Famous Bad Voices

00:01 Before we get too lost in the weeds here, let's talk about the range of voices and what actually makes a good voice, a bad voice now.

00:08 I do want you to like your own voice and presumably you don't like it now or you wouldn't be in this course.

00:14 But let's not forget, not everybody has to sound like a generic FM talk radio host in order to be successful.

00:25 For example, Barbara Walters has had a tremendous career for more than 50 years, and yet she has a lisp as a voice that not many people would consider is a good voice.

00:36 And she's had a remarkable success in broadcast journalism.

00:41 Fran Drescher, the nanny, that nasal twang hasn't seemed to hurt her career. Rosie O'Donnell, that strong sort of outer borough New York accent, tough.

00:53 And yet she's been wildly successful, has made tens of millions of dollars, if not more. Ben Stein of Comedy Central fame has that monotone, monotone, flat, boring monotone that you may remember from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

01:11 There are a lot of different types of voices.

01:13 Rachael Ray, not exactly the best voice in the world.

01:16 Greta Van Susteren of Fox News Channel, one of the top-rated host in all of prime time TV.

01:24 Not what most people would consider a good voice, sort of grating, scratchy, irritating. So let's be a little bit careful before we write off our own voices as somehow the thing that's holding us back or that's really hurting us, because there's a wide range of voices that the American public and the public around the world considers quite acceptable and in some cases interesting because it's a little different. Now I'm going to give you tips on how to sound your best.

01:55 Don't worry. But I do want you to keep that in mind as we go through this process.