Unfiltered Thoughts

2022.12.06 – 0705 – Animal Characterisations
Animal characterisationsAnthropomorphism is giving animals human-like characteristics and emotions – it’s the basis of many children’s books such as the famous Mickey Mouse or Winnie The Pooh as well as widely used in commercials (think of Martin the Geico Gecko the mascot of the insurance brand).[1]
Of course, giving a voice to an animal is really voice acting, so many of the skills are similar to creating a voice for another human character, but there are specific skills involved. The same research needs to be done to help with your tone and vocal range.·        Character attributes·        How they are drawn (literally) – are they hunched over and eyes half shut or standing tall with eyes wide open? You can see how each of these looks would suggest another kind of voice·        The ‘generic’ character of that particular creature: snakes are seen as slow-moving and sly, monkeys as excitable, so how can you bring those attributes into the way your character talks? ·        When considering how an animal sounds, think where their voice comes from: for a growly bear you will need a lot of chest resonance and maybe a throaty sound, a hound dog may be more jowly and with a sound from the mouth cavity. Smaller animals (including say a terrier) are naturally higher-pitched in tone, a cat’s miaow is quite a nasal sound. A bird sound may be more of a whistle… ·        Think of how the animal moves – and move in a similar way: to help with your ‘monkey-voice’ perhaps be wide-eyed and expressive in your face, maybe talk in short and fast bursts of speech as though jumping from one idea to another as you might jump from one branch to another. Owls are often considered wise, so a slower, more-thoughtful delivery, with a relaxed and confident stance, maybe glasses on the end of your nose and stroking your chin…·        The situation they are in·        The context - who are they interacting with and why, as well as their back story (what led them to behave this way?)
[1] https://www.geico.com/living/commercials/gecko-journey-across-america/ and https://www.voices.com/blog/who-is-the-voice-of-the-geico-gecko/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.12.05 – 0704 – Advertisements / Commercials Advertisements / CommercialsPerhaps one of the main attributes of a radio, tv or movie commercial read is a voice with charismatic qualities. That is one that is trustworthy, interesting and ‘listenable’.
Even though the person behind the voice is rarely if ever seen, with a radio advert you have a lot of heavy lifting to do, whereas with the other, more visual mediums, your voice is in addition and often takes more of a back seat to what is being seen on the screen. And that also often affects the style of the script too: whereas radio has to use the voice to communicate almost all of the information (there may be music and sound effects too) and is therefore quite natural, a script for a TV or movie theatre spot fits around the other elements and so the vocal presentation is more staccato – words and phrases rather than full sentences.
Understand the old rhetorical devices to help you work out how to read advertising copy. After all, a commercial is trying to persuade you to do something – buy a product, click on a website, visit a location – in a way that politicians going back to the ancient Romans were also trying to persuade you to act or think a certain way. Devices such as:·        The rule of three – when three items are listed as attributes of the product or service.·        Opposites – Such as “So, what would you rather? Keep paying for your car month after month, or buy it outright?” Also, up and down, left and right, this or that ·        Repetition – “We’re number one!” sung three times in the Lays potato chip commercial[1] or “So does Kraft” [2]·        Climax – “He was a boy, then a man, then a father….”·        The basic story arc – The introduction, action, climax, conclusion, and call to action.
So, understand the structure of the copy. It’s all on the page, so be a self-direction detective. And think about this, a lot of these devices are used in children’s books and fairy tales so they are almost hard-wired into our brains.
[1] The first commercial in this montage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1qDZ6aGQOg [2] In the same montage from 6m 29s Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.12.04 – 0703 – Animal Noises, Political Ads, IVRs and VOGs: Other voiceover roles  Advertisements / CommercialsAnimal characterisation and animal noisesAudio descriptionsAudio guidesBrand voicesDubbingeLearninghow to read lists and castsLive Events Announcements (‘Voice of God’ aka VOG)Speaking outdoorsMedicalMovies trailersPolitical adsPSAStation imagingTelephony voice over Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.12.03 – 0702 – At The End Of An Audiobook Recording  When recording Finish each session at an appropriate point in the plot – that’s usually at the end of a section, chapter or scene. It’s here that you can resolve the piece with an appropriate tone. At the start of the next session, listen to some of the previous audio before you start recording to get into a likely same style, pace and rhythm and keep consistency, albeit with a new ‘narrational tone’ to reset the storyline at the start of the new chapter or Part. A new chapter is always likely to be where the author has started a new part of the story arc, a new day, a new viewpoint and so on, so always note what shift has taken place and create a fresh tone to reflect this.
Be aware that your performance will naturally be likely to change each day and during the day (morning, afternoon, after lunch and so on) depending on your vocal health, vocal stamina, diet, hydration and so on. Try and keep a high consistency for fluency and easy editing and listening.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.12.02 – 0701 – Character Relationships In Audiobook Narration
A further step may be to note the relationships between characters. As we have seen before we adapt our vocal style depending on who we are talking to: 30-year-old Sam will speak to their mother in a different way to their spouse, friends or child, so consider who is in each scene and who each person interacts with. Also, relationships change over time: part of the arc of the book may be that two friends fall out and make up, and in doing so how they speak to one another will reflect this.
Notate anywhere where a reading ‘style shift’ is required: “Samah hung her legs into the cool water, leant back and raised her face to the sun…” suggests a slower pace for example. More intense scenes might require a faster narration. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.12.01 – 0700 – Post-Dialogue Attributions In Audiobook Narration
Mark 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 Audience
Story-telling for a young audience
For 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 Characters
A 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 Narration
Minor 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.