{"id":184,"date":"2012-04-05T20:29:53","date_gmt":"2012-04-05T20:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.voiceovergurus.com\/guru_blog\/?p=184"},"modified":"2013-07-24T20:31:11","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T20:31:11","slug":"volume-versus-pitch-and-the-winner-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voiceovergurus.com\/guru_blog\/volume-versus-pitch-and-the-winner-is\/","title":{"rendered":"Volume Versus Pitch . . . and the winner is . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Pitch, almost every time.\u00a0 Almost is my new favorite word in voiceovers.\u00a0 There is always the exception to the rule.\u00a0 Let\u2019s get back to why pitch wins first and then we can discuss the juicy once-in-a-while rule breaking of volume being put first.<\/div>\n<div>So many times in voice over auditions, especially comedy scripts, I remember directing my students to \u201cmake it funnier:\u00a0 let me hear the wink more, give me some more awkward pauses, say this line out of the side of your mouth like you\u2019re embarrassed or it\u2019s sort of a secret, etc\u2026..\u201d or at other times I might request \u201cmake it stronger:\u00a0 emphasize this word more, give me drama at the end of this sentence, isolate each word in this sentence for impact, etc\u2026.\u201d.\u00a0 The very best actors did exactly these things and went on to book that voiceover job with ease.\u00a0 Those that didn\u2019t do that \u2013 SHOUTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<\/div>\n<div>Shouting is not funny, shouting is not strong, shouting is just\u2026..yes you got it \u2013 LOOOOOUUUUUUD!!!!<\/div>\n<div>Pitch refers to the inflection detected in your words.\u00a0 Pitch is going up on a word, going down on a word.\u00a0 Go up on the word, you might sound friendlier or more excited, go down in your inflection and you might convey a sense of confidence, a sense that this is the in-arguable truth and you barely have to try to convince us because you are so convinced yourself that of course we would be too.\u00a0 Pitch can convey emotions.\u00a0 It can convey\u00a0 intentions.\u00a0 It is right up there with the hammer and the screwdriver in the toolbox of voiceover success.<\/div>\n<div>So, yes, pitch will win every time because it conveys so much feeling behind the point that you are making without blowing out the ears of your listener.\u00a0 \u00a0Now as for those exceptions: volume may come in handy when you feel it is relevant.\u00a0 It could be an intuitive thing or it could be common sense.\u00a0 Perhaps this is \u00a0a moment of extreme excitement: you just won something, you are having an \u201cI\u2019ve lost it!\u201d moment, etc\u2026.\u00a0 Ok, step back from the mic a foot or so and let her rip.\u00a0 Maybe the writer, producer, casting director specifically requested you scream.\u00a0 Alright, have fun.\u00a0 But 9 times out of 10, you will want to rely on your pitch, and perhaps your speed to convey these things.\u00a0 Practice.\u00a0 Find those scripts that seem to ask for a \u2018big\u2019 reaction, maybe even those that are obviously the exception-to-the-rule scripts that call for you to shout a sentence.\u00a0 Find a way to emote that \u201cquiet intensity\u201d that lets us know this could easily turn into a scream, but isn\u2019t going to.\u00a0 Give us something\u00a0 more sophisticated instead, pleasantly surprise the casting director, and book that voiceover job while saving your vocal chords.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pitch, almost every time.\u00a0 Almost is my new favorite word in voiceovers.\u00a0 There is always the exception to the rule.\u00a0 Let\u2019s get back to why pitch wins first and then we can discuss the juicy once-in-a-while rule breaking of volume being put first. So many times in voice over auditions, especially comedy scripts, I remember [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-voice-over-gurus-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voiceovergurus.com\/guru_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voiceovergurus.com\/guru_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voiceovergurus.com\/guru_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voiceovergurus.com\/guru_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voiceovergurus.com\/guru_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/voiceovergurus.com\/guru_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185,"href":"https:\/\/voiceovergurus.com\/guru_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions\/185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voiceovergurus.com\/guru_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voiceovergurus.com\/guru_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voiceovergurus.com\/guru_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}