Robotic Voices

You hear them more and more. Their metallic sound, cold and neutral and of course outlandish. Robotic voices are conquering our public spaces, a vocal matrix of instructions and messages, avant-garde of the new controlled society. I hear them every time I drive out of the parking lot at the Lyon airport: "Merci pour votre visite, bonjour". The message is clear, but the inhuman sound is also perceived by my mind as an android sound. I wish it were so pleasant, even funny and sophisticated as C3PO the protocol droid from Star Wars. No way near.

But hey, let's not reject this technology. As you can probably hear in your own computer, some synthesized voices are very close to the real thing. Google has made an impressive progress with its plugin that can emulate human speech. Just try this, write define, then write any word. You can then look up both the meaning of the word and listen to the right pronunciation.

Will this technology ever replace the job of voice talents, well not entirely. The human voice carries more than just information, it transports emotions that a machine can't reproduce. But voice artists and studios beware, one day not so far in the future, the technology might surprise you. Some companies are developing that software that can read any script in most languages with the rhythm, intonation and pitch you want. But then to avoid a ridiculous expression, there always be a human being behind the puppet.

Impostare, or how to use the voice at its best

The Italians and Spaniards have a word for it: impostare, impostar...
This means the act of concentrating the strength of the voice on the vocal cords, so that the sound that comes from it is full and round, but mostly non hesitant and firm.

In other words it is a non natural exercise that needs training, that is why it's a job, because you need concentration, vocal skills and experience. If you have the chance to see how radio voices or professionnal announcers behave in front of the mike, you will see what I mean. Their voice suddenly changes to a sound that is completely different from the natural tone of voice of the person. It is a real transformation that you can not only hear, but also see. All of a sudden the voice talent changes is face and posture, he starts articulating also in a kind of artificial fashion, so opening the mouth, as if to pronounce better the syllables. And, yes, the actor can move hands and body, provided that he does it silently, to give that special concentration and emotion to the voice. At PrimeVoices we are very aware of that process, so we have witnessed at our studios many kinds of body languages, most funny of all was an Arabic voice that before the recording session started just lied down on the floor to breath and relax, then he started to made funny sounds as if to release the voice. The ritual ended with a massage of the cheeks to made them more flexible. The voice had a rather high pitch voice for a talent, but in front of the mike his voice turned out to be deep and solemn, we were really impressed...

Half an hour rec. session for just four words ?

Oh, certainly that's the minimum if you want to record the real thing !

And that's precisely what we are showing in this video clip: the recording session actually lasted for a whole day, because we recorded nine language versions in a row of a one single 5'' billboard. Time and dedication were invested not just because it's about a very famous and prestigious brand, but also due to the fact that this advert is showing on a well-known international TV station.

So it's a kind of rule: the smaller the text, the longer the time devoted to recording.

How can that contemplation can be justified? Well, everything starts with the translation, not easy either, because here you rather adapt a text for a target audience, instead of a simple conventional translation that could ruin both the original meaning and spirit of the slogan or advert. Once the text is validated by the client, we then have to choose the right voices. In this case, the keyword was elegance, because both the brand and the program that is sponsored have that in common: culture, refinement, status and prestige. So Grazia our artistic director chose not just another deep voice, but a distinguished voice like that of our friend Jean-Claude. Like his other colleagues (Spanish, English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic and Turkish) Jean-Claude had to convey in those four words the right elegant pitch, the vocal vibrations that prompt in your mind those brand values the client wants to convey. Sergio, our engineer, equalized the voice track with some good old tube sound to highlight warmth and proximity. Then normalized and exported the track in the right broadcasting format.

So as you can see in our main characters of the video, Jean-Claude, Sergio and Grazia, recording a billboard is not a factory process, it's a delicate operation that needs patience, care and also sense of humor.
Check out: http://www.primevoices.com


FRENCH
Une séance d'une demi-heure pour a peine 4 mots ?
Oui, certainement c'est le minimum si vous voulez un résultat vraiment pro!
Et c'est précisément ce que nous montrons dans le clip vidéo ci-dessus: la séance d'enregistrement et post-prod avait duré toute une journée, parce que nous avons effectué neuf versions linguistiques d'un slogan publicitaire de 5 mots. Du temps et du travail ont été investis non seulement parce que il s'agissait d'une marque très célèbre et prestigieuse, mais aussi en raison du fait que cette annonce serait diffusée sur une chaine de télé international très connu.
Donc c'est une sorte de règle: plus petit est le texte, plus long le temps consacré à l'enregistrement.
Comment cette contemplation peut être justifiée? Eh bien, tout commence par la traduction, pas facile non plus, car ici vous adaptez plutôt un texte destiné à un public cible, au lieu d'une traduction classique  et simple qui pourrait ruiner à la fois la signification originelle et l'esprit du slogan. Une fois le texte validé par le client, nous devons alors choisir les voix les plus appropriées. Dans ce cas, le mot clef est l'élégance, parce que tant la marque que le programme qui sponsorise ont cela en commun: la culture, le raffinement, le statut et le prestige. Ainsi Grazia, notre directrice artistique, avait cherché et trouvé une voix distinguée comme celle de notre ami Jean-Claude. Comme ses autres collègues (espagnol, anglais, allemand, italien, portugais, russe, arabe et turque) Jean-Claude devait faire passer dans ces quatre mots, ce pitch élégante et ces vibrations vocales qui transmettent les valeurs de marque si chers au clients. Sergio, notre ingénieur, avait égalisé la piste vocale avec le bon vieux tube a fin de mettre en évidence la chaleur et la proximité. 
Donc, comme vous pouvez le voir dans nos personnages de la vidéo, Jean-Claude, Sergio et Grazia, l'enregistrement d'un billboard publicitaire n'est pas un processus d'usine, c'est une opération délicate qui nécessite de la patience, de l'inspiration et aussi le sens de l'humour
Jetez un coup d'oeil sur : http://www.primevoices.fr

Voice it, but first understand what you are saying !

If you do voice-over for a living, because you are a radio or TV journalist, or a professional announcer, I'm sure you are confronted with a simple fact: you can't read properly if you don't understand what it's written. Well, you could argue, a real voice artist can read any text in any way you ask him to, and not just that: a real voice artist can do some magic too: a stupid or even fluffy text can sound interesting and even intelligent if you apply the right dose of salt and pepper tweaking your voice and applying the right pitch, rhythm and intonation. If you add to that the technical savvy of a good sound engineer and the latest digital sound recording technology the result can be impressive. So beware of nice sounding voices, they can just make you believe or buy almost anything. That explains why some artists get paid nicely because their persuasive voices get the message across to your mind and that is the goal of publicists, preachers and, yes, journalists. Some journalists believe that just reading the facts and showing the pictures is enough to communicate, well they are wrong. They have to put something more of themselves than just the vocal cords, or their news item will be just another boring piece of information.
Check out http://www.primevoices.com


FRENCH
Lisez au micro, mais aprés avoir bien compris le texte !
Si vous travaillez dans la voix off pour vous gagner votre vie, soit parce que vous êtes un journaliste de radio ou de télévision, ou bien un speaker / comédien professionnel, je suis sûr que vous êtes toujours confronté à un simple fait : vous ne pouvez pas lire correctement si vous ne comprenez pas ce que c'est écrit. Eh bien, on pourrait penser, un vrais comédien peut lire n'importe quel texte de quelque manière que vous le lui demandez, et pas seulement: une artiste vraie peut faire un tour de magie avec sa voix: un texte stupide, voire vide peut même paraître intéressant et intelligent, à condition d'appliquer la bonne dose de sel et de poivre dans la voix et ajuster rythme et l'intonation. 
Si vous ajoutez à cela le savoir faire technique d'un bon ingénieur du son et les dernières technologies numériques de l'enregistrement sonore, le résultat peut être impressionnant. Alors méfiez-vous des voix qui sonnent, ils peuvent tout simplement vous faire croire ou acheter presque n'importe quoi. Cela explique pourquoi certains comédiens sont très bien payés parce que leur voix persuasive fait passer le message à votre esprit et tel est l'objectif des publicistes, des prêtres et, oui, des journalistes. 
Certains journalistes estiment que la simple lecture des faits avec les images est suffisant pour bien communiquer, eh bien ils ont tort. Ils doivent mettre quelque chose de plus propre que seulement les cordes vocales, ou leurs infos seront juste une autre pièce ennuyeuse qui déclenchera l'indifférence et le zapping.
Jetez un coup d'oeil sur http://www.primevoices.fr