Unfiltered Thoughts

2021.10.13 – 0286 – What To Do About SynonymsThe same goes when synonyms (other words which have the same meaning) are used:·        “A man’s been stabbed on Epsom Common. He was attacked as he walked on wasteland near the Wells estate.” o  Colour “stabbed” as this is new information, but un-colour “attacked” as it is a synonym. The same principle goes for “Common” which is highlighted, and “wasteland”, which is another word for the same thing.·        “The court heard how Mr Smith had set fire to the school in the early hours. The defendant said the blaze had been an accident.”o  “Mr Smith” is lifted as it is new information, but “defendant” is a synonym. So you only need to colour the first mention of the man, when it was new information, that is “Mr Smith” and subdue the detail when it is old information “the defendant”.o  Similarly, “set fire to” is new, and its synonym “the blaze” is old, so lift the first referenced and subdue the second.
Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection andprojection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a careerspent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode! And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTERBROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE. Look out for more details of the book during 2021. Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart Peter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1 to Heart FM, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. Other trainees have been music presenters, breakfast show hosts, travel news presenters and voice-over artists. He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (“Essential Radio Journalism”, “JournoLists”, two editions of “Essential Radio Skills” and three editions of “Broadcast Journalism”) and has written on voice and presentation skills in the BBC’s in-house newspaper “Ariel”. Peter has presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with formats as diverse as music-presentation, interview shows, ‘special’ programmes for elections and budgets, live outside broadcasts and commentaries and even the occasional sports, gardening and dedication programmes. He has read several thousand news bulletins, and hosted nearly 2,000 podcast episodes, and is a vocal image consultant advising in all aspects of voice and speech training for presenters on radio and TV, podcasts and YouTube, voiceovers and videocalls. The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience? This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects. Music credits:"Bleeping Demo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7012-bleeping-demoLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Beauty Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flowLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Envision" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4706-envisionLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Limit 70" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5710-limit-70License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Rising Tide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5027-rising-tideLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesomeLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license 
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2021.10.12 – 0285 – 2 - Un-colour Old InformationUnimportant or old information (that is, detail which is already known or presumed to be known), can be ‘thrown away’ in your delivery and does not need to be highlighted. It can stay on your level tone or subdued.  “The crash was between two cars. The blue car hit the red car.” We just saw how you would naturally slightly highlight “crash” and “two cars” in the first sentence but would you colour the word “car” in the second? Go ahead and you will hear how wrong it sounds. That’s because we already know the accident involved cars (rather than trucks, coaches, taxis or motorbikes) – it’s old information. The new detail is the colour of the cars – so that’s what we highlight.  “Mary had a little lamb. The lamb’s name was Larry” - we lifted “Mary”, “lamb” and “Larry” because they are names or new information, but subdue the second reference to the lamb, because that’s old information., but lift its name.  Of course, you might say, that’s not how we would write a sentence – with a repeated word. And you’re right, you’d probably naturally speak by replacing the subsequent use of “car” or “lamb” with a pronoun. “The blue one hit the red one” and “its name was Larry”.  But that doesn’t change the ‘rule’: whether it’s known information through a repeated word, or a substitute for that word, you still don’t highlight its subsequent appearances.[1]  Let’s look at these two sentences again:“The crash was between two cars. The blue one hit the red one”“Mary had a little lamb. It was called Larry.” And actually, you’ll see that even though we replaced the repetitive words with pronouns, we didn’t even need to do that. Much of the content of the second sentences is so throwaway and insignificant, we could have just, as we may have done in a conversation, just not said most of it: “The crash was between two cars. The blue hit the red.”“Mary had a little lamb: Larry.” So old information, such as a repeated noun is not lifted, even if it is a replaced with a pronoun. And many times, the pronouns are so unnecessary anyway, we can remove them from the sentence as well.
[1] Although there may be a few exemptions to this as we will see later.

Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection andprojection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a careerspent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode! And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTERBROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE. Look out for more details of the book during 2021. Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart Peter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1 to Heart FM, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. Other trainees have been music presenters, breakfast show hosts, travel news presenters and voice-over artists. He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (“Essential Radio Journalism”, “JournoLists”, two editions of “Essential Radio Skills” and three editions of “Broadcast Journalism”) and has written on voice and presentation skills in the BBC’s in-house newspaper “Ariel”. Peter has presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with formats as diverse as music-presentation, interview shows, ‘special’ programmes for elections and budgets, live outside broadcasts and commentaries and even the occasional sports, gardening and dedication programmes. He has read several thousand news bulletins, and hosted nearly 2,000 podcast episodes, and is a vocal image consultant advising in all aspects of voice and speech training for presenters on radio and TV, podcasts and YouTube, voiceovers and videocalls. The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience? This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects. Music credits:"Bleeping Demo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7012-bleeping-demoLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Beauty Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flowLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Envision" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4706-envisionLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Limit 70" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5710-limit-70License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Rising Tide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5027-rising-tideLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesomeLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license 
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2021.10.11 – 0284 – What Are Meaningful Words? VOICE BOXMeaning-ful wordsThese are the words which help make the story, the story. They are the ‘magic key’ words to help the listener understand what is being said, rather than the (usually) shorter, more common words which are the ‘glue’ that holds the sentences together. When talking conversationally, we instinctively lift these key words, even without the benefit of a script or rehearsal time! It just naturally happens as the words tumble from our lips. It’s clever stuff, and something that if we want to make script-reading sound conversational, we have to deconstruct to see what is going on there … so we can replicate it in the ‘false reality’ of presentation. Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection andprojection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a careerspent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode! And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTERBROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE. Look out for more details of the book during 2021. Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart Peter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1 to Heart FM, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. Other trainees have been music presenters, breakfast show hosts, travel news presenters and voice-over artists. He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (“Essential Radio Journalism”, “JournoLists”, two editions of “Essential Radio Skills” and three editions of “Broadcast Journalism”) and has written on voice and presentation skills in the BBC’s in-house newspaper “Ariel”. Peter has presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with formats as diverse as music-presentation, interview shows, ‘special’ programmes for elections and budgets, live outside broadcasts and commentaries and even the occasional sports, gardening and dedication programmes. He has read several thousand news bulletins, and hosted nearly 2,000 podcast episodes, and is a vocal image consultant advising in all aspects of voice and speech training for presenters on radio and TV, podcasts and YouTube, voiceovers and videocalls. The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience? This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects. Music credits:"Bleeping Demo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7012-bleeping-demoLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Beauty Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flowLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Envision" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4706-envisionLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Limit 70" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5710-limit-70License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Rising Tide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5027-rising-tideLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesomeLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license 
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2021.10.10 – 0283 – 1 - Colour Important New Information  Here are then, some keys to a good read. 1 – Colour Important New Information In ad-libbed speaking we naturally highlight the detail that ‘makes the story, the story’ – the information that is new and important, the facts that we want to draw attention to, and which propel the message… the ‘meaning-ful’ words and phrases. So ask yourself what the script is about and what makes it unusual. What is different, new or unexpected? “The crash was between two cars.” - You would naturally slightly highlight “crash” and “two cars” and speak the other words on a more normal level of intonation. “Mary had a little lamb” – the key words are “Mary” and “lamb” which you draw slight attention to by colouring each of these words as you say them. “Had a” are ‘grouting words’ that hold the phrase together and there is no need to highlight “little” as all lambs are small and so that adjective is of no significance and so does not need to be coloured. New information usually includes people’s names, their position or title, and geographical places. “The President is in France tonight, meeting with leaders of that country ahead of the big G8 meeting in Paris tomorrow.”  Usually as a commercial voiceover and a newsreader (apart from perhaps when you are directly quoting someone else) you are staying ‘in character’ – that is you are speaking as ‘you’. When you are reading an ebook as a voice actor though you may be various characters, or maybe you are the narrator telling the listener about the thoughts of one or other of them. In this situation, the information is new to the person being portrayed (either the speaker or the hearer), not to you as the reader or narrator. Let’s take a look at this: “With one more twist of the skeleton key, the lock clicked and the cabinet door creaked open. Nervously Robert opened the door wider and looked inside. He knew there had to be something of value inside but not exactly what it was. A minute later he was striding into the drawing room with the Chinese-looking vase carefully cradled in both hands. ‘They’ll be furious it’s just a vase’ he thought to himself. And he wasn’t wrong. ‘A vase!’ cried Ranjit in surprise. ‘Is that it?’ Alice said nothing. She had known for some time that the vase was there.” So here we have every reference to the vase coloured. That’s because different people are thinking or speaking about it. In this situation, the information is new to each of them in different contexts.  So as a voice actor, sometimes you are the narrator of the piece, and sometimes you are one or more of the characters, who themselves may be thinking to themselves, or talking aloud to one or more other people, any of whom may know the information that is being said to them – information that may be new, or old. You really have to concentrate then, to have your intonation fit with your characterisation. 

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2021.10.09 – 0282 – Intentional IntonationTHE GUIDE to INTENTIONAL INTONATIONYour intonation education and behaviour modification, starts here!
Accurate intonation is the most important of all elements in spoken delivery. It allows yourmessage to be communicated with precision.
There is no point in reading if your listeners don’t understand the meaning.
If you have any doubt in ‘how to read out loud’ think, “how would I say this?” rather than “how would I read this?” – that’s a trick that often results in an appropriate colour given to the key words. Then mark your script accordingly.
Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection andprojection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a careerspent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode! And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTERBROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE. Look out for more details of the book during 2021. Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart Peter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1 to Heart FM, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. Other trainees have been music presenters, breakfast show hosts, travel news presenters and voice-over artists. He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (“Essential Radio Journalism”, “JournoLists”, two editions of “Essential Radio Skills” and three editions of “Broadcast Journalism”) and has written on voice and presentation skills in the BBC’s in-house newspaper “Ariel”. Peter has presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with formats as diverse as music-presentation, interview shows, ‘special’ programmes for elections and budgets, live outside broadcasts and commentaries and even the occasional sports, gardening and dedication programmes. He has read several thousand news bulletins, and hosted nearly 2,000 podcast episodes, and is a vocal image consultant advising in all aspects of voice and speech training for presenters on radio and TV, podcasts and YouTube, voiceovers and videocalls. The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience? This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects. Music credits:"Bleeping Demo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7012-bleeping-demoLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Beauty Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flowLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Envision" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4706-envisionLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Limit 70" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5710-limit-70License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Rising Tide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5027-rising-tideLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesomeLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license 
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2021.10.08 – 0281 – Emma’s StoryIf you understand the sense of the story, why it is relevant and interesting, then you stand a better chance of making it compelling when you read it. Put yourself in the place where the story happened, see it as you read it to add to your conviction… – like Emma, the travel reporter…  I was called in by the manager of a radio station to train his travel news presenter, let’s call her Emma Leven. He was at a loss to know what to do. She had a great voice and personality on air, but when it came to reading the travel news script, she just didn’t sound right. I met with her and listened to an off-air recording and immediately I understood what her boss had meant: the news of traffic and travel, congestion and diversions were fluently-read but without any ‘spark’ that she’d previously shown when talking with the main presenters.Within a few seconds I thought I knew what the root cause of the issue was. “You’re new to the area, aren’t you?” I said. “Yes”, Emma replied. “I used to work at another station, so I know radio, but I moved here just a couple of weeks ago”.I was at the station for a couple of days, seeing and coaching several people on their voice and presentation style, so I gave Emma some homework.“Are you free this afternoon? If so I want you to go to places in the area that over the last few days you keep mentioning on the travel news – the hot spots, the pinch points, the road works. First drive through the area, and then park and walk around for a few minutes. See where the hold ups are, work out why they are caused (it may be that three lanes go to two lanes either side of some lights, there’s a school nearby, a bus in a stop blocks a line of sight for example), and then see what else is around. Soak it up. Experience it. Takes some pictures. Then go to another hot spot and do the same thing.”The next day I arrived at the station for day two of the coaching and the manager greeted me. “What did you say to Emma? She’s so much better this morning!” he smiled.The difference was that Emma now understood the situation as well as the script. Previously she was just repeating the words, but now she could picture in her mind exactly where the problem was, and its significance. She was not only able to present the travel news with a more relevant tone, but she was also including more relatable information such as “the traffic’s now backing up to the supermarket there”, or “it’s a nasty junction just by the pub…” and so on.  
Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection andprojection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a careerspent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode! And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTERBROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE. Look out for more details of the book during 2021. Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart Peter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1 to Heart FM, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. Other trainees have been music presenters, breakfast show hosts, travel news presenters and voice-over artists. He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (“Essential Radio Journalism”, “JournoLists”, two editions of “Essential Radio Skills” and three editions of “Broadcast Journalism”) and has written on voice and presentation skills in the BBC’s in-house newspaper “Ariel”. Peter has presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with formats as diverse as music-presentation, interview shows, ‘special’ programmes for elections and budgets, live outside broadcasts and commentaries and even the occasional sports, gardening and dedication programmes. He has read several thousand news bulletins, and hosted nearly 2,000 podcast episodes, and is a vocal image consultant advising in all aspects of voice and speech training for presenters on radio and TV, podcasts and YouTube, voiceovers and videocalls. The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience? This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects. Music credits:"Bleeping Demo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7012-bleeping-demoLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Beauty Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flowLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Envision" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4706-envisionLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Limit 70" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5710-limit-70License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Rising Tide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5027-rising-tideLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesomeLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license 
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2021.10.07 – 0280 – - How to Sound Like You Know What You’re Talking About.
- How to sound like you know what you’re talking about.You can do this by actually knowing what you’re talking about. (You can’t fake sincerity.)
If you don’t know the meaning of what you’re reading, then how will you will be able to convey the meaning to your audience?
Good comprehension leads to good intonation.
If you are not interested, your viewer and listener won’t be. You don’t want one (or more) of them to think: “They don’t know what they’re talking about…!” as they may well do if they have ‘intonation frustration’ with how you are talking.
It’s why over the decades TV newsreaders have tended to be journalists rather than actors. They know what they’re talking about and can bring a sense of understanding and significance to the script. Giving context to the content means their gravitas is genuine. (Actors can also ‘act’ at being a presenter, rather than actually being one…)
Don’t sound a ‘fake and false phoney’.·        Realise the significance of the information you are passing on – if you are interested you will sound interesting·        Know who the intended listener is·        And their ‘desired response’ – and remember, it’s not how you feel about the story or the script, it’s about how you want someone else to feel, think or act differently after hearing it.
Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection andprojection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a careerspent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode! And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTERBROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE. Look out for more details of the book during 2021. Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart Peter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1 to Heart FM, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. Other trainees have been music presenters, breakfast show hosts, travel news presenters and voice-over artists. He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (“Essential Radio Journalism”, “JournoLists”, two editions of “Essential Radio Skills” and three editions of “Broadcast Journalism”) and has written on voice and presentation skills in the BBC’s in-house newspaper “Ariel”. Peter has presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with formats as diverse as music-presentation, interview shows, ‘special’ programmes for elections and budgets, live outside broadcasts and commentaries and even the occasional sports, gardening and dedication programmes. He has read several thousand news bulletins, and hosted nearly 2,000 podcast episodes, and is a vocal image consultant advising in all aspects of voice and speech training for presenters on radio and TV, podcasts and YouTube, voiceovers and videocalls. The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience? This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects. Music credits:"Bleeping Demo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7012-bleeping-demoLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Beauty Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flowLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Envision" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4706-envisionLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Limit 70" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5710-limit-70License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Rising Tide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5027-rising-tideLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesomeLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license 
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2021.10.06 – 0279 – The Bus Driver AnalogyIf you have ‘randomisation of intonation’ then it’s like travelling on a bus with a driver who keeps clipping the curb. You get so caught up with hanging on to the seat that you’re not ‘hanging onto their every word’.
Your listeners have to be reassured where you are going with a script, so they can ‘enjoy the view’ of the message. That way they forget about the driver, and just enjoy the journey.
Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection andprojection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a careerspent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode! And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTERBROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE. Look out for more details of the book during 2021. Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart Peter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1 to Heart FM, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. Other trainees have been music presenters, breakfast show hosts, travel news presenters and voice-over artists. He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (“Essential Radio Journalism”, “JournoLists”, two editions of “Essential Radio Skills” and three editions of “Broadcast Journalism”) and has written on voice and presentation skills in the BBC’s in-house newspaper “Ariel”. Peter has presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with formats as diverse as music-presentation, interview shows, ‘special’ programmes for elections and budgets, live outside broadcasts and commentaries and even the occasional sports, gardening and dedication programmes. He has read several thousand news bulletins, and hosted nearly 2,000 podcast episodes, and is a vocal image consultant advising in all aspects of voice and speech training for presenters on radio and TV, podcasts and YouTube, voiceovers and videocalls. The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience? This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects. Music credits:"Bleeping Demo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7012-bleeping-demoLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Beauty Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flowLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Envision" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4706-envisionLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Limit 70" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5710-limit-70License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Rising Tide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5027-rising-tideLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesomeLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license 
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2021.10.05 – 0278 – Intonation Is Easier If…
‘Read intonation’ becomes easier if you:·        Understand the message of the script or story·        Realise its significance – if you are interested you will sound interesting·        Know who the intended listener is·        And their ‘desired response’ 
Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection andprojection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a careerspent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode! And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTERBROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE. Look out for more details of the book during 2021. Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart Peter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1 to Heart FM, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. Other trainees have been music presenters, breakfast show hosts, travel news presenters and voice-over artists. He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (“Essential Radio Journalism”, “JournoLists”, two editions of “Essential Radio Skills” and three editions of “Broadcast Journalism”) and has written on voice and presentation skills in the BBC’s in-house newspaper “Ariel”. Peter has presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with formats as diverse as music-presentation, interview shows, ‘special’ programmes for elections and budgets, live outside broadcasts and commentaries and even the occasional sports, gardening and dedication programmes. He has read several thousand news bulletins, and hosted nearly 2,000 podcast episodes, and is a vocal image consultant advising in all aspects of voice and speech training for presenters on radio and TV, podcasts and YouTube, voiceovers and videocalls. The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience? This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects. Music credits:"Bleeping Demo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7012-bleeping-demoLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Beauty Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flowLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Envision" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4706-envisionLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Limit 70" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5710-limit-70License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Rising Tide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5027-rising-tideLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesomeLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license 
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2021.10.04 – 0277 – Nervous NewbiesThis person is a beginner in reading, perhaps live on air. Their problem is that they start their read not on their ‘home pitch’ but one or two octaves higher, which means that when they need to intonate a word using a slightly higher pitch there’s little head room to move in to. It can sound painful for humans to hear – although dogs may be able to!  As well as internal and external stress contributing to a higher register, the style and content of some presenters leads to them speaking this way:·        Excitement – this will cause a voice to rise in register, it may be genuine excitement (during the commentary of a sports match), or non-genuine (the sub-consciously fake higher pitch of a game show host when giving away a prize, which signals to the audience that the event is exciting).·        Volume – a rise in loudness will naturally lead to a rise in register: it is impossible to shout in a low voice. So a ‘frantic DJ’ is likely to have a higher register than a ‘chill out DJ’.·        Projection – subtlety linked to ‘volume’, projection is more to do with how someone ‘throws’ their voice than its sheer loudness. For example, you will throw your voice further according to the number of people you are trying to engage (as well as their distance from you), and in doing so your register will rise. For example, imagine you talking to a single colleague in an office at work and the projection you would use. It’s probably quite low-key, yes? Now imagine that there are four people in that same location, all listening to you. The voice you will use has changed hasn’t it? Not really in loudness, but certainly in projection, and with it your pitch has changed too.
When Intonation Goes WrongThink how the voice over felt when they mis-intoned in these situations.·        4-Skins wine – so-called as it’s “made with four of Nova Scotia's choicest grape varieties - Castel, Marechal Foch, Leon Millot and Lucie Kuhlmann”
Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection andprojection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a careerspent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode! And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTERBROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE. Look out for more details of the book during 2021. Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart Peter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1 to Heart FM, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. Other trainees have been music presenters, breakfast show hosts, travel news presenters and voice-over artists. He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (“Essential Radio Journalism”, “JournoLists”, two editions of “Essential Radio Skills” and three editions of “Broadcast Journalism”) and has written on voice and presentation skills in the BBC’s in-house newspaper “Ariel”. Peter has presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with formats as diverse as music-presentation, interview shows, ‘special’ programmes for elections and budgets, live outside broadcasts and commentaries and even the occasional sports, gardening and dedication programmes. He has read several thousand news bulletins, and hosted nearly 2,000 podcast episodes, and is a vocal image consultant advising in all aspects of voice and speech training for presenters on radio and TV, podcasts and YouTube, voiceovers and videocalls. The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience? This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects. Music credits:"Bleeping Demo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7012-bleeping-demoLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Beauty Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flowLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Envision" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4706-envisionLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Limit 70" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5710-limit-70License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Rising Tide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5027-rising-tideLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesomeLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license 

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