I have already mentioned a number of things that may be holding you back from creating some of the many audio opportunities that exist equipment, time, technical know-how and your voice. In this post, let’s tackle the issue of your voice.

Often the only thing holding people back from creating online audio is their voice, or rather their own perception of their voice.

Let’s face it, even if no one has ever criticised our voice in the past, we still hate the way it sounds when it’s played back to us. It doesn’t sound how we expect it to sound.

The truth is your voice is never going to sound the same on a recording as it does in your head. This is simply a matter of physiology. When you speak you “feel” as well as “hear” your voice. You hear your own voice through the air but at the same time you experience the sound resonating inside your head, conducted through your bones. In most cases you will sound higher-pitched in reality than you do in your head because higher frequencies are not conducted through bone as efficiently.

The only way to overcome your fear of broadcasting your own voice is to, in the words of Nike, just do it! Like so many things, you will learn through trial and error, which is why practice recordings can be useful and help you gain confidence.

Begin by recording yourself speaking on a familiar topic or reading a section of your ebook, and then listen to the playback. Be critical, but in a positive way. If you think you sound too high-pitched or you talk too quickly then these are simple things to identify and work on in the next recording. Forcing your voice to sound too low-pitched can be damaging to your vocal cords over time, so don’t push it too hard. The most important aspect of this exercise is to make you more familiar with and accepting of your own voice.

Worried others will hate listening to your voice as much as you do? Don’t be. In general, the only people we find it hard to listen to are those who have nothing useful to say. Our ear adapts very quickly to voice pitch, accents, and styles of voice, but if the speaker is boring then we won’t listen for long. If you are passionate about your subject and have something useful to contribute then that will be communicated to the listener.

Yes, you may come across people who criticise your style or the way you speak, but please don’t take it to heart. There will always be folks who criticise what we do, write and say. As a professional voiceover I have often had people criticise my voice sometimes this has been constructive criticism and other times it has been downright rude. One thing you learn very quickly as a voiceover is not to take it personally – you cannot be all things to all people and shouldn’t try to be.

If you do have a strong accent it shouldn’t be a deterrent but you will probably need to slow down your natural speech unless you have a slow Southern drawl, in which case you may want to pick up the pace a little. Not sure if your accent is strong or if you speak too fast? Record yourself and ask a trusted friend to take a listen and give their honest opinion.

More importantly, you need to work on sounding natural in your recordings. If you sound like you are reading a script or if your voice is stilted (often a result of nerves) you will not draw your listener into what you are saying or create that vital personal connection. Talk as if you are speaking to a close friend over a cup of coffee. Being word perfect is not a vital component of online audio, but sounding sincere and “human” is.

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