Are you ready for...breathing and the all important, attitude? Well my friend, this is where the men get separated from the boys. Now let's make like a prank phone caller and do some heavy breathing, shall we?

Breathing is the most natural and automatic thing we do in life and when it comes to voice over, our breathing has to be as natural as it is in any of our everyday conversations. It's usually best to sound conversational, like you're talking with someone right in front of you, if we don't our performance can sound stilted and contrived. Let's talk a bit about finding the "breathing breaks" in a piece of copy. In this lesson, I'm going to demonstrate multiple things to look for and do at once. Try this.

Here's a radio script, look it over and see if you can tell where the breathing breaks belong.

All right, I admit it...I'm a radio talk show junkie. That's actually how I met my wife! Yeah, I'm in the gym with my ear phones on listening to Ronn Owens on KGO radio, and I couldn't help but to laugh outloud at one of Ronn's usual witty remarks - when this woman I've been meaning to talk with, walks up to me and says "What's so funny?". Well the rest is, as they say, history. KGO AM 810 San Francisco, talk radio that could change your life.

After you read through this silently, read it outloud with the attitude you perceived the story teller to have. Where did you naturally take a break to breath? Here is the copy again marked with a "\" where the breathing breaks would be for me.

\All right, I admit it... I'm a radio talk show junkie. That's actually how I met my wife! Yeah, I'm in the gym with my ear phones on listening to Ronn Owens on KGO 810, \ and I couldn't help but to laugh outloud at one of Ronn's usual witty remarks - \ when this beautiful woman walks up to me and says \ "What's so funny?" Well the rest is, as they say, history.\ KGO AM 810 San Francisco, talk radio that could change your life.

I chose those breathing break to fit my interpretation and character of the copy, since different interpretation can change the breathing points.

So what was your overall interpretation of the copy? What was the attitude of the storyteller? Happy? Ticked? It could actually be either one depending on how you look at it! Most of us will interpret this as a happily-ever-after story, but what's to say it couldn't be read from the, newly-divorced-and-bitter-about it, perspective? Now in most reads, you'll be best leaning towards the more positive attitude, I bring that up only to get you to stretch your imagination. That's how different interpretations can actually form the attitude of the storyteller. Be on the lookout for that first.

Also, look at other things you can glean from the copy such as geographical hints. Make the copy original and find the reality in the copy that's real to you, however many ways that may be.

Ask yourself next, who does or could this person remind you of? Try and tell the story as if you were that familiar person you're reminded of. This is were you put your acting hat on and pretend; pretend that you're talking with another person...even if that person bares a striking resemblance to a microphone!

Lesson 1 2

These lessons are a work in progress. I'll have more up soon, please check back.