Hack3.9.Train Your Voice

Hack 3.9. Train Your Voice

Use professional techniques and training to improve your podcasting voice.

You should keep two things in mind when you sit down to record your podcast: speak well for broadcast (diction, enunciation, etc.) and speak into the microphone [Hack #13] correctly. Both of these issues are relatively easy to address with a few key tips.

3.9.1. Speaking Well for Podcasting

"Speaking well for broadcast" is something that calls to mind bad associations for many people. The idea of talking in "radio voice" (defined for most by the sound of early morning DJs or public radio smooth talkers) is the stuff of Saturday Night Live lampoons. Besides, there is of course no right or wrong way to speak for broadcast; it is, at its simplest, a pure and representative form of communication.

However, broadcasting (and by extension, podcasting) as a medium sometimes requires adjustments to have your voice, speech, and message be heard through the prism of an intermediary device (the microphone, for example) as you intended. It is common for people to be unhappy with the sound of their recorded voice. The idiosyncrasies of their speech or the lack of coherence and drive in their delivery can cause their broadcast to land on listeners' ears very differently than they imagined it would when they first conceived their message.

The speaking guidelines that follow are enormously helpful in terms of preserving the integrity of your message in auditory media. While working, be sure to record yourself every timenothing will be more useful than hearing yourself. The following skill setstechniques of the tradeare set forth as options to diversify and clean up your speaking for podcasts.

3.9.2. Diction and Enunciation

These are the issues that most American speakers have in their speech that come out in auditory media:

Hard r

Most American accents (with the exception of some New England and Southern accents) have very strong r's in their speech. (When British actors learn American dialects, one of their first points of focus is hitting their r's!) It might help to try easing up on them a bit when they crop up in their diphthong (i.e., "See here! More of their poor art!") or triphthong (i.e., fire, power) state.

Popping ps and other stop-plosives

The sounds of p, b, t, d, k, and g are known as stop-plosives. The most common problem with these sounds is that when they are overarticulated (or overworked), too much air is "exploded" from the lips, and this air unnecessarily frames or relishes the consonant sound. (This is a typical speaking problem that sound engineers have to correct in prerecorded radio and voiceovers, for example.) Be sure to give nice, closed endings to these sounds, and listen for the pops on playback.

Dropping off t, nt, d, nd, and ing endings

Be sure to drive through and lightly hit the ends of your words. Don't drop off in the middle of a word. This is an important tip to honor for the sake of clarity.

Leaky s

Think of this as the snakelike sound that happens when an s sound is pushed too hard. Move through s sounds quickly and avoid overworking them.

The sound in you ("liquid u")

This sound can blend in with the word before it, often sounding like chew. Be sure to make this its own sound.

Try this: practice the phrase "can't you, won't you, don't you," giving a crisp end to the nt ending and a separate start to the you.

3.9.3. Pitch, Power, and Pace

You can develop three key aspects to the way you speak: pitch, power, and pace. These are covered in the sections that follow.

3.9.3.1 Pitch.

You are always speaking on notes of the musical scale, known as pitch. Americans are known for speaking in a very small range of pitch whenever they want to emphasize something while speaking, they tend to do it with volume instead of pointing it up with pitch. Try going up and down in pitch, even if just a touch, to pull out or point up key words or ideas for your listeners. This is a key tool for adding nuance and increasing "listenability."

Try this: when reading a paragraph, try going up a half step in pitch every time you begin a new sentence, until you hit the middle of the paragraph, at which point start taking each down a half step. This exercise is good for getting the idea of pitch variations in your ear, and helping you find what's useful.

3.9.3.2 Power.

Power is the volume at which you speak. Speaking more loudly or softly at times is a main way of emphasizing a point. Although it is important to speak well and clearlyeven into an all-hearing microphonethis is an aspect of speaking that you might want to use with caution when recording. Speaking too loudly will overpower the microphone; speaking too softly will make listeners work too hard to hear you.

3.9.3.3 Pace.

Pace refers to the speed at which you speak. You can point up key ideas and phrases by varying the rate of your speaking. Rushing through sentences is a far more common problem than speaking too slowly. Be sure also to speak at an even pace when recording your podcast. If you're a habitual "fast-talker," it might feel at first as though you are speaking at an agonizingly slow rate. However, chances are good that you're speaking at just the right speed for the first time! Ask for a second set of ears to help you gauge until you get the hang of it. But generally, slower is far better than faster.

Try this: time yourself reading a paragraph at your normal pace. Then read it again, aiming to double the time it took you to read it the first time.

3.9.3.4 Punctuation.

The general rule of thumb is to go up a half step in pitch at commas, and down at periods. This is a simple but important rule for clarity. Also, punctuation is an internal indicator of how things are to sound, in terms of both pitch and pace. Use punctuation marks to guide your rate of speaking, too.

Try this: read a paragraph, and count a slow "1…2…" under your breath to time a pause every time you come to a comma or period. Then, read it again, thinking the "1…2…". This will set you on the right path to honoring your punctuation.

3.9.4. Speaking into the Microphone Correctly

Here are some things to concentrate on:

• Speak about six inches from the microphone.

• Enunciate clearly.

• Speak at a reasonable pace.

• Speak at a volume that you normally would if you were talking to someone in the room with you.

• If you're speaking at a louder than normal volume, pull back a bit from the microphone so that you don't overpower the mic. (You know the singers you see who hold the mic out when they're belting? That's why!)

• Don't move too close to the microphone (sometimes called "eating the mic"). The microphone will pick you up just fine.

• Don't move too far away when speaking at a normal volume. Remember, six inches is the optimum distance from the microphone when speaking in normal tones.

• Don't speak too quickly. Not only will you not be understood, but also the microphone can pick up all the sounds of your lips and breath, working double time to keep up with your speed. The result is that your speech will sound chewed. You probably don't want to embellish your podcast with all sorts of strange saliva-y sounds.

3.9.5. Other Resources

You can find additional coaching or help with the voice and speech aspects of your podcast in several places. Broadcasting coaches, classes, and schools are in most major metropolitan areas. Speech classes, offered for actors, can also be a resource; most of them work off Edith Skinner's famous book, Speak with Distinction (Applause Books). This book covers the world of diphthongs and triphthongs, of front, mid, and back vowel sounds, of stop-plosive and affricate consonants, and of nasal continuants. It teaches all of the sounds of standard American English, and how they should be used (an invaluable resource for anyone who speaks for a living).

Media trainers are experts in how to deal with all types of media. They offer both classes and individual training sessions that can be tailored to your needs, and most of them train for radio. Media trainers can also be a place to start for accent coaching, though there are speech experts who do this as well, and often do it better. Look for speech therapy credentials or graduate-level, Skinner-based speech work when shopping for an accent coach.

Accent coaching can make a huge difference, in a relatively short amount of time, for non-native English speakers or anyone with a regionalism that they feel interferes with the clarity or integrity of their message.

3.9.6. Talking Naturally

It's not easy to sound like you're talking; this will make sense the second you sit down in front of a microphone. After working with a slew of first-time producers and essayists at Atlantic Public Media, we learned that comfort with a microphone is sometimes a matter of finding the right trick. If you're fine with your own tracking, file these away for the next time you have a nervous guest in your studio.

3.9.6.1 Imagine someone else.

Imagine that you're speaking to someone across the room. Move the mic away from you, turn down your levels, and find an imaginary person six feet away. Tell her your story. Let your voice reach out across the room. Some stories come with the quality of something confessed in a closet, so for those you want to bring the mic in, or better yet, use a closet and turn off the lights. Another common technique is to pretend you're on the telephone. A telephone is a microphone that everyone is used to.

Talk as though you're talking to a close friend. A good recorded script requires a certain kind of self-honesty. Don't be coy or clever with your voice because that will come through in the audio. Whether you're the reader or you're directing someone else, this is key, so don't let yourself or anyone else get away with it! If a performance gets stale or uncomfortable, tell the story of what's on the page instead of reading from it.

You have to start with headphones so that you can hear whether anything weird is going on in the background. But sometimes, it's best to take off the headphones. Some readers are shocked by the sound of their own voice so close in their head; it freaks them out. Worse, some peopleyou know who you areare in love with the sound of their own voice. In this case, headphones will only encourage a person to hang on to every rumbly bass that is produced; you know, the Stentorian approach.

In defense of headphones, the biofeedback can also be very soothing. You suddenly can hear what you are doing wrong, without cringing. For the very timid, bring the headphones back out after the second read. It can be miraculous.

3.9.6.2 Warming up.

Sing like an opera star, just for a second. This works particularly well if you're recording someone terrified by the mic. First, it breaks the tension because everyone sounds silly in a falsetto, and second, if you move your voice around it's easier to settle into your natural pitch. I think of it, when tracking someone else, as cracking their resistance.

3.9.6.3 Get yourself in order.

Stand up. It will straighten out the air column. It makes you sound like you know what you're doing. Use a music stand or something similar to prop your copy on so that you never tuck your chin.

Remove everything from your person, especially noisy clothing (e.g., leather and nylon). Nervous people pick at things, move around, tap pens, and jiggle change. Microphones pick this up, particularly the tapping pen, and if listeners can't see what you're doing, they're going to wonder what the noise is.

Guests like being taken care of. Studios can be intimidating; explain to a reader exactly what is happening. Adjust the mic yourself to a comfortable height for them; give them some water, and make them feel comfortable with the equipment around them. Usually people want to start off sitting down, but are relieved once you make them stand up, since they can breathe better. Another way to get a reader to relax after a read or two is to let him know that you already have something usable, and encourage him to try a few more just to experiment. You will find that these later takes will be less stressed.

3.9.6.4 Reading technique.

If you are reading from a script, read three times. You're likely to nail it in three takes. One of those times, watch the script while listening to make sure nothing is missed. You can also do it with your eyes closed, or looking somewhere else, and that is often a way to hear whether the energy is waning or if there's not a proper emphasis or feeling placed on a part of a phrase or a word.

Figure out where to breathe. People tend, strangely, to breathe unnaturally when they're trying to sound natural. You might need to look through a script to find and mark natural places to take a breath.

Try not to stress the obvious word. If the words are good enough, they'll come across.

Know that everything is magnified. Every time you push a phrase, or trail off, the impact on air is far greater than in a conversation. Audio gives you room for subtlety. Use it.

Edit yourself while you're recording. Often you can hear things you can't see on the page. If you're having trouble saying something or if it feels unnatural, change it. If you wouldn't normally say it that way out loud, don't say it into a microphone.

Emily Donahoe and Viki Merrick