Creating a God-Like Voice for commercials

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balky

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Creating a God-Like Voice for commercials


Hey, everyone!

I have a question as far as creating or enhancing a guy's voice making it sound like in Radio Commercials - that God Like deep sound, like in movie trailers etc.

I am sure those voice have been somewhat doctored... what is the best aproach to make that transformation. I have cubase 3.

The more infor, the better. I've tried pitch shifter, but it does not sound real... sounds rather weird, perhaps for MONSter effect that would do.

Anyway, appreciate you input.

Thanks
Paul

Also, does anyone know how to aproach radio imagine? Any articles?
 
Pitch shifter pitched down slightly, to lower to a nice deep voice, don't over do it..... and lots of reverb.

Unless your god is a woman, then pitch it up. But keep the reverb because most gods have a lot of verb in the voice.


But if you want the movie sounding guy, either hire Gary Owens or Pablo Fransisco.
 
Use multiband compressor....

0. Closed up mic
1. super compressed at the low end, to get the "grungy" sound.
2. moderate compressed at the mid
4. moderate compressed at the high end..
5. Then put reverb.

Good luck.
 
Are you simply referring to proximity effect perhaps?

Get very close to the mic :D
 
Hire James Earl Jones.

Seriously, the right voice actor will get you 90% there with minimal effects needed.

All the pitch-shifting, compression and reverb in the world ain't going to work if you have Truman Capote in front of the mic.

God is in the attitude.

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Hire James Earl Jones.

Seriously, the right voice actor will get you 90% there with minimal effects needed.

All the pitch-shifting, compression and reverb in the world ain't going to work if you have Truman Capote in front of the mic.

God is in the attitude.

G.
Click to expand...

Yup.

Also, you need to compress the hell out of the voice.

Also, try a EV RE-20. Lot's BOOM there! :)

You could try some bass enhancement stuff, like from BBE and Aphex.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Hire James Earl Jones.

Seriously, the right voice actor will get you 90% there with minimal effects needed.

All the pitch-shifting, compression and reverb in the world ain't going to work if you have Truman Capote in front of the mic.

God is in the attitude.

G.
Click to expand...
I also agree with this position...
At the VO agency where I work, we have the same equipment and settings for every actor.....only some them book movie-trailer or other God-like work - even the best actors can't all create that sound....it's a gift, that can be enhanced, but not created...
 
Yes, hire the right talent to begin with.

I once worked with one of those movie-voices via an ISDN line from LA. Great voice. Can't remember who it was, only it was the UK commercial for 'Windtalkers'. Deep and authoritative.

Alternatively you could have that Scottish bloke who does the Guinness ads in the UK, but he can just about read a script, let alone deliver what's on it - best avoid unless you want to do 3hrs of takes for a 30 second ad.

Another God-like voice if you don't mind an English accent would be someone like Christopher Lee, although he's an absolutely miserable git to work with...
 
Yea, give it up.

If the voice doesn't already sound deep and God-like to begin with, it's not going to be magically imparted in post.

No compressors ... no EQ .... no distortion or any other wild effects. It's either there, or it's not. That's why the guys that do comercials, trailers, etc. all get paid pretty well for what they do.

.
 
balky said:
I am sure those voice have been somewhat doctored... what is the best aproach to make that transformation. I have cubase 3.

The more infor, the better. I've tried pitch shifter, but it does not sound real... sounds rather weird, perhaps for MONSter effect that would do.
Click to expand...

As several have already pointed out, some people actually have that kind of "radio/movie trailer" voice. Doctoring is not required if you have the right voice to begin with.

If you don't have access to a voice like that, perhaps some pitch shift. I'm thinking maybe you tried too much pitch shift? It should be just a little, and ideally none.

But really, it all comes from the voice.
 
chessrock said:
Yea, give it up.

If the voice doesn't already sound deep and God-like to begin with, it's not going to be magically imparted in post.

No compressors ... no EQ .... no distortion or any other wild effects. It's either there, or it's not. That's why the guys that do comercials, trailers, etc. all get paid pretty well for what they do.

.
Click to expand...
I am not trying to sound like those guys, I am trying to figure out if there is away to emphosize the low part of my register and keep the reality side of it. Each person's vocie if unique in its own way, and whatever job my voice will make it, their voice will sound out of place. :) So, but as a sound'comuter/voiceover person, I want to know how to achiee these things.

Thanks toy everyone who replied. If you have more input, I am gladly going to take my notebook out and a pen :)
 
It is probably achieved by twicken EQ to emhosize prequencies of their voice that are already there. I suspect that.

Pitch, I've tried in different amounts, still it has this tremolic shade to it that right away gives it away... Now I need to try it in cubase. First was cool edit.
 
balky said:
I am trying to figure out if there is away to emphosize the low part of my register and keep the reality side of it.
Click to expand...
Sounding god-like and keeping it real...now there's a tall order! ;)

J/K a little :). OK, there's a few things you can try.

Fordie brings up a good point with mic selection. The RE-20 might be a good choice. You could also try any kind of dynamic cardioid with a good proximity effect to it, even a '57. It's a cheap, cliche effect, but how automatic - almost instinctive - is it for someone who wants to sound like a deity to practically swallow the microphone? I'd bet there isn't a single person on this board who has used any microphone whatsoever that hasn't at least jokingly done this at least once in their lives. :) Don't overdo it, but get close to the mic and let it do the bass boost for you.

On the processing side of things, you could try the ol' "Parametric Sweep" trick.

First, apply whatever compression you desire to the voice. If you apply the compression after you perform this EQ technique, it could get a bit tricky getting the right sound.

After you have compressed your voice to heavenly levels, take one band of your parametric EQ set to medium-fine Q, and a healthy 8-10dB boost, and slowly sweep through the bass frequencies. When you find a frequency that seems to really honk out at you - i.e. that sounds like it's actually being boosted louder than the other frequencies are - you have found a resonant frequency in your voice. Pull back on the EQ boost at that point to just a few dBs, what ever is enough to emphasize that frequency without sounding over-boosted. You might also then want to to add another parametric band set the the first subharmonic of that resonant frequency (take that resonant frequency value and divide it by two) and give that a slight bump.

Then, if desired, apply some large-hall-class reverb to the end product to taste.

Feel free to play around with the above recipe; it is not set in stone, But it should give you a good start towards getting a handle on it, I should think.

G.
 
OK. Then I have a question...

<<<First, apply whatever compression you desire to the voice. If you apply the compression after you perform this EQ technique, it could get a bit tricky getting the right sound.<<<

When you EQ in cubase, each trach has its 3band EQ, does that EQ goes Before any Insert effect or after? Oh should I just stay away from that 3 band and use an EQ Parametric plug in after Dynamics Plugin?
 
balky said:
When you EQ in cubase, each trach has its 3band EQ, does that EQ goes Before any Insert effect or after? Oh should I just stay away from that 3 band and use an EQ Parametric plug in after Dynamics Plugin?
Click to expand...
Stay away from the 3-band for this purpose and use the parametric plug. The 3-band will not give you the resolution or the flexibility you need for the techniques and purpose described.

If after all else is done, feel free to use the 3-band for some slight overall tweaking or sweetening of your sound if you like, but for the main "modeling" of your GodVoice use the parametric.

G.
 
David Katauskas said:
I heard that Tom Brokaw is looking for side work. :D
Click to expand...
That's for when you need a voice like God eating mashed potatoes :D

G.
 
balky said:
but as a sound'comuter/voiceover person, I want to know how to achiee these things.
Click to expand...


Alright, here's how it's done: Stick a mic in front of your face, and talk.
.
 
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