“You set the tone for your podcast by how you sound and how you interact with the audience. So there are a lot of elements to it, you know, obviously preparation and planning and practice, all those things.” — Dan Friedman
This week continues our Clubhouse discussion as voiceover artist and sound engineer Dan Friedman answers questions about voice training, keeping listeners engaged, and overcoming stage fright.
As always, if you have any questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes. If you have questions for me, just visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find all sorts of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter (on the www.audiobrandingpodcast.com webpage) will let you know when the new podcasts are available.
An Audio-Driven World
We continue the Clubhouse chat by talking about how subtle changes to pitch and tone can change a listener’s impression of your voice, and the challenges and successes that artists coming from different audio industries, such as radio and lecturing, can find in voiceover work. “Because we are in such an audio-driven world now,” Dan says, “it is really important that if, especially if you’re running a podcast and you want more listeners, or you want listeners to stick with you, you have to be compelling enough that they are going to want to continue to listen and to tune in every week.”
Getting Out of a Rut
Dan warns us about some of the traps of voice rehearsal, how easy it can be to get stuck in a loop of negative self-criticism when listening to your own voice, and some creative ways to break out of that vicious circle. “One of the most fun and extreme things to just really get out of your rut,” he suggests, “if you realize you’re in a rut, is to do your script as a cartoon character.” He explains that once you’ve done so and then immediately switch back to your regular voice, you’ll probably find that the performance feels fresh again and you can jump back into it with a different energy.
They Want to Hear You
“If you think about it,” Dan says, “communication is a connection between somebody making sound and somebody listening to sound, and if you’re trying to make sound and spread that connection out to a hundred people, that connection’s going to be pretty weak.” We wrap the Clubhouse chat up with a look at the challenges of public speaking and different strategies for overcoming stage fright, such as imagining an individual that you’re speaking to or even focusing on one person in the audience rather than trying to talk to everyone at once. “Most of the time when you are up there speaking to a roomful of people,” he assures us, “those people are there because they want to hear you.”
Episode Summary
- How inflection can change the impression you make
- Keeping your listeners engaged
- Tips for breaking out of a voice performance rut
- Public speaking and overcoming stage fright
Connect with Dan:
Website: https://sound4vo.com/
Connect with Dan Friedman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danfriedmanvo
Follow Dan Friedman on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sound4VO/
Follow Dan Friedman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanFriedmanVO
The Power of Sound club on Clubhouse: https://www.clubhouse.com/club/the-power-of-sound/
Stay tuned for part two of our Clubhouse chat next week as we talk about how inflections can affect the way your voice is perceived, some of the challenges that people coming into voiceover from other industries might face, and how adopting a cartoon voice can help break you out of a rut.
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This interview episode was very skillfully made to sound beautiful by the talented Humberto Franco.
