Speak Clearly Online!

Whether you’re just thinking about adding audio to your business or you’ve been recording audio products for a while now, you want to make sure your sound quality is the best you can possibly offer. So I asked sound engineer Christy Risser-Milne of OnlineSoundAdvice.com to share how get good quality sound without breaking the bank.

Download MP3

Christy tells us:

• Why gear is not the first thing you should be thinking about.
• How to block 50-60% of the outside noise [think traffic or your panting dog]  from getting picked up by your mic.
• The best way to get good quality sound during a Skype conversation.
• How to make do with what you have.
• The best editing software for the money [including free!]
• Why you shouldn’t over-edit.
• The most important investment you should make.

Christy recommends:

• Audio-Technica AT2020 USB Condenser Microphone [$100]
• Software:
  Audacity [Windows/Mac] – Free
  Amadeus Pro [Mac] – $40
  Sound Forge Audio Studio [Windows] – $65
  Wavepad [Windows/Mac] – $80 [$40 if you buy before 8/31/10]
  Levelator [Windows] – Free

For more information, head over to Online Sound Advice to download Christy’s free ebook, You Don’t Have to be a Pro to Get Quality Sound. Thanks, Christy!

Chris Brogan blogs about a new site, Thumbtack.com, that helps people find local services while helping local services market to them, so I thought I’d give it a try since I haven’t done ANY marketing specific to Southern California. It’ll be interesting to see what happens!

What do you think? 30 Minutes To A Better Speaking Voice – Guaranteed

“Huh? What did you say?”

Do people often ask you to repeat what you just said? That’s a big sign that you’re mumbling — you don’t open your mouth wide enough to articulate your words clearly.

But don’t worry! It’s amazingly easy to quit this bad habit. Try these quick exercises every day as part of your morning routine:

• Yawn. That’s right, just go with your first morning yawn, only pay attention this time. Feel your throat open up. Then sigh out loud on the out-breath. Do this two or three times. Listen to your pitch as you sigh. See if it matches your natural speaking voice.
• Toothbrush exercise. Place the bottom end of your toothbrush between your teeth and practice speaking. Talk to yourself in the mirror for twenty seconds or so, as clearly as you can, with the tip of the toothbrush between your teeth. Really exercise your mouth and tongue. Then take the toothbrush out and talk some more. Notice how open your mouth feels? Try to duplicate that feeling as you speak through the day.
• Chew. Pretend you’re chewing a mouthful of crackers with your mouth open — wide enough that the crackers would fall out if they were real. Try to speak as you chew. This is hard at first, but it gets easier. It’s another good mouth-opening workout.

That’s it! Now you’re ready to go, confident that you’re already speaking much more clearly, and will get better every day. Yay!

We’re starting a series of interviews today, with one of my favorite A-list bloggers: Dave Navarro, aka The Launch Coach, who also has a personal development blog called Rock Your Day.

Dave had some great tips for recording audios and videos:

• Why recording your audio or video first and then having it transcribed is totally worth the money.
• How Dave gets through all-day recording sessions. Hint: he hits the pause key when he needs a break.
• Why recording in segments and then editing them together saves Dave hours of work.
• The simple tool that allows Dave to give great presentations without rehearsing.

Right-click here to download mp3 file.

Dave is hard at work on his newest product, Writing Effective Sales Pages, which you can get in on by joining his advance discount list.

A lot of people make the mistake of reading their presentations, instead of speaking extemporaneously — especially when recording audio where people can’t see them.

Most people without training immediately dull it way down, the same way we all used to read aloud in grade school. Think of how boring that is for your listeners! They won’t stick around long enough to get all that valuable information you’ve worked so hard to share with them.

It’s much better to have a few one-word notes or a brief outline in front of you to jog your memory when you get lost, and then wing it. With practice, you’ll get much better over time, and you’ll always project much more excitement — because it is scary, and that’s always exciting.