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Voicetracking: Do it Right On the First Take
March 25, 2014
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I always have a casual conversation with new clients to see how they use their voice and communicate thoughts. These encounters provide insight into their verbal skills -- talking too fast, wordiness, phrasing, warmth, and the ability to express clearly. We are drawn to those who can effectively communicate. I remember working for a PD who wrote lengthy memos. Seriously, we would get two pages on things that could have been said in one or two sentences. His jock meetings were the same; I remember one time he used a chalk board and diagrams for a little over an hour. Once the meeting was over, one of my fellow personalities asked what the point was and I can remember telling him, "I think he wants us to start pre-promoting just three songs in our top of the hour talk set which kicks off the hour."
Connect
Every time you open the microphone, it's a chance to connect with both the passive and active listener. Give the audience a reason to stick around for the next moment on the radio. It might be a brief humorous back-sell concerning an artist or song or pre-promoting something coming up after the commercial break. Either way, the more times listeners can be persuaded to tune back in, the greater the potential for increased ratings.
Necessary Or Unnecessary
Jocks get in the habit of saying unnecessary things like, "Thanks for being here." It would be okay to say if it were attached to an event or something the audience took part in during the show. It is a very general statement without meaning. Now, if it were a part of a recorded promo receiving lots of impressions or a catch phrase, it might be something people would take to heart and associate with the jock or the station.
The more the unnecessary is eliminated, the sharper the on-air moment and the show. When you think of necessary versus unnecessary, extra words for no reason, focus on being word efficient. Radio is an inexact science, record every show and analyze your verbal presentation. A programming buddy of mine always says, "You don't have to be funny or informative, but be concise with whatever it is."
Voicetracking
Voicetracking is the new norm but not new to our industry; we simply used to call it recording and playback. I once worked with a gentleman who would do two shows at once during his overnight show -- one live and the other in audition for playback during the last two hours of his shift. Honestly, there was no way to tell it was recorded other than some things he would gloss over like taking requests or doing a contest.
The Reason For This Week's Topic
This e-mail reminded me that a lot of personalities probably share the same thoughts as those expressed by this person:
Jock: How do I make my voicetracking sound live? I feel so out of touch with the listener. There are no contests and all sorts of things we can't do because of voicetracking, like taking requests.
Coach: It is all mental. Realistically speaking, unless you are in front of a live audience, you are never actually one on one with your listeners. Be real with yourself, air personalities make a living talking to people from a small room inside a building. Think about the number of times you have received a call from a listener who wanted to speak to one of the syndicated weekend hosts because the caller believed the person broadcasts from your studios.
Weekly syndicated shows rarely hold contests, do time-checks or weather. None of the things you mentioned in your question are necessary to sound local. In fact, many live air shifts no longer do any of the things you mentioned.
You are an actor -- know your lines and deliver them in a believable fashion. Whatever you're going to say, practice out loud before you record anything. It is a mindset; eventually with practice, you will be able to voicetrack talk-sets in one take. Your whole approach must be as if it were live -- do show prep, especially local stuff. I always suggest going back and listening to your first break for voice and energy levels. No cheating; you cannot re-record. It is going to take a lot of production room practice, but you will begin to sound live.
If you are voicetracking to another market, get the station or stations to provide the web addresses of the major local paper, TV stations, colleges, high schools, parks and points of interests. Once a week, try and connect with the OM or PD of the market for a 10-minute conversation to get a feel for things. In your show prep, check the website or sites of the station, any newspapers and one of the TV stations for any content you might be able to use.
Conclusion:
I have been looking for the right situation to use this line delivered by Jimmy Fallon in the movie Almost Famous, "I didn't invent the rainy day man; I just own the best umbrella." Voicetracking is one of the new traditions in radio. Don't fight it; embrace the opportunity and try to do it better than anyone else.
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