Me VS the Mic

As I conquer various styles of scripts in my own regular voice, I've begun to notice certain habits creep into my time on the mic. For example: I'd be about to record some homework or in my teacher's (Melissa Moats) sound booth, and bam - I didn't sound the way I was in my head, the mood I had didn't match the sound coming out. I started trying to fine tune that radar and get past the frustration of not being able to dial-a-voice.

Apparently voice over is not about dialing a voice, but conjuring the mood and then letting that voice out. So much online and library book material taught me that. Most of us in announcer roles, or teaching usually use one voice: instructional. In comedy I used a voice that was more bouncy upbeat and funny. But those started as moods, they didn't start as something I rehearsed on a recording, and played back. 

I'm finding that many of the things I did in fun are coming in handy on the mic. That customer service phone job in college where my friend and I replayed funny moments with customers over drinks, recording and emulating voices for laughs. That time I tried to speak in a french accent at each bar we went out to, all night, convincingly. Or, I'm even remembering those times in college where I brought my handheld recorder and asked everyone the same joke or philosophical question, later to listen to them for amusement and to see how all the humans opinions differ. So much fun, so little time.

On the practical side, I'm finally accomplishing a balance of that line we ride when receiving coaching. I am working to retain my sense of self, and the original confidence as a public speaker I possess and remember how I'm a person who's toyed with the sounds and been fascinated with the broadcasting world since I was age ten. I am succeeding in bringing that care-free levity on-demand to the creative processes I'm in with projects in the booth. It's so similar to walking on stage. You either walk out on stage and own it, or you walk on stage and it owns you. Here on out in this game of me vs. the mic, when I hear the bell that indicates the proverbial round is over, I shall be victorious.