Before you even start recording, you need to think about the structure of your content. How to best put it into a format that works with audio?
How do I structure my content for recording?
Do I want to do a little bit of storytelling, like in Podcasts? Do I learn best with questions? Maybe I have some questions for my listeners? Hmm, I don’t need all the fluff - I’ll be focusing on hard facts only.
Those are probably some thoughts that’ll go through your head, and so they should. Think about what kind of recording you want to do. What kind of tracks would you listen to yourself? There’s no right or wrong. But it's important to think about these questions before you start recording.
When it comes down to it, there are a few structures that proved to work exceptionally well with audio:
Tell a story surrounding your material
Prepare a questionnaire
Focus on hard facts only, but keep it short and simple
If you are unsure how to structure your content, just try one of the above and see how it works for you. Besides the structure, your level of knowledge about the topic plays a big role. Depending on how familiar you are with your material you can approach the recording in different ways. Maybe you are an expert in the field, a manager or a teacher … in that case you’ll probably need to prepare less than someone who’s completely new to the topic.
How do I even start recording?
Structuring your content is one thing but recording is a different story. So how do you start? Depending on how much you know about your material and how well of a speaker you are, there are different approaches to recording.
Improvise
Use bullet points
Script it
Improvise your recording
If you’re already familiar with your topic and know a lot about it, you can try to improvise your recording from scratch. Think about what you want to say and just start recording.
You’ll probably need a few tries but that doesn’t matter. Improvised tracks are often more pleasant to listen to and more authentic. You additionally use your own words to describe the subject in which case you’ll be more likely to remember everything.
Record using bullet points
Maybe you know a lot about your topic, but you still feel like you need some sort of support? Then bullet points are the right choice for you.
Think about your storyline and what you want the recording to sound like. Then go ahead and make some bullet points. Don't write down too much, but just enough to not lose your train of thought while speaking. You'll still improvise most of the things you'll be saying, but if you're lost you can take a quick glance at your notes or just press the pause button for a moment to think about what to say next.
Script what you want to say
Sometimes we want to know exactly what we are going to say. It’s totally fine to script the whole recording then. Especially when you want to do some sort of storytelling, it can really help to write it all down first.
But always keep in mind that people are supposed to listen to it, not read it. So try to write your script in an informal tone of voice with short sentences, rather than an academic essay that is full of complicated terms and phrases. It helps to already imagine how you would say a sentence and what parts you would emphasize, while you're still scripting. That prevents you from ending up with a monotonous recording that makes your listeners fall asleep. If you don't have time to go through an already prepared text to adapt it, you can still come up with an engaging recording, if you keep your focus on the intonation and your voice.
I made a mistake, now what?
Nobody is perfect and your first recording won’t be either. And that is okay. We all start somewhere. If you make a mistake during your recording in the Audvice app, you can simple scroll back on the waveform and re-record your mistake.
Small tips, big impact
Now that you mastered your topic structure and know how to start recording, there are some tiny tips I still wanna share with you:
Breath
This my sound stupid, but don’t forget to breath. I often see people starting a recording and suddenly they are out of breath.
Take breaks
This goes hand in hand with breathing. Take some breaks. I know we don’t like to do it and most of the time taking a break while speaking feels like an eternity. But pausing once in a while for a few seconds actually helps your listeners to better process what you're telling them.
Drink some water
Before you start talking, take a sip of water to get your throat ready.
Skip the coffee and milk ... at least right before you do a recording. Coffee and milk coats your tongue & throat and makes it more difficult to pronounce accurately.
In the end the most important thing is to be open for something new and simply give it a try: so let's all start recording in the Audvice app 🎧