I used to pronounce hanyu pinyin ‘b,’ ‘d,’ and ‘g’ like the heavier versions at the beginning of the English words ‘boy,’ ‘dog,’ and ‘got.’ But I taught at ‘Tunghai University’, written ‘Donghai’ in pinyin, and lived in Taipei, ‘Taibei’ in pinyin. Over the phone, I sounded like I was from Hong Kong. So if you might be speaking Chinese with an English ‘b,’ ‘d’, and ‘g,” your may enjoy lightening up. Here's a short write up on how to do it and a couple of videos to give you some practice!