Skip to content
Kavitha Iyer

A monthly letter about voices, impressions and how to do them

I’m Kavitha. Once a month I send one voice or one technique from Kerala, with a short clip to listen to, and I make warm-up sheets, templates and two video courses.

One email on the 5th of each month. Unsubscribe any time.

Latest letters

  1. 33

    The Six O’Clock Announcer

    New

    The radio voice that made rain on our roof listen, and how I taped him.

    Nov 5, 20266 min readRead: The Six O’Clock Announcer
  2. 32

    Aunt Leela Counts Change

    A brisk, half-annoyed voice that rounds every sum up and every sentence down.

    Oct 5, 20264 min readRead: Aunt Leela Counts Change
  3. 31

    Rain Behind the Voice

    What the monsoon does to a recording, and the afternoon I stopped fighting it.

    Sep 5, 20265 min readRead: Rain Behind the Voice
  4. 30

    The Boatman’s Long Vowels

    Why a call across the backwaters stretches every vowel, and how to borrow that stretch.

    Aug 5, 20267 min readRead: The Boatman’s Long Vowels
  5. 29

    Hands Talk Too

    I gesture at the microphone and it helps. Three small movements that change my pitch.

    Jul 5, 20263 min readRead: Hands Talk Too
  6. 28

    A Spare Room With Two Pillows

    The whole studio: one room, two pillows, a wardrobe door and the hum of a fridge.

    Jun 5, 20268 min readRead: A Spare Room With Two Pillows
  7. 27

    Mother and Aunt at the Kitchen Table

    I recorded two women telling the same story and found how differently they breathe.

    May 5, 20265 min readRead: Mother and Aunt at the Kitchen Table
  8. 26

    Cutting My Own Breaths

    Editing a character piece, I learned which breaths to keep and which to lose.

    Apr 5, 20266 min readRead: Cutting My Own Breaths
  9. 25

    Copy the Rhythm, Not the Words

    Gibberish in a borrowed rhythm taught me more than any script of an aunt.

    Mar 5, 20264 min readRead: Copy the Rhythm, Not the Words
  10. 24

    Jaw, Tongue, Lips Before Anything

    The first warm-up I ever did in the spare room, and why it still opens my day.

    Feb 5, 20263 min readRead: Jaw, Tongue, Lips Before Anything

Shop

Portrait of a laughing woman in a teal saree with a long braid

About me

I grew up in a house with a radio on the shelf, three aunts who all talked at once and a bus conductor who sang the stops. I started copying them at the dinner table and never really stopped. Now I do them on a microphone in a spare room.

Each letter is a tracklist entry: one voice, how I found it and what I learned getting it onto a recording. I do my aunts, uncles and radio announcers warmly, and I leave out anything that would make a person smaller.