Unfiltered Thoughts

2023.09.02 – 0975 – The Diction-ary of Voice - A Part 1
The Diction-ary of Voice ON GOOD SPEAKING TERMS **AAbdomen – your stomach area that moves out as you breath in, as the diaphragm lowers to allow the lungs to expandActuality (‘act’) – sound, such as an interview, recorded on location or in a studio and which are not the reporter or narrator.Ad lib - a spontaneous addition or change to a script, or a usually witty off-the-cuff comment during a live or recorded conversationADR - Automated Dialogue Replacement. The art of re-recording or dubbing a video script while matching the original actor’s mouth movements. This is time consuming, expensive and experience is required as the original speech patterns can be unpredictable in speed and deliveryAffricates – the speech sound that combines the rush of air of a plosive (as in the letters ‘b’ and ‘p’) with that of a fricative (when air is forced through a small gap in the lips or teeth – as in ‘ssss’), to give what is heard at the start of words such as ‘chant’, ‘choke’ or ‘choo-choo’… which is certainly something to ‘chew’ over…Air check – a recording of transmission (‘ROT’) of either audio or video. Used to give feedback or sometimes required for job applications so someone can hear/see how you perform ‘in real life’ rather than in something specifically recorded for the applicationAlt – short for ‘alternative’ as in “give me an alt on that” when the director asks for another version of a line-read. This can be for a variety of reasons including wanting variations on takes, wanting just one or a couple of words changed, or to be said with slightly different inflection or intonation etc.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.09.01 – 0974 – A Whispering Voice
Whispering voiceSymptom: Speaking very softlyPrescription: Don’t. A whisper needs vocal fold tension, with the sound produced in a small gap between them. Instead talk in a breathy voice as outlined in episode 770. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.31 – 0973 – The Whining Voice Whining voiceSymptom: As you might expect, this sound is related to the ‘unnatural pitch’ described above. It too is a higher-pitched voice, with the added issue of elongated words, especially vowels, and often additional nasality. Those vowels may ‘whine’ on a steady pitch, or rise and fall similar to a police siren. Put all that together and the speaker may be perceived as speaking like a petulant child: “I doooooon’t waaaaan’t tooooooo-er”.Prescription: ·        Listening back to a recording of yourself and identifying this issue is the first step to eliminating it from your vocal personality. Concentrate on speaking with short, more succinct vowel sounds, perhaps highlighting on a script where these may potentially occur.·        The higher pitch can be partly solved by using the techniques under ‘forced pitch’ above.·        Nasality often means that too much air is being diverted through the nasal cavity while speaking. Look at the advice on that above, or get personal diagnosis and advice from a professional speech therapist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.30 – 0972 – ‘Vocal Fry’ Voice‘Vocal fry’ voice[1],[2]Symptom: We have covered this in some depth previously, especially in episode 38: the low, glottal, creaky, choppy, breathy delivery often described as a millennial speech pattern used most often perhaps by women and most famously by the Kardashian clan and Katy Perry. It happens when vocal folds stay relaxed when you speak, with minimal air passing through them. It can give the impression to some that you are bored, lack intelligence, or less competent and less trustworthy.Prescription: Unless your audience is made up entirely of a millennial audience that would relate to vocal fry, you are probably better off avoiding this pattern of speech.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6r7LhcHHAc [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_LmC-ynqGM Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.29 – 0971 – Valley SpeakValley speak (short for ‘Valley Girl-speak’)[1]’[2]Symptom: This is a combination of several vocal features (nasality, uptalk, fast-paced run-on sentences, breathiness and vocal fry) and vocabulary (“like”, “I know, right?”, “whatever”, “totally”) Episode 638 discusses the use of the word “like” and 640 is on other ‘filler words’.Prescription: Such a style may be appropriate (although a little dated) for an audience of millennials, but if that’s not you then it’s probably best to avoid this style and adopt one that is considered more mature for most of your reads.
[1] The ‘Valley Girl’ dialect was originally associated with materialistic upper-middle-class young woman of the San Fernando Valley in California, and a way of speaking that became familiar across the English-speaking world. It came to be associated with being ditzy and spoken by those with a greater interest in material items than intellectual or personal accomplishment.[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL6XBB-umc0&feature=youtu.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.28 – 0970 - UptalkUptalk[1]Symptom: Most sentences end on a lower inflection than how they start, to give a signal that the end of the thought has been reached. Apart from sentences which end with a rising inflection. (“Do you agree?”). Uptalkers use a rising inflection no matter the sense of the sentence. It can give the impression that you are doubtful of what you are saying, or that you lack confidence or intelligence.Prescription:Again, if you are talking to an audience that speaks in this way then you are likely to connect with them if it also comes naturally to you. Otherwise, ending a sentence formally, on a down-tone, shows confidence. Episodes 190 and 315 look at the correct ‘question intonation’.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEfMwri22SM&feature=youtu.be and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdhJxAmUu3Y Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.27 – 0969 - Unnaturally pitched voice
Unnaturally pitched voiceSymptom: This is similar to the ‘mono-tone’ (but where that is usually a lower pitch, this problem is usually one of being too high), and ‘forced pitch’ (but this is not done deliberately). It's when nerves or excitement (sometimes combined with an undue haste), cause you to speak with too high a tone, away from your natural ‘home tone’. This makes you sound forced and shrill and some may perceive it to be child-like. It may be wearing to listen to, and wearing on your own vocal folds.Using an incorrect higher pitch reduces your ‘headroom’ and so makes proper intonation difficult.Prescription:·        Relax and slow down. ·        Better breathing and breath control will help steady nerves and instil confidence·        See advice on ‘a nervous voice’ and listen to episode 210 ‘Michael Caine on How Your Voice Pitch Can Be Affected By Nerves’ and 277 ‘The Nervous Newbies’ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.26 – 0968 – The ‘Tired’ Voice Tired voiceSymptom: You sound dull, flat and a little ‘slurry’ as your tongue has trouble forming words.Prescription: ·        A voice will become tired with the amount, volume or the tone of the sound it is being asked to perform (see: ‘vocal loading’ and episode 756). Regulate your speaking so you don’t speak for too long, too loudly. Consider that 10 x 1-minute breaks allow your voice-tissues to recover more effectively than 1 x 10-minute break. (Episode 774 has ‘Voice Advice From Justin Timberlake and Larry Hagman’ on this.) ·        As well as warming-up the voice, don’t forget to warm-down too, to relax the voice into its usual state and not harm it. There are some exercises in episode 928.·        As well as considering and correcting what might be making you anxious mentally, do a ‘condition check’ on yourself physically to see how anxiety has affected how you are holding yourself and how that is affecting the efficiency of your voice-use. Episode 846 is titled ‘Fit Body, Fit Voice’ and may be of interest.·        A voice will also be tired if you are physically or mentally tired. So, have a good night’s sleep and if on a night shift, have an energy boost (being careful to avoid caffeine and sugar energy peaks and troughs, they’re mentioned in episode 853’s ‘Food And Drink Naughty List’). Inevitably, “hydrate, mate!”·        Physical tension (perhaps in a rush to meet a newsroom deadline) will drain your energy so control any temptation to panic. Episode 815 is about how you can achieve Relaxation From Tension
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2023.08.25 – 0967 - The ‘Throwaway’ Delivery ‘Throwaway’ deliverySymptom: When your voice trails off on the last word or two of a sentence. This makes them sound unimportant and sometime unintelligible and can be another pattern of talking that you don’t realise you have adopted.Prescription: In news and commercial scripts, the last words may be vital to the item. A pay-off, a punchline or a kicker, as discussed in episode 309, complete with a joke!·        Review the sense of the sentence and ensure you know what the point is, of what you are being asked to say, and what words to lift or subdue.·        Be careful (and this may sound obvious!) to sound the complete word and not drop off the last syllable. ·        Concentrate on what you are saying before being caught up with what you are going to say next and throwing away words in the rush to get to it.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.24 – 0966 - Throat Clearing Throat clearingSymptom: Throat clearing can become a habit. The slightest tickle and you may cough, but this irritates the vocal folds even more and makes them more raw and sensitive which then exacerbates the problem.Prescription:·        Swap a cough for a hard swallow, preferably with a sip of water and you have a double-whammy: you have eased the irritation without causing more trauma, and hydrates yourself at the same time. Episode 761 covers this.·        If the problem persists, see a health professional in case there is an underlying issue that demands investigation and explanation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.