Developing your voice

[Radek Pilich]

I am very curious how have all the quys which are doing the podcasting and presentation developed their voices.
I know my voice it not very good, and I am looking for any advices, exercies and tools how to make it less monotone, more fluent and respectable. And of course flexible to be able to shift from story-telling to authoritative "shouting". I am pretty sure, you know what I am talking about, there is so huge difference between personal development public speakers and most of their audience, so lets discuss this topic for a while :]

[songwriter]

Well as a singer... not a "speaker"... I would say to you "do it".
Put a podcast and try to do the same with your voice. Or try to practice over and over without any background.

A singer is an athlete of the voice (Pavarotti said). If a singer stops singing for quite a long time and then tries to sing, he won't sing "as usual", he would need some training to go back in shape or so.

[ahimel]

This works for me, but my parents looked at me funny when I did it, so maybe it won't work for you.

Find a podcast or audiobook whose style you wish to emulate. Audiobooks are good because then you can follow along with the text as you're listening. Try to say the words in exactly the same pitch/tone/inflection/volume as the audiobook reader. Once you think you've got it, record yourself and see how similar you sound.

Many people are amazed at how little inflection is in their voices, even when they're trying to imitate someone with inflection. If this is the case with you, you'll know that you need to practice making your voice do what you tell it to do. Try voice lessons, or go find a series of vocal exercises to do. Continue to read along with your audiobook. The more you practice, the better you'll be.

If you can imitate his tone perfectly the first time, then your problem lies more in the area of determining the correct inflections. Again, listen to the audiobooks more, but try to listen to what the speaker is doing. Listen for how the inflection affects the meaning and clarity of the sentence. Emphasis can change meanings significantly. A pause in the right place changes "A woman, without her man, is nothing" to "A woman: without her, man is nothing"

Or PM me, and I'll do your recordings for you, for a small share of the profits.

[Michelle]

Get some voice lessons. Seriously.

[ayeo99]

Originally Posted by ahimel

This works for me, but my parents looked at me funny when I did it, so maybe it won't work for you.

Find a podcast or audiobook whose style you wish to emulate. Audiobooks are good because then you can follow along with the text as you're listening. Try to say the words in exactly the same pitch/tone/inflection/volume as the audiobook reader. Once you think you've got it, record yourself and see how similar you sound.

Many people are amazed at how little inflection is in their voices, even when they're trying to imitate someone with inflection. If this is the case with you, you'll know that you need to practice making your voice do what you tell it to do. Try voice lessons, or go find a series of vocal exercises to do. Continue to read along with your audiobook. The more you practice, the better you'll be.

If you can imitate his tone perfectly the first time, then your problem lies more in the area of determining the correct inflections. Again, listen to the audiobooks more, but try to listen to what the speaker is doing. Listen for how the inflection affects the meaning and clarity of the sentence. Emphasis can change meanings significantly. A pause in the right place changes "A woman, without her man, is nothing" to "A woman: without her, man is nothing"

Or PM me, and I'll do your recordings for you, for a small share of the profits.

Hello to all!

I have a monotone voice as well and wish to learn how to vary pitch, tone as well as volume.

Would anyone be kind enough to attach a audiobook which i can practice on as quoted above?

Thank you in anticipation!

Rgds,

Andy

[beautyscientist]

I am not sure it is possible to tell what ones own voice sounds like. I don't like the sound of my voice at all. And neither do other people. But they describe it as the oppisite of how it sounds to me.

[medaille]

Try "The sound of your voice" by Carol Fleming. You could probably download it for free somewhere, but you could surely buy it off of amazon. I listened to the audio tape and it was good.

I agree with the others in that you should just practice it.

One thing I read somewhere was (as a guy) to hum or say ahhh and to vary the pitch from your normal tone up and down (more down than up). At some pitch you should be able to feel your chest start to vibrate more than other pitches. You can use your hand to feel it if you need to. If you center your speech at this pitch, you will get more volume and sound more authoritative and more attractive.

Breathe from your belly. People who breathe from their chest have less energy in their voice, sound more nasally and less commanding, and are seen as more uptight or less relaxed.

Good luck

[jbischke]

I'd recommend the following books

Change Your Voice, Change Your Life by Morton Cooper
-and-
Set Your Voice Free by Roger Love