Vocal Health with Nic Redman

Jun 27, 2023

In this episode, Anne is joined by vocal health expert Nic Redman to unlock the key to vocal mastery. Together, they delve into the significance of warm-ups, breath control, and overcoming imposter syndrome. Discover the holistic approach to warming up that saves time, enhances performance, and ensures the longevity of your voice. Explore the vital role breath plays in voiceover and gain techniques to master longer phrases while maintaining the sentence and breath system. Don't miss this opportunity to elevate your voice and take your skills to the next level. 

 

0:00:01 - Anne

Hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and today I'm excited to welcome podcaster, voiceover actor, speaking and recording coach, Nic Redman, to the podcast. Hey, Nic, how are you? I'm so delighted to be back. Yes, i love gosh. I've had you and also Leah from the VO Social podcast voiceover social podcast a couple of times already and now I get to have you all to myself. 

 

0:00:31 - Nic

Yeah, we don't need Leah to have a good time. We can do this on our own. 

 

0:00:35 - Anne

There we go, and absolutely So. I've been dying to talk to you about your, what I, what I feel is your specialty. You are like the guru of vocal health and I have been wanting to talk to you about that for quite some time, and I know that our boss listeners will have such value out of the wisdom that you have to share about vocal health. 

 

So, thank you, thank you, thank you. So let's start, and actually I will say that you know, i rushed into my booth this morning and I did not warm up. And I am speaking and I want my voice to be in tip top shape and I know that everybody always says well, what you know, what vocal warm up should I do and are they, are they important and what can they do to help me get into tip top performance shape? 

 

0:01:26 - Nic

Right. So first thing in the morning there's a couple of things I think are really important and also just a dispel if you miss that kind of put people off, warm ups, i think as well. Sometimes, you know, because people are like oh, i don't have time to warm up. I don't know what to do. Like my voice is fine, I don't need to warm up Like there's. You know, I hear all of the excuses on all of the excuses. 

 

0:01:47 - Anne

I'm sure you do. It's like. It's like getting on the exercise bike. Right, i'm going to do what I'm going to do and I know it's good for me, but I don't do it. So let's talk about why we should. 

 

0:01:57 - Nic

So the thing about a warm up is it's about preparing you to be like the best you can be as a speaker. That's basically it You might be able to get. I mean, we all speak without warming up every day, like that's just life I can communicate with my husband, i can talk to my child and whatever emotion that requires at the time. 

 

0:02:14 - Anne

I can order coffee, You know I can. 

 

0:02:16 - Nic

I can do what I need to do And I could. But the thing about a warm up is when you're let's call it an elite vocal performer like all your listeners is that it's good, isn't? 

 

0:02:25 - Anne

it, i'm an elite vocal performer. Elite vocal performer? Yes, you are. 

 

0:02:30 - Nic

It's that. It's that you kind of find something extra right, and also you've sometimes got to speak in a way that is maybe slightly outside of your habitual place, like if you're in a really excited read or a really kind of sensual read or a video game or a character or something that even requires you, for example, audio book narrators. They have all of my respect. 

 

They have to record for like thousands of hours for like days and then read another book in the evening and then do another book. I mean, like it's insane. So elite vocal performers have to find something else, and I think that something else can just be longevity and consistency, you know, and a healthy voice that will be there for you and sound the same in the morning as it does in the afternoon or the evening, or that something else could be going outside your comfort range to play a really big character, or do loads of grunts or something that's just different. 

 

The thing about what a warm up does is helps you prepare for that. So the main things to focus on for a warm up are the fact that it's like for me, more than about just tongue twisters, and clarity, because that seems to be where a lot of people start like I need to warm up, peter Piper, peter Piper, peter Piper, peter Piper, and like sure, that's that's the first place they go. So what I advocate for because that's what I was trained as as a voice practitioner and as a performer is like a full body, holistic body, mind, breath approach. That being said, still doesn't have to take very long, and so it's all about remembering that you do have a body underneath your larynx, so that needs a little bit of like yes, yeah, i'm well done. 

 

Can you imagine if we were all floating larynxes Like I feel like that would actually be quite nice for me because I love larynx, but I like the visual, I think yeah just a little larynx on feet floating around, just floating. 

 

So it's about getting the body, the breath, even your head, in the game a wee bit. And that's what I love about warm ups is that you can use them. And this is my sort of, this is my current soapbox is that you know when people say, well, I don't have time to warm up, It's for it doesn't have to take a long time. 

 

So five to 10 minutes of the right exercises, because often people are doing things that aren't the most efficient for their voice. And secondly, your warm up can actually save you time. And it does save you time Because if you take five to 10 minutes to warm up before you start, you will trip up over less words. 

 

0:04:51 - Anne

So you will have less editing or let's pick up. That's important, so important. Would you see editing, yes, please. Oh my God, i mean really, i think that's all there. I remember when I had my first you know stack, that someone prepared for me that I could apply to my audio file And I was like, oh my God, i just saved so much time. If I can save even more time on me at my editing, oh my gosh, i can do more jobs and be happier, that's for sure. 

 

0:05:15 - Nic

So it saves you time because you don't have to do like pickups because you trip over your tongue. She says tripping up over her tongue. 

 

0:05:20 - Anne

That always happens. 

 

0:05:22 - Nic

I mean the irony of all that, that's my that's me taking the Mickey out of myself. Like you know what I mean posture syndrome. Like you think you're so good at this, i'm going to show you. 

 

0:05:33 - Anne

No, you have to give a viable example. 

 

0:05:35 - Nic

So I probably the problem. 

 

0:05:37 - Anne

And that's interesting because I will say that I know that when okay, before I was a voice actor, I I taught and so I worked at a school and I would do these day long seminars or day long workshops where I would have to use my voice and I would absolutely be feeling it by the end of the day, And I'm quite sure that it is a muscle and that it needs to be worked. And especially because I do a lot of narration I don't do audio books, but I do a lot of e learning, I do a lot of corporate narration And I'm always talking to my students that it is a muscle that needs to be worked And it gosh. It would really help to not trip up so much. Right, I'm always say be more efficient in the booth, So you have to spend the less time editing. 

 

Yeah, that way, get it right in the booth, and so I can totally see that. And I will say that sometimes I'm doing other things like marketing, or I'm coaching or doing other things, and by the time I get to those auditions late at night because I think my, i think all of my agents are in cahoots with one another because they send me these auditions late at night at the end of the day And I am so tired And I will notice sometimes my jaw gets a little bit sore And I'm like there's got to be something here that I'm doing that is not right. That's making my jaw sore, like I'm holding tension somehow somewhere in my jaw. 

 

0:06:56 - Nic

Yeah, there's loads of different things that we can play around with to sort of minimize those little niggles that creep up, because sometimes those niggles, over a period of time, become something that's much more sort of Much more of an issue, you know. So, yeah, we can talk to you about John, we can have a little release, but just before we do it, in terms of the warm-up and the why, yeah, save your time, because the tongue trip ups also. Save your time because and, if you like, do some exercises to release tension. Like you said, the jaw, the tongue, the lips, the Throat, the body get the breath moving. Play with your range as well, so you get lots of vocal color and expression in there. Then, when you get to your script and you are thinking about What you've got to say and the lines are there and who you've got to communicate with and all that kind of stuff, all you have to worry about is the words and the person that you're talking to. 

 

You don't have to think about your voice, right you don't have to think about being interesting and changing color and doing weird things with pitch and weird, strange things with the prosody To make it sound interesting. Because that's one of my bug bears sometimes with voiceovers is I feel like they're trying too hard to make Their voices sound interesting, yes, instead of focusing on the listener. So like what? I love about a warm-up is that when you give someone really a really simple warm-up, it prepares them and frees everything up so that their voice goes wherever their intention needs it to in order to communicate the message. 

 

0:08:14 - Anne

So I don't see your time. I love that and I and I love the fact that that you mentioned that People they tend to to try to sound like you know, or predict what people want them to sound like. So they're trying to do all these Like vocal acrobatics when in reality, we just need to be, we have to have intention and we and we need that intention to be able to Not betray us when we want to express an emotion. In that, and I feel that, yes, having not to have to listen or worry about your voice, you know, not necessarily being there for you, i think is is amazing. So I love how you've turned it into not like something that's like, oh god, i have to do a vocal warm-up into how it really truly helps your performance and I think, really to be a better actor, right Yeah 100%. 

 

0:09:03 - Nic

It's just prepping all the bit so that they're go where you need them to go without you thinking about them. 

 

That's what you know the right kind of muscle memory and prepping everything and also, like my approach is about making it like fun and interesting and nice. So I'm making it quick and easy and something that sort of slots into your routine and can become a habit. And the other thing I said it came across recently as a bit of a warm-up is useful because theory is that, because it works on the body And the breath, and I always advocate a wee mindful minute before you start, just to focus on what your body needs and what your breath feels like it needs And how your voice is feeling is. 

 

It is actually almost like a wee bit of a mindfulness practice or a mental health practice as well. So if you're someone who likes a bit of meditation or body work or breath work in the morning, You can incorporate all that into your warm-up and then you're getting like two or three birds with one stone. 

 

0:09:52 - Anne

Yeah yeah, and I think, in addition to the vocal work, the breath work too is so important And that is part of a good vocal warm-up, i assume in your, in your, in your recommendations, because I feel like for me, i, you know, a while ago I had a health issue and had surgery and I wasn't able to breathe as well because it's surgery in my chest area And I noticed that I had to start learning how to really breathe and take Diaphragmatic breaths, like big, deep breaths, and the really cool thing about that is that, yes, i healed, but also it allowed me to really understand how powerful breathing is to my performance and how power especially when you're doing long Format and when the copy isn't necessarily written pretty or written well, yeah, when the copies all over the place and you need to be able to execute that effortlessly That is where a good, strong breath is so empowering, really truly empowering, more so than I ever imagined. 

 

So in a way, it was good that I kind of learned that I needed to breathe and how much power it could really give me for my performance. 

 

0:11:03 - Nic

Yeah, I think one of the things that excites me about breath is Sorry. 

 

0:11:12 - Anne

I thought maybe yeah, yeah, well, you know, that's what happened, he's fine Breath yes, yes I love working on breath. 

 

0:11:23 - Nic

It's one of my favorite things, particularly with voiceovers, because there are some like interesting misconceptions and hangovers from like earlier breath Dementorologies in voice world that that make breathing for that make people who are doing voiceover sort of have to seem like they have to work A bit harder because they don't quite understand what's going on with the breath. Sure, so what? so what I work with in terms of breath is I I don't I kind of get people to forget about the diaphragm completely. 

 

Okay because every breath is diaphragmatic, right, it's the primary muscle of breathing. So you can't, you can't not breathe with your diaphragm. So it's kind of a semantics with the language in one thing. 

 

0:12:02 - Anne

But well, maybe I was, maybe I was meaning deep breath. Yeah, exactly, okay, Okay. 

 

0:12:07 - Nic

Yeah, so like got it. So what I might? when, when people come to me and they say I need to breathe from or with they're using my diaphragm, what I find they're trying they're trying to, they're trying to do it rather than letting it happen, and what that leads to is people trying to breathe through their belly or Deep and all that kind of stuff, and that leads to engagement of muscles that don't need to be used. Ah, so so what I advocate for and tend to explore is Just is release and flow and movement, because Big breaths are great for, you know, long phrases sometimes and For, sometimes for powerful stuff, if that's what you need. But also, similarly, breath is as much about knowing that sometimes you only need a little breath or you only need a medium-sized breath, because actually what we need is the right amount of breath for the sentence We've got to say no more, no less, and that in itself is sort of an interesting skill to play with in a choir. 

 

So all the work I do around breath is like Diver from be gone Okay, and just work on release of the belly, a little bit of gentle engagement on the out breath and on the voice And just understanding what you're capable of. Really breath like my big love, love, love breath. 

 

0:13:19 - Anne

I. So that just that intrigues me, because I I'm always talking about when, when you have that long run-on sentence right, and a Voice talent doesn't necessarily anticipate it, and they run out of breath at the weird part, right at the part where it doesn't sound natural. I'm always trying to get them to kind of you know, read ahead, understand where you might need to breathe in order to make that sound natural. How does that come into play with your breathing? 

 

0:13:48 - Nic

Yeah, so. So my thing is making sure that the breath system is responsive enough and free enough to breathe quickly when those little top ups are needed quickly and easily and silently, and silently When those little top ups are needed, because I know that often in voiceover there are various things that get in the way of feeling like you know how much type of breath you even need Right. Or you know you're halfway through ascending and you realize it's four times longer than you thought it was going to be Right, absolutely Right absolutely So. 

 

there's a really interesting thing about breath whereby, when we're talking in conversation to our mates, right, we don't run out of breath. Our body knows how much breath we need for the thought, but when you're working with other people's thoughts, in voiceover you don't know where they fucking end Like in. 

 

Some of them are, like you say, not written very well, so you could be halfway through and you suddenly realize it's like loads longer than it needs to be. But ultimately, as long as we're like engaged and connected to the words and what we have to say, that ascending is going to sort of be as long as it wants. As long as our breath is free and we know which bits to release when we need the breath to come in to top up for us, and you keep that intention of that thought in the background until the end, you can sort of breathe as much as you want. The reason I think this is important and crucial is because sometimes voiceovers push, push, push, push right to the end of a thought, and then everything gets a little bit kind of like tense. 

 

0:15:10 - Anne

Yeah, and it's not good for your breath and it feels horrible And it doesn't sound connected. It sounds like, oh my God, I'm going to run out of breath. Yeah, And the list? it doesn't jar. 

 

0:15:19 - Nic

It's not nice for the listener. anyway, sure. But, us as, as social listeners, we are used to hearing really long meandering thoughts with our friends and our on our family. Like we're used to people starting a thought and not really knowing where it's going, and then they breathe a bit to top up and then they go off in another direction And we stay with them because we're interested and because their intention is true, like they want to tell us the thing right. 

 

So the theory is sort of the same, with voiceover for me, that the sentence can be as long as a sentence in fact needs to be As long as you are, like, committed to communicating that sentence and the breath system behind it is free to respond and be flexible and and fill it when you need to, then that's okay, so, yeah, so I work a lot with helping people understand how to get the breath in nice and, quickly and silently, how to support the breath when they need to. Also how to know where the point is Sure That they need to top up. 

 

0:16:11 - Anne

That makes sense, like the organization of the thoughts. 

 

0:16:14 - Nic

Yeah, like we speak. 

 

0:16:15 - Anne

I always when I'm, when I'm talking to my students, i'm like look, we don't. You don't hear us breathe when we're talking to to one another. We're basically breathing before we start talking, maybe after we finish talking, and then where there's commas or intended commas, and so that's typically where I say you've got to figure out where that breath goes. If it's super long, just kind of organize the thought and then speak that thought. I mean, that's, if you're in that scene, you'll speak the thought without necessarily, you know, running out of breath in the middle of it. Now I'm so conscious of my breathing right now I'm like it's beautiful And you're doing great because, look, you're alive. 

 

0:16:51 - Nic

Yeah, right, that's why you're alive and you're making voices perfect. Yeah, i interviewed Barbara Housman for my for the voice quits podcast one of my podcasts And she's this remarkable voice practitioner I have a massive. I've worked with her on and off for years and I train with her at drama school and stuff And she's amazing And she always says well, this is what she said to me was because there used to be a thought in kind of drama training that was like one breath, one thought, one breath one thought. 

 

And then you look at Shakespeare and the thoughts are like 19 sentences long. 

 

0:17:20 - Anne

This is never going to work. 

 

0:17:22 - Nic

So she reframed it for me and she said it's not about it being one breath, It's about it being one thought. 

 

So like I can keep that thought going and breathe wherever I need to, because breath is part of the communication as well. Now, i know for some types of voiceover you have to take the breath out and it's like fine, although I feel like with the event, like this AI nod. So this is going on. We need the breath because it's real and human. But that's just, that's just me. But, like you can, as long as you, as long as you really know that you need to say the words, you need to communicate the thing and you need to affect the person listening, you can let the breath come in whenever you want to, as long as it's very easy. So so that's what I work on. I work a lot on making the breath easy, responsive, habitual and kind of instinctive. I try and take people back a lot to noticing breath completely at rest, and then we build up from there and then we build on sound and then we build on thought lengths and things like that. 

 

0:18:16 - Anne

So, yeah, love it, wow, breath by breath. So so, in addition to breath being incredibly important when we're talking about performance in an extreme emotion or extreme, let's say, in video games, or we're having something that's highly emotional, where we have to probably utilize our voice more than a normal conversation level, what are your tips for helping? like you know, i don't want to scream the night before I have to record, maybe because I don't want to hurt my voice, or, you know, a lot of times people are like well, don't, you know, don't cough, like try to like clear your breath, or like gently, and there's so many different things that people tell you to do to kind of preserve your voice What sort, what tips do you have for? 

 

0:19:04 - Nic

that. So for extreme sessions, definitely a full body warm up And I would also put in place some sort of mid session resets. So two or three minutes of release exercises for the body and the vocal tract, so the throat, the tongue, the lips and the jaw and things every every, you know, half an hour or so. Just ask for a couple of minutes just to reset things so that if any strain has taken place or if any tension is creeping in, you can reset things and release things a little bit. So that's really useful. 

 

Always hydrate, of course, at least the day before, if not, like the week before. Can you hydrate too much? Oh, my god, yeah, you can have. Okay, too much of a good thing. People get a bit obsessed with, like the fact that it needs to be water And they carry these water things around that like petrol cans. Like I got eight litres of water, yeah, yeah, that's like my arm would fall off a and be I'd be, i'm waiting all the time anyway, like the last thing. It is eight litres of water. So the the the general guideline at the moment is Is one mil per calorie burned right per day. 

 

0:20:12 - Anne

Is sufficient to keep you hydrated. 

 

0:20:14 - Nic

So for for a female that's like 1500, for a male That's about 2000, depending on your exercise. So if you exercise more you might need a little bit less. 

 

Right you're lazy, alfakar, and you're on the sofa all the time, then you'd probably be fine, but it's also about your diet as well. So if again, if you are a Raw food vegan living in a rain forest, you're probably gonna need you're probably getting more water from your food and hydration from your food than someone who, like, lives in the city and eats frozen pizza all day. 

 

But right so it's a whole list, completely holistic thing, like its environment, it's food, it's the fluids you take in. all fluids count towards systemic hydration, so that's hydration of the whole body. So anything you drink that's wet will help you hydrate and counts that even coffee I was gonna. 

 

0:21:07 - Anne

I was just gonna say so. I have to have my cup of coffee every morning. You know I have about one, one cup, and people are always like don't drink coffee, it will hot D You know it will, you know it'll dry you out. And I'm like, well, i always chase it with a lot of water. 

 

So I mean that's oh good, that for me it worked. So I really do. I mean, i try not to drink a ton of coffee before a session in the morning. But here's a question Sometimes these days, these days, i utilize the morning hours because my voice just tends to be a little bit lower Before it's warmed up to actually do some voiceover work. Is there a way that you can warm up so that you can maintain that kind of a? and what is that phenomenon? What is that phenomenon where your voice is lower in the morning typically? 

 

0:21:55 - Nic

so my hypothesis for this is that you're more released, so the vocal folds to. To change pitch, i e go higher and lower the vocal folds Get longer and thinner to go high Okay and shorter and fatter to go low, and it's also about and then they vibrate. Have different number of oscillations per second right because of the size. The. The higher and lower you, the higher you go. This slightly more stretched, intense the vocal folds get. Mm-hmm the lower they are, the more slack they are. Okay, yep, been asleep on lion flap with your lovely natural breath, you know, not worrying about anything. 

 

All your muscles are released, your throat's released and rested, and lovely, i would imagine in the morning your vocal folds are just a little bit fatter and more released. Ah, no offense, look at those fat folds. 

 

0:22:50 - Anne

Vocal foes. Hey, I don't mind having fat vocal folds and I sometimes people pay me for those. For those fat vocal folds, show me a fire in the morning, yeah great, it's great, so I think that's what it is. And then the more you talk during the day, mm-hmm the more your body ticks on. 

 

0:23:04 - Nic

A wee bit of tension, the more your larynx takes on a wee bit of the tongue, everything takes on a bit more tension, so it's slightly harder to get those folds to that more relaxed. 

 

0:23:13 - Anne

God, the fat place and is there a way to get them back to the fat place outside of? I'm gonna say vocal placement Right, right to do that, or tension release, really Yeah. 

 

0:23:24 - Nic

So I'm interesting gentle exercises That encourage a bit releasing the muscles around the larynx and in the vocal tract So you can do tongue release, jaw release, yawns to open and release the the back of the throat a little bit. Okay, Yeah gentle kind of rehab style, glides up and down your pitch on Whatever. A particular semi-occluded vocal tract exercise works best for you. 

 

So semi-occluded exercises are exercises that utilize a sound that sort of partially closes the mouth, so a classic one that everyone knows is a little For some people a little is quite a lot of effort and not the right one for them other versions might be a gentle, puffy kind of Signed and or another one might be just a puffy th, so So, hmm, kind of sounds create a particular acoustic environment in a throat that allows vocal full vibration with minimal input. 

 

0:24:22 - Anne

Mmm, and that's a way to release tension. Yes, oh, okay, so do you win? Okay, so You, you work with students independently on vocal exercises, health preparation for. so take me through like what's a what's a typical with you, like, how do you assess my vocal health and my vocal performance? Okay, or just tell me what. you don't have to take me through it. I'm just don't describe what. what's the process of that? 

 

0:24:57 - Nic

I I do a lot of ninja listening, so, uh, if the first time you have with me, you're probably like why are we chatting so much and not like just getting started And then I'm like I've been listening to you. 

 

0:25:07 - Anne

Uh, but I talk to people. Have you been listening to me so far? 

 

0:25:15 - Nic

Like now. 

 

0:25:15 - Anne

I'm really piqued my interest. 

 

0:25:18 - Nic

So yeah, i do a little. Uh, i don't know if you have Sherlock Holmes, the uh program, like the British program with Benedict Cumberbatch over in America, but he does these like really amazing scans where he looks at somebody and does nose. Everything about him is like so do a cheeky weekend of Sherlock Holmes scan Like voice assessment with that's what part of my training is is being able to listen and go. 

 

Oh, i hear this, i hear that, i hear the other. Um, so I do that while we're having to be, chat and make a few notes. I also collaborate that with why you've come. So you know, someone may have come going. I'm losing my voice and I don't know why. Sure, And I will listen and go. Well, that's this, or someone will go. I'm losing my voice And it's because X, y, z And I will go. I don't think it is actually. I think it's this, or or I'll go. Yes, you're right but, let's all try this. 

 

So so it's a bit of a collaborative process And I I talk a lot about you know what the needs are, uh, what they expect from it, you know how long we've got together that kind of thing, and we just sort of piece together a bit of a strategy. It's very explorative and it's very bespoke and back and forth And I describe it like kind of sadly as a journey. It's like a journey you know, like. 

 

so we like I don't do one to one's really anymore, i do two session, quick top ups or six session kind of packages, because we start together in one place And sometimes by session three we've actually realized it's something completely different and that's often can be a bit disarming or exciting or interesting and you just have to, as a voice, as a voice technique coach, you just have to respond to that. You know I have to teach what's in the room or the zoom. 

 

0:26:49 - Anne

Sure That makes sense In front of me Same with any coaching really. 

 

0:26:53 - Nic

Um. So you know there's no one size fits all. Right, it's a very back and forwards process. Sometimes I give you stuff I said go away working that for a couple of weeks, give me a shout, how's it going, and we go. Well, this is working. That's not working. And you know, we, we assess it really as we go along. Um, so it's a. It's a really lovely, lovely process. I love one to ones because it's so bespoke. And at the moment I tend to get a lot of people who are like I've tried this, i've tried this coach or that coach or the other coach, and we still can't work out what this is. So, um, and sometimes that's nothing to do with the coach, it's just the learning place the person is in, or you know what's going on in their life. 

 

Maybe they weren't open to receiving certain information you know, but you know some. Often it takes a wee while to find the right coach for you and stuff, and you know people come to me and maybe go someone else, like like that's just what happens, um, but yeah. 

 

I do get a lot of. what's this weird noise My nose makes, or I can't work out what's happening on this cluster of signs, All that kind of or why am I? you know? quite specific stuff. I'm not the moment, uh, Mike, specific stuff, which is what my book's about. It's like, it's it's voice for Mike users. 

 

0:27:59 - Anne

Oh, so let's talk about that, because you do, you have a, you have a new book out, i do. And let's talk about that, because I was just going to ask you about um for being on the mic. What are your tips for being on the mic? So this is phenomenal that you've got a new book out. I do. 

 

0:28:15 - Nic

It's called on the mic. Okay, straight forward. 

 

0:28:19 - Anne

There you go. 

 

0:28:20 - Nic

It's called on the mic and it's voice training for voiceover artists, podcasters, speakers and presenters, so basically anybody who uses a microphone, because that seems to be the people that come to me Sure. Sure, absolutely. And yeah it's been really it's been a really interesting and exciting journey, kind of consolidating all my knowledge into what I'm doing, Into that sort of a place, Um, I think, for there are a couple of things with Mike. Speaking is number one. Um, there's a different type of energy that's needed. 

 

So and this again, this can differ from me sat here in Mabouth with this mic to somebody stood on a stage doing an expert speaking gig, Um, so it's about understanding the energy that you need for the space that you're in and the breath that you might need for the space that you're in and I think also as well the style of the delivery is really interesting and how you can use the right kind of voice warm up exercises to get you to a particular space. So if you have to sound conversational for your podcast, there are certain things you can do that are good for that. 

 

If you need to get ramped up and deal with your adrenaline to host a conference, then there are certain things you can do for that. So the whole point of the book is to like go through a lot of scenarios, go through the voice training process that I advocate, which is body, breath, sound speech, and just end up with a big fat, a toolkit of things that you can piece together in a way that works for whatever mic context you need. 

 

0:29:44 - Anne

I love it. I love it Now. Is this your first book? 

 

0:29:48 - Nic

Yes, I mean, I think I'd written Instagram Instagram captions. I was about it Right. 

 

0:29:53 - Anne

Right, well, i know I feel like I've written a ton of blogs and I know you've got a great blog out there too. Um, and I'm part of your newsletter, so, um, yeah, so that's so. It's very exciting. So, your first book, and what was that process like? Did it take? like I I'm, because I, of course, you know I'm, i'm thinking about it, and of course everybody says, and you need a book. So, um, writing a book to me, i'm just, i have so much respect because I know how much time well, i know how much time it must take, so what was the process like for you? 

 

0:30:26 - Nic

Um, I really enjoyed it, actually really enjoyed it. The hardest bit was starting like with everything, Right, i did a lot of procrastinating. I did a lot of having my whether you believe in it as not imposter syndrome on my shoulder going what are you doing? Who do you think you are? Um, so I did a lot of inviting my imposter syndrome to sit with me while I while I explored what was happening, i was like come on then. 

 

0:30:48 - Anne

We'll do it together. 

 

0:30:50 - Nic

Um, as soon as I started each little writing session, I I was great, I loved it, I mean you get to the end of the first draft and then you're like what the hell is this? So, actually, what was more exciting and interesting and fulfilling was the editing process and playing around with it. So my advice is set we, set we taught. Set we targets, we regular targets that are achievable for you. Don't edit as you go, cause I got caught up in that and it took me longer, longer than I wanted to to get to the end of the first draft, but just get a first draft done And you could let you. 

 

and, interestingly, what happened for me was it started as one book and by the time I'd finished the draft it was another book. So you know it sort of had to go back and and, um, change things up a wee bit. But I actually really enjoyed it. 

 

I feel, very proud, but also, you know it's scary, it is a scary thing putting it out there, but you just have to remember who you're writing it for. You know I spent a lot of time as well, you know, basking in the shadows of the greats who've come before me And like there are so many incredible practitioners out there who I still learn from daily and whose books I read and who I just think are remarkable. And I did do a lot of. what if they think my book's terrible? and my business coach was like, who are you writing the book for? And I was like well, my clients. and they're like so does it? like I know what matters to you. 

 

0:32:13 - Anne

Do they think you're terrible? Probably not. No, do they care? 

 

0:32:17 - Nic

No, they have been asking you for a book, So they're going to be really excited. And do you think those people who you think are amazing are going to look at you and go, ugh, gross, you wrote a book. Or are they going to go? 

 

0:32:29 - Anne

that's well done, we've been there actually About time, right About time, there we go, fantastic. 

 

0:32:34 - Nic

Yeah, i've had some lovely. I reached out to a few mentors to help me, like, edit a little bit and they were really complimentary, so I'm really pleased with it. I feel it is the first one. 

 

0:32:47 - Anne

Well, I am so excited I'm going to rush out and get it. So how can bosses get this book? 

 

0:32:54 - Nic

Yeah, so it is on my website. If you go to onthemikbookcom Okay, Onthemikbookcom it should take you to the page we can buy. Perfect, Actually, it'll be. It's on Amazon. 

 

0:33:09 - Anne

And it'll be on Amazon as well, yeah, just do that Fantastic. And how can people get in touch with you in addition to buying your book? How can they get in touch with you if they want to work with you? 

 

0:33:21 - Nic

Oh well, probably my website, Nicrebinvoicecom. That's probably the best thing I'm also on the island, stern tic-toc and all that kind of nonsense too. So you can probably find me anyway by putting Nic Redman in Perfect perfect. 

 

0:33:35 - Anne

Well, Nic, it has been a pleasure. Congratulations. I'm very excited I'm going out there and getting a book now because I and I actually I want to be contacting you because I do have some questions about how maybe you can custom work with me with some of my voice questions that I have. So thank, you so? 

 

much again. Yes, absolutely, bosses. Do you have a local nonprofit that's close to your heart? Well, if you ever wish that you could do more to help them, you certainly can Find out more at 100voiceswhocareorg to learn how. And a big shout out to our sponsor, ipdtl. You too can connect and network like Bosses. Find out more at IPDTLcom. Bosses, have an amazing week, Nic. Thanks so much. We'll see you next week. Bye, all right. 

 

Transcribed by https://podium.page