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Covering up stumbles... and then getting nervous?
Posted: March 7th, 2019, 10:36 am
by ej400
I've always stumbled on words, even when I'm not recording, and it's almost like I keep trying to place an imaginary word in, where it's not there. Lately I've been making sure to catch myself when I do it (because it's a stumble, and that's a PL note), but seriously what's going through my mind when I do it is "just say the word, and go through this reading without a mistake or I'll have more editing to do", so then I try to cover up the stumble. Example: "He sat down on the chair and looked at the food on the table", where I would go "He sat down on the lit.. on the chair and looked at all the food on the tables". (the "lit", is where I was going to say "he sat down on the little chair". So after making this stumble, then it's like I get nervous and then it goes downhill from there and I start putting my own words in the recording. I've noticed too, that it depends on the wording of the book as well.
Does anyone else do this, or have some advice? I know I need to just catch myself when I do it, but then I feel like my editing process is going to be very long.
Thank you
Elijah
Re: Covering up stumbles... and then getting nervous?
Posted: March 7th, 2019, 10:38 am
by lymiewithpurpose
ej400 wrote: ↑March 7th, 2019, 10:36 am
I've always stumbled on words, even when I'm not recording, and it's almost like I keep trying to place an imaginary word in, where it's not there. Lately I've been making sure to catch myself when I do it (because it's a stumble, and that's a PL note), but seriously what's going through my mind when I do it is "just say the word, and go through this reading without a mistake or I'll have more editing to do", so then I try to cover up the stumble. Example: "He sat down on the chair and looked at the food on the table", where I would go "He sat down on the lit.. on the chair and looked at all the food on the tables". (the "lit", is where I was going to say "he sat down on the little chair". So after making this stumble, then it's
like I get nervous and then it goes downhill from there and I start putting my own words in the recording. I've noticed too, that it depends on the wording of the book as well.
Does anyone else do this, or have some advice? I know I need to just catch myself when I do it, but then I feel like my editing process is going to be very long.
Thank you
Elijah
I do the same thing! Some days I stumble every sentence, others it's barely there. I feel like I get nervous whenever I stumble, so if I notice I stumble a few times in a row, I will pause to take a drink of water. This kind of resets me, and it is easy to edit out silence. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. It's a real struggle though
Re: Covering up stumbles... and then getting nervous?
Posted: March 7th, 2019, 10:42 am
by ej400
lymiewithpurpose wrote: ↑March 7th, 2019, 10:38 am
I do the same thing! Some days I stumble every sentence, others it's barely there. I feel like I get nervous whenever I stumble, so if I notice I stumble a few times in a row, I will pause to take a drink of water. This kind of resets me, and it is easy to edit out silence. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. It's a real struggle though
It's like I know I'm not reading in front of a live audience, and I still do the same thing when I read to my mom or something. It's very frustrating though. Sometimes I can go for like 20 minutes without an error, and then the last 2 minutes are a disaster. Thank you
Re: Covering up stumbles... and then getting nervous?
Posted: March 7th, 2019, 11:16 am
by Darvinia
Breathe.
Take five slow controlled breaths, concentrating on the physical aspect of it and the counting. Not deep breaths but just be aware of the breath in and the breath out. This helps me relax physically and mentally when I begin to get anxious.
Re: Covering up stumbles... and then getting nervous?
Posted: March 7th, 2019, 11:19 am
by ej400
Oh yes, thank you so much. I should probably do this rather than angrily question myself of "why did I have to screw that up?"
Thank you
Re: Covering up stumbles... and then getting nervous?
Posted: March 8th, 2019, 6:38 pm
by ClaudiaSterngucker
ej400 wrote: ↑March 7th, 2019, 10:36 am
I've always stumbled on words, even when I'm not recording, and it's almost like I keep trying to place an imaginary word in, where it's not there. Lately I've been making sure to catch myself when I do it (because it's a stumble, and that's a PL note), but seriously what's going through my mind when I do it is "just say the word, and go through this reading without a mistake or I'll have more editing to do", so then I try to cover up the stumble. Example: "He sat down on the chair and looked at the food on the table", where I would go "He sat down on the lit.. on the chair and looked at all the food on the tables". (the "lit", is where I was going to say "he sat down on the little chair". So after making this stumble, then it's
like I get nervous and then it goes downhill from there and I start putting my own words in the recording. I've noticed too, that it depends on the wording of the book as well.
Does anyone else do this, or have some advice? I know I need to just catch myself when I do it, but then I feel like my editing process is going to be very long.
Thank you
Elijah
I have a similar problem, Elijah. Half an hour ago, I wanted to start recording a section of my solo, but for the life of me, I wasn't able to read even a single sentence without stumbling and making mistakes. I tried for at least twenty minutes, but finally had to give up, as my concentration went to the dogs completely. I'm starting to ask myself whether I'm just fooling myself and recording isn't meant for me at all. It's a constant struggle, and all this stopping and starting again is exhausting. Maybe I must face the fact that my stupid mud brain isn't up for the task. Often enough, I can't find the joy of reading out loud in me any more.
Re: Covering up stumbles... and then getting nervous?
Posted: March 8th, 2019, 6:48 pm
by ej400
I'm sorry to hear this. I don't think that it's not for me, I think it's good to just keep trying. Practice will only help, so the more we try, the better we'll get
<smile>
Re: Covering up stumbles... and then getting nervous?
Posted: March 8th, 2019, 6:59 pm
by Availle
I don't understand why you're getting nervous, Elijah.
I mean, annoyed at making the same stupid mistake over and over and over again.... sure. But nervous? Why?
You are alone in the room, there's nobody looking at the watch waiting for you to "get on with it
".
It's just you and your microphone, and if that is shooting you disapproving looks you should get a new one.
The nice thing about recording is that you can cut it all out later - and nobody will ever know... Honestly, I have listeners who think I'm all but brilliant for reading so fluently - little do they know how much ends up on the cutting floor.
I have read a psychology book recently that said that the auditory memory is about 5 seconds long. So if you find you stumble over the same word over and over again, take a breath, say that one word/phrase slowly and deliberately (and correctly
) once, and then commence reading at normal speed. This way, your memory kinda knows how to say that word and will (hopefully) not stumble over it again. For now
Re: Covering up stumbles... and then getting nervous?
Posted: March 8th, 2019, 10:17 pm
by icequeen
Generally, when I start stumbling over a sentence, it is because I am not reading it right. My mind "sees" and "knows" the words is one thing, but my mouth says another word, which is wrong. When I find myself doing that, I stop and silently read the sentence or phrase to myself. If you could hear my raw recording, you would hear a few stumbles, a pause, then me saying, "Oh!" Then I read the sentence correctly! It is just a matter of slowing down a little bit!
Re: Covering up stumbles... and then getting nervous?
Posted: March 8th, 2019, 10:41 pm
by realisticspeakers
My recordings take forEver. The subsequent editing takes forEver.
I do the same thing especially because the language we are reading is from generations ago.
Usually, I'm on a performance bell curve of three sections;
- stop now before you have to listen to yourself again later, then suffer someone else.
I enjoy the process, and I think that's all that counts.
Re: Covering up stumbles... and then getting nervous?
Posted: March 9th, 2019, 6:39 am
by lurcherlover
ClaudiaSterngucker wrote: ↑March 8th, 2019, 6:38 pm
I have a similar problem, Elijah. Half an hour ago, I wanted to start recording a section of my solo, but for the life of me, I wasn't able to read even a single sentence without stumbling and making mistakes. I tried for at least twenty minutes, but finally had to give up, as my concentration went to the dogs completely. I'm starting to ask myself whether I'm just fooling myself and recording isn't meant for me at all. It's a constant struggle, and all this stopping and starting again is exhausting. Maybe I must face the fact that my stupid mud brain isn't up for the task. Often enough, I can't find the joy of reading out loud in me any more.
It's a question of practice. It gets better the more you do it. Having said that, I still make mistakes and misreadings. If you stop and say the word correctly a few times (it's usually just one word) - then repeat the sentence, it should be fine.
The comment about those readers who sound so fluent is absolutely true. They probably have loads of edits to correct their reading. This is true of amateur and professional readers.
Another way is to read the paragraph a few times, starting slowly, and building up speed. (Musicians do this, read a difficult passage slowly, then build up speed until they can play it standing on their heads). Then you will find you can say correctly even in your sleep. We can all become very good at reading and public speaking if we go about it in the right way.
Re: Covering up stumbles... and then getting nervous?
Posted: March 9th, 2019, 10:13 am
by ej400
Availle wrote: ↑March 8th, 2019, 6:59 pm
I don't understand why you're getting nervous, Elijah.
I mean, annoyed at making the same stupid mistake over and over and over again.... sure. But nervous? Why?
I don't know why really. If I'm perfectly comfortable with people hearing my voice, but I don't know what makes it different from people hearing a mistake. I mean, PL notes are mistakes, so maybe I should just think of the mistakes I try to cover as PL notes... then I'd probably cut those out.
Thank you everyone for your help!
<smile>