Some people are born speakers. They can carry on a conversation or give a speech without breaking a sweat or losing their concentration. These speakers are usually lively, animated, and make you listen to every word.
That’s not me.
I get tongue-tied so easily it’s not funny. Sometimes I think my brain works faster than my mouth and I have to take a moment (or two) to collect my thoughts and form complete sentences.
When I was hosting my own podcast I didn’t like to take the time to write a script but would spend probably just as much time taking out all the dead air space that accumulated while I “collected my thoughts.”
If you don’t like to “wing it” with your audio and video recordings then I highly recommend writing yourself a script. If you don’t like to write, check out my last post about using private label rights content as a script.
Once you start recording, however, your goal is to bring your words alive, to make your viewers or listeners hang on your every word. You want your audience to follow through on your call to action, either by purchasing your product, opt-ing in to your list, or hiring you.
What you DON’T want is to sound like you’re reading a script. This will get boring and will force your listeners to tune out.
Short of hiring a voice over professional, here are a few tips you can use to make your audio and video recordings sound and look more professional:
- Smile. Sounds pretty basic but on video a smile can welcome your audience and in audio a smile will help you sound happy.
- Record when your voice sounds its best. If you wake up with a cotton mouth feeling or raspy voice then don’t record until you’ve had plenty of water to lubricate your vocal chords. If your voice gets raspy or sounds weaker as the day progresses, then maybe mid-morning might be the best time to record. Everyone is different so figure out what works for you.
- Use a good microphone. The microphone that comes with your computer won’t cut it for professional sounding audio. Invest in a decent headset with microphone so you can get the best quality and still keep your hands free. (I use a Plantronics headset
and it’s great.)
- Adjust microphone as necessary to get best quality. Always do a test run to test how your voice sounds. A microphone that’s too close to your mouth will pick up each breath and swallow in addition to your voice but a mic that’s too far away will make you sound like you’re shouting in a tunnel.
- Don’t overthink it. Your audience will connect with you if you come across as being natural so try to just use your natural voice inflections when you speak. Pretend you’re telling your best friend about a new discovery.
Remember that practice makes perfect. You might record your first podcast or video 2, 3, or even 4 times before you’re happy with the quality. But as you do more recordings, you’ll become more comfortable with the medium and will eventually be happy with the first take.
Or you can hire a VA to do some editing 
