Podcasting Hacks

Train Your Voice

Use professional techniques and training to improve your podcasting voice.

You should keep two things in mind when you sit down to record your podcast: speak well for broadcast (diction, enunciation, etc.) and speak into the microphone [Hack #13] correctly. Both of these issues are relatively easy to address with a few key tips.

Speaking Well for Podcasting

“Speaking well for broadcast” is something that calls to mind bad associations for many people. The idea of talking in “radio voice” (defined for most by the sound of early morning DJs or public radio smooth talkers) is the stuff of Saturday Night Live lampoons. Besides, there is of course no right or wrong way to speak for broadcast; it is, at its simplest, a pure and representative form of communication.

However, broadcasting (and by extension, podcasting) as a medium sometimes requires adjustments to have your voice, speech, and message be heard through the prism of an intermediary device (the microphone, for example) as you intended. It is common for people to be unhappy with the sound of their recorded voice. The idiosyncrasies of their speech or the lack of coherence and drive in their delivery can cause their broadcast to land on listeners’ ears very differently than they imagined it would when they first conceived their message.

The speaking guidelines that follow are enormously helpful in terms of preserving the integrity of your message in auditory media. While working, be sure to record yourself every ...