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Changes in VO Styles Over the Years: From Big Booming Voice Overs to a More Natural, Conversational Style

Evolution of VO: From Voice-Over Announcer to Real Person

Once upon time, the big thing in voice-overs was that big, booming voice – the very polished, voice-over announcer type, with a strong kind of yelling-at-you delivery and feel. People listened. People purchased. That was simply how sales were made.

As times have changed, so have selling strategies. Most folks are no longer apt to listen to the very polished, big, booming voice – much less believe what it says. People today tend to instead respond to companies that focus on transparency, honesty and being real, with marketing that does the same.

This trend has definitely filtered into the voice-over arena, and has been there for some time. The big, booming voice-over announcer type of sound has been largely replaced with something that’s very casual and real.

So what does this mean?

Is the Big Booming Voice-Over Announcer Style Dead?

For starters, it can certainly mean less work for the announcer types, at least in the lineup of radio and TV spots. In fact, I recently had a discussion with another voice-over talent who has been in the business for more than 40 years. He has a great announcer VO sound, got his start in radio, and used to book two to three sessions a day for decades.

Now he doesn’t book anywhere close to that number. Those voice-over announcer style gigs have become much more sparse and he’s trying to branch out into other areas of voice-over to keep his business afloat.

The Voice-Over Announcer style is still used to grab peoples' attention

Louder, Hard-Sell Voice-Overs Are Still Popular for Selling Cars, Mattresses and in Sports

This is not to say there is absolutely no demand for the big, booming announcer voice. Sports announcers thrive on this type of style, especially when their voice reverberates throughout gymnasiums, colosseums and arenas. The style also remains common in several industries. The automotive industry is a prime example. Car commercials on TV and radio still tend to use the big, boomy, hard-sell approach, as do many furniture and mattress stores.

Here are a couple of examples showcasing two differing announcer reads: One pokes fun at the announcer sound in a conversation with on-camera talent, and the other is the “yelling at you” variety. Both are currently on TV as of this writing.

The announcer-type delivery remains particularly popular for local and regional spots. However, a national spot for any major automobile brand, by contrast, may have a much more polished and subdued delivery.

While the male voice typically makes a good match for the announcer-type, booming voice, I have had my own chance to use it on several occasions.

Below are a couple examples that show some of the range I am asked to provide for auto-related commercials. From a typical soft-sell voice-over announcer style that I use for a Ford Dealership, to a more sultry conversational style on a Harley-Davidson dealer commercial. Check out many more samples of other styles on my Automotive Commercials page.

On Being a Voice at the Happiest Place on Earth

One of my more memorable voice-over announcer opportunities was as the original in-the-park announcer for Disney’s California Adventure when it opened in 2001. I was living in Southern California at the time, so the commute was much shorter than it would be if I were traveling from my current home in Michigan.

When the park opened, I was there in person making the announcement for the company president, dignitaries and all other attendees at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. My voice was broadcast over the park’s public address system, in between my pre-recorded announcements welcoming guests, weather contingencies and starting time of the parade.

Over the next few years, I really enjoyed being the “voice of the park” and having friends and relatives ask me if that was my voice they heard while waiting in line for a ride.

Here’s a short clip I was able to dig up from a special event announcer gig at the Disney Park in California. I think this may have been a New Year’s Eve event.

 

      Sending Dreams & Wishes Into the Future

 

To succeed with the announcer-type voice, it’s imperative to get into the announcer-type mode. As with all voice-over work, you  have to really know your audience and speak to them. Announcer-type deliveries must be clear, enunciated and perfectly pronounced. In the case of speaking to the crowd at a Disney theme park, the delivery also required enthusiasm, smile and warmth – since they were, of course, at the “happiest place on earth.”

The biggest challenge for voice-over announcer can be believability

Both VO Styles Have Their Challenges

While the announcer-type style and the casual conversation style may seem as if they’re on opposite sides of the spectrum, they do share a common challenge. In both cases, the overall goal is to be believable.

  • As big and booming as an announcer-type voice may be, it still needs some degree of warmth and humanity so it doesn’t totally turn off the listener. The delivery requires an element that characterizes the information as important, and as something the audience wants to listen to.
  • The casual, real-person read also needs to be believable. It has to sound like a real conversation someone is having with her girlfriend at Starbucks about a place to get a bank loan, or with her aging mother about an assisted living facility (click to listen to some of my conversational demo samples).Here is where voice acting comes into play, with the voice-over artist entering the reality of the moment and actually being that person in that particular situation.  Underplaying these types of conversations, and making them believable can be one of the hardest things for a VO artist to successfully accomplish, especially from just words on the page.  That’s where the “talent” part comes in.  But it’s still got to have vocal energy, billboard client names, come in under 30 seconds, and all the other things that are important in advertising. It’s a tricky road to navigate sometimes.Some modern spots tend toward the snarky and sarcastic, featuring the befuddled mom, frustrated worker or similar roles. The trend is to create a situation of frustration, present the problem – and then solve it with the for-sale-now solution within 30 seconds, and make it all sound perfectly natural and believable. Visit my voice over demos page to hear examples of these kinds of styles.The greatest challenge in these cases may be taking the copy that someone else wrote and truly making it your own. The words need to feel like they came from your own heart, instead of a script sitting in front of you. It seems easy. But of course, that’s why you hire a professional to do the work; since it’s their business to make something quite challenging look easy.Both announcer and conversational voice-over styles still have their places in the world, and no matter how easy and straightforward either voice-over style may seem, both the larger-than-life- announcer and the “real person” require insight, experience, and just the right read to provide the most effective results.Whether you’re looking for an announcer-style or more conversational tone, I would love to help you with your project. Please contact me today for a complimentary voice over quote or custom audition.

    You may also enjoy reading these posts on similar topics:

    “When You Need More Than Just a Voice-Over Actor”

    “6 Reasons People Trust a Female Voice Over Male Voices”

    “Voice-Over Narration: Do It Yourself or Pay for a Pro?”

The Most Annoying Speech Patterns You Hear All the Time Now

annoying speech patterns can drive you crazy
So, you probably already know about vocal fry, valspeak and uptalk, right? I mean, everyone has heard plenty of examples of those speech patterns that have made perfectly well-educated college grads (mostly female) sound like Kardashian wannabes.

Vocal fry refers to a low, glottal, animal-like sound that speech pathologists consider a vocal disorder.

Valspeak is, like, short for the way Valley Girls talk that was, like, you know, so big Frank Zappa sang about it in 1982.

Uptalk, a subset of valspeak, is the habit of producing a rising inflection as if you’re asking a question – even when you’re not?

Here’s a new video we created to demonstrate some of the more common patterns you hear today…

To say that all these fad-driven speech patterns are kinda, sorta, well… I don’t know, annoying may seem a bit harsh. But it’s also absolutely true.

The Harsh Reality of Speech Patterns

The use of such patterns do more than annoy the listener. Even if the people indulging in these patterns have an incredibly high IQ, the patterns work against them by making them:

  • Sound less intelligent
  • Appear less professional
  • Seem like a nitwit or airhead
  • An embarrassment in front of mom, dad or the general public
  • Unfit for any position that pays more than minimum wage

Despite all the detriments of allowing those patterns to unconsciously creep into your own conversational lexicon, people are falling prey at rapid rates. Some are even doing it on purpose.

One of the reasons the patterns become so widespread, particularly with the current trend of vocal fry, is the feeling of belonging it gives young women. A video on Today explains how it makes the women feel part of a “macroculture.”

If you ask me, I’d rather join a gym.

If you ask me again, I’d also predict the tide will turn and people who drop these phrases will come out on top in the long run. Drop the phrases now and you can think of it as an easy, inexpensive way to outshine 85 percent of your competitors in that next job interview.

thumbs down

The Up-and-Coming Most Annoying Speech Patterns

Being a voice-over talent makes me extremely sensitive to not only the sound of voices I hear on TV, radio and the internet, but also to the words that are chosen. None of these up-and-coming phrases ever appear in scripts that I read for actual voice-over jobs or auditions. They are typically found in unscripted, more extemporaneous speech.

These five speech patterns have become rampant in interviews. My husband listens to a lot of podcasts, particularly enjoying them while out driving or working in the yard. He started tracking the pervasive use of these five patterns of speaking that are appearing in virtually every interview he listens to lately, including on cable news and business channels.

Of course, once he shared them with me, I started hearing them, too.

I’ve already used all five patterns in this post, did you catch them?

1. You know – This phrase is increasingly being used at the beginning of the sentence as a lead-in. This one has been around for ages but, you know, it’s been given new life with a new use you can’t help but constantly hear if you listen for it.

“You know, the best way to find out the answers is to just Google it.”

2. So – So, you’ll also find this one at the beginning of a sentence, namely as a way to “manage” the conversation and sound fairly authoritative (or condescending). It’s become hugely common, even among expert speakers during formal interviews (just listen to NPR while various experts are interviewed). More on that idea here.

“So, what we’ve found in our research is that people tend to add this word as a way to sound informal yet still be an expert.” 

3. I mean – This completely unnecessary phrase seems to just be a habitual way to start sentences for many people. I mean, where did this one come from anyway?

“I mean, if it really was a problem that I say that phrase whenever I’m trying to make my point, what difference does it make?” Whatever!

4. … right? – This one comes at the end of sentences, apparently to encourage or sometimes subtly force agreement on the listener. It reminds me of the French who often tack on a oui or non at the end of a sentence, non? It’s hit the English language strong in just the past year or so, right?

“It wasn’t just that the election campaign this year was ugly, right…? It really became a battle of negative personalities in a race to the bottom of common decency.” 

5. Kind of (or sort of) – This tidbit is used anywhere in the middle, as a way to not say what you really mean. It’s sort of a way to soften, to be kind of… vague, imprecise and uncommitted.

“Well, if you look at the data, you’ll kind of notice that there’s a trend that sort of jumps out at you.”

You can even mix them all together in infinite combinations:

“Right, so… you know the best way to find out answers is to Google it, right? It’s kind of like way better than going to the library. I mean, how did people even get through the day before the internet was invented! We really owe a lot to the guy who invented that, I mean, really…

I understand these may be hip ways of speaking these days , but they actually detract from the message. They also make the speaker sound less intelligent and sometimes even manipulative.

On those rare occasions when I hear an interview with someone who is profoundly lacking all of these five patterns, it is such a breath of fresh air! I can focus and absorb what they are saying so much more easily.

More common, is hearing someone speak with various combinations of several of these patterns appearing in just one sentence! It’s kinda crazy, right?

Yes, I understand that my fixated attention on these patterns is what is causing me to be distracted. And, like a highly contagious virus, it is possible that by simply reading this post, you too will become afflicted!

Sorry about that, but it’s the only way to bring awareness to this type of conversational disease in hopes that it can be eradicated very soon.

Pay attention and I promise you’ll start noticing these patterns in nearly every casual conversation you listen in on. Even interviews with people you’d think would be trained to avoid patterns like these are using them.

It’s mildly disturbing to me. I hope you’ll be disturbed too. At least enough to curb your own use (and maybe the usage by your kids, spouse and/or significant other).

Oh, and yes, I know I left off many other annoying speech patterns. Like things like “like” because it’s just, like, beyond ubiquitous and you already know about it. Now that you’ve become painfully aware of my top five annoying speech patterns, please share your own speech pattern pet peeves.

Feel free to share in the comments! And please read through the comments for some very interesting insights and observations from other readers.