Posted on 09/30/2009 1:15:32 PM PDT by Harley
Bob Dylan, one-time voice of a generation, is allegedly mulling offers to become the voice of satellite navigational devices. The default for GPS audio is anonymous and generic, but celebrities like Dennis Hopper and Mr. T have recorded alternative tracks. How do such voice-overs—which contain a seemingly infinite number of specific directions—actually get recorded?
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
This on the day Hopper is rushed to the ER with an apparent massive heart attack.
Read a few months ago that Tomtom came out with a Homer Simpson voice for their GPS.
The routes they are a changin’
You can’t drive...Fifty Five.
That’s good.
I don’t have no sports car
And I don’t even care to have one
I can walk anytime around the block
I’d listen to directions from Bob Dylan or Homer Simpson before I ever listened to directions from Barack Obama.
Can you just imagine if you had voice-overs by James Earl Jones, and you were driving in Atlanta, and you pulled up in front of a big network building and heard him say “This is CNN”...
When I started working at a GM dealership it was explained to me that Onstar uses female voices because they are more believeable.
They must never hire Nancy Pelosi or Hillary Clinton then.
Can’t stand Dylan, a no talent stoner. Why would anyone even buy any of his records,let alone make him a voiceover?
Or intermittant Star Wars quotes. I'd buy that. Turn it on and hear "What is thy bidding, my master?"
intermittant = intermittent.
Michael Crichton made the assertion in “The Andromeda Strain” that female voices were used in aural warnings because they were more noticable above background noise, even for female listeners.
Ever hear him when he hosted a radio show on XM radio? I could only understand about every 5th word he said. Try to find something with your GPS when the directions are incoherent.
Just finished a round-trip cross-country 15-state safari visiting relatives and used our Garmin for the first time. It has a fairly well-modulated female voice that we ended up calling "Hilda". If you deviated from the directions, she would harass the crap out of you with repeated "Recalculating - Turn Left on . . . " which was usually the next street as she tried to get you going HER way. After a while we were good-naturedly saying "Shut UP Hilda!".
As for a Homer Simpson voice, I'll pass. Much rather have Apu say "I am not understanding . . .Turn left on . . ."
My GPS has an womans voice with a english accent.
I call her Lola.
I’ve heard that elsewhere. The higher pitch is more penetrating. Just ask any guy who’s been married for a while.
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