Measured voice · The even keel

Patrick Stewart

120s segment · male register · 16 benchmarked readings · measured 2026-07-26

Comparisons are based on Resonate's acoustic analysis of publicly available speeches. No endorsement or affiliation is implied.

The read

Years of Royal Shakespeare Company training come down to one physical problem: reaching the back wall of a large room without shouting. Put that voice at a BBC radio desk, one presenter across the table, and the training refuses to switch off: presence-band energy — the 2–4 kHz range that carries through noise — reads optimal into a single microphone. Around it, everything is in motion: range and variability above the band, and almost no stopping — eight pauses in two minutes. The register and the volume control stay in-band throughout. The projection isn’t a setting he chooses. It’s where the voice now lives.

Pitch contour · every voiced frame

1342353350s60s120sHz

Pitch & melody

Average pitch129Hz
in the zoneoptimal 100–150 Hz
Pitch variability7.31st
above the zoneoptimal 3–6.5 st
Pitch range18.7st
above the zoneoptimal 7–12 st
Pitch dynamism (PDQ)0.47
above the zoneoptimal 0.15–0.38

Pacing & pauses

Pause ratio2.31%
below the zoneoptimal 18–35 %
Average pause length0.35s
below the zoneoptimal 0.4–1 s
Syllable rate3.22syl/s
below the zoneoptimal 4–5.5 syl/s

Dynamics

Volume dynamics24.6dB
above the zoneoptimal 8–18 dB
Loudness variability7.48dB
in the zoneoptimal 3.5–8 dB

Voice quality

Voice clarity (HNR)7.68dB
below the zoneoptimal 12–30 dB
Pitch steadiness (jitter)3.1%
above the zoneoptimal 0–2.5 %
Volume steadiness (shimmer)9.47%
above the zoneoptimal 0–9 %
Vocal fry (creak)3.1%
in the zoneoptimal 0–8 %

Spectral balance

Presence band (2-4 kHz)7.12%
in the zoneoptimal 6–20 %
Chest band (0-500 Hz)77.5%
above the zoneoptimal 35–75 %
Spectral tilt (alpha ratio)-8.06dB
in the zoneoptimal -22–-8 dB

Energy by band

Low (0–500 Hz)77.5%Mid (0.5–2 kHz)10.7%Presence (2–4 kHz)7.1%Brilliance (4 kHz+)4.7%

The presence band (2–4 kHz, red) is what carries a voice to the back of a room.

Steal this

forward placement

What the measurements endorse is placement — energy sitting forward, in the band that cuts through rooms, crowds and laptop speakers, at no extra volume. Hum “mm-hmm” until you feel a distinct buzz at the lips rather than in the throat, then slide straight from the hum into a sentence, keeping the sound exactly where the buzz was. Projection is placement plus intention. Shouting is neither.

From the training library: Find the buzz

Questions about this voice

What makes Patrick Stewart’s voice distinctive?

The standout reading in Patrick Stewart’s measurement is 7.1% presence-band energy: inside the optimal band — energy exactly where rooms and cheap speakers listen. A 2005 Desert Island Discs interview: the projection band reads optimal at a radio desk.

What can you learn from Patrick Stewart’s voice?

The measured strength worth stealing is “forward placement”. What the measurements endorse is placement — energy sitting forward, in the band that cuts through rooms, crowds and laptop speakers, at no extra volume. Hum “mm-hmm” until you feel a distinct buzz at the lips rather than in the throat, then slide straight from the hum into a sentence, keeping the sound exactly where the buzz was. Projection is placement plus intention. Shouting is neither. The matching drill in the Resonate training library is “Find the buzz”.

How was Patrick Stewart’s voice measured?

Resonate ran a 120-second segment of a publicly available recording through the same acoustic analysis used for every voice in this library — 16 benchmarked readings on one shared scale, measured 2026-07-26. The exact source recording and any caveats are documented in the notes on this page; it’s a snapshot of one recording, not a verdict on a career.

Same instrument · same scale

You’ve just read Stewart’s voice. Now read your own.

Measure my voice

Free · about twenty seconds · no signup. The same six scores on the same scale — and the recording is deleted the moment it’s analysed.