. This enables you to make your correction and continue recording.Doing this will speed up your editing and because you are picking up by hearing what came before, you are more likely to match your original read (tone, intonation, speed, accent and so on) and your re-record will be better. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.15 – 0684 – Voice Over Eye>Brain>Mouth Control Eye-Brain-Mouth Control – you have to be good at reading accurately, just sticking to the text. You will probably have skim-read the text before you start[1], and in the studio, you need to be able to scan ahead as you read: more mistakes mean more editing time, leading to a disjointed read and less money-per-minute for your work. [1] You’re unlikely to have time to go through the book in advance, marking it up sentence -by-sentence.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.14 – 0683 – Narration Stamina  Stamina – you will need to read a lot of words in a short period of time: 4-6 hours in front of a mic each day is not unheard of for an audiobook narrator. So, you need committed energy and the ability to sound the same at the end of the day as you did at the start.Performing a 30-second spot is like running a 50-yard dash; a 60-second spot is like a running 100-yard dash; an audiobook is like running a marathon.Marc Cashman, backstage.com[1] [1] https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/10-skills-you-need-for-audiobook-narration-voice-work-67133/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.13 – 0682 – Natural Narration Foundations Natural Narration FoundationsIn the main, we have been looking at short reads, commercials and news stories and the like, but sometimes you may have a longer read to perform, such as an audiobook. Longer reads need to be approached in a slightly different way than shorter ones. Instead of a series of short sentences about the attributes of a car for a commercial, or the misdemeanours of a politician in a broadcast news story, there are several sentences in each paragraph, and each paragraph is linked as an explanation or story arc develops for several or hundreds of pages.  You have to be familiar with the longer script so you know, and can express in your voice, how the different paragraphs are connected, give the listener confidence that you know where you are going, and make it easier for them to follow. Notice too in a longer piece that the writer may show how they want it to be read aloud, in the way they wrote it down. Look at the sense of the sentence, its length and the kind of words used.[1] [1] A look at different narration styles in podcasts, with audio examples, here: https://theaudiostoryteller.substack.com/p/mic-drop- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.12 – 0681 – Audiobook Narration Audiobook narrationAudiobooks have become increasingly popular[1] as people consume books while commuting, exercising or doing chores and with the ease of listening via smartphones and Bluetooth. There are broadly two different types of books: non-fiction and fiction, each with different skills required of the voice actor and also some cross-over themes. Narrating your memoirsMemoirs are not quite fiction or non-fiction, and it makes perfect sense for you to narrate your own ‘story of your life’. After all, you’re the expert on what happened!Use your text more as a prompt than a script: live your words as you say them as though the memories are just occurring to you, and imagine you are telling someone what happened, someone who is sitting right there in front of you. [1] 2019 figures suggested that 50% of Americans had listened to an audiobook (Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamrowe1/2019/04/27/for-the-first-time-50-of-americans-have-listened-to-an-audiobook/#46157dc97d52)  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.11 – 0680 – Voice Acting In Gaming Games  Voice acting in the video game business is similar to doing animation work, although the portrayals have to be more ‘realistic’ than say, those ‘cartoon-caricatures’ of people or animals. In fact, gaming actors are more like those in movies – they just can’t be seen on screen. Your skillsAdaptability - Although you may read as a cast ensemble together (so each actor ‘works off’ one another, because it may be easier to direct everyone ‘live’ and to get the same studio quality), it is also likely that you may read individual lines, alone, out of order and out of context (‘non-linear’). Indeed, as you may never see a full script, but just your part, you will need to take specific direction on the motivation and interaction of your character for that particular scene, as you jump around different timelines and emotional states minute by minute. That will affect your whole read: tone, projection, pace and intonation and so on. [1]Being able to do lots of accents and characters is very helpful in both video games and animation recordings. Just don’t audition with a character voice that you won’t be able to keep up for an entire recording session. Sight reading – reading a new script on the fly, on the spot is imperative in this fast-turnaround world. Practicing this will help you learn different tenses, moods and emotions and move effortlessly between them.  [1] How producers create different voice effects in gaming: https://www.voquent.com/how-to-recreate-gaming-audios-top-5-vocal-effects/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.10 – 0679 – Concatenation ConcernsCharacter creep can cause particular problems when combined with concatenation. This is where a voice-over has to read a short list of incomplete sentences, and then a long list of places, numbers, or other ‘options’. You will have heard examples on transport services, telephone booking systems and sat navs: the original sentences are completed by the computer selecting the appropriate word or phrase from the second list (“The train now standing on platform 2 is the 15.36 service to London Waterloo…”). It takes a special skill, and a lot of patience to not only keep in ‘character’ while recording the different elements for such a service, but also to have the correct (and repetitive) intonation for every word or phrase – even though you are recording them in isolation from the rest of the sentence which would normally provide the sense!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.09 – 0678 – Character CreepCharacter creepIf you try and be someone who you’re not[1], then there is a chance that over the course of a contract or studio session, your ‘persona’ might change. It may mean that you cannot keep up the voice that you created for the role, perhaps because it is too demanding vocally, or you forget how to create it. Maybe it’s not a specific decision, but the voice may lose its edge, vitality or accent, which is why it is called ‘character creep’. This can cause a problem if you are recording say, an audiobook or lines for a video game as the voice will noticeably change during the reading, or worse if the lines have been recorded ‘out of order’, it will come and go … So, check back and listen to what you recorded previously, especially after a break to ensure your character voice and vocal quality remain constant. [1] Unless you are being paid to act, for example in a voiceover! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.08 – 0677 – Keeping In CharacterWhen you have developed a voice from scratch and you’re comfortable with it and do it well, keep it and add it to your cast of characters, and then build another character that builds from that one. Merge the ‘evil witch’ with the ‘young woman’ say, to have another voice. Aim for quality not quantity of these voices. Write a few notes describing their voice, their personality and how they hold themselves (because the voice changes depending on the shape of the body it comes from) … and over time you will build a portfolio of about half a dozen character voices that you can dip in to, adapt or merge. Keep recordings of them, together with notes of how you felt as you recreate them, who you model the character on, and think of a key catchphrase that sums up your character and their voice, their attitude, so in the future, you can use these notes as a reference to get back into character. When you come up with a character voice, own it. And use it every day. Speak to family in that voice. Take on the characteristics. Hone the character… own it and make it your own. Then test yourself by coming up with a voice for each of these animations:·        A monster·        Dragon·        Witch·        Cartoon pig·        Villain·        Surfer·        ‘Valley girl’·        A chicken·        A robot… a villainous pig, a surfing chicken, a ‘valley-girl’ monster Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.07 – 0676 – Vocal Exaggeration In AnimationVocal exaggeration in animation[1]You must have the muscular strength to host the vocal gymnasium that is required in animation. Work on the instrument daily to achieve vocal strength. The voice you use will, for much of the time, be more, well, animated in animation. More ‘over the top’, energetic, projected and with greater variety and intensity. So you need to be physically fit – it’s virtually a sport as you ‘inhabit’ the part. Because you can’t be seen and the portrayal of the characters visually is OTT, your voice has to match that representation.But you are not just over the top in animation; there still has to be a reality in the exaggeration. That is, your characterisation has to be an authentic exaggeration of emotion from the storyline, and how your character interacts with others. The emotion and energy are big, but it’s still from a believable point. Know how your character feels and thinks, and embody them.As we have seen before, gesticulation is even more important when people can’t see you. If your character is concerned, then frown, squint, purse your lips and hold your chin or whatever, so the emotion is heard in your line. And if you are not voicing an animation that’s already been drawn, but laying down the soundtrack first, then acting and reacting like this will help give the illustrators something to draw on when they’re drawing. [1] The story of the Canadian behind the voice of Bugs Bunny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaNO4KykWMY&t=39s Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.06 – 0675 – Using Props To Get Into A Character ProperlyUsing props As well as holding yourself in a certain way to get into your character’s voice, some voice actors also hold an appropriate prop. Your voice may sound more authentic if, when playing an elderly person, you not only stoop but also hold a walking stick. A better ‘bossy voice’ may come from you standing on a box in the studio, the more dominant position making you sound more authoritative. Wearing a certain hat or coat may help you get into the part, even if recording as an animal or inanimate object.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.05 – 0674 – Be A ‘Moody’ Voice ActorSo, develop various attitudes in your voice: the tone, volume, speed, and energy. And remember that a character is more than one ‘mood’ and will go through various situations that you need to show in your voice. They may usually be fun, but then on occasion, frustrated, confused, or concerned … confident or shy, determined, silly, serious or self-important … and a million other attitudes. So you have to be able to think how your character will vocalise these kinds of emotions: a usually-fun character who’s upset will sound different from a character who’s always upset!As we saw earlier, if you see a ‘!’ at the end of the sentence, think to yourself: what has happened for that to be there? What am I reacting to and how will that affect my read of that line? Did a thought just occur to ‘you’? Are ‘you’ humorously reacting to something another character has said? Is it a sudden outburst, and if so, why?You need to think as the character: think “why am I saying this, how am I feeling about it?” The listener’s ears are lie detectors: if you’re not feeling the doubt, fear, or sadness then it won’t come out in your voice and you won’t connect with the audience.Don’t just read the words. You need to be acting and reacting, in character. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.04 – 0673 – Animation AttitudesAnimation ‘attitudes’You should be good at reacting as well as acting, be able to read a situation and know what your character would do in that situation. This is not slow-turnaround theatre, TV or movies with lots of rehearsals and retakes and time to find your motivation. The characters may be drawn already, and you have to not only read the words that they will appear to be saying, but also react to what it has already been decided they do … and do with each other. You won’t get line-by-line directions, you need to watch what is happening on the screen and immerse yourself in the character’s storyline as you play your part, not simply read the script. So that could be sighs and coughs and laughs.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.03 – 0672 – More Non-Verbal Sounds in Voice Acting·        The performance may also require you to bring more physicality to your voice: your character may be out of breath, or I dunno, calling to someone in a tunnel. Obviously one of those will require more breath, the other more projection, perhaps with a tone of concern, so consider how your character may react with different moods and emotions as a story develops or in subsequent episodes. ·        Linked with this, when recording a fight scene[1] for a gaming animation, for example, consider jumping up and down in the studio before you read your lines, to give a more authentic appearance of energetic exertion. If your character is on a boat in stormy seas, swaying side to side or moving up and down from the knees (while staying on-mic!), will realistically affect your voice. ·        And as we saw previously, sometimes meaning comes from when you don’t speak: silence, pauses, as your character searches for a word, is embarrassed or surprised. You’re thinking of the character’s different sounds and emotions in different situations for their characterisations. All of these character considerations are important and are unlikely to be written into the script, but you will make your animation appear more ‘3D’ if, with agreement from the director, you consider building some of these into your vocal personaIt all helps specify the character and make it believable.Sound like the character, not sound like you doing the character. [1] We look at the skills involved in screaming safely, in another part of the book.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.02 – 0671 – Non-Verbal Sounds in Voice Acting·        What is the rest of your body doing? The face obviously, but also your back and arms… Physically become your character, how they stand, how they use their hands: hands in pockets, upright, chin out, hunched over, shaky hands… ·        Personality and colour will come from your addition of ‘non-verbal sounds’, all of them in your character’s voice of course: an “eek” and an “ahh”, a “huh?!” and a “hmmm”, a “pffft” and a “tssk”, gasps, giggles and groans, all of which naturally reveal a bit more about your character’s err, character. (At the end of an ‘animation session’ you may be asked to record elements for your character’s ‘vocal library’, such as laughs and giggles, sounds of disappointment, agreement and surprise, cries and coughs, emotions of exertion and so on. These are useful for the producer to have to drop into the production as part of the overall mix.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.11.01 – 0670 – Voice Acting MannerismsOther voice mannerismsNow consider ‘fleshing out’ your character. Don’t add to the words on the page, but don’t only read the words on the page. ·        What are the voice qualities? More breathy, raspy, growly?·        Is the pitch higher or lower than your usual voice? (a lot of boys’ voices are done by women as it avoids the problems of puberty when the actor outgrows the sound of his character).·        What is the accent? Your accent and voice accent will have an effect on the viewer and their subconscious bias. Are animated scientists always German? Are baddies always eastern European or English? What about a character who’s portrayed as stupid, what accent are they usually given? What is the message that gives to viewers? If the character is intelligent or high status what is their accent? Instead of English accents, what about a Welsh one?[1]·        Does their background, image and storyline suggest that they may (on occasion or throughout the script) talk with hesitation, or a slight stutter? Do they swallow heavily, do lots of throat clearing or have a nervous laugh?·        The tempo: is it faster or slower?·        And the rhythm? Is it flowing, or ratta-tat-ta, or repetitive…?·        How do they laugh? Both in reaction to humour and apprehension. [1] In the 90s British TV station Channel 4 had a series called Eurotrash, a late-night comical review of unusual topics mainly from Western and Central Europe. It was unusual in that the dubbed translations for the foreign interviewees, were revoiced in various British dialects, rather than the more traditional RP accents. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.31 – 0669 – How Visuals Help Your Animation VoiceOverOf course, attributes of animated characters are usually extreme and will have been drawn in conjunction with the story editor. Everything you see is a clue to your character’s voice:·        a larger person might have a bigger and lower voice. One with a larger, fatter face may sound more ‘jowly’·        a tall and thin person might have a thinner and higher voice·        or, go against type and create an ‘opposite’ voice (with the director’s permission): perhaps a warm and friendly voice from a monster, a mouse who sounds far from ‘mousey’[1]·        a big mouth, a small nose, buck teeth … all of those, as we have seen already, will affect the resonance of that character’s voice. Additionally, large teeth may suggest a person who finds clear diction difficult so perhaps that is a humorous or engaging sound characteristic that you can play on.·        the phrase “the eyes are the window to the soul” suggests that you can understand a person's emotions and thoughts by looking into their eyes. So how are they portrayed in the image? Wide open in innocence? Slitty and sneaky? What is the emotion and attitude in those eyes? How can you portray that in the voice you create for them? If it’s wickedness for example, how can you display that attitude not only in your voice but also in how you bend and shape the words, the projection, pace and pause?·        also take in the eyebrows and forehead: do they show frustration, amusement, curiosity or concern? When you move your face, your voice changes – squash it up and you’ll hear what I mean. Drop your chin and let your lower lip fall and there’s another sound. Have a play with your face, your body … and your voice. [1] Where in your mouth is the sound placed? Towards the back of your mouth or towards your nose? Where is your tongue? Use your jaw mouth and throat to develop these different voices. Play around at moving your sound back further to make you sound different, and then moving the sound to your nose to make you sound more nasally, adding more air for a breathier sound and so on – all to add a unique character trait to the voice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.30 – 0668 – Getting An Animation Voice That Fits The Visuals Getting a voice that fits the visuals When auditioning for an animation role you will be sent a ‘vocal reference’, a few lines of the script, as well as a character brief: a description and personality profile of the person or object you are reading for, their role and ‘journey’: “Barnard is a British steam engine. Played by a man in his 40s/50s, Bernard likes routine and safety, is dull, grumpy and easily annoyed. In this episode, other engines want to cut corners, but when he insists that they stick to the rules, he averts disaster and mellows when he is praised for saving the day”. And crucially you should be sent a picture of the character itself so you can see the physical characteristics from which your voice will come.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.29 – 0667 – Your Character’s ‘Voicernality’ It’s more than the ‘voice’Remember that a character’s voice (including your very own!) is partly based on one’s physicality: how they talk is affected by how they walk, how they hold themselves as they speak, how they stand and sit, their physicality, their energy and more.All of these elements help create their ‘voice personality’, what voice actor Katie Leigh calls ‘voicernalities’. Some of these factors affect the voice indirectly (someone holding tension in their fists or frame will have a tense voice and attitude) and others will affect the voice much more directly (as Katie says[1] “If you do kids’ voices, you’ve got to remember their lungs are smaller than ours so they’re gonna breathe differently…” ).Many of these attributes will tell you not only about the character’s voice, but also their attitude: their mental and emotional state, their physicality. And you will create a more believable voice for your character if you try and physically embody who it is you are playing. Now that’s quite easy if you are playing an army officer (standing up straight with steely eyes, barking orders), or a grandparent (maybe bent over, short breaths leading to a higher-pitched voice), and it’s admittedly less easy if you are playing a cartoon cat or an animated aeroplane.Then, you need to look deeper into the character that you are playing: their age, background and storyline and it’s from that kind of detail that the voice will emerge. You need to know the subtleties within the character, not just ‘do the voice’. Voiceover expert Marc Graue says on The Voice Over Experts podcast (15/10/2008) “A great example is doing the voice of a big fat pig. … now we need to make him a bit more effeminate. Now he needs to be a 7700-lb pig  and make him sound stupid. These are all the kinds of things that come into play and you need to be able to do this on the spot”. [1] “The VO Meter Podcast”, 25/08/2021 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.28 – 0666 – The Value of Creating Character Catchphrases  For example, perhaps you have created a character voice you call ‘Perfect Pat’. Pat is, as their name implies, bright and positive and speaks at pace with a smile in their voice. That ‘attitude’ is helped by imagining their neatly brushed hair, business wear, and wide-open eyes and arms. Imagine a puppy dog in human form, maybe an eager and positive religious minister, whose ‘character catchphrase’ that you say aloud to ‘find them’ is, say, “How are you this tippety top morning, in a world full of rainbows and unicorns?”. OK, now change one or two elements, perhaps the pace and the tone. Now ‘Perfect Pat’ sounds more menacing: the phrase is the same, the look is the same but now they’re passive-aggressive – and you have another character.So, you can see and hear how it’s good to play around with your voice and alter some of the attributes or merge one with another, or see how you can move from one to another. It will make you feel more comfortable in developing a brand-new voice from your original core cast whether that be a human character (such as a cartoon professor), an animal (a talking pig[1]), or a usually inanimate object (maybe a train[2]). Or a hybrid of those: a cartoon dog that’s a professor, or an animated robot-chicken… having a repertoire of voices and having an understanding of each of their vocal attributes and how you created them, will make it easier to create new ones. [1] Such as Peppa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLJDEBmKvwY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yu2Zl6T7F8 [2] Thomas the Tank engine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnYOpTo6rmA Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.27 – 0665 – Creating a Character CataloguePlay around with it and practice and then when you think you have the character, give each a name (‘Smoking Susan’, ‘Sharp-suited Shaun’…) and a bit of a back-story to help you remember them, and then log each one in your ‘voice bank’ of voices that you can use for characterisations in the future. Your ‘catalogue of characters’ may include:·        their vocal and physical attributes·        a key catchphrase of theirs that, when you say it, instantly gets you into character·        what you do physically to ‘find’ the character: maybe a snarled lip, a particular throat swallow, placement of your tongue and so on·        a recording of you reading as this character, so you can find them again really easily.[1]·        Voiceover artist Elley Ray www.elleyray.com says “Always know the character laugh. This is key… If you don't have the character laugh, you do not know the character. For joy is the basis of all animation characters, even if they are villains and evil”.You never know what complete voice or personality you can choose to use in the future, or even what small element you can steal or develop. [1] In animation you may only voice two or three characters, but in audiobook narration (see the next section), you may have to voice five or ten. The ‘Harry Potter’ series is said to have 772 characters in it, more than 300 of them with speaking roles. Imagine keeping track of all those different voices! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.26 – 0664 – How To Steal A Character VoiceConcentrate on listening, not just hearing but truly paying attention to voices:·        their accent·        their pitch, projection, pace and so on (all the elements we have looked at before and with which you will by now be familiar)·        where they speak from – their chest, their nose and so on·        how they convey emotion in their voice. How do they (or might they) speak when they are frustrated, sneaky or passive-aggressive, inspired or indecisive?·        their mannerisms or vocal quirks (do they sniff every few words, or have a slight lisp, a stop-start delivery or whatever?).And then mimic them. You’re not trying to do an imitation, but taking some of the elements or essence of that voice.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.25 – 0663 – Creating a Cast of Core Character Voices Creating a cast of core character voices(This section is also of use for the following part on ‘audiobook narration’ when you may be required to speak in the voices of different characters.)When you’re given an audition animation script, is not the time to start creating a voice for the character you’re about to play. That process has to start way earlier with you developing your very own ‘cast of characters’ which you ‘know and own’, which you can either use ‘off the shelf’ or whose vocal attributes you can mix and merge to create a new voice ‘in the moment’. So how do you develop a repertoire of core voices? Use your ears!Vocal imitation is the basis for learning a language: we simply listen and try to make the same sound. It’s how we develop language, speak like our peers and parents and assimilate into communities. So, pay attention to how people talk when you meet them or overhear them. All around you, there are people who sound amazing: a husky woman dragging on a cigarette as she talks with friends outside the convenience store; the eager and slick young man who’ll be your friend just long enough to sell you a used car; the plumber sucking on their teeth and shaking their head as they look at a dripping tap in the kitchen; the clichéd student, ‘upper class’ twit or Valley Girl and so on.[1] Concentrate on listening, not just hearing but truly paying attention to voices: as we’ll talk about tomorrow … [1] Some people come up with a new character by taking parts of the voice persona of a famous person. They are not trying to imitate that celebrity, but they can use the attributes of say Winston Churchill (jowly and low), or Donald Trump’s cadence, as an ingredient in creating another voice. And of course, the internet is a great source to find a million clips of celebrities, which makes research really easy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.24 – 0662 – Characters in Cartoons, Animations and Gaming ActingCharacters in Cartoons, Animations and Gaming Acting This is when the character you develop a voice for is heard but not seen in, for example:·        Cartoons·        Animations·        Anime·        Feature films·        Games·        Toys·        Robotics·        Puppetry·        Websites·        eLearning …In this section, we won’t be looking at actors in drama (such as BBC radio’s ‘continuing drama’ “The Archers” – the world’s longest-running soap[1]) or the increasing number of stories dramatized in podcasts, but instead, concentrate on the more ‘extreme’ characters in formats such as those listed above.There’s an increasing number of outlets for character voices in animation and games, but it takes more than ‘putting on’ a funny voice or mimicking someone you know to be successful in this genre. That’s because you have to work with other elements which are often pre-decided before you’re even cast, let alone have your voice recorded; there’s little room for improvisation, you have to fit your voice with the script, the character of the role you’re playing and their interaction with the other roles.But first and foremost, you need to find the right sound that embodies the character you’ve been asked to play, and then act out their story with your disembodied voice. [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qpgr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.23 – 0661 – The Variety of Voiceover Opportunities 2·        Gaming – Acting in character for online games·        Live events (aka ‘Voice of God’) – from large sporting arenas to smaller concerts, theatres, balls and awards events. These may be live or recorded·        Narration – Not necessarily audiobooks, but TV, radio or movie documentaries, and news articles. It may also include the voice-over in a film or TV show to move the storyline along, explain a backstory or add depth to the character as you can hear their thoughts, for example, in “How I Met Your Mother” or “The Girl On The Train” (?)·        Podcasts – scripted podcast (which is more like conversational narration), fiction (akin to audiobooks) and dramatization (‘voice acting’ or ‘audio acting’). Also, voice tracking for radio stations (providing recorded links for music shows which are automatically played in between songs to give the impression it’s a live show)·        IVR (Interactive Voice Response systems), phone system recordings (‘telephone trees’ and on-hold messages) – phone greetings for any size of company (“Welcome to … press 1 for accounts, 2 for sales…”)·        Promos and trails – usually for TV (“The Heat Is On”: Friday night at 10 on channel 10”) and movies (such as the cliched “In a world…”) ·        Radio imaging - (“You’re listening to 97.7 The Frog”)·        Toys and Theme Park animatronics - ·        Virtual Assistants – on games and information apps on services such as Siri or Alexa Most voiceovers specialise in a niche before branching out, and of course, the goal of every voice actor is to become the vocal brand of a product, service or production for a higher rate, higher exposure and longevity of contract.Let’s take a look at some of the voice skills required for some of these genres. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.22 – 0660 – The Variety of Voiceover Opportunities 1Voiceover CategoriesThese could be as wide-ranging as – but not limited to – the following: ·        Animation – which may include character voices in TV cartoon shows and movies such as Tom Hanks playing Woody in “Toy Story” or Kristen Bell as Anna in “Frozen”·        Announcements – recorded messages in places such as elevators, doctors’ waiting rooms, large stores and airports·        Audiobooks - a narrator reading word for word from a novel (including character-acting) or non-fiction book. These books are not usually written to be read aloud and doing so can be a long and demanding business·        Audio guides - for museums and galleries, describing displays and giving information such as restrooms and shop facilities·        Commercials (or ‘advertisements’) – for products and services and heard on platforms such as TV, radio, cinema/movies, websites and digital streaming platforms like Spotify·        Continuity – recorded or live announcements for TV channels, linking or promoting upcoming shows·        Dialogue replacement – speaking an actor’s lines in another language or replacing just one single line where there’s been a slight script change.  ·        E-learning – training or educational material either for staff (such as a new health and safety protocol) or for the general public (how to apply for a passport). The right voice needs to be engaging and sound knowledgeable·        Explainer videos (or ‘promotional videos’, and ‘corporate videos’) – these short videos literally ‘explain’ what your business does or what your product is. They can often be found on product or shop websites explaining features of an item, or used to explain say a Kickstarter campaign. Corporate videos usually explain the ethos or future direction of a company Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.21 – 0659 – Specialised Scriptreading Skills This chapter is looking at the variety of scripts you may be asked to read as a voice actor and the specialised skills that are called for in those various styles.  They may be commercial or non-commercial and will be written and laid out differently because of the message, duration and intended audience. And what attracts you to, or will help you be good at one style or another, maybe the sound and quality of your voice and how you like to use it. For example, if you are naturally expressive then creating character voices may be of interest, in which case think of animation and video games work, as well as audiobooks. If you prefer a more natural or conversational style then maybe consider narration or e-learning. You can work across genres, but it’s best to start in an area that you’re most comfortable in. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.20 – 0658 – Re-takes and Re-records Re-takes and Re-recordsIf at all possible, try to avoid having to re-do lines. Whether in a pro-studio or a home-studio, the re-take may stand out:·        It’s very difficult to recreate exactly the same setup - Make notes of mic and desk settings from your original studio session, to more easily replicate the original setup if you have to re-do lines later … or use pre-sets on the recording software so that as far as tech goes you are doing your best to sound the same·        And consider the time and conditions of your voice of the two recordings – what time of day did you record the first version? What had you eaten? How did you feel? Were you relaxed and properly prepared, or were you recording tired, after a difficult week of work and not enough sleep, or taking some medication? All of these issues will affect your voice and will be difficult to replicate exactly. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.19 – 0657 – Avoiding Studio Hiccups Caused By HiccupsSneezing and hiccupsThis is another situation which will come sooner or later, and may either be a sneeze you feel approaching or one that suddenly attacks.  There’s not much you can do about the latter unless you are quick enough to turn off your mic or turn your head. Hearing a sneeze on air is rare, and not particularly pleasant. If you feel a sneeze on the way, and if you can’t go to another item or stop recording, try and head it off before it strikes[1]. There are various means which work because they force you to focus on a physical sensation other than your sneeze. It works in a similar fashion as when you pinch yourself to make yourself forget that your stubbed toe is hurting. Hay fever sufferers have some confidence in the fact that studios are invariably air conditioned and pollen is filtered out of the air before it reaches you After a sneeze, consider your colleagues. Is there an antiseptic wipe you can use on the mic or studio desk? If you’ve used your hands to catch it, try and wash them as soon as possible.  No one really understand why they happen (even babies in the womb get them), but hiccups and on-air work do not go well together. As you know, there’s no guaranteed way to get rid of them, and even though they may be funny or interesting for a while, they quickly lose their charm. Having hiccups is tiring and will take your mind off your work. Do what you can to limit the likelihood of an attack by not consuming food or fizzy drinks on air. If they do strike, reduce your ‘talking time’ and alert your producer who may be able to delay your mic-work or bring someone else in. [1] Here are some ways: http://tinyurl.com/2rkayt Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.18 – 0656 – On-Mic Panting Being out of breathThis usually happens because you’ve run in the studio late or in the nick of time. You’ve probably not done a sprint, but the tense situation, panic and knowledge of what’s expected add to make a slight breathiness increase dramatically.With a newsreader the problem is much worse than for music presenters: they only have short (or possibly no) audio to play during which they can catch their breath, and a tone of formality is expected of them.There’s almost no way around breathlessness once it’s started, but to play a song, calm down, take deep breaths and refocus. If you have co-presenters they can take over for a minute or two while you regain your composure, or you may want to simply explain what the problem is and move on the best you can. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.17 – 0655 – Why We Get Studio GigglesThese are signs of nervousness and panic. Such laughter is seldom sparked off by genuine humour; it is the psyche’s safety valve blowing to release a build up of tension. Anything incongruous or slightly amusing can trigger it[1]. The audience doesn’t always see the joke, especially when the laughter erupts through a serious or tragic news item. Self-inflicted pain is a reasonable second line defence. Some presenters bring their mirth under control by resorting to personal torture, such as digging their nails into the palms of their hands or grinding the toes of one foot with the heel of the other. A less painful way to prevent corpsing is to not permit yourself to be panicked and pressurised in the first place.Finally, the weather forecast. Many areas will be dry and warm with some sunshine … It actually says ‘shoeshine’ on my script, so with any luck, you might get a nice light tan.BBC radioDon't worry about fluffing your lines when performing a voice over. Everyone does it at some time or other. In this clip Richard Burton is recording his narration for “War Of The Worlds”. https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxcfBx_Xh1Yx6Ga0u-wk9nChtvdEnstxv3 [1] https://twitter.com/LashleyNicola/status/1536727759757922304 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.16 – 0654 – Dead Good Advice On Studio Corpsing Corpsing (that is, laughing uncontrollably)  ‘There’s one hazard that no amount of preparation can avoid: the collapse into inappropriate laughter. The Today programme website still treasures the moment when Charlotte Green kept a cool head while reading a news item about a Mr Twatt. And she would have sailed through it too, if it wasn’t for the next story — about a plucky sperm whale’[1] The smallest reference to something odd may start you laughing, or it may just be because you’re in ‘one of those moods’. Obviously, there’s room for humour on air, and many listeners can forgive the occasional mistake. That’s as long as it is not too often and they can understand what’s happened. Otherwise, they’ll be more bemused than amused and feel excluded.If you get a fit of the giggles, look away from their cause, think sad thoughts (“I could lose my job because of this”) and dig your fingernails into your arm to give your mind something else to concentrate on. It’s often best not to try to contain the laughter, but instead go to another pre-recorded item (preferably a song) and literally laugh-off the moment. Have a good guffaw, walk into another room, have a drink of water and try to re-establish yourself in time for the next link.There are few threats greater to a newsreader’s credibility than that of corpsing on air. It means to dry up, grind to a halt or, worse, burst out laughing. [1] Roland White, The Sunday Times, 30 October 2005. Here that clip here: http://tinyurl.com/mw5hyu and another similar one here: http://tinyurl.com/cst9sv Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.15 – 0653 – When your Insert Goes DownIn a radio or podcast studio, confusing the audience with technical jargon can compound the problem, like: “I’m sorry, but that insert seems to have gone down”. Or, “We don’t seem to have that package”.’ A package to most people is what they get from Amazon. Practise what you are going to say when something goes wrong until it becomes almost a reflex action.[1]When that report does eventually arrive, the audience will have forgotten what it is about and the presenter should re-introduce it by re-reading or paraphrasing the cue.Where you stumble over a word or phrase, you should judge quickly whether to repeat it. If the sense of the item has been lost, by saying, for instance, “Beecham pleaded guilty to the murder”, when he pleaded not guilty, then the sentence should be said again, correctly. Avoid the cliché, “I’m sorry, I’ll read that again”– “I’m sorry” will do. If the mistake is a minor one, let it go. Chances are the audience will quickly forget it, whereas drawing attention to it with an apology might only make it worse. Think what you can do so you not get in the situation again:·        Preparation and double-checking scripts and tech·        Rehearse the words·        Be comfortable with the read and the room, the script and the studio·        Relaxation and breathing exercises to calm you down so you can think clearly in a live studio situation. [1] In 2017 a technical fault temporarily halted the BBC News at Ten, leaving presenter Huw Edwards sitting in silence in the studio but live on air for four minutes: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40350006 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.14 – 0652 – Classic Voice-Over Cock Ups“Police are finding it difficult to come up with a solution to the murders … the commissioner says the victims are unwilling to co-operate.” (US Radio)“Well, the blaze is still fierce in many places, and as a result of this fire, two factories have been gutted and one homily left famless.” (Australian Radio)“Following the warning by the Basque Separatist organisation ETA that it’s preparing a bombing campaign in Spanish holiday resorts, British terrorists have been warned to keep on their guard … I’m sorry (chuckle) that should be British tourists …” (UK Radio)“The … company is recalling a total of 14,000 cans of suspect salmon and fish cutlets. It’s believed they’re contaminated by poisonous orgasms.” (Australian Radio)“The President is alive and well and kicking tonight, one day after the assassination attempt, just two and a half months into his pregnancy …” (US TV)“And now here’s the latest on the Middle East crisis … crisis … Lesbian forces today attacked Israel. I beg your pardon, that should be Lesbanese … Lebanese.” (Laughter) (Anon.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.10.13 – 0651 – When To Expect Verbal Trips and SlipsMany fluffs occur when you are expecting trouble, like a difficult foreign name, or when you have already fluffed and their mind is side-tracked. The irony is that the difficult name is usually pronounced flawlessly, but actually stumbles over the simple words before and behind it in the sentence. The art of the accomplished recovery is to prepare for every contingency. The worst mistake any presenter can make is to swear on air – don’t even think it; otherwise you will probably say it. The commonest problem is the recorded report that fails to appear. The introduction has been read, the presenter is waiting, and – nothing. Next to swearing, the broadcaster’s second deadliest sin is dead air. Silent airspace is worst on radio. On TV, viewers can watch the embarrassed expression on the presenter’s face. If an item fails to appear the radio presenter should apologise and move smartly on to the next. In TV, presenters will usually be directed what to do by the control room. Up to three seconds of silence is the most that should pass before the newsreader cuts in. Be honest with the audience and try not to cover up obvious mistakes. Today’s audience is quite sophisticated about how video works, and that technical aspects can go awry, and will be understanding if they are not misled about hitches and glitched… in fact they often rather enjoy them! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.