Hot Tips

Handy hints for DJs

Are you talking at the right pitch?

A great many DJs starting out aren't. Got a piano or keyboard?

Sit down and read some straight reading material out loud. You'll probably soon notice that your pitch goes up and down from one basic pitch. Find this tone on the keyboard. If you're a woman it'll be near middle C, if you're a man then around an octave lower.

But is it the best pitch for you to be speaking at?

Hum the highest note you can comfortably reach (don't strain yourself!). Now find it on the piano. Next, hum the lowest comfortable pitch and find that on the keyboard.

There's probably only a couple of octaves between the high and low notes. Now find the midpoint of your voice range on the keyboard. Move about one third of the way between the middle note and your lowest note. This should be approximately your best pitch. Here you'll find that your voice sounds the clearest and fullest.

Try reading again at this new, optimum pitch. Sounds better? It'll take quite a bit of practice to retrain your voice to this new pitch, but it should be worthwhile.

Now you've got your best pitch, how about practicing your intonation. Intonation is used to emphasise important words by lifting the pitch above the optimum level. The higher the increase in pitch, the greater the emphasis: 'Already SEVENTY-FIVE new pirates have taken to the air this year'.

What about inflection? This is the change in pitch within a single word, It tells the listener whether the word completes the sentence or not. A rising inflection signifies an incomplete thought: '...and then again...' A failing inflection signifies that the thought is complete: '...and there we have it'. They can also signify emotion: 'you WHAT?'

Try practicing your optimum pitch, intonation and each type of inflection by reading adverts out of the newspaper. With practice you should be able to make a big improvement to your radio delivery — especially of commercials. Watch out Mark Damon — you've got competition!