For this week’s Programming To Win column, Rich Van Slyke delves into an on-air aspect that may be deceptively easy to overlook: the sound of your own voice! Van Slyke runs down his five tips for how to sound better and more natural on the mic.
Rich Van Slyke
By Rich Van Slyke
Do you want to sound better? Of course you do. We are all constantly trying to improve. Who doesn’t want to get better? But when you listen back to recordings of yourself on the air, or on spots, do you know how to make it better. You listen for problems, but you just don’t know what to change. That’s when an extra pair of ears is very helpful. So helpful, that it’s worth paying for. I’m talking about a vocal coach. I’ve been working with a vocal coach David Lyerly and I have learned a lot. I’m assuming you already know the physical basics, sit up straight, breath deep, use your lower register, don’t shout or strain, don’t tilt you head up or down, etc. After that, it’s all about how you think! Here are the top 5 Ways To Make Your Voice Sound Better.
Focus on Feeling. Most of us just try to make our pipes sound good. As we are reading words, part of our brain is listening to our voice, with the headphones cranked, checking to see if we sound awesome. Instead, we should be using that brain power to feel the emotion of the copy. You know you already have a good voice, you don’t have to make it sound good. And if you focus on the emotion of the message, you will sound better. Why? Because people prefer the sound of your voice when you are feeling emotion over the “fake” sound of you trying to make your voice sound good.
Brevity. Do you stretch out words when you voice something? I’ll bet you do it and don’t even realize it. Especially when the copy is ALL CAPS! Next time you voice something, listen and ask yourself: “did I stretch out any words un-naturally without even realizing it?” You can stress words and phrases by raising the energy in your tone without S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G out the words. If your consultant or group PD is always saying, “try to sound more natural” this is a great way to do it. Game show announcers draw out words: “Come On Dowwwwnnnnn!” But real people don’t do it unless they are making a joke. If you want to sound more natural, check yourself for words that are being stretched. Same goes for talking sing-song, or too choppy.
Teasing. When you voice something, don’t give it all away right up front. Build it up. This is a great technique used by many top pros. If you begin a read with the idea that the best is yet to come, there will be anticipation in your voice. Start off at level 5, the build to 6, 7, 8 and hit 9 at near the end when you reveal the grand prize. This does not mean getting louder, just more emotional, more dramatic. It’s like telling a story. Cheesy announcers begin at level 9 and stay there the whole time. Instead, let us feel the emotion, the passion, of what you are saying slowlybuild. Tell the story. Don’t give it all away at the beginning.
Sensationalize. At a certain point in the copy, you must go outside your comfort zone. If it feels like you are getting too emotional, you are probably doing it just right. When someone says: “I like your voice on that spot/promo/break ” what they are really saying is “I like the way I feel when I hear you talk.” Check out this quote sent by WXYZ-TV Creative Director Dave Baumann: “It’s not what you say, it’s how it feels inside when you say it. It gives an audience permission to feel that feeling in you. The feeling you give them, rather than the words themselves, is what they remember.” It’s not our job to sell the audience, but rather to feel good about what we are saying. When we try to SELL, it’s sounds BAD. When we feel good about what we are saying, it sounds GOOD. Don’t try to convince your listeners, instead let the copy or message convince you, and allow your listener to hear it.
Keep It Real. All this stuff can cause you to get a little too jacked up and fall into the trap of too much hype. So how do you avoid it? Use your hands! As you voice something, let all the energy flow through you hands. Wave your arms, shake your fist, flip the bird, let all that hype flow through your hands. That way, only a little of it will be in your voice. Which is perfect. The key to a great sounding voice is avoiding the hype, and the sound of tension in your throat, but still have the feeling. Hype is created when we over clarify. Don’t over clarify like you are speaking to a child. Instead, speak as if you have a secret to tell, and you are going to reveal your secret layer by layer. Another benefit to using your hands is confidence. When you allow all the hype to be expressed by your hands, your voice can be adding a layer of confidence, in addition to feeling the emotion. Confidence allows us to relax, and not force it. Because we know sound good. To create confidence, say the following to yourself right before you begin to voice something. This is a quote from the great Orson Wells, the guy who did the original War of The Worlds broadcast. “The right read, is the one I give it!”
Rich Van Slyke is the voice of WBIG Washington DC, WCSX Detroit, WGRD Grand Rapids, KISS San Antonio, WRIT Milwaukee, WNWV Cleveland, WZEW Mobile, WKQZ Saginaw, WKZQ Myrtle Beach, WRXW Jackson, KZOZ San Luis Obispo, KZND Anchorage, WIXO Peoria, KCBL Fresno, WSFM Wilmington, KKPL Fort Collins, WRZK Tri-Cities, XFM Nairobi, 1037 The DAM in Kansas City, and the New Production Vault Classic Rock. www.richvanslyke.com Want a free demo? 770.962.4788 richvs@bellsouth.net
