How to Create ''Goodies for the Ear"   
 

How attractive and pleasing to hearers is your voice? (I've 
noticed that most people are so focused on “getting their point 
across,” that it's easy for them to overlook such vocal matters.) 

I was re-sensitized to the rich range of vocal subtleties 
when I attended a professional workshop sponsored by 
the Screen Actors Guild Conservatory of Las Vegas. 
The instructors, Bob Bergen and Bill Holmes, are longtime 
successful voice actors from Los Angeles who perform 
in many radio spot ads and do voice-overs and animations. 
(For example, Bob does Tweety Bird and Porky Pig, 
plus hundreds of other voices.) 

In order to be effective so that a radio listener pays 
attention, the word images must be appealing and the 
voice alive, energetic, and even unique, with a certain 
“signature” quality. To be attractive and memorable to 
listeners, the voices must express genuine emotions. 

Key Principles 

One key principle that brings the voice alive: 
“When you physically enact the emotions, the voice 
will follow.” That means when you are animated 
with gestures and facial expressions, your voice 
will automatically align with your body to express 
the feelings. Conversely, if you are restrained and 
stiff with a deadpan face, your voice will sound 
flat and void of feelings. 

Another principle: The more specific in your mind 
is the person you're talking to, and the more specific 
your relationship, the more interesting and nuanced 
your conversational expression. If you imagine that 
you are talking to “just another prospect,” your talk will 
sound routine and ordinary. If you decide that you're 
talking to a specific human being named Larry Perkins, 
a real person with a unique combination of interests 
and needs and personality traits, your expression will 
be more personal, genuine, and attractive. 

One more principle: “Be yourself.” That is, don't 
put on a false front. Let your expressions come from 
within yourself. Be the real Sally Swanson or Bert 
Blackstone. Not someone else. Not as you think 
people want or expect you to be. To be genuinely 
yourself, you must be fully comfortable in your own 
skin. Then your genuine expressions will flow forth. 

Of course, what we say – the words we choose – is 
also important. The dead language of worn-out clichés 
does not evoke much feeling. Numbers are less memorable 
and evocative than metaphorical language, anecdotes, and 
stories. Wordplay is more exciting to listen to than ordinary 
language. Fresh puns, alliteration, and rhymes sprinkled 
into our talk can be surprising, intriguing, and engaging. 

These days, 99% of radio ads, and much of radio 
and television news, are conversational in style. The 
stilted vocal style of yesteryear is no longer used. 
Instead, most of the performers and announcers talk 
to you as if you were a valued friend or neighbor. 

Learn While You Drive 

When you are driving, you can attend a conversation 
class on wheels. If you listen carefully to the radio spot 
ads by paying attention to the subtleties of vocal expression, 
you will be able to hear a tremendous range of engaging 
qualities, all expressed within a few seconds. The performers 
are trying to get your attention by offering you “goodies for 
the ear.” Having learned by listening carefully to vocal masters, 
you can explore your own voice and enliven and colorize your 
conversations.