I recently wrote a post on my ADHD/Lifestyle blog, Emily: Out Loud, all about joining a choir. I’ve been in choirs practically my whole childhood and teenage years, then continued my enjoyment of singing with some musical theater in my 20s, but really haven’t sung much since turning 30, aside from briefly singing with my husband’s band, and then as part of the 100th episode of my main podcast when I sang on “The Story Behind: The Musical!”
But aside from those instances, I had been missing singing for fun for a while. I sing in the car, but most times my kids are with me and my voice is better left to either big performance spaces or solo singing when no one will cover their ears when I decide to let my belt roar. But I noticed I was really missing singing when I found a church over the summer to join and remembered just how much I liked singing with others.
I ended up being invited to join the choir as they were starting to prepare for the holiday concert back in September. Since then, I’ve gotten to take a closer look at some of the skills and best practices of choir singing that can also benefit podcasters — and really anyone who gets on the mic and performs!
Practice!
When we learn a new song, we’re shaky at first. Some songs are familiar to longtime members and some others can sight-read, but for me who’s a newbie and very rusty at sight-reading, I find I need to go over songs a few times before I feel confident enough to sing out.
When it comes to podcasting, the same can be said for anyone looking for more confidence behind the mic — put in the work and you’ll be rewarded!
While some podcasters love to say they are good off the cuff, the reality is very few actually are. And even then, everyone has an off day. But the more you practice getting behind the microphone and what you’re going to say, the more confident you’ll sound — which is great for anyone using their podcast to build authority for themselves or their brand.
Podcasters who are frequent guests on other podcasts are easy to spot as an editor because they’ve practiced their main talking points so often, they seem to just glide off the tongue. These are talking points like their introduction, their elevator pitch of their podcast/service/business/etc., and their rundown of website information and calls to action. Sometimes podcast guests may get their questions in advance or can get a sense of the general questions they’ll get asked by listening to previous episodes of the podcast they’ll be a guest on.
Podcast Pro Tip: When I’m asked to be a guest on a podcast, I like to ask what episodes they recommend to get a good sense of what kind of questions to expect.
Warm up
We start our practices with vocal warm-ups, but I realized early on I needed more than just a few minutes to really work up the strength of my soprano high register so I found a YouTube channel by a vocal coach that I work with on days I’m singing, as well as off-days to improve my skills.
I like doing vocal exercises before podcasting now, too. It takes me quicker to get comfortable on the mic after playing with my voice a bit.
We’ve been recovering lately from some sickness as well and I notice when I warm-up my voice, it moves all the gunk around so I’m not constantly clearing my throat or coughing as much.
As a podcast editor, I can usually tell when my clients or their guests are sick when I have to remove more coughs or throat clearing than usual. Vocal warm-ups can help — I did a YouTube video of vocal warm-ups for podcasters a few years ago that's I refuse to rewatch now (you might understand why when you see how silly it is 😂)
Warming up the voice doesn't have to be as silly, but can be also be done just by using it for a bit. Sometimes we might not realize we haven't spoken in a while until we go to speak and realize we have a frog in our throats. (If I decide to make a podcast out of this blog post, this is where the frog sound effect would go, obviously.)
I can tell when a host may have rushed into the interview or conversation without warming up when I hear those frogs leap out in the first few minutes of the episode.
My recommendation is to do some warming up with your guest before pressing record.
Even though I'm an introvert and usually hate small talk at parties, having some go-to ice breaker questions to kickstart a conversational flow is another good reason to warm up you and your guests.
A good podcast host is a curious podcast host
Questions about favorite shows or recent movies they've seen, favorite nightstand books, places they've traveled, how they take their coffee, etc. — talking about food or favorite restaurants is where I open up, personally.
It's like my social side hears food mentioned and says, “You like food? I, too, like food! We're now BFFs 😍”
Be aware of getting too personal. Some people may be more hesitant to talk about their kids or where they live, for example.
From a producer’s standpoint, a brief talk before the interview can also be a way to make sure the guest is using the right mic and they have a good connection. This might be when you — as a host and/or the future editor — are listening for anything that might affect the sound or ability for your audience to hear and understand everyone speaking.
Sometimes when I’m a guest, I like having that off-air pre-conversation to transition from Mom Mode to Podcasting Mode, as well. I find it helps get out those on-air jitters a bit.
Check your tech before you go live
This is your friendly podcast editor letting you know that the more tech stuff you fix in the beginning, the less work you’ll be doing later on in the editing room. First and foremost, check your mic. Every. Time. As soon as you press record, tap on your mic to make sure you’re either hearing it in your headphones or you see the tapping waveforms on your recording track. You can always edit out the taps later, but it’s a lot trickier to make a computer's built-in microphone sound anywhere near as good as a proper mic.(Looking for a podcasting microphone? Check out my podcasting gear recommendations.)
When it comes to our performance, we’ll be doing a sound check the day before our performance to make sure our mics, cables, and connections are all in order. That way, the next day when it’s time to perform, everything will be good to go and we won’t have to worry about technical snafus.
Listen
If you grew up watching “Sister Act” as much as I did as a kid, you may remember Kathy Najimy’s character singing glass-shattering loud, high notes and her voice sticks out from the rest of the choir because of it. However being a part of a choir means blending your voice with those around you to sound like a whole, rather than a group of individual voices. This requires listening to those around you carefully and adjusting your voice to blend.
How does that relate to podcasting? Great listeners make compelling podcast hosts. They listen to their guests and think in terms of what the audience will want to hear more of.
They’re aware of what value their audience can get from the guest and they listen for those nuggets of gold in order to dive deeper, if possible. They may adjust their questions or conversation to accommodate these instincts.
This may sound specific to interview-style podcasts, but listening is also an important skill in the editing room for anyone working on their own podcast. Lots of podcasters of all levels are uncomfortable listening to their own voice. It’s one of the reasons podcast editors exist. But if outsourcing isn’t an option, the sooner you get over the initial feeling of “Is THAT what I sound like?!”, the more you can focus on the content and listening in a more constructive way in order to improve the content and quality.
For those still going through the “Is THAT what I sound like?!” stage, one of my tips is to speed up the audio a bit so you sound more like a chipmunk when you edit. I have an easier time listening to myself as a chipmunk than at regular speed. It can also help you get through editing faster 😉
BUT!!!! Do not forget to put your podcast back at regular 1.0x speed before uploading it as the final .mp3.
Protect your voice
The first week I joined choir, I was so excited about getting to perform the Hallelujah Chorus that I over-practiced and ended up straining my voice on top of getting a cold, and then actually losing it for a few weeks! It was awful and I had a such a rough time trying to communicate with my husband and kids.
Learn from my mistake and take care of your voice!
Stay hydrated and have lots of water on recording day. Be sure to take water breaks if you’re talking a lot. Stay as safe and healthy as you can, especially in the months when the weather can affect your voice even more.
Rest your voice as needed. For a while, I was doing vocal warm-ups and exercises daily to get my voice back into choir shape. But since we’re coming up on the performance, I’m pulling back a bit and resting my voice between rehearsing days so I know it’ll be full and un-strained for our concert.
One more thing
Not every lesson carries over though.
With our choir performance a one-day-only live event, there isn’t the idea that if we mess up we can just “fix it in post.”
Podcasters (for the most part) have the advantage of multiple takes and editing later. However, as you can probably tell from this list, the more you do ahead of time to prepare, the more smoothly your recording process will go — and the less time you’ll spend in the editing room later!
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