What type of mic are you using, Tony?

A good high quality dynamic cardioid pattern mic designed for your vocal range is my recommendation here.

The newer designs, featuring the Neodymium magnet technology, such as the Shure Beta 58, or my personal fav for the last few years, the Audix OM-5 are good strong examples of the technology.

Other than that, it may be a problem with your methodology and use of your speaking voice.

Just as with the singing, the announcing is not done with the "normal" speaking voice. We must practice the development of a good and strong announcing voice.

*Always inhale before announcing. It is air moving over the vocal cords that provides projection. Make sure you have enough air before attempting an announcement.

*Practice announcing by reading any material out loud. Mark the page with breath marks if necessary, to remind you when to take that all-important inhale as you read. (Breath mark is same as used with wind players - the apostrophe ' sign.

*Endeavor to always speak with an "Open Throat" when announcing. When using the air and the diaphragm muscles to expell the air while speaking, we don't want to "Pinch" the throat muscles as is often done by folks when they naturally want to sound louder. Pinching the throat will create more midrange frequencies (as far as the vocal range is concerned) but doesn't sound nice and "round" -- and also can be detrimental to the cords and throat muscles over time. We want to hear big and round, not small and "edgy".

*MOVE IN CLOSE to the cardioid microphone when announcing, which will accentuate the lower voice frequencies quite a lot. Practice at home with your mic and PA system on this one.

There should be no reason to have to change Mic gain when going from singing to speaking - if the speaking is done properly as "announcing".


--Mac

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