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Is there a way to record my voice so it sounds like the "Movie Preview Guy?" :). Just a silly question that I was thinking about the other day

Comments

JoeH Fri, 01/14/2005 - 13:25

Sure; wait until you're good and constipated, sit down on your porcelin throne, with a good LD mic, and while you're "Working it out" keep repeating:

"In a world....."

You'll get it in no time. :twisted:

The guy on Fox bugs the hell out of me, too...same with the voice guy for all the Law & Order vo's. Gimme a break already.

I can't believe people still pay money for that forced, phony nonsense. But that's just me.

anonymous Fri, 01/14/2005 - 13:47

I do voice-over for some Pay Per View events, Motor events and tons of concert tours & album promotions. There ain't much to it. Just a good, large diaphragm, condenser mic and some compression. Roll off the low end before the compressor, so you can compress hard without pumping and then take a deep breath and belch out some grinding tone, depositing lung tissue on the wind screen in the process.

I am always careful to poop first. :)

anonymous Fri, 01/14/2005 - 16:21

Speaking of screaming... The thing that bothers me the most is Auto dealers. I don't know about other folks, but someone screaming at me does not induce the desire to go to the associated dealer and buy a car. Also, when it comes to word count, less is best. However, nobody seems to understand that. I do it for the money, but I don't agree with it or expect anyone to enjoy it.

PS: I also mix music I hate for the money. Am I greedy? I'll stop now before I get on a soap box about the subject. I could tell some stories... but only another V-O guy would care.

JoeH Fri, 01/14/2005 - 19:21

oh, go ahead and spill yer guts, oakman, I'm sure many of us would love to hear it! ;-)

As for the auto ads; I worked for a radio station that was forced to run those horrible loud yelling ads. They begged the client to tone it down and make nice, but the client was convinced (and had some data to back it up) that statistically, more people paid attention and went to their dealerships as a result of the god-awful ads than not.

anonymous Sat, 01/15/2005 - 03:29

Oh, there is some truth in the fact that the screamers stand out next to the other ads in a stop set, but I think getting someone's attention and leaving them with a positive image is two different things. I work in two different worlds. Hard-sell advertisers and the entertainment industry. The labels and entertainers seem to understand the power of emotion and picking a simple subject that is attractive to their audience and building an image about their product that is conducive to sales. On the other hand, some auto dealers are just bargain shopping for word count. Many don't seem to care weather their advertising leaves a good taste in the mouth of the listener. They are just pissed that they even have to pay for an ad and want to get as many words for their dollar as possible.

Ever notice how the agencies with the biggest money at stake don't try to advertise every sale price on every product they ever had in one single, over produced ad? Instead, they focus on image, like "It's a family place to shop", or "bask in luxury" or something. You don't see McDonalds trying to cram every price on every menu item they have in every ad. Don't get me wrong. I am thankful for every piece of copy that comes over the fax machine. I need to support my wife's shopping habit. Yet, I am disturbed about having to use digital time compression on half the stuff I do, just to fit all the meaningless words into 30 or 60 seconds.

Typical scenario... I call client...
bob - "Hi, this is bob. I am having great difficulty speaking fast enough to get all the words in the alloted time. Do you mind if I toy with the copy a bit?"
client - "I read it in 30 second after I wrote it."
bob - "Out loud?"
client - "Well... no, but... tell ya' what. Lemme look over the copy and see what I can do."
Client calls back - "We have to add this co-op copy from the manufacturer."
bob - " Did you manage to remove any other copy?"
client - "No, but we have to have this new copy in there and the stations are waiting. The schedule started an hour ago."
bob - "No problem. I can talk so fast nobody will understand a word."
client - "Great! It should be on your fax now. Bye."

For some reason I am able to fit more words in when I yell. :)

anonymous Mon, 01/17/2005 - 08:04

:D
Oakman:
that typical scenario is SO true!!
i've worked a few years producing that kinda crap here in Sweden where almost every local radio ad contains:
- Welcome to ____
- Right Now!!!
- Sellout price on this and that, and even that! at only ____ (regular price ____ - That gives you a discount of amazingly _____%!!!!)
- Open weekly at ___ to ___, saturdays from ___ to ___
- location addresss, phone number, every other number or BS info a customer really don't need and never have the time to write down cause it's impossible to remember and impossible to hear cause it goes so fast you can't hear a thing and BIG sound effect _____
- Welcome!

:roll: Good god, I'm happy I don't do this anymore....

anonymous Wed, 01/19/2005 - 00:55

Reggie wrote: Do the car dealers in Sweden wear cheesy suits and giant hats too?

:lol:

BTW: do you think a BIG sound effect could go at the beginning as well?

- No, they try more looking like hip yuppies "doing the real big deals" ...

- Yes, BIG soundeffect followed by "WELCOME TO ____!!!! is always a good start to EVERY commercial spot you make :wink: