0251 - How To Sound Happy And Friendly… And Sad When you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you. But what if they can't see you? What if they can just hear you? Smile and raise your eyebrows. That’s because smiling affects how we speak, to the point that listeners can identify the type of smile based on sound alone, according to a study by scientists at the University of Portsmouth. [1] The research suggests smiling and other expressions pack a strong informational punch and may even impact...
Sep 07, 2021•5 min•Season 1Ep. 251
0250 - Tone and Your Mood Your natural unforced vocal tone at any moment (and tone is different from ‘pitch’ remember) is partly a reflection of how you are feeling, your general mood, and physical and mental state. If you feel positive and upbeat, so will your voice. If your car broke down, the dog’s been sick on the cat and your wife is threatening to leave you, such worries will also be reflected in your voice. Saying “ leave your troubles at the studio door ” is easier said than done, but th...
Sep 06, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 250
0249 - A Change of Mood Those voicing commercials or longer presentations such as e-books or explainers will have to work to alter their ‘performance attitude’ during a script. That’s because: · The script will call for different ‘delivery feels’ to be reflected within the same read · A single ‘mood’ will be wearing on the presenter and the listener · A sometimes-subtle change of mood in the delivery aids understanding and the flow of the read Think of an advert for a mortgage company which may ...
Sep 05, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 249
0248 - Brand Voices Earlier we looked at the different kinds of emotional voice tones you may be required to replicate in your script-reading and also mentioned the ‘mood’ of the overall project. Brands often create a ‘tone-of-voice’ for their product or service, to better explain their marketing focus for certain demographics. That could be the design, font and colour of their logo, the celebrities associated with the item, their social media attitude and so on. The literal ‘tone of voice’ of t...
Sep 04, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 248
0247 - Script Direction More clues to your tone of voice will of course come from the direction both written in your script and from your human director in the studio. It should also set out who you are speaking to, the answer to the cliché actor’s question “what’s my motivation?” as well as the mood of the overall project (see below) and the demographic of the intended audience. You can use this information to help you visualise the scene and the situation, and in turn that will help the emotio...
Sep 03, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 247
0246 - The Gravity > Levity Tonal Scale THE GRAVITY > LEVITY TONAL SCALE Let’s take that inexhaustive list again and re-work it so the emotions progress over time from a serious to a lighter emotion on our Gravity>Levity Scale. This is of course only my interpretation and you may have other thoughts. You will get further indication of the tone not just from the content but also the context of the script, also from directions on the script, and also from an in-studio producer of the item...
Sep 02, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 246
2021.09.02-0245 – Onomatopoeia Occasionally you will find it appropriate to use words which, when you say them, sound like what they mean. “So why don’t you zzzzip up your new winter coat and…” “… and all fresssshhhhly delivered to your door.” “… with the smell of crisssp green apples.” “… relax in the luxurious bubbles and your tension will soak away” “…if it’s a tough job, this is the digger to do it” I’m exaggerating a bit in the text, but you get the idea. Take the sentence “ with this condi...
Sep 01, 2021•3 min•Season 1Ep. 245
0244 – I Love You “I love you” can be said in many different ways, but if you say it with the wrong tone for the moment, you may be in trouble… There will be clues in the script and the direction. If the intention is to excite someone, then sound excited. If you are talking about a miserable event, then say it in a downbeat tone. If you are using the actual words “ passion”, “excitement”, “adventure”, match your tone and volume with how the words are intended to make the listener feel. For examp...
Aug 31, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 244
0243 - The Message Gives The Voice Singing coach Judy Rodman suggests this exercise. [1] Sing or say the phrase “you're the reason I feel this way ” and with the same seven words, intend to send these different messages to the listener: · “you're the reason I feel this way ” (you make me happy) · “you're the reason I feel this way ” (you made me angry) · “you're the reason I feel this way ” (you left me lonely) · “you're the reason I feel this way ” (you gave me this courage) She says “How did y...
Aug 30, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 243
0242 – When tonal emotions clash Previously we looked at how a good understanding of vocabulary will help you as a broadcaster/podcaster, so you are better able to speak a script with significance – and we’ll come to much more about intonation and inflection later. But being a bit of a wordsmith will help you here as well: if you are in a recording session and a director asks you to read, for example, “ more ominously ” – will you know what they mean and how to replicate it vocally? What if they...
Aug 29, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 242
0241 - Twenty-Two Tonal Emotions These aren’t by any means the only emotions which may be prompted by a script, but are here as a sample you can use in various rehearsal readings to explore your range. They are in alphabetical order. 1. bemused 2. bright 3. corporate 4. cynicism / doubt 5. discovery – “I just found this / had this thought!” 6. energetic 7. friendly 8. intrigued 9. irritated 10. luxury 11. ominous 12. optimistic 13. perky 14. proud 15. rousing 16. sad 17. tempting 18. serious 19....
Aug 28, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 241
-0240 - TONE IN VOICE ACTING Whereas in newsreading you have to be more impartial, with commercials you are quite the opposite: most definitely partial! You want to persuade people to your point of view, to get them to, for example, buy the product or buy into your idea. The trouble is that many people get so focussed on reading a script that they forget the ‘emotional understanding’ of the character. That ends up with them saying words in a nice voice rather than conveying authentic meaning. So...
Aug 27, 2021•1 min•Season 1Ep. 240
0239 - More on changing ‘tonal tracks’ A TV game show or shopping channel may also have to ‘turn on a sixpence’ with the presenter’s tone: · “ Congratulations! You’ve just won 50-thousand pounds! ” (cheers, applause, music sting) “ Now, are you ready to gamble that… for the chance to win 100-thousand pounds, by answering just one question correctly..? ” (heartbeat effect) · “ Lines are open… NOW! Our operatives are standing by! Don’t miss your chance to buy this limited-edition diamond dress-rin...
Aug 26, 2021•3 min•Season 1Ep. 239
0238 -The tonal construct for a presenter There are then certain parameters for a news reader, but not so for a presenter. Those on the radio, TV or fronting a video will benefit from showing more, authentic emotional tone in their voice. But there again there are tricks and techniques in doing so. First, don’t forget what the emotion is that you want to convey to your audience. It’s easily said, but so many presenters have that disconnect that we talked about earlier when they get in front of t...
Aug 25, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 238
0237 – Tonal changes from heavy to light Serious/sad – another sad story from the ‘universal emotions’ file. A serious tone, perhaps tinged with a hint of resignation as if to say “everyone had not dare fear the worse but…”. If you were reading this on a station closer to this event, and perhaps had this story as a lead in the bulletin, the tone may become slightly more serious as friends and relatives of the family concerned may be hearing the news for the first time. A body has been found by...
Aug 24, 2021•6 min•Season 1Ep. 237
0236 – Rehearse your tone with these real scripts Straightforward tone – Be careful. This is a political story, and even though it may look on the face of it as ‘good news’, it may be that the ‘devil is in the detail’ that the money has already been announced or there are caveats to the scheme. The government has announced a 172-million pound funding package to train 8-thousand more nurses on degree apprenticeships in England over the next 4 years. At the moment, the NHS and social care employer...
Aug 23, 2021•3 min•Season 1Ep. 236
0235 - Marking up a script for tonal changes You can mark your scripts with smiling or frowning emojis to remind you the kind of tone you need to adopt as you read it. Practicing appropriate tone As I said previously, one of your greatest assets in getting a better voice are your ears, so open your earlids and use them to listen to people around you in normal conversation and the tonal variety they use to engage and explain Here are several real news scripts, with notes on each regarding the emo...
Aug 22, 2021•5 min•Season 1Ep. 235
0234 - Working out appropriate emotional tone When you pre-read your script, work out the appropriate tone for the delivery of each story by asking yourself “How would I communicate this information if I was telling it to a friend in an interesting and committed way?” That goes for each item, and the tone may be substantially or subtly different for each one, but each one will be appropriate. Doing this will make: · each story, different · your delivery, diverse · your bulletin, interesting · yo...
Aug 21, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 234
0233 - Your start-of-bulletin tone And a quick thought: many news bulletins start with the reader saying “good morning” (or something similar), and all bulletins start with the most important story. As the most important is often also the most serious, possibly involving the loss of or threat to human life, be careful not to begin your update crassly with a smiley “Good morning” and then a dramatic gear change “100 people are dead after…” Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stew...
Aug 20, 2021•1 min•Season 1Ep. 233
0232 - Emotional tone in the news as a story develops over time Let’s take another example. A toddler has been mauled by an out-of-control dog, and has died. You would likely read that with concern. Then a week later, something similar happens to another child. Is your concern more or less than previously. It’s happened again so do that make it more serious that nothing was done? Good news / bad news and your appropriate tone Also consider, what may be good news for one listener may be bad news ...
Aug 19, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 232
0231 - Emotional tone within a story Beware of tonal shifts within a script. A story that starts “300-million pounds is being given to…” sounds a ‘good news’ story, but how it continues may require a slight tonal change by the reader: · “street parties for the king’s coronation…” · “abattoirs to dispose of diseased cattle…” Or one that starts off as ‘good news’ but later takes a turn, or two: 300-million pounds is being given to provide more police for the region. It’s after a series of murders ...
Aug 18, 2021•3 min•Season 1Ep. 231
0230 - Tonal changes within a bulletin Tone also affects how you read each different story. The top one usually has more seriousness, and the last one a lighter tone. A well-constructed bulletin usually has this kind of flow to it, with a variety of hard, middle and lighter stories. [1] But not always. It may be that your news format is to have sports stories at the end of a bulletin. In that case your running order may start with a serious story and then become lighter as it progresses to the s...
Aug 17, 2021•1 min•Season 1Ep. 230
0229 - Changing ‘tonal tracks’ As a presenter you may be required to present a story about a singing parrot one moment and then deliver breaking news of a terrorist attack. Each of these stories needs to be read in a different tone, which require you to swap tracks or gear from one tone to another, not only over the course of a bulletin, from one story to another, but also within a headline sequence. In this situation you may have just a half-second beat between stories in which to re-set your t...
Aug 16, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 229
0228 - Appropriate emotional tone in the news You would appear to be a robot or psychopath if you read every story with the same amount of ‘tone of voice’ – from a landslide burying children in a school to a tap-dancing ferret. You need to give appropriate emotional weight to the script, depending on its content and context. Although you should not be wailing in grief over a royal death, or announce with anger the latest unemployment figures, you can and should usually show some understanding of...
Aug 15, 2021•7 min•Season 1Ep. 228
0227 - Too little emotional tone in the news The requirement of balance leads to many news readers or broadcast journalists putting an emotional chasm between themselves and their story and such disassociation can signal to the listeners: · that the reader doesn’t care about the content - so they can be similarly indifferent to the information · that the reader doesn’t understand the content – so why should they work to understand it themselves Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Pete...
Aug 14, 2021•1 min•Season 1Ep. 227
0226 - Tone In the News TONE IN THE NEWS In the UK and many other countries, broadcast news is different from the printed press in that news has to be fair, balanced and impartial. That even-handedness is not just what you say, but how you say it. Suggesting a personal view on what you are reading, by your tone of voice could be called editorialising. We will touch on this later when we look at the words you intonate to signpost meaning of the story and how some mis-intonations can suggest a vie...
Aug 13, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 226
0225 - Auditory Disconnections We’ll look at the amount of tone and emotion a little later, but for now let’s examine a bit more, the claim that the words you say and the tone in which they are said, have to be congruent. Think of the phrase “ I’m happy ” and you’d expect it to be said in a happy tone, bright, light, smiling, laughing. If it’s said slowly, in a flat dull tone, it may not fit with the context and make you sound dull, bored, disinterested, fake, rude, sarcastic or even borderline ...
Aug 12, 2021•3 min•Season 1Ep. 225
0224 – Tone And Emotion “We often refuse to accept an idea merely because the tone of voice in which it has been expressed is unsympathetic to us.” Friedrich Nietzsche - German philosopher The right words alone won’t necessarily persuade. The tone of your voice matters too if your listeners are to believe what it is you are telling them. Some people use the term ‘tone’ when they mean ‘pitch’. Again, this can be confusing, as the English phrase ‘tone of voice’ means something quite different, and...
Aug 11, 2021•5 min•Season 1Ep. 223
223 - Pitch and Politicians That having been said, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found that political leaders with lower voices were perceived as more dominant and attractive. Conversely, those who spoke with higher frequencies were viewed as submissive and benevolent. [1] Participants rated politicians’ voices with 67 adjectives such as dishonest, scary, dynamic, attractive, convincing and fair. What made a voice sound charismatic was viewed differently from co...
Aug 10, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 223
0222 – Pitch And Perception Pitch and perception In the past, society has judged people according to the pitch of their voice. Hopefully the days are gone, but even in the recent past, women with a high pitch may have been perceived by some as an ‘airhead’, a man with a lighter voice perhaps as effeminate. Conversely, a woman with a low voice was often seen as sexy, or indeed overly ‘masculine’. Several studies [1] have found that in general, women prefer lower-pitched men's voices to higher-pit...
Aug 09, 2021•4 min•Season 1Ep. 222
