))
This is a collaboration of an English teacher and a student, and we talk about learning languages
…
continue reading
Let other students help you revise for your GCSE English Literature exams. In this series, students break down the core English literature texts to help you ace your exams. Find your FREE online GCSE English lit course here: https://bit.ly/3i1R1uh
…
continue reading
Can we entice you into our Reading Room? This is the place for lovers of language and literature, those of us who believe that reading is essential, as we seek to rise above the ordinary. another Solid Gold podcast #BeHeard
…
continue reading
The Recorded Voice is a podcast about the voiceover career and business. It is born from a passion for the spoken word, a thirst for professional development and an obsession with audio. These conversations lift the lid on the skills, the process and the industry, helping you the voiceover artist to make better career decisions and improve the running of your business. Host Guy Michaels is very grateful to each and every guest for sharing their insights. For personal 121 voiceover coaching: ...
…
continue reading
Year THREE of short daily episodes to improve the quality of your speaking voice. Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection and projection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a career spent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every ...
…
continue reading
Getting a Grip on Cancer and Positivity. “This book is an honest recollection of my childhood - the good and not so good. Some of the stories I share, not even my husband or my children knew about, and they struggled to read past it. I have hidden it for so long, as I was scared and ashamed. Alcoholism, poverty, hardships, violence, unforgiveness, …
…
continue reading
Literary and Physical Journeys in South Africa. "Before it can ever be a repose for the senses, landscape is the work of the mind. Its scenery is built up as much from strata of memory as from layers of rock." – Simon Schama So starts a journey into the mind, not just yours or the author’s but into 9 South African writers and their characters and c…
…
continue reading
2023.09.27 - 1000 - The End Thanks for the loan of your ears, for one-thousand consecutive daily episodes. All of my contacts are here: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
…
continue reading
2023.09.26 – 0999 – The Diction-ary of Voice – V and W **V Verbal tic – the repeated use of words or phrases such as “like” or “y’know what I mean?” Velum – the soft palate at the back of the roof of the mouth. The back of your tongue touches the velum when pronouncing letters such as ‘k’. Vocal elements – the various ways (such as inflection, paus…
…
continue reading
2023.09.25 – 0998 – The Diction-ary of Voice – T **T Tag (or ‘slogan’) – the branding phrase at the end of a commercial Take (as in ‘go for a take’) – a recording. Also see ‘pickup’ Take a level (or ‘take a bit for level’) – the instruction given by an audio engineer to a presenter to ask them to say some words so the volume on a mic channel can be…
…
continue reading
2023.09.24 – 0997 – The Diction-ary of Voice – S **S Scratch Track - a temporary recording that is a ‘place-holder’ for the final voice-over. Not ‘broadcast quality’ it is used to help producers feel the pacing and style of a project before a final voice over is added Self op (‘self op studio’) – when the presenter controls their own technical equi…
…
continue reading
2023.09.23 – 0996 – The Diction-ary of Voice – R – Part 2 Riding the gain (or ‘riding the mic’ or ‘riding the levels’) – the constant adjustment of the input levels as the sound unexpectedly (and often unprofessionally) varies in volume dramatically Room Tone - the ‘indoor ambience’ or background noise in a room, which should be as close to silent …
…
continue reading
2023.09.22 – 0995 – The Diction-ary of Voice – R – Part 1 **R Rate – the speed of someone speaking or reading Rate – the amount paid to a voice-over for a day, hour or script Raw audio - unprocessed recorded audio Read (or ‘take’) – a recording of a script (or the ‘copy’) Reaper – a DAW Red-line the meters – to push the audio volume level to the ma…
…
continue reading
2023.09.21 – 0994 – The Diction-ary of Voice – P Polyp - usually unilateral (one vocal fold) mass that grows off the surface. Can be hemorrhagic (filled with blood) or not, and’s usually due to voice misuse or overuse. Pop – when a plosive sound is too close to the mic and causes distortion Pop guard (or ‘pop screen’, ‘pop shield’, ‘pop stopper’) -…
…
continue reading
2023.09.20 – 0993 – The Diction-ary of Voice – P - Part 2 Pharynx – the area between the larynx and the nasal cavities Phonation – the process of making sounds into words, which articulation turns into recognisable speech Phonemes – the different smaller sounds which when combined form a word Phrasing – delivering groups of words within a sentence …
…
continue reading
2023.09.19 – 0992 – The Diction-ary of Voice – N and P **N Name check – saying your name on air Narrative non-fiction – a true-story podcast Narrative voice - the voice you use for the storyteller/author part of the story, rather a character voice Nasal sounds – speech sounds heard in words with m, n and ng letters: ‘many nice singers’, when the ba…
…
continue reading
2023.09.18 – 0991 – The Diction-ary of Voice – M Marking copy – different markings on a script (underlinings, arrows, circles) to show which words require different voice presentations such as inflection, characterisation or changes to volume or speed, difficult passages, odd pronunciations and character thumbnails Mask – using sound to cover a bad…
…
continue reading
2023.09.17 – 0990 – The Diction-ary of Voice – L **L Labiodental – very few sounds use the sound created when the upper teeth rest on the lower lip, but say ‘very’ and ‘few’ and you will hear two Lapel (or ‘lavaliere’ or ‘lav’) microphone - small microphone attached to clothing of a presenter or guest Laryngology – the study of the professional voi…
…
continue reading
2023.09.16 – 0989 – The Diction-ary of Voice – I **I Impromptu (or ‘ad libbed’) – a comment made ‘off the cuff’ without a script or prior rehearsal Inflection – the lifting or lowering of the pitch of an individual word or different parts of a word to indicate significance (see: ‘cadence’) Insurance takes - when the director wants one more take, ‘j…
…
continue reading
2023.09.15 – 0988 – The Diction-ary of Voice – H **H Haemorrhage (‘vocal cord bruise’, ‘hematoma’) - a collection of blood in the vocal fold that develops after considerable voice use and leads to severe hoarseness Hand signals – gestured directions given to a presenter to, for example, start or stop Handling noise - undesired sounds picked up on a…
…
continue reading
2023.09.14 – 0987 – The Diction-ary of Voice – G Glottal – a softer ‘coughing’ sound when used in speech, often when used instead of proper pronunciation in words such as ‘hot’ or ‘water’ when the tongue has not been used to pronounce the ‘t’ sound at the end or middle of words. Interestingly (?!), those who use glottal stops in everyday conversati…
…
continue reading
2023.09.13 – 0986 – The Diction-ary of Voice – F **F Fade (in, out, up, down, under) - to gradually adjust the volume of sound from low to high or high to low Fader – an audio channel’s level controller Fade to black/fade away – to decrease the volume of a sound until it cannot be heard Falsetto - the vocal register just above the modal voice regis…
…
continue reading
2023.09.12 – 0985 – The Diction-ary of Voice – E Ellipsis – the marking on a script (‘…’) usually indicating that a pause is required Emphasis list - if an author wants to stress a point, they an emphasis list such as “the country was utterly, totally and demonstrably broken” Encoding - converting your uncompressed audio files into a format more su…
…
continue reading
2023.09.11 – 0984 – The Diction-ary of Voice – D Part 2 Dry audio – a voice recording without any music underneath (which would be a ‘mixed’ recording) Dry mouth – literally having little saliva in one’s mouth, making talking difficult Dub – to make a copy of an audio or video recording Dub - to re-record audio and sync it to a video which shows so…
…
continue reading
2023.09.10 – 0983 – The Diction-ary of Voice - D Part 1 DAW - Short for ‘Digital Audio Workstation’ (or ‘Workspace’), said variously D.A.W and DAW (as in ‘door’). The software you use to record, edit, mix and play back your audio. Either a computer which is dedicated to audio only, or a complete multitrack recording system (software) such as Protoo…
…
continue reading
2023.09.09 – 0982 – The Diction-ary of Voice - C Part 4 Cue – the instruction to a presenter to start talking or performing. This could be verbal or by a light or a audio ‘cue tone’ Cue – the short script read by a radio presenter or newsreader to introduce a guest or other live or pre-recorded item Cut – an edit of a piece of audio to remove a por…
…
continue reading
2023.09.08 – 0981 – The Diction-ary of Voice - C Part 3 Conversational read (sometimes ‘transparent read’) – when a script doesn’t sound as though it is being read, so, using an authentic, friendly or realistic style that gives the impression the voice-over is talking with the listener one-to-one, telling a story or convincing them from what appear…
…
continue reading
2023.09.07 – 0980 – The Diction-ary of Voice - C Part 2 Clipped – when a recorded signal has gone past the 0db threshold (or any other maximum recording level set by the engineer) and the computer software has no more ‘headroom’ to record. This is often heard when a voice actor shouts, or when the microphone is too close to a speaker, or in a field…
…
continue reading
2023.09.06 – 0979 – The Diction-ary of Voice - C Part 1 **C Cadence - rhythmic flow of a sequence of sounds or word (see: ‘inflection’) Camera panic – anxiety about being in a video affecting someone’s ability to talk or act effectively (also see ‘mic fright’) Cans - headphones Cardioid – the pickup pattern of a microphone which is heart-shaped, wi…
…
continue reading
2023.09.05 – 0978 – The Diction-ary of Voice - B Part 2 Binaural – a type of recording and/or processing that allows a 3D sound space to be conveyed over headphones Bit depth – refers to the quality of the recording, where higher ‘bit rates’ have a wider difference between the quietest sound they can record, and the loudest sound, and therefore all…
…
continue reading
2023.09.04 – 0977 – The Diction-ary of Voice - B Part 1 **B B2B / B2C – different marketing or advertising models. ‘B2B’ stands for 'business to business', that is, an advert for a product or service services that targets other businesses, while ‘B2C’ is 'business to consumer', where the (in our case) audio advert is slanted towards a personal cons…
…
continue reading
2023.09.03 – 0976 – The Diction-ary of Voice - A Part 2 Alveolus – the area just behind your upper teeth and where your tongue darts to in the final sound of the word ‘sin’ Ambience (‘ambient noise’, ‘ambi’, ‘nat sound’, ‘sfx’ – ‘sound effects’) - The general sound at a location, such as traffic noise, a protest march, birds and wind in the trees, …
…
continue reading
2023.09.02 – 0975 – The Diction-ary of Voice - A Part 1 The Diction-ary of Voice ON GOOD SPEAKING TERMS **A Abdomen – your stomach area that moves out as you breath in, as the diaphragm lowers to allow the lungs to expand Actuality (‘act’) – sound, such as an interview, recorded on location or in a studio and which are not the reporter or narrator.…
…
continue reading
2023.09.01 – 0974 – A Whispering Voice Whispering voice Symptom: Speaking very softly Prescription: 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.…
…
continue reading
2023.08.31 – 0973 – The Whining Voice Whining voice Symptom: 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 polic…
…
continue reading
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 v…
…
continue reading
2023.08.29 – 0971 – Valley Speak Valley 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…
…
continue reading
2023.08.28 – 0970 - Uptalk Uptalk[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 …
…
continue reading
2023.08.27 – 0969 - Unnaturally pitched voice Unnaturally pitched voice Symptom: 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 sp…
…
continue reading
2023.08.26 – 0968 – The ‘Tired’ Voice Tired voice Symptom: 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 …
…
continue reading
2023.08.25 – 0967 - The ‘Throwaway’ Delivery ‘Throwaway’ delivery Symptom: 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 …
…
continue reading
2023.08.24 – 0966 - Throat Clearing Throat clearing Symptom: 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…
…
continue reading
2023.08.23 – 0965 – The ‘Thin’ Voice Thin voice Symptom: A voice which is weak, with a lack of air, energy and resonance. It may lack authority. Prescription: · It may be trained to become stronger and fuller. Review the advice about relaxation to reduce tension, better breathing skills and breath control, and increasing resonance in your voice. · …
…
continue reading
2023.08.22 – 0964 - Stumbling Stumbling Symptom: Verbal mistakes in adlibbed conversations or more likely, when reading as script: restarting words, mispronunciations, mis-intonations, repeated corrections and generally losing your way in a sentence. I outline some more of these in the episodes after 650. Prescription: Give your mouth and mind a ch…
…
continue reading
2023.08.21 – 0963 - Stammering – Stammering – also called ‘stuttering’ Symptom: Stammering is when someone: · repeats sounds or syllables – for example, saying "mu-mu-mu-mummy" · makes sounds longer – for example, "mmmmmmummy" · a word gets stuck or does not come out at all Prescription: · Little is known of the reasons behind stammering. Those wit…
…
continue reading
2023.08.20 – 0962 - 'Sloppy' Speech Sloppy speech Symptom: Good diction doesn’t (usually) matter (!). As I have said several times in different ways (such as in epsiode 263), what’s important is whether your target listener is getting a muddled message. If they are, then you are not communicating with them and you need to consider whether how your …
…
continue reading
2023.08.19 – 0961 – The ‘Sing Song’ Delivery Sing Song Delivery Symptom: This presentation or reading style is characterised by an artificial, repetitive pattern of a gradual rise in pitch for the first part of a sentence …. and then a gradual fall until the end is reached. Or any other regularly-repeated and predictable rhythm in melody which take…
…
continue reading
2023.08.18 – 0960 – The ‘Sibilant’ Voice Sibilant voice Symptom: When a voice is perceived to have excessive ‘s’ sounds it may be because the microphone is picking up and exaggerating that particular frequency. (Consider that sibilance, like many ‘voice sounds’ is subjective. In other words, slightly more ‘s’ sounds may be in the ear of the listene…
…
continue reading
2023.08.17 – 0959 - The 'Script-reading' Voice Script-reading voice Symptom: When you sound as though you are reading words rather than communicating or telling a story. When you sound wooden, bored, flat – or at the opposite end of the spectrum, overacting and maybe even shouting. When you sound different when you adlib an on-air conversation with…
…
continue reading
2023.08.16 – 0958 – The ‘Quiet’ Voice Quiet voice Symptom: I once worked with two people in the same office who spoke very quietly. Neither of them seemed concerned or embarrassed when their colleagues continually said “sorry?” or “pardon?”, or when it was easier, simply nodded along unable to hear them. Talking quietly is usually the result of lit…
…
continue reading
2023.08.15 – 0957 - Popping on the Mic Popping on the mic Symptom: Some letters are pronounced by the lips temporarily stopping and then releasing a flow of air from your mouth. That means that when you say words with ‘p’ and ‘b’ in them, particularly at the start of a word and particularly if that word is at the start of a sentence (when you have …
…
continue reading
2023.08.14 – 0956 – The ‘Plonking’ Speech Pattern Plonking speech pattern Symptom: This is when a reader doesn’t know which word to highlight in their intonation, so they do it either randomly or, like a metronome, on every fourth word (or the last word in every SENTENCE). It’s also what politicians do when they want to give the impression of stren…
…
continue reading
2023.08.13 – 0955 – Noisy Breathing Noisy breathing Symptom: 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 …
…
continue reading
2023.08.12 – 0954 – The ‘Nervous’ Voice Nervous voice Symptom: 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 ove…
…
continue reading
2023.08.11 – 0953 – The 'Nasal' Voice Nasal 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 v…
…
continue reading
