2022.08.03– 0580 – Video Call Voice Confidence Tricks Video confidence tricks: So once you have set the lights and background how you want them, find the button on your video-platform that allows you to turn off your ‘self-view’, which may help you feel more confident … because you wont have the dysmorphia we spoke about a few days ago. Then: · notes to one side of the screen · picture of someone friendly beyond the mic · look at the lens so you don’t look a dick · have a separate mic and headph...
Aug 02, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 580
2022.08.02– 0579 – Why Video Calls Lead To Vocal Loading But then neither is the whole tech and protocol of video-conferencing: Talking to people we can see and hear but are not physically with and so can’t see their full body language The now-disrupted turn-taking rhythm we are used to in a conversation and working out the protocol if several people talk at once and how to give way How we can do work, school, church, a quiz with friends, talk with grandparents or the doctor … all while sitting ...
Aug 01, 2022•4 min•Season 2Ep. 579
2022.08.01– 0578 – How ‘Zoom Dysmorphia’ Affects Your Video-Call Voice How ‘Zoom Dysmorphia’ Affects Your Video-Call Voice [1] Seeing ourselves (and others) on screen can cause micro-stresses, and so, tension in our frame, shallower breathing and a potentially lighter voice. · What we think of our face, hair, clothes and voice, room background (and so on) · What we think others may think of our face, hair, clothes and voice, room background (!) · And what we think of their face, hair, clothes an...
Jul 31, 2022•4 min•Season 2Ep. 578
2022.07.31– 0577 – How To Prepare Your voice For Video-Calls How Your Schedule Affects Your Video-Call Voice Video-calls are perhaps more likely for those working from home, but try not to roll out of bed and go straight to your laptop and sit down and talk! Think what you used to do before our lazy lockdowns: busily getting ready, moving around, up and down the stairs, twisting into the car seat or running for the bus… and we’d be chatting along with all of that, to the kids, the person on the ...
Jul 30, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 577
2022.07.30 – 0576 – Why Video Calls Are Exhausting And don’t forget video-calls are really quite exhausting [1] And dullness saps your energy – mentally, physically and vocally. Webchats: · Need more concentration on the conversation – as there’s little change of scenery. Dull backgrounds, green screens or even people wandering around in the office, but nothing much happens. · Are very repetitive – in the format of the beginning and ending conversations. “We’ll give it a few minutes for latecome...
Jul 29, 2022•4 min•Season 2Ep. 576
2022.07.29 – 0575 – Why Voices Are Raised On Video Calls Why voices are raised on video calls Research has shown that when we cannot hear someone well because of noise, we speak louder, and make their gestures more noticeable. Dr James Trujillo and colleagues at Radboud University Nijmegen, in the Netherlands, analysed video calls between 20 pairs of people [1] . For each pair, participants sat in separate rooms and chatted to each other in casual, unscripted conversation over a Zoom-like video ...
Jul 28, 2022•4 min•Season 2Ep. 575
2022.07.28 – 0574 – The Zoom Settings To Make You Sound Better How to sound better on Zoom There are a few tweaks that you can make in the settings that will make a huge difference to your voice. Zoom automatically adds processing to the audio through the mic. This is turned on and works best if you are in a noisy environment, if your mic is far from you or you are using the built-in mic in your webcam or computer, or using EarPods or a Bluetooth mic. But if you are using a more pro mic and have...
Jul 27, 2022•5 min•Season 2Ep. 574
2022.07.27 – 0573 - … And What You Can Do About It. It stands to reason that the higher quality the input, the better you'll sound to your listeners, and it’s important to sound your best if you hope to leave a strong impression. So upgrade your work-station to reduce such problems: · If you can hear other people better as well as yourself, there’s less need to shout and strain. it sounds as if everyone is physically closer · So, invest in a better mic and headphone kit to better control your sp...
Jul 26, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 573
2022.07.26 – 0572 - How You Hear Affects Your Video-Call Voice… How You Hear Affects Your Video-Call Voice Video-chat software compresses audio in a conversation, so it ends up not as clear as being face-to-face. This means that: · People tend to talk louder to make sure that their voice carries. But often they’re not projecting like stage actors do, but more ‘squeezing’ their voice, creating vocal pain. (See our tips elsewhere for talking more loudly without straining.) · This means that when i...
Jul 25, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 572
2022.07.25 – 0571 - How You Sit Affects Your Video-Call Voice How You Sit Affects Your Video-Call Voice Bad posture can affect how you sound: · We are likely to be sitting down · We tend to then look down at the laptop camera, affecting the neck position and then the range of motion and flexibility that your larynx and voice box have, as well as putting a kink in the airflow to the larynx. · All puts a strain on your muscular skeletal system and on the vocal folds as the air passes over them, re...
Jul 24, 2022•5 min•Season 2Ep. 571
2022.07.24 – 0570 – How Appearing On Video Calls Affect Your Voice Let’s briefly spend a few days looking at your voice on video such as home-studio webinars or YouTubes and Zoom-type classes or meetings. There is a very real possibility of vocal strain on video-calls because it’s a very different vocal demand: · You sit differently · You strain to be heard over poor quality links · You’re talking to people who appear to be close, but are not actually present VOICE BOX Symptoms of vocal strain i...
Jul 23, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 570
2022.07.23 – 0569 – A Piece On Earpieces Earpieces Because TV presenters don’t usually wear headphones on screen (although social media video presenters often do), they have small earpieces which perform the same role as headphones, being able to monitor themselves and to hear any directions from the producer in the ‘gallery’ or ‘ops (operations) room’. Alongside those directions, injected directly into the ear through the earpiece, comes not only a countdown but everything said to the camera cr...
Jul 22, 2022•2 min•Season 2Ep. 569
2022.07.22 – 0568 – What To Think Of When Buying Studio Headphones Headphone considerations A pretty good pair of headphones are worth it: · Not all headphones will make your voice sound the same. You want a pair that reproduces your voice with a sound that you are comfortable with and doesn’t make you wince every time you hear yourself – that will only make you anxious and affect how you sound in the first place · You will be wearing them a lot, so they need to be comfortable, tight enough so t...
Jul 21, 2022•2 min•Season 2Ep. 568
2022.07.21 – 0567 – Headphones: The ‘One Ear On, One Ear Off’ Style The case for only partly wearing headphones Some presenters wear headphones so that one ear is covered and the other is not, as it helps them hear a ‘natural self’ in the studio as well as what they sound like on air: to hear themselves as they actually sound and how the mic and processing is making them sound like. There is a chance in doing this of feedback and that any direction via the talkback is heard through the mic and o...
Jul 20, 2022•2 min•Season 2Ep. 567
2022.07.20 – 0566 – Why Some Presenters Go ‘Headless’ The case for not wearing headphones Some voice-overs don’t wear headphones when they record their spot, so they can be more ‘in the moment of the copy’ rather than feel as though they are ‘performing’, and monitoring their melody, pitch and breaths. The thinking goes, and I totally understand this, is that if you are giving yourself feedback and tweaking your performance every moment, maybe convincing yourself you sound great or poor, then yo...
Jul 19, 2022•2 min•Season 2Ep. 566
2022.07.19 – 0565 – SQUEAEAEAL!! Headphone Volume And Feedback Headphone volume and feedback In a studio you will be able to control the volume of the headphones to a certain extent. This is though, usually limited to stop accidental damage to your ears. It also stops the volume being turned up high so noise does not leak (or ‘bleed’) from them, causing feedback (that high-pitched squeak, which we looked at just now). But remember the volume you hear yourself through your headphones is not the v...
Jul 18, 2022•2 min•Season 2Ep. 565
2022.07.18 – 0564 – How Wearing Headphones Improves Your Voice Wearing headphones improves your voice and presentation Wearing headphones gives you immediate feedback on how you sound, and so you can make immediate adjustments to your voice and presentation style. Everything we have talked about so far to do with your voice can be tweaked or turned up, dialled down or downplayed: your pitch and pace, projection and diction. When it comes to delivering quality audio, headphones are your best frie...
Jul 17, 2022•1 min•Season 2Ep. 564
2022.07.17 – 0563 – The Weird Things About Hearing Yourself Through Headphones Hearing yourself through headphones “Headphones take your ears from the side of your head and put them right in front of your mouth so you can hear exactly what you sound like to others.” Rachel Corbett, Podcast Trainer [1] Think about it, no-one else on earth hears our voice as we ourselves do. While an audience hears only the sound as vibrations through the air (either in person or via an electronic medium such as l...
Jul 16, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 563
2022.07.16 – 0562 – Three *More* Reasons You Need Studio Headphones · To hear a ‘split feed’, when the sound in one ear of the headphones is different from that of the other. For example, in a radio studio one channel may have the station output (what you would normally expect to hear) and the other maybe output from another source. It can be tricky to cope with hearing two different things at the same time, but as a presenter or newsreader it may be used when you are talking into, say, a sports...
Jul 15, 2022•4 min•Season 2Ep. 562
2022.07.15 – 0561 – Three Reasons You Need Studio Headphones Monitors (or loudspeakers / speakers): So we can hear the final mix of recorded audio in a room-situation (that is, without headphones), so several people can hear the same audio at the same time and be able to hear each other’s comments. In a live studio, to enable us to hear the output when a microphone is closed [1] Headphones Why you need headphones To better hear the sound of our own voice or that of a contributor, and monitor the...
Jul 14, 2022•4 min•Season 2Ep. 561
2022.07.14 – 0560 – From Microphones To Headphones MONITORS AND HEADPHONES These are all ways to hear audio while in the studio, either the audio that we are creating inside it or audio from another source or from outside the studio. So why are we talking about them hear? Well, a great part of getting a better broadcast, podcast and voice-over voice is not only creating that sound, but also being able to hear it, monitor it, knowing what you are listening for, working out what you are perhaps do...
Jul 13, 2022•2 min•Season 2Ep. 560
2022.07.13 – 0559 – Using A Mic, Right Final mic thoughts The mic is your friend so look after it. Treat it with respect and don’t shout at it. It is there to help you, but it is sensitive. Having said that it simply wants to get on with the job in hand, to make you sound great. So, once it’s set up, leave it alone. Don’t talk to it . By ignoring the microphone and talking to your listener, you will sound more natural and relatable, conversational and real. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...
Jul 12, 2022•1 min•Season 2Ep. 559
2022.07.12 – 0558 – Studio Bacteria Pop shields, filters, headphones and desk controls in radio stations are a breeding ground for bacteria and Valhalla for viruses, with all the spit, sweat and skin deposits. They are all spoken into, worn or touched by many people and rarely if ever cleaned. If you value your voice, do what I do (even before Covid-19 struck) and invest in your own pop shield and headphones and wipe down the panel before you use it (only do this in someone else’s studio with pe...
Jul 11, 2022•2 min•Season 2Ep. 558
2022.07.11 – 0557 – Mic Muck-Ups Solved!: Sibilance Sibilance This is ‘too much’ (whatever that is) of an ‘s’ sound, and in our line of work the pitch of that sound can be picked up and exaggerated by the microphone (and different types of mic work better with different kinds of voices, picking up different frequencies better), and with podcasts can go right into someone’s ear. There is some fix for the problem (if indeed it is a problem – some may reasonably say that sibilance adds character to...
Jul 10, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 557
2022.07.10 – 0556 – Pop Screens and Filters Pop filters [1] work by either displacing or slowing down the flow of the air, to make it less aggressive on the mic head. There are two kinds. There’s the foam ‘hat’ that goes directly on the mic head to protect it from windblasts and usually seen on outside mics. But the microphone experts Neuman says these can reduce the treble part of a voice slightly. There’s also the filter that’s a ring of plastic or metal which holds two layers of a thin metal ...
Jul 09, 2022•4 min•Season 2Ep. 556
2022.07.09 – 0555 – Mic Muck-Ups Solved!: Popping Ps Plosives (or: ‘pops’) This is the name for the small blast of air that hits the microphone when someone says words starting with the letter ‘p’. Put your hand in front of your mouth and say: “ Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers / A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked ” or “ Peter Rabbit’s burrow ”. Microphones are sensitive to these sounds in a similar way and the rush of air can cause a distortion of the sounds to the listene...
Jul 08, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 555
2022.07.08 – 0554 – Mic Muck-Ups Solved!: Off-Mic Audio Off mic audio If your voice is off-mic, it will sound thin, muffled and distant. Move closer to the mic, speaking more clearly across its top (not directly into it, and so avoid ‘plosives’) and with better level-monitoring. Choosing a different type of microphone with an alternative pickup range may also be the answer. Wear headphones so you can monitor the recording as you make it. Sometimes altering the EQ (equalisation) on the voice may ...
Jul 07, 2022•2 min•Season 2Ep. 554
2022.07.07 – 0553 – Mic Muck-Ups Solved!: Mouth Noise Mouth noise We all have this to some extent, the sound of too much saliva in the mouth, or too little! The sound someone may make as they open their mouth to speak, or move their tongue and lips to form the words, can create an unpleasant noise. Some of this is caused by nerves and not enough saliva to lubricate the mouth, or by eating something recently which can cause too much! The creamy taste of chocolate can cause someone to speak less ‘...
Jul 06, 2022•2 min•Season 2Ep. 553
2022.07.06 – 0552 – Mic Muck-Ups Solved!: Interference and Hum Interference and hum This is another kind of distortion, usually from external factors such as air-con units, mobile phone signals (not phones ringing, but when a phone is searching for a carrier), fluorescent or neon lights, computer monitors, fridges, electrical cables and so on. Move away from them or turn them off if possible, put cell-phones into ‘airplane’ mode and uncoil cables. The interference may also be caused by one of th...
Jul 05, 2022•4 min•Season 2Ep. 552
2022.07.05 – 0551 – Mic Muck-Ups Solved!: Hiss Hiss (or: ‘static’) This is usually caused when levels are set incorrectly during the recording and so the mic is picking up and boosting the ambient noise of an almost-silent room. It may also be down to a poor-quality microphone or one that has been damaged, or if the mic/line setting on a recorder (or on a connection built into the lead) is set incorrectly – in which case choose the alternate switch. The good news is that this kind of interferenc...
Jul 04, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 551
