Get A Better Broadcast, Podcast and Voice-Over Voice

2023.09.27 - 1000 - The End

Thanks for the loan of your ears, for one-thousand consecutive daily episodes.

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, pause, pace and phrasing) that one can make the spoken word more engaging he techniques for making a voice interesting and effective

Vocal fold – located in the larynx, a multi-layered fold of tissue that vibrates to produce sound when air passes over them

Vocal loading – the amount of impact of the stresses and strains on the vocal folds from talking or singing. The loading can be affected by the amount, volume or the tone of the sound, and also by the speaker’s levels of stress or tension

Voice actor – different from a ‘voice over’, who tends to be an ‘anonymous voice’, an actor will appear in audio dramas, audio books, computer games and so on, where they are reading the lines to be spoken by a character in a specific situation

Voice guide – a director in a recording situation who will read a script, perhaps line-by-line, for the ‘voice talent’ to repeat ‘parrot fashion’, and mimic the cadence. Usually used when the actor is inexperienced in script reading, but has a great voice or high-profile name that is wanted for publicity reasons. A voice guide may also be the temporary voice-over track, recorded so video editors can choose shots and time their cuts to which the ‘professional’ voice talent can talk to later

Voice of God (or ‘VoG’) - loud and large, stentorious and dramatic reads, reminiscent of 1950s (American) radio announcers, and often heard at sports and showbiz events

Voice over – the reading of a scrip, or narration over a video

Voice quality – one’s personal vocal attributes and characteristics

Volume - the loudness of a voice

Vowel - speech sounds of a, e, i, o, and u

**W

Watermark – or more accurately, an audio watermark. This is a snippet of sound (such as a tone or ‘beep’) used to protect your recording, sample or audition. The sound briefly overlaps with your voice at points during the recording say veery few seconds, or over the brand name. This protects your audio from being misused for example, without payment

Whisper phonation – the proper term for when you are whispering

Windpipe – the trachea.

Windscreen – the covering over or in front of a microphone to eliminate unwanted noises such as that made by plosives

Wowing – the changing in pitch of a sound causing distortion

Wrap - the end of a recording

Wrap — a recorded news or other content feature, of interview clips linked (or ‘wrapped up’) by a presenter or reporter  

**X

XLR - a type of cable connector, very common on microphones. 

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 checked

Talk back – the push-to-talk microphone in a gallery/production area, via which a director / producer will talk to you while in the studio.

Tape - recorded audio, almost never on tape

Tempo - the rate of speech

Thin – a voice which is weak, with a lack of air, energy and resonance. It may be trained to become stronger and fuller with exercises in the areas of posture, relaxation and breath control

Thoracic cavity - the area enclosed by the chest

Throw – a passing link made from one presenter to another, “And now with the latest weather here’s Susie Celsius”

Throwaway (as in ‘a throwaway line/word’) – when a speaker gives little or no emphasis on a word or phrase, reducing its significance

Tonal quality – the overall timb re, resonance of a voice

Trachea – commonly called the ‘windpipe’, along which flows air from mouth to lungs

Track – a layer of recorded audio (or an empty ‘lane’ where recorded audio will sit), which can be adjusted independently of other layers before being mixed (or merged) together in a final mix

Transients - very short sounds, such as the beginning of a drum hit

TX – used to mean ‘transmission’

**U

Unidirectional microphone – one that only picks up sound from a single direction

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 equipment, they are ‘self operating’

Session – the single block of time (say, an hour or a day) spent recording with the voice actor, who is often paid ‘per session’

SFX – short for ‘sound effects’

Shock Mount - a microphone mount that tries to minimize handling noise by using shock absorption

Sibilance – excessive ‘s’ sounds (fricatives) while speaking which are prone to becoming unpleasantly loud in audio recording

Sing-song delivery - when a speaker’s voice rises and falls in cadence in a predictable ‘nursery rhyme’ type fashion

Soft-sell commercial – a script that is read with low volume, low emphasis and in a natural, low-key style

S.O.T – ‘sound on tape’, what’s been recorded

Sound-alikes – these voice actors are similar to celebrity impersonators, but whereas impersonators usually perform exaggerated and comic impressions of the star, sound-alikes create the vocal tones and mannerisms (style, cadence and inflection) for short retakes or dubs in movies, tv and radio, and commercials. This saves the cost and time implications of getting the original star in the studio to re-record just a few words.

Sneak - to slowly fade up or out

Speech personality – one’s individual speaking-style

Spilling over – a distortion caused by too loud a noise

Split-track – audio with different content in the left and right channels, to allows for independent control of levels during production, for example, two guests. Audio must be ‘mixed down’ before it can be broadcast

Stand by – the verbal ‘get ready’ direction given just before a programme or recording starts

Straight-read commercial – a script presented without flourish or over-emphasis

Stroboscopy - an advanced way to view the vocal folds. This usually involves a scope that goes through your mouth to properly identify and define vocal problems

Supercardioid - a microphone pick-up pattern that is most sensitive to sounds in front of the microphone, even more so than a cardioid

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 as possible

ROT (‘rot’ or ‘R.O.T’) – a recording of what went out on air: Recording Of/Off Transmission

Royalty Free Music – music that can be used (with varying restrictions) after paying a one-off fee

RP – Received Pronunciation (‘The Queen’s English’, ‘BBC pronunciation’, ‘Standard English’) and English accent without ‘perceived’ regional accent, usually of the type heard in south east England