Voiceover Diploma - Module 01 - Voice Booster

module 01

Voice Booster &

Articulation

1 Voice Booster

It’s your voice

Your voice is an extension of your self.  It can reveal how you are feeling, how confident you are, your voice is a window into your world.

Potential

Find your voice, the voice that is yours, that is genuine and you can express, articulate and confidently take the thoughts and ideas of others and communicate them. If you can do this, you have an instrument that can be used to create an income.

All sorts

All sorts of voices are used in the voice-over industry.  There are different accents, delivery and tones of voice.  There is a client waiting to use your voice – you just need the confidence to find your own voice.

False v True

Truth and certainty are key – your voice must be true and sure – you do not have to force a performance or falsify a feeling, you are happy to get on and do the work as well as you would any other task you are good at.

The beginning

Practice is important, but you do not have to spend hours every day running through vocal exercises.  Mimicry is important it helps you with pace and delivery and style, but do not just try to copy somebody else’s voice or you will fail.  Physical well-being is important and this is where we will begin.

The choke of the throat

Our vocal chords are located in our throat – the larynx, its also there to prevent choking – food getting down into the lungs.  We have all swallowed something the wrong way – and know the body has a reflex to cough it back up.

The larynx also can seal itself up to allow us to take on physically strenuous task.  When you lift a heavy weight you find that it is a normal reflex action for this to happen.

Practical – Toilet Training

Pretend you are straining to go to the loo! Instantly your larynx seals your chest cavity up.

OK so what has this to do with being a voice-over?

Doh! Think about it – the brain associates effort with the need to close or constrict the throat.  Reading a script, performing, as a voice-over is an effort.  To begin with we have to consciously dissociate the brain from thinking this is the kind of effort that constricts your throat.

1. Let your throat get on with its work – don’t try and hold it – don’t pay it much attention – you move your attention psychologically to another part of your body to achieve that.

2. Surprise surprise – a few exercises’ to help you love your throat and take care of it.

Practical – Surprise me

Sit up, lengthen your back, drop your shoulders, nice loose joints please.

Imagine that you have just been given a wonderful but happy surprise, one that makes you feel warm and relaxed.

Breathe in imagining the surprise – your neck is widening and opening.

Now breathe out, smile with pleasure from this wonderful surprise.

Repeat a few times.  

Now say out loud this text:

‘Isn’t it a joy to study and regularly practice?

What’s more, isn’t it a joy to meet comrades from afar?

(Analects of Confucius)

Practical – Wobbly Bobbly

Find your larynx with thumb and finger – be gentle and sofly hold the boniest bit between your thumb and finger.

Drop your jaw let it hang a bit loose.

Now wobbly bobbly your larynx moving it softly and gently side to side.

Now say out loud this text:

Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice. It is within everyone.

(Mahatma Gandhi)

Congratulations we have just taken our first step toward a career as a voice-over artist.

A Few Top Tips before the real work begins!

1         Do not spend ages everyday practicing – but do mimic and copy and read out loud every day.

2         Do not over think or become obsessed with your voice.

3         Vocal exercises are used to help develop your natural voice.

4         Don’t get rid of your accent.

5         Build the creative space around you.

6         Mental focus – babies do not have baggage – try and loose yours.

7          Imagery – usual visual imagery to help your performance.

8         Touch (Kinaesthetic) where you want the performance to come from, get your stance right, no folded arms, slouching, etc.

9         SLOW DOWN

10         CALM DOWN

11         Flirt with your voice, be confident, confident, confident.

12         Breathing and articulation – make every word count.

13          So you’ve built a creative space now GET INTO THE ZONE (Have something you say that switches you mind and focus on the work)

14         FELL your voice rather than listen to it – don’t over criticise your performance.

15         EFFORT makes your brain tense muscles up which include the vocal chords, remember and try and equate vocal effort with relaxed vocal chords ready to do the work.

16         HOW DID YOU GET HERE?  One step at a time – this is a journey that will last you all of your life. 

What are you lookin’ at?

It’s time to strike a pose.  OK voice-over work is not all about the way you sit and stand but it has an important role in the way you deliver the performance.

If we work on our body, we work on our voice.  First thing to do is to be aware of tensions in the body, the stress of everyday life often leads to physical tensions in the body.

Practical – time to pay attention

Close your eyes, think about your body – right now – how do you feet and ankles feel? Heavy? Light? A bit tense? – relax

Now your lower and upper legs? Heavy? Light? Tense? – relax

Your hips, your bum? Heavy? Light? Tense? – relax

Your spine, back, your ribs? Heavy? Light? Tense? –relax

Shoulders, arms and wrists? Heavy? Light? Tense? – relax

Hands and fingers? Heavy? Light? Tense? – relax

Head, face, jaw? Heavy? Light? Tense? – relax

Lips and tongues? Heavy? Light? Tense? – relax

Now it’s time to get physical.  Physical well-being is important being fit and healthy can have a positive affect on our vocal abilities.  So let’s stretch out.

Practical – stretching exercise

Chest, upper back, back of arms, calf stretches, thighs, back – love them – stretch them

Now that we have stretched its time to find focus – what do I mean by focus? The mental state where you are ready to work and create a performance.

Life is rushed, there’s never enough time.  in the real world I have never met a voice-over that’s stretched, done proper vocal exercises or meditated before a session.

BUT – the best ones arrive with their inner karma intact, they engage you in a conversation, often not related to the work they are about to do.  It’s a natural way of warming up their voice – they are getting themselves in the zone.

Environment – strange unknown places create tension – you will often find recording studios have an area to relax and make the talent feel at home.  The Producer will look after the talent, there will be tea, coffee, water – everything to help the talent in his or her performance.

Sometimes this is not the case – but a good performer can create their own protective ‘bubble’ They might bring their own favourite type of water with them – lay out their scripts in a certain way.

You might think this behaviour a bit strange but I bet if you think about yourself at home you probably have a favourite part of the couch that you watch TV from?  If you have a partner you might have your side of the bed.  The list goes on, but all these things help as create our own ‘bubble.’  Cognitive therapists often refer these behaviours as being part of our ‘universe’

Think of the things that will help you focus, being quiet for a moment of meditation or I know some performers who carry around essential oils, smells that trigger a calming response.

2 Voice Articulation

I’ll have a vowel please and a consonant

Vowels

The open releasing sounds formed by changes in position of the lips and tongue, but never close it.  Vowels like a bit of space and they like some time to be expressed.

Consonants

Are the shaping sounds, they use the lips and tongue to form by they like to narrow or close off the mouth.  The give definition and clarity.

Emotion = vowels

Sense = consonants

Vowels – 3 different varieties – short – long – travelling

Travelling vowels are more usually called Diphthongs – they consist of 2 vowels.

Practical – let’s open our vowels up

Diphthongs

‘ay’ as in ‘bate’

‘igh’ as in ‘bite’

‘oy’ as in buoy

‘oh’ as in ‘boat’

‘ear’ as in beard

‘air’ as in ‘paired’

‘ooer’ as in ‘poor’

Short Vowels

‘I’ as in ‘pit’

‘e’ as in ‘pet’

‘a’ as in ‘cat’

‘u’ as in ‘cut’

‘o’ as in ‘pot’

‘oo’ as in ‘put’

Long Vowels

‘ee’ as in ‘peat’

‘er’ as in ‘pert’

‘ah’ as in ‘part’

‘or’ as in ‘port’

‘ooo’ as in ‘boot’

Altogether now:

‘Oh what a rogue’

‘oh’ ‘o’ ‘uh’ oh’

I’ll have a ‘p’ please Bob

Consonants require a bit of physical work.  You need to train your brain to work fast, absorb, understand and annunciate.  You are also going to be aware of poor pronunciation – and be willing to run a script over and over again until you get the best performance.  And you have to stay in the zone, concentrate.

Karaoke consonants

If you’ve ever followed lyrics on a karaoke machine you will know it takes a great deal of concentration.  You need to take an imaginary bouncing ball and alight on each sound, briefly, quickly. Try too hard, be too heavy and you create over emphasis and physical strain on your delivery.

TO BE SURE – YOU NEED KNOW EFFORT

To be sure – you need to understand.  If you don’t understand what you are saying you will lose clarity and you will sound unsure.

Practical -  Ooowuh Mrs   W

Round your lips make an ‘oo’ sound and then move to a ‘w’ sound.  ‘oowuh’

Practical – why oh why oh why! Y

Jaw open about 10mm, rest your hand under your jaw then move to an ‘ee’ sound into a ‘y’ sound. ‘eeyuh’

Practical – don’t make an r’s of yourself R

Easy to mis-pronouce – Jonathan Woss

Jaw open about 10mm, rest your hand under the jaw move your tongue back and across the roof of your mouth – start by making an er sound with your tongue at the top then dart your tongue forward for the ‘r’ sound. (almost a dog barking)

Practical – bloody L there are two of them L

One that comes at the beginning = the clear L

One that comes at the end of a work = the dark L

Clear L

Jaw open about 10mm, rest your hand under the jaw.  Get ready for some L, your tongue should be just on the gum line top of mouth – flick the tongue off you go.

Dark L

Starting position, but you don’t go anywhere – tongue darts back and makes contact with that upper gum – enjoy leave your tongue touching the gum line a bit longer.

table

bottle

meddle

    

     TIME FOR A BREATHER –

     NASAL CONSONANTS ARE NEXT

        

Nasal consonants

These sounds come out of your nose, except if you have a cold and your nose is blocked.

Sustained M

mmmm (your lips should vibrate slightly and the mmm should flow from your nose) mmmmmmm

Firm release M

m (focus your attention on your lips and the way they spring apart) em

Sustained N

nnnnnnn (back to the top gum ridge again and relax the tongue into making the n sound) nnnnnnnnn

Firm release N

n (flick your tongue relax your throat – attention on the tip of the tongue) neh

Sustained NG

nnnnngggg (focus on the back of tongue and where it touches the soft palate try and make it resonate) bang hang running singing

Voiced and voiceless consonants

You use the same bits of your mouth and lips but one is voiced and the other is voiceless:

Voiceless	Voiced
Hat	Had
Leaf	Leave
Tap	Tab
Back	Bag
Course	Cause

The fricking fricative consonants

f, v, th, s, z, sh, je and h

f and v – enjoy the friction of top teeth and bottom lip

TH and THE

th and the – the tongue moves slightly forward – thought, throw, think, thistle

S and Z

S and Z are made with the sides of the tongue touching the roof of the mouth and creating a narrow groove.

Sibilance

Keep those sssss light – if your force the s sound it can be sibilant.

SH and JE

The sh in cash and the je in measure

Measure, treasure, pleasure, occasion, usual, vision

H

H form it like a sigh hhh  - hot high hamlet hostile

p, b, t, d, k, g, are plosives

p and b The pressure is building, the room is getting hot – BUT in vocal work its easy to be too plosive and cause a pop on the microphone, so you have to cheat and bring your lower lip under your upper to make the p sound. 

t and d – tip of tongue – tip, tap, toe.  With the d sound its easy for it to become unvoiced, dog, dabble, dig,

K and g – are back of the tongue plosives – king, and g again can end up half voiced – god – gimble

ch and j, tr and dr – the affricates

Mix a plosive with a fricative and you get the affricates

ch – chin, chapter, charge, charm

j – jury, jewel, jar, gin

tr and dr

tr – train

dr – drain

Consonant Clusters

Nasty things that trip us up as we tend to see sounds in blocks and these are a journey

ts – pets, bits, hoots

dz – heads, adds, broods

tths – widths, breadths

 lz – tells, walls, bowls, feels

lvz – wolves, valves, solves

pr – proud, praise, pride, precious

br – breed, break, bright, brink

kr – cry, crown, crazy, crow, cream

gr – grab, grip, grow, growl

Phew!  time for a bit of tonal range:

Soprano
High female voice, G3 (below middle C4) to F6 above high C6 although anywhere above high C can be included.

Coloratura
A singer, usually soprano, who sings ornamental passages in music – C4 to F6 or G6 above high C6

Lyric Soprano
Warmer middle sound – Bb3 below middle C4 to high C6 or D6

Spinto Soprano
Usually a thicker sound with more edge and volume but with the same range as a the Lyric Soprano

Dramatic Soprano
The loudest and lowest with cutting power – low Bb3 or A3, to a pushed high C6

Mezzo-Soprano
Middle female voice with dark quality, Low A3 or G3 (below middle C4) to at least high C although it is not uncommon for high A6 or Bb6 to Eb6 above high C6.

Alto or Contralto
Low Female Voice, low C3 (below middle C4) to high C6 or up to high A6.

Tenor
High Male Voice, C (an octave below middle C) up to high C or D (or above).

Countertenor
Highest male voice, also called alto, often falsetto

Heldentenor
Poweful dramatic tenor voice

Baritone
Middle Male Voice, low G/F an octave below middle C to B, F or G above middle C (just below the Tenor high C).

Bass
Baritone – More like a bass than a baritone, lacks the low bass notes

Bass
Low Male Voice, low E (or lower) an octave below middle C to E, F G above middle C.

Basso Cantante
High bass voice suitable for solo singing

Basso Profundo
Deep bass voice encompassing about two octaves above C below the bass staff

Extending your range – lowering your register.

Kinda of a cool thing to be able to do, the reason?  When you are performing a script it is quite likely that however you try there will be some stress in your voice, the vocal chords tighten up and your voice register is higher than it would be normally.

Try lowering your register, don’t force it – enjoy it.  And this will help you sound less stressed and nervous.

AAAAHHHHH AND OOOOOOOOO

Move your register up and down but DO NOT force it rather think it!

Revving up

A good exercises – make the noise you would if you were cold – brrrrrrr – imagine that sound is coming from down in your belly.

Practical Exercises

Background:

From Reynard The Fox by John Masefield

John Edward Masefield, (1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1930 until his death in 1967. This is from a poem about a foxhunt from the fox’s point of view:

Like a rocket shot to a ship ashore
The lean red bolt of his body tore,
Like a ripple of wind running swift on grass;
Like a shadow on wheat when a cloud blows past,
Like a turn at the buoy in a cutter sailing
When the bright green gleam lips white at the railing,
Like the April snake whipping back to sheath,
Like the gannets' hurtle on fish beneath,
Like a kestrel chasing, like a sickle reaping,
Like all things swooping, like all things sweeping,
Like a hound for stay, like a stag for swift,
With his shadow beside like spinning drift.

Background this a poem by Janice Fixter about her mother

Home Truths

At forty, my mother threw knives,

whet-stoned knives, sharpened Sheffield steel

which ached to do their work.

They glinted in her hand above the chopping board

and sliced through vegetables and meat —

they reeked of tripe and onions.

My mother could hurl a knife with such precision

that the rest of us could only stand and gasp, jaws open,

as she pinned us to the sunflower kitchen wall.

There was never any doubt that she was good.

My mother honed her skill with hormones

and practised every Sunday morning,

while she cooked the roast and home-made apple pie.

Some Exercises for Diction Voice Articulation

Diction Exercises for 'S' words:

Six thick thistle sticks

Theophilus Thistler, the thistle sifter, in sifting a sieve of unsifted thistles, thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb.

The shrewd shrew sold Sarah seven silver fish slices.

Sister Susie sat on the seashore sewing shirts for sailors

Moses supposes his toeses are roses,

But Moses supposes erroneously,

For nobody's toeses are posies of roses

As Moses supposes his toeses to be.

(Pronounce the word 'toeses' to rhyme with 'Moses'.)

Diction Exercises for 'B' words:

Betty bought a bit of butter, but she found the butter bitter, so Betty bought a bit of better butter to make the bitter butter better.

Bill had a billboard.

Bill also had a board bill.

The board bill bored Bill,

So Bill sold his billboard

And paid his board bill.

Then the board bill

No longer bored Bill,

But though he had no board bill,

Neither did he have his billboard!

For 'D' words:

Did Doug dig Dick's garden or did Dick dig Doug's garden?

Do drop in at the Dewdrop Inn

Diction Exercises for 'F' words:

Four furious friends fought for the phone

Five flippant Frenchmen fly from France for fashions

For 'H':

How was Harry hastened so hurriedly from the hunt?

Diction Exercises for 'J' words:

James just jostled Jean gently.

Jack the jailbird jacked a jeep.

Diction Exercises for 'K' words:

Kiss her quick, kiss her quicker, kiss her quickest.

My cutlery cuts keenly and cleanly.

Diction Exercises for 'L' words:

Literally literary.

Larry sent the latter a letter later.

Lucy lingered, looking longingly for her lost lap-dog.

Diction Exercise for 'N' and 'U' sounds:

You know New York,

You need New York,

You know you need unique New York.

Diction Exercises for 'P' words:

Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

If Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,

Where's the peck of pickled peppers that Peter Piper picked?

Pearls, please, pretty Penelope,

Pretty Penelope, pretty Penelope,

Pearls, please, pretty Penelope,

Pretty Penelope Pring.

For 'Q' words:

Quick kiss. Quicker kiss. Quickest kiss.

Quickly, quickly, quickly, quickly, quickly...

For 'R' words:

Round the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran.

Reading and writing are richly rewarding.

For 'T' words:

Ten tame tadpoles tucked tightly in a thin tall tin.

Two toads, totally tired, trying to trot to Tewkesbury.

For 'V' words:

Vincent vowed vengeance very vehemently.

Vera valued the valley violets.

And lastly, two especially for your tongue.

Red leather, yellow leather...

Red lorry, yellow lorry...