2023.09.26 – 0999 – The Diction-ary of Voice – V and W

**V

Verbal tic – the repeated use of words or phrases such as “like” or “y’know what I mean?”

Velum – the soft palate at the back of the roof of the mouth. The back of your tongue touches the velum when pronouncing letters such as ‘k’.

Vocal elements – the various ways (such as inflection, pause, pace and phrasing) that one can make the spoken word more engaging he techniques for making a voice interesting and effective

Vocal fold – located in the larynx, a multi-layered fold of tissue that vibrates to produce sound when air passes over them

Vocal loading – the amount of impact of the stresses and strains on the vocal folds from talking or singing. The loading can be affected by the amount, volume or the tone of the sound, and also by the speaker’s levels of stress or tension

Voice actor – different from a ‘voice over’, who tends to be an ‘anonymous voice’, an actor will appear in audio dramas, audio books, computer games and so on, where they are reading the lines to be spoken by a character in a specific situation

Voice guide – a director in a recording situation who will read a script, perhaps line-by-line, for the ‘voice talent’ to repeat ‘parrot fashion’, and mimic the cadence. Usually used when the actor is inexperienced in script reading, but has a great voice or high-profile name that is wanted for publicity reasons. A voice guide may also be the temporary voice-over track, recorded so video editors can choose shots and time their cuts to which the ‘professional’ voice talent can talk to later

Voice of God (or ‘VoG’) - loud and large, stentorious and dramatic reads, reminiscent of 1950s (American) radio announcers, and often heard at sports and showbiz events

Voice over – the reading of a scrip, or narration over a video

Voice quality – one’s personal vocal attributes and characteristics

Volume - the loudness of a voice

Vowel - speech sounds of a, e, i, o, and u

**W

Watermark – or more accurately, an audio watermark. This is a snippet of sound (such as a tone or ‘beep’) used to protect your recording, sample or audition. The sound briefly overlaps with your voice at points during the recording say veery few seconds, or over the brand name. This protects your audio from being misused for example, without payment

Whisper phonation – the proper term for when you are whispering

Windpipe – the trachea.

Windscreen – the covering over or in front of a microphone to eliminate unwanted noises such as that made by plosives

Wowing – the changing in pitch of a sound causing distortion

Wrap - the end of a recording

Wrap — a recorded news or other content feature, of interview clips linked (or ‘wrapped up’) by a presenter or reporter  

**X

XLR - a type of cable connector, very common on microphones. 

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