Vlog Tips 001 // Using Your Voice to Sound More Interesting and Engaging

coruscate (75) in vlog • 7 years ago (edited)

Hello Friends!

Fun fact about me: I do some professional voice acting on the side. This means that I have spent a lot of time cultivating my voice and understanding how to use vocal skills to improve my presentation abilities.

Want to know how to improve your video content that doesn’t require any money or equipment? Work on your voice.

Vlog Notes

These notes are intended to provide a high level overview. Please watch the Dtube video for the full content from this post.

Introducing Vlog Tips

I often get questions related to creating video content and so I thought I'd start a "Vlog Tips" series so that I can create a nice body of work that offers advice to fellow vloggers. One thing to note, is that this series will likely not cover a lot of the technical aspects of creating video content such as lighting, equipment, editing etc. When it comes to the technical side of things - i'm still an amateur!

If you are interested in getting tips on more of the technical side of things, i'd highly recommend you check out @phototutorials! He is a professional photographer/videographer that is posting amazing tutorials on Dtube. Not to mention, he is a super helpful, friendly guy!

What you will see me post about, is more on the softer side of creating good video content. If there are specific topics you would like to see me cover - please let me know! I have no specific timeline for creating these videos, but will add to the series as I go.

Tip #1 - Reduce Filler Words

This one may sound a little obvious, but did you know that there are hundreds of potential filler words? It goes so much beyond just removing "Um" from our vocabulary. In this video, I talk about how to detect your personal filler words and start working them out of your vocal rotation. We often resort to filler words when we feel nervous, but by stringing sentences together with unnecessary words - it will make you look less confident and knowledgeable.

Tip #2 - Add More Dramatic Pauses

By practicing Tip #1 and reducing filler words, you will start to add more emphasis to each idea and phrase. To level up your game even more, start adding more intentional pauses. This takes practice, but can really help make your content pop.

If you are quickly jumping from one point to the next, people may get to the end of your video and not even remember what the key takeaways were. Oftentimes, it is natural for people's mind to start wondering when they are listening to a video - especially if there is little emphasis in how the information is presented.

In this video I give some before and after examples and some tips for how to practice this.

Tip #3 - Intonation and Inflection

This tip is THE most important in my opinion, because this is an area that most people can improve upon. It is easy to sound pretty monotone in a video if you have never practiced different types of intonation and inflection.

When I am in the studio recording for a client, they will often ask me to to the same sentence in multiple different ways - so they have lots of options in the post-editing process. This means that the script is usually all marked up by the time we finish!

Use this idea to your advantage! Obviously most people don't completely script out their vlogs, but by practicing (and recording) yourself saying the same sentence multiple different ways, you get your brain used to the idea of switching things up. By the time you press the record button for your next vlog, you've already built some vocal skills that will make your video sound more interesting.

For those who choose to practice these tips - I would recomend overemphasizing to start and then scale back as you find your comfort level. People often think they are doing "too much", but are surprised with how good it sounds when they hear the recording back.

I hope you guys found these tips helpful! As always, I welcome your thoughts and questions in the comment section.

Also... if there are certain aspects to creating vlogs that you are interested in seeing me talk about - be sure to let me know!

xo, Lea

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7 years ago by coruscate (75)

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artonmysleeve (63) · 7 years ago

@coruscate your on fire, I can't believe how talented you are.
My main filler word is errrrmmm errrmmmmm lol it's all I seem to say, when it comes to editing my videos I seem to miss out a lot of content due to this.
good job for video editing right?

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1 vote

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coruscate (75) · 7 years ago

Haha yep! The nice thing about vlogs is that you can edit some if these out if need be! I am still working on reducing for the words myself. It is such a hard habit to break. I’m getting more comfortable in front of the camera, but my filler words tend to sneak out when I am doing a live presentation. More nerves equal more filler words usually!

Thanks so much for watching and I am glad you enjoyed the video!

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artonmysleeve (63) · 7 years ago

I find your work one of the best on Steemit/D-tube and I have since the beginning. You have come along way and it shows as your work gets better and better.
The tips you give are perfect for newbies too, some of the videos I have seen other people do I find -well boring because they ramble on too much.
Short and sweet straight to the point works a treat.
By the way, I am married so I am not hitting on you haha, my wife read the last few comments and asked if you knew.
I said to her- "I am you Number 1 fan"

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coruscate (75) · 7 years ago (edited)

Oh don’t worry, I didn’t get that vibe. 😊 You've totally mentioned your wife before! Besides... you really have been my number one fan from the beginning!! There aren’t too many people that I met in my early Steemit days that are still pretty active on the platform. Awesome that you are one of them!

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artonmysleeve (63) · 7 years ago

I am on steemit like 4 hours a day lol, I'm not going anywhere haha.
I have found that most of the people I was involved with from the beginning are not with me anymore.
One been @johleen I loved reading her posts, met her husband then she just stopped posting, every now and again we see her up-vote a post or two but nothing more. I'm gutted really she did some really fun posts, and like your self is a really nice person.

I went to do some promo work yesterday for steemit with @anarcotech in Sheffield UK , and we found that there are very few active steemians from here.
So I need to rectify that and bring some more on here. feel like I am a little fish in a pond. but I'm lonely haha.

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phototutorials (65) · 7 years ago

Whoa! What a shoutout, man! CHECK ME OUT GUYS! :P

Thanks so much Lea! Good tip on voice! I'm going to start using those tips! I think I use fillers WAY too much. I gotta chill out with that.

#super #onelovedtube #super

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1 vote

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coruscate (75) · 7 years ago

It was a well-deserved shoutout because your videos are awesome!

I’ve never really noticed you having filler words, which is impressive because I know you tend to do more free flow talking in your videos, like I do. Still, there’s always room for improvement.

I actually noticed in this video I used the filler word, “so” a bunch of times. (Well that’s embarrassing 😳) haha... always improving!

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kendama-odyssey (61) · 7 years ago

All great tips! I've found the more I film myself and vlog, the more I am able to be deliberate with my words. I become more comfortable not only talking to the camera, but other people as well.

As you said above, with video you always can cut around and make it into what you need. But having the skills to just run through and film an intro/outro/whatever in a single take is an important and incredibly useful to practice.

My mantra when I'm editing is "Only the hot shit." Which translates roughly to "Keep it interesting and no unnecessary fluff!" It can help make a video that was 5 minutes and slow into maybe 2 1/2 minutes but it is all interesting and captivating.

Thanks for sharing! Wonderful for incoming vloggers and video makers.

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coruscate (75) · 7 years ago

Oooh I LOVE your mantra!! I can get pretty long winded, and so I have a similar process. This video was originally about 13 minutes! 😳

I totally hear you on getting more comfortable as you go. A lot of filler words can come from nerves, and I’ve noticed mine go down as I do more videos as well.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving such a stellar comment!

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d00k13 (75) · 7 years ago

W00t w00t @phototutorials represent!
#OneLoveDtube our collaborative Discord server.

I really struggle with filler words! I also struggle with Hanging on my words, I try use this hang as an opurtunity to edit out my fillers.
You seem to do quite well in my eyes!

I like to watch my reactions while I pause.... I am such a goof.... my expressions say everything I cannot find the words for!

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coruscate (75) · 7 years ago

Haha sounds like your reactions are probably what would make the video awesome! Sometimes show the mistakes and funny moments can make th me video more relatable.

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d00k13 (75) · 7 years ago

Well I realize I may be talking to the camera, but I’m doing things for me, not for the viewers. This is my journey and anyone’s free to join me on it but I refuse to let anyone dictate what direction I go. If I happen to produce something that gains attention good for me, if not I’ve been practising some skills that I have not yet developed.

I do hope it is my charisma that attracts people So I try to at least have one clip in every video I can laugh about, today’s recording was a failed attempt to get my dog to catch treats on camera.

Trying to bring my dark humour in the content seems to be a little bit challenging while keeping an uplifting tone.

Being a realist and a perfectionist is a tough combination, one subject it’s been beaten around in my head is talking about body image and how you view yourself as this is something I believe everyone struggles with and I have a lot of experience to talk about

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smilingllama (36) · 7 years ago (edited)

The word 'errrrrrrrrrrm' should be banned! If only i could stop people from using it so often in meetings at work... it almost gets to the point that i start to cringe when i hear it, even worse when i can predict when it's going to happen. The plus side to all of this is that i notice straight away if i say 'errrrm' myself!
Taking a pause in your sentences, that is something i have to practice more, but have noticed its effect since i've started to give training courses (SQL / programming), as you tend to keep people's interest more, compared to just monotone talking.
The Lisk team have got a really good marketing guy, who is very good at public speaking, he definitely kept my attention during the Lisk relaunch on Feb 20th... hardly any filler words (if any), and, he sure knew how to give a good pause, Thomas Schouten is his name and here is his intro from the relaunch video [start at 15 minutes in] (worth watching three minutes or so of this as it includes the Lisk marketing advert which is pretty cool :)

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coruscate (75) · 7 years ago

Thanks for sharing! I’ll have to check the video out later. I always enjoy checking out people who are good at public speaking. It’s amazing how much you can learn just by watching people.

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dahlsom (44) · 7 years ago

Wow these are great tips. It's hard to learn a lot of these well... and takes tons of practice. I'm still trying to work up the nerve to do a video.

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moyse (58) · 7 years ago

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jawdoe (45) · 7 years ago

Some really helpful tips here, I am already tech side savvy when it comes to editing, lighting etc..so it good to find something like this that gives me something to work on to bring it all together..thanks for the tips :P.

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qsmeer (25) · 7 years ago

Great tips! Cheers <3

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iamanwaar (44) · 7 years ago

Fillers thats good catch,many of us including me uses many fillers,specially when you get expose to heavy attentions,naturally some fillers starts coming in.may be because of anxiousness.
May be you need to dtube a video on how to over come anxiousness.

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abdane (44) · 7 years ago (edited)

This is the most striking part when it comes my own experience in speaking, the filler word "ummmmmmm", but as for the intonation #3 I'm gonna find that a little difficult cuz English ain't my native language, so I guess I need more sessions like this to learn.
Good job.

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rjunaid12 (58) · 7 years ago

That is a lot of good advice..
How long you been doing this, you are great.
Whenever I try to make one, I should like a robot with no expressions.

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melissakellie (68) · 7 years ago

great tips! i just done of my first blogs the other day and i totally know my fillin words i always end my sentences with... "And yeah..." haha i think this is more of an Aussie thing or could just be me lol

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doenut (38) · 7 years ago

Nice Video! ;)

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mrs-yammy (0) · 7 years ago

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coruscate (75) · 7 years ago

Please do not spam/troll my posts. You literally copied and pasted a grumpy cat comment and tried to pass it as your own.

There are obviously no bots used on this post nor grumpy cat flags.

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thebluewin (60) · 7 years ago

CARE! Don't click any of these links. It redirects you to a phishing site (steemiL) that looks exactly like steemit. They want to steal your keys to your account.

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