0357 – Volume Variety

2021.12.23 – 0357 – Volume VarietyOne of the most important tools to use to engage and persuade is a variety of voice volume - there is a huge power in dropping or raising your voice.To read every story with the same projection level is wearing on your voice and on the listeners’ ears and is not conducive to understanding. Information as a wall of sound is less-easily interpreted than ‘light and shade’, where you might present significant news with more projection than a lighter ‘and finally’ story. Having the same volume throughout a presentation may make you look and sound one-dimensionally dull. And if you’re boring and people aren’t listening to you, they may still be looking, at your socks, your hair …. and start to criticise those parts of you as well as your voice, your style and your content: a triple whammy.Like with how fast you read, you can increase the volume in parts of a script that are more exciting and energetic (power, assertiveness, a call to action), ‘up’ the projection for more intense parts, and go softer for the lines which evoke poverty, heartache and sadness. After all sympathy comes with softness.A change in volume catches attention and creates dramatic or sympathetic tension in a presentation. A careful variety of volume without bordering on the manic, will help engage.Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter StewartThrough 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 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 BETTER BROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE.Look out for more details of the book during 2022.Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_StewartPeter 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, 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. He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (see contacts clink above) and 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 various formats. He has read tens of thousands of news bulletins and hosted 3,000+ podcast episodes.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.