Narration

Tips

• Try to work in pairs or groups – it’s always great to have a second set of ears to pick up on mistakes. It also helps you keep a natural tone.

• Paint pictures with your words: Try and make facts and figures come alive with your language, for example "twice as high as the CN Tower," or "enough water to fill 3 swimming pools. "

• Read the text/script before you record it – it helps to know what you’re reading. If you’re a wonderfully expressive reader who conveys the text well, you’ll also convey your confusion whenever you’re lost. Some folks will read over a page, record it, pause the recorder or save the recording (safer), read over the next page, record that one, and so on.

• Take your time; allow pauses between sentences and paragraphs.

• A relaxed steady pace helps you to form the full sounds of the words.

• Try for a steady volume level by speaking up, as if your listener is sitting across a table from you, and keeping a steady distance from your mic (not closer, farther, closer).

• Modulate your voice — give it life! But don’t over-modulate your voice — give it truth!

• Test first – make sure you’re not too close or too far from the microphone. Every time you record, say a couple sentences and check how it sounds.

• Place your microphone at an angle to your mouth, so your breath doesn’t hit the mic full on (making p-p-p-plosives).

• Turn off your phone (unless you are recording with it!) and shut your door — enjoy yourself!

• When you make a mistake, pause a moment, and start again at the beginning of the sentence/paragraph — edit the mistake out later, after you have finished recording.

• Beware of having your headphones too loud as it may cause you to speak more quietly.