Make Your Voice Buttery! (Like a Radio Announcer)
By Patrick Schwerdtfeger
Your speaking voice is one
of the biggest assets you have
when developing an online
business. It’s true. There are a number of different applications where you can use
your voice to enhance your online presence and your business model. In particular,
you can use your voice to record podcasts, add audio messages to your website and
create audio information products.
Modern technology has made the recording of your voice very easy indeed. You can
download a free version of the Audacity software and purchase a microphone
and quickly record digital audio files with whatever spoken message you like. This
article will discuss a few techniques you should use to make those spoken messages
smoother and buttery, just like those radio announcers.
The first thing you need to do is purchase a pop filter. Pop filters eliminate the
plosives in your speech like P’s, B’s and D’s. All three of these tend to pop into the
microphone, thereby popping into the ears of listeners as well. Pops can be
extremely distracting when listening to an audio recording and can even discourage
your audience from listening to any more of it. A simple $10 pop filter looks like a big
foam rubber cover for your microphone and it can eliminate the distracting
plosives quickly and easily.
Next, it’s time to start recording. And after your recording is complete, there are three
electronic effects you can use to make your voice sound all milky like the radio
announcers. The most effective one is called the compressor. It compresses the
dynamic range of your audio file so that the loud parts are softer while keeping the
volume of the softer parts the same. The net result is that you voice sounds smoother
to the audience.
I usually lower the pitch slightly as well. On Audacity, you have four ways to specify
the change you want: musical note, semitone, frequency or percentage. I only lower it
by half a semitone which works out to a 2.87% drop in my voice pitch so it’s a small
change but I think my voice sounds better afterwards. You can play around with this
to see what pitch suits your voice best.
The last effect I use is the bass boost. Predictably, it amplifies the bass frequencies of
the audio file. Now, it does NOT lower the pitch of the file. It only amplifies the bass
frequencies while leaving the treble frequencies unchanged. This effect rounds out the
bottom and takes the tin out of the recording. Sometimes, my voice can sound tinny
and shallow. The bass boost eliminates that and leaves my voice sounding like
honey.
At the time of this writing, my audio files have been downloaded over 17,000 times in
27 countries. I don’t use these effects to completely alter my voice. If you listened to
my recordings, it sounds just like me. But the effects I’ve described above make it
incredibly smooth and pleasing to the ear, allowing the listener to absorb the content
rather than being distracted by a poor voice quality.
I have two pieces of advice. First, find a way of incorporating voice recordings into
your business. It adds a personal dimension to your online presence and enhances
trust. Second, use the effects I’ve described above to improve the sound quality of
your recordings. Your audience will respect you more as a result.
About the Author: Become a recognized expert. Optimize your website. Explode your business.
Tactical Execution provides implementation strategies for immediate results. Claim your free
website traffic hotsheet Tactical Execution today!
By Patrick Schwerdtfeger
Your speaking voice is one
of the biggest assets you have
when developing an online
business. It’s true. There are a number of different applications where you can use
your voice to enhance your online presence and your business model. In particular,
you can use your voice to record podcasts, add audio messages to your website and
create audio information products.
Modern technology has made the recording of your voice very easy indeed. You can
download a free version of the Audacity software and purchase a microphone
and quickly record digital audio files with whatever spoken message you like. This
article will discuss a few techniques you should use to make those spoken messages
smoother and buttery, just like those radio announcers.
The first thing you need to do is purchase a pop filter. Pop filters eliminate the
plosives in your speech like P’s, B’s and D’s. All three of these tend to pop into the
microphone, thereby popping into the ears of listeners as well. Pops can be
extremely distracting when listening to an audio recording and can even discourage
your audience from listening to any more of it. A simple $10 pop filter looks like a big
foam rubber cover for your microphone and it can eliminate the distracting
plosives quickly and easily.
Next, it’s time to start recording. And after your recording is complete, there are three
electronic effects you can use to make your voice sound all milky like the radio
announcers. The most effective one is called the compressor. It compresses the
dynamic range of your audio file so that the loud parts are softer while keeping the
volume of the softer parts the same. The net result is that you voice sounds smoother
to the audience.
I usually lower the pitch slightly as well. On Audacity, you have four ways to specify
the change you want: musical note, semitone, frequency or percentage. I only lower it
by half a semitone which works out to a 2.87% drop in my voice pitch so it’s a small
change but I think my voice sounds better afterwards. You can play around with this
to see what pitch suits your voice best.
The last effect I use is the bass boost. Predictably, it amplifies the bass frequencies of
the audio file. Now, it does NOT lower the pitch of the file. It only amplifies the bass
frequencies while leaving the treble frequencies unchanged. This effect rounds out the
bottom and takes the tin out of the recording. Sometimes, my voice can sound tinny
and shallow. The bass boost eliminates that and leaves my voice sounding like
honey.
At the time of this writing, my audio files have been downloaded over 17,000 times in
27 countries. I don’t use these effects to completely alter my voice. If you listened to
my recordings, it sounds just like me. But the effects I’ve described above make it
incredibly smooth and pleasing to the ear, allowing the listener to absorb the content
rather than being distracted by a poor voice quality.
I have two pieces of advice. First, find a way of incorporating voice recordings into
your business. It adds a personal dimension to your online presence and enhances
trust. Second, use the effects I’ve described above to improve the sound quality of
your recordings. Your audience will respect you more as a result.
About the Author: Become a recognized expert. Optimize your website. Explode your business.
Tactical Execution provides implementation strategies for immediate results. Claim your free
website traffic hotsheet Tactical Execution today!
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