Good evening everyone! I’m posting a quick practice reading to get ready for my next coaching session. Any performance feedback is greatly appreciated. Oh and I am aware of any background noise, I could not use my booth at the moment. Thank you very much and have a nice day!
Litter Robot
Meet the Litter Robot. Yes, the litter robot. The highest rated self cleaning automatic litter box in the world. It does all the d***y work for you.
Hi Svenbot5000! I liked the read. It had a good pace and was catchy, it almost felt like a rhyme by the time the third “litter” was said. It seems like a good type of read for your voice. Good job!
Mary
Hi Aprildawn! I liked the read. It sounds like there is a slight hum in the background, but it had a good flow and pace and variation in pitch. Good read!
Mary
Uploading my first samples for Demo release. Please let me know what you think?
How To – Magnify Text, Windows 10
Here’s how to change the size of text, images, and apps in Windows 10.
To change your display in Windows 10, select Start, go to Settings, then Ease of Access and then to Display. To make only the text on your screen larger, adjust the slider under Make Text Bigger. To make everything larger, including images and apps, choose an option from the drop-down menu under Make Everything Bigger.
To zoom in or zoom out on parts of your screen in Windows 10, use Magnifier. To turn on Magnifier, press the Windows logo key and Plus (+). Zoom in by continuing to press the Windows logo key and Plus (+). Zoom out by pressing the Windows logo key and Minus (-). To turn off Magnifier, press the Windows logo key and Esc.
Hi Jacob! I liked the read and your voice seems well suited for this. It did seem a little rushed in places, like you were trying to get to the end of the read quickly. It might sound too slow to you as you are reading it, but since it is a tutorial, I think a little slower pace with a few more pauses at the end of a thought would work well. It was also very quiet on my end; I had to turn my volume way up to hear it. Good read!
Mary
Hi April Dawn! I liked both of these reads. For the first script, I heard a few extra inhaled breaths (after the first sentence in particular, and also after “stratosphere”). I liked the second script as well too, your voice seems very well-suited for these types of reads. Good job!
Mary
Hi aprildawn,
I think your Whitney Houston read was very strong. Good pace and pitch variation. In general, I really like the quality of your voice and find it well-suited for these documentary reads. I might suggest practicing the flow for the Marie Antoinette script. It almost sounded like you were starting a new sentence at “accused of crimes,” when it was still the middle of the thought. Also, maybe less emphasis on “there” and more on “remained” in the next sentence. Nice tone and style though. Thanks for bringing these!
-Sarah
Hi there! I tried posting this one but I don’t think it took! lol Here is a new read. any feedback is appreciated! Trying to consistently post in my “wheelhouse” of friendly, youthful, energetic. This is a read for Spotify.
Hello everybody! I’m looking for feedback on this read for enunciation and pacing. It’s a commercial read; not my normal narration. Thanks again!
Almond Breeze
At Almond Breeze, we only use California grown Blue Diamond almonds in our almond milk. And we’re proud of that. But the whole caring and nurturing part? That idea we borrowed from nature. Blue Diamond Almond Breeze, the best almonds make the best almond milk.
Hi Kathy! I liked this read. I think your enunciation and pace of the read were good. There seemed to be a lot of emphasis on drawing out the word “almond” many times (like “aaalmond”), and I guess for an almond commercial that’s good, but it was noticeable since almond is mentioned 6 times. I like how you stretched out “whole” to make the caring and nurturing part stand out. These are nitpicky things on my part. Great read!
Mary
Hi Kungfu23! I was having trouble understanding all of the words, I think it needs a little crisper enunciation. The third script for Dodge Charger was a little easier to understand all of the words that were spoken. Your tone is nice, I would just slow down the read a little and take time to read each word; some of the words sounded a little smushed together. I hope that helps!
Mary
Hi all! Looking for feedback on these 2 scripts. Any and all feedback is welcome! Trying to vary my pitch without sounding too over the top. Thanks! Mary
Script 1: Real Estate Educational Explainer
Would you like to buy a house? Maybe it’s your first house, or even your 2nd and you just think that MAYBE you didn’t think hard enough about the last one. Listen, I love Real Estate. And in most cases, even a bad deal can work to your advantage in the very long run. But there are dumb things that people do without realizing it when they buy a house. Humor me for a short story before we get into the meat of this video.
Script 2: Zeller’s [Local commercial, fast read, high energy]
Summer’s really heating up! Get into Zellers for our biggest event under the sun. Save up to 70 percent on a great selection of men’s, kid’s and ladies’ apparel and footwear. So hurry into Zellers – because savings like these don’t last forever.
Hi Mary,
I think you did a good job with pitch variation, and you sounded interested in the material. When you got to the phrase, “and in most cases,” the “and” and “in,” were hard to tell apart. I know you’ve said you’re working on this kind of thing, enunciation without sounding unnatural. I wonder if it could be helpful to think of sliding the “d”from “and” into the beginning of the following word, if it begins with a vowel, like “an din.” I feel like that could be helpful, but perhaps a coach could weigh in on that.
I feel your Zellers read had good energy to it, suitable for that commercial genre. Nice Job!
Thanks for the feedback Sarah! Yes, I definitely need to work on truncating my “and” to “n”. I will check with my coach on the best way to make that sound natural without over-emphasis (what it sounds like in my head!) or rushing ahead. Glad the energy came out for Zeller’s, wanted it to sound a little more high energy than the first script. Thank you!
Hi Sarah! This is a delightful read. I really enjoyed listening to you, you sound cute as a button. Here are my constructive bits. I think it started out a little shaky at the start, there was a long deep breath and pause here: “even people who don’t like fish (breath) have been known to like this fish.” And it would be best to keep that as one thought without pauses. Try pausing between ideas. Of course, we need to breathe but try to be strategic in where you would take those breaths so it doesn’t take the listener out. The part in the middle had me enthralled – specifically the bits about the “blazing bonfire and salted water – crisp smell.” LOVELY. I would say when editing something like this, you can listen back and anywhere there are very loud obvious and distracting breaths you can just drop the volume on those. Great work, I really enjoyed it! 🙂
This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by katelyndawnvo.
Hi Sarah! I liked this read and your voice is well-suited for this sort of copy. The tempo was good and I found myself visualizing the fish over the fire. Good emphasis on several words to keep it interesting and varied throughout the read. A minute is long, but it did not seem long because of the way you read it. Great job! Mary
Do my characters sound consistent enough? How’s the performance and recording quality? Using Audacity and my laptop at the moment. Your feedback is important.
Hi SuperLuke! The volume was very low / distant on my end and I could not understand many of the words (it sounded far away?), but it sounded like good pace on the reading itself and the dog character was good. Mary
Hi SuperLuke,
Your character renditions were really nice. I think the pitch and tone were right on, and the characters just came across really well. Enunciation could have been a little clearer in the DJ script. I confess I wasn’t able to make out the name of the restaurant being promoted, but as I said, I think everything else about it was good, and just loved that dog!
Looking back at your questions: Regarding the recording quality, the volume was a little low, as if you were kind of in the distance. That may have also contributed to why I couldn’t here the words as clearly at first. Assuming you are using the computer’s internal mic, that’s probably a big factor. An external mic would probably make a big difference.