Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Radio Days

I was a guest on Coy Barefoot's "Charlottesville-Right Now" WINA radio show yesterday, talking about affordable housing and transportation issues, and Sean Tubbs of the Charlottesville Podcasting Network was kind enough to post the podcast on his site. You can listen to the interview by clicking here. Julian Taliaferro has a great radio voice; mine hovers around cringe-worthy. Nevertheless, many thanks to Coy and Sean for making this happen.

2 comments:

TL Patten said...

Dave, a tip from a former vocalist and theater major about public speaking --

When a person is nervous, stressed, upset, or scared, the voice rises slightly in pitch and the resonance drops out, making it sound tighter. The phenomenon sounds more pronounced the higher the natural register of the speaker/singer.

Just like cameras add 10 lbs., wired devices flatline your sound waves. So, an already "tight" voice can sound downright nasal, whiny, or pinched when broadcast across the airwaves.

Julian sounds great on air because he's a bass--even when his vocal chords experience the same physical reaction, he's naturally lower pitched than most people and, thus, it comes across to the listener fine. Therefore, if you find yourself nervous in front of the microphone, deliberately drop your pitch--speak lower than your normal range--to counter balance the effect.

(For the record, I hate the recorded sound of my singing voice in the soprano range precisely because of the flatline effect, so I always drop the key a half-octave to take advantage of "chest voice" resonance.)

DaveNorris said...

Thanks for the tip Tat!