Unfiltered Thoughts

2023.08.13 – 0955 – Noisy Breathing Noisy breathingSymptom: Your in-breath is clearly heard on the recording, sometimes as a suck (occasionally this comes with a lip-smack as well), or a wheeze. This is covered, along with others from episode 0092 – “The Seven Kinds Of Extra Weird Mouth Noises”.Prescription:·        Re-angle yourself or the microphone so breaths are less likely to be picked up. Or as a ‘last resort’ reduce the level of every breath in the final recording. (Removing the breaths completely may result in the script sounding unnatural, with ‘wordsandsentencesbuttedtogether’.)·        Relax. The noise may be caused by a tightness or obstruction in the airway (the mouth, throat or upper chest)·        Don’t breathe before you have properly open ed your mouth (you’re aiming for it being wide enough to slide a halved-burger bun in, but not a fully constructed Whopper!)·        Consider if you are sitting properly. A slumped posture will mean less air can get in to power your voice, and that means that not only the air you do breathe is quickly used up and so you have to breath more often), but that you have little control over how it powers your words. Exercise and don’t smoke. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.12 – 0954 – The ‘Nervous’ Voice
Nervous voiceSymptom: These may include a higher-pitched, fluttering voice, quickly-snatched breaths, little variation in intonation and regular mistakes. Prescription:·        We looked in some depth previously how nerves are a natural part of a performance, but reinterpreting them can be a good first step to overcoming them. See them not as ‘nerves’ but as an indication of ‘excitement’, a buzz. A feeling that you control, not one that controls you, and a realisation that of the ‘fight, flight or freeze’ options, you’re going to fight and win-over this feeling with confidence.·        Physical ease produces mental ease, so consider how comfortable you are in your seat and at the studio desk. If it’s hard to breath, it’ll be more difficult to control your mouth, your tongue and your airflow. Can you breathe easily and fully? (Oxygen has a natural calming effect on the body: Inhale through your nose for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, exhale through your mouth for 8 seconds.) Do some physical warm-ups.·        Warming up your larynx, articulators and brain will also help: we have covered vocal exercises in some depth and reading your script and knowing its context will help prepare you mentally.·        There’s a whole series on ‘mic fright’, the possible causes and potential remedies, from episode 884.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.11 – 0953 – The 'Nasal' VoiceNasal voice Symptom: This is when ‘too much’ sounded-air goes through the nasal cavity where the resonance of sound is changed (a ‘bunged up’ voice is one that doesn’t have enough air through the nasal cavity! Episode 64 discusses the difference in a bit more detail.) Although powerful and penetrating, such a voice has a thin and twangy ‘honk’ to it, with very little depth. It sounds false and put on for broadcasting and is sometimes described as “too much of a ‘head-sound’” – there’s a great example in episode 417 from a TV sitcom character you may recognise. Also check out episode 68.Prescription: Relax! Yep that basic treatment again! Review the exercises on opening the mouth and throat, relaxing your tongue and controlling your soft palate. Better your breathing too. Doing this will increase your mouth and throat resonance and lead to a better, more balanced voice.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.10 – 0952 – The ‘Monotonous’ Voice
Monotonous voiceSymptom: Spoken tonal delivery which has little variation, with a perception of a single (or ‘mono’) tone. Such a delivery gives the impression that the speaker is bored or tired, that the topic is boring, or if reading from a script, that they have not understood the content enough to feel confident giving correctly-placed intonation.Some people deliberately adopt a flatter-sounding voice in the (mistaken) belief that it makes them sound authoritative, as they are keeping their emotions under control. A listener could mentally turn off from such a ‘drone-like’ delivery. Catch up with episodes 217, 221, 258 and 316 for more monotonous content (if you see what I mean!)Prescription:·        Presentation is a performance so think about what it is about your situation that may make you sound bored or distracted: are you fed up doing podcasts, or this particular topic again? Perhaps it’s something outside the reading: do you feel stuck in a rut in life or your marriage? Maybe you (maybe unknowingly) feel you should be paid more and so will not give 100% until you are…. (Episode 890, if this sounds like you…)·        A slight monotone may also be as a result of feeling less than comfortable in a current situation, perhaps working with new people or in a new studio or with new, unfamiliar equipment (episode 897 and those around it for more on this).·        Remember the need to ‘turn up the personality’ a bit when appearing on radio, tv or stage to achieve ‘cut through’ a some of your energy is ‘lost’ in transmission. (I explain more in episode 332.)·        A monotonous voice may be because of tiredness and is sorted rather more obviously: more rest and less stress, better breathing and eating and so on. ·        If you don’t understand your script, you may keep your intonation in a limited ‘safe zone’[1] this sometimes happen when you have to sight-read. Although this reduces the chances of not misplacing an emphasis too badly, it also inevitably creates less variety in the voice range leading it to sound boring, flat and lifeless. Explanation, rehearsal and marking-up a script will help. Better sight-reading for say newsreaders, usually comes from a background knowledge of current affairs so you immediately understand the significance of what it is you have just been handed and can show that in your colouring of words. Episode 720 is a good place to learn more about sight-reading and there’s a whole series on marking up a script from 177.·        Be more conversational in your delivery. Imagine talking to one person across the room from you and telling them a story (episode 464 onwards), and using gestures (episode 430 onwards) as you do so.
[1] A ‘safe zone’ may lead you to fall into a repetitive pattern of delivery: starting or ending each sentence in the same way, punching every (say) fourth word.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.09 – 0951 – The ‘Hoarse, Husky or Croaky’ Voice
Hoarse, husky or croaky voiceSymptom: A raw, scratchy voice (not necessarily low in pitch) which may signify overuse (such as shouting or talking loudly), abuse (such as drinking and smoking) or both (a late-night party for example).Prescription: ·        If there’s an obvious one-off cause (such as singing at a concert, or shouting at a sports event), rest the voice and avoid such situations in the future (episode 756, might be worth a listen on your ‘vocal battery’).·        If you know the regular, work-related cause (say, commentating at a sports event, and talking loud over a crowd), then have a good voice-care regime: hydration, warm-up and warm-down techniques, vocal rest, good breath support and so on. (Episode 920 is a good one for more on this.) ·        Croakiness may be the result of too much thick phlegm in your mouth and throat. Remember to “hydrate, mate”, and consider whether reducing your intake of things like dairy and chocolate make a difference (as some say it does for them). I have lots of episodes on this: try 753 on why hydration oughta be water and 751 on ‘mucus’!·        Smoking and shouting should always be avoided or reduced as much as possible (episode 766). Learn the best ways to scream and shout in episodes 352 and 353.·        As a basic cause, a hoarse voice may be down to nervous tension, so practice relaxation and better breathing skills and check your posture.·        At its worst, and for ongoing problems (a recurring sore throat), hoarseness may be a signifier of a more serious condition perhaps from scarring because of ongoing misuse, so seek professional medial advice. More in episodes 761, 767.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.08 – 0950 – The ‘Gravelly’ Voice Gravelly voiceSymptom: A low, deep voice with little energy, projection or intonation.Prescription: This may be reduced by losing weight which could enhance better posture and increased energy. This will enable easier breath support (listen to episode 833) and projection, with more energy for increased intonation. (A series of episodes from episode 323 was about the volume of your voice.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.07 – 0949 – The ‘Gabbling’ VoiceGabbling voice[1]Symptom:  Different situations require different speeds: a brash ‘pile ‘em high and sell ‘em cheap’ commercial is likely to be faster than one for luxury lingerie, a late-night presenter on a classical music station likely to have a slower pace than a jock on a city-based Countdown show. Having said that, someone who speaks too fast may not be pronouncing their words correctly. Or if they are, they may stumble more than they should. This may be as a result of their eye > brain > larynx > mouth workflow being unable to keep up with the speed demanded of them. While words are jammed together, parts of many of them (full syllables and clear consonants for example) may be lost. Also affected will be correct intonation (there may be very little, or too much), proper phrasing and of course proper pausing. The nuances of the copy is lost and what could be intelligible becomes incoherent. Prescription: The psychological issue here may be of someone trying to emulate an experienced and confident presenter who speaks faster because of those two attributes. Newbies should develop their own style of course. Faster speech if required, is made clearer with understanding your content, clear script markings, good posture and breath control, and enunciation exercises. Slower speech is easier to practice and it should come hand-in-hand with good diction, and an understanding of the script so the reader is clearly communicating… being expressive and not being an express train.·        Our series on the ‘speed of the read’ was covered in episodes 368 onwards A subgroup of this may be referred to as ‘shotgun speech’ when someone speaks suddenly, quickly and in a rapid outburst of words. This type of talking may be a sign of nervousness and lack of self-confidence, and as you don’t take much air in, can weaken your voice and affect the clarity of your diction. (See advice for ‘gabbling’.)
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeK5ZjtpO-M&feature=youtu.be and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X4Fy8YqysY   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.06 – 0948 – The ‘Forced Pitch’ VoiceForced pitch voice (also see: unnatural pitch)Symptom: Some people force their voice to produce sound at a different pitch than is normal or comfortable for them. Men and women may artificially lower their pitch in the belief that it gives them more gravitas or presence. (Raising the pitch is less usual.)  This results in an inauthentic delivery which the listener can usually detect. At the very least a listener may be concentrating more to the voice than the content, the speaker having created an obstacle to clear communication. Using one’s natural ‘home tone’ voice, a speaker has the ability to more-easily intonate in the range above and below it. Starting from a (usually) lower point gives the speaker less room for manoeuvre: they have increased their ‘ceiling’, but reduced their ‘floor’ which limits their expressive range. Prescription: Re-read the section on finding your ‘home tone’ (listen to episode 290 onwards) to discover your natural expressive range. You can help lower your voice in less damaging ways:·        Feeling confident for example in your surroundings and content will reduce your stress and so change your voice. ·        Your posture will give better breath support and will open up your chest resonator to give your voice a fuller sound.·        Holding your head up and opening your mouth properly when you speak will make full use of the resonators in your throat and oral and nasal cavities.·        I give a case study of a student who did this, in episode 217. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.05 – 0947 – Filler WordsFiller words (over-use of) Symptom: Verbal ticks in conversation, links and adlibs include words like “umm”, “so” and “yeah?” (and, indeed, “like”), or phrases such as “you know what I mean?”, “kinda thing”.[1]Prescription: ·        Record and listen back to identify the use and regularity of these words. Some may be OK, but too much may be grating on the listener. ·        Prepare your notes better so you know what you want to say and how you will end your thought. Adding some planned structure to what you say will keep it conversational and make it more listenable. ·        Relaxation, proper breathing and a judicious use of the pause, will create a calmer more decisive mind when you start speaking and so add to fluency.·        More tips in episode 637 onwards.
[1] Lots of them, as well as other annoying vocal habits, are demonstrated here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwfopSOcb-w Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.08.04 – 0946 – The ‘Ending Pattern’ Voice ‘Ending Pattern’ voiceSymptom: A variety of the ‘sing song’ pattern discussed below, this presenter may (annoyingly and predictably) end a phrase or sentence with the same or similar intonation. One beloved of news reporters is to speak naturally for most of the sentence and then pause, before giving the same emphasis to each of the three words… At. The. End. As you can tell it’s very… Annoying. To. Hear.Prescription: ·        This style maybe an unknowing verbal rut tha t the presenter has… Got. In. To. Gently highlighting it will help, together with looking at sentence constructions in scripts and… In. Ad. Libs. More examples of this in a short series of episodes from 267.Understand what it is you are reading, what is it about, what’s the context? Look again at the actual words you need to lift or subdue or to help tell the story. Listen back to episode 322 for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.