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Voice in the Machine How GPS voice-over recording works.
Slate ^ | Sep 29, 2009 | Eric Hynes

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 ...


TOPICS: Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: bobdylangps; voiceover
They'll stone ya when you're driving in your car.
1 posted on 09/30/2009 1:15:32 PM PDT by Harley
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To: Harley

This on the day Hopper is rushed to the ER with an apparent massive heart attack.


2 posted on 09/30/2009 1:17:43 PM PDT by EDINVA (A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul -- G. B. Shaw)
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To: Harley

Read a few months ago that Tomtom came out with a Homer Simpson voice for their GPS.


3 posted on 09/30/2009 1:20:21 PM PDT by posterchild (Endowed by my Creator with certain unalienable rights.)
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To: Harley

The routes they are a changin’


4 posted on 09/30/2009 1:20:38 PM PDT by Locomotive Breath
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To: Locomotive Breath

You can’t drive...Fifty Five.


5 posted on 09/30/2009 1:21:53 PM PDT by posterchild (Endowed by my Creator with certain unalienable rights.)
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To: Harley

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


Well, I seen a Cadillac window uptown
And there was nobody aroun’,
I got into the driver’s seat
And I drove 42nd Street
In my Cadillac.
Good car to drive after a war.


6 posted on 09/30/2009 1:21:53 PM PDT by Sparko ("Barack Hussein Obama He said Red, Yellow, Black or White All are equal in His sight. Mmm, mmm, mmm")
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To: posterchild

I’d listen to directions from Bob Dylan or Homer Simpson before I ever listened to directions from Barack Obama.


7 posted on 09/30/2009 1:22:26 PM PDT by Harley (Life is Tough, But It's a Lot Tougher When You're a Liberal. Stop Global Whining Now.)
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To: Harley

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”...


8 posted on 09/30/2009 1:22:30 PM PDT by Hegemony Cricket (The emperor has no pedigree.)
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To: Harley

When I started working at a GM dealership it was explained to me that Onstar uses female voices because they are more believeable.


9 posted on 09/30/2009 1:29:38 PM PDT by goseminoles
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To: goseminoles
... female voices because they are more believeable.

They must never hire Nancy Pelosi or Hillary Clinton then.

10 posted on 09/30/2009 1:35:20 PM PDT by Harley (Life is Tough, But It's a Lot Tougher When You're a Liberal. Stop Global Whining Now.)
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To: Harley

Can’t stand Dylan, a no talent stoner. Why would anyone even buy any of his records,let alone make him a voiceover?


11 posted on 09/30/2009 1:41:45 PM PDT by Samizdat
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To: Hegemony Cricket
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”...

Or intermittant Star Wars quotes. I'd buy that. Turn it on and hear "What is thy bidding, my master?"

12 posted on 09/30/2009 1:42:00 PM PDT by IYAS9YAS (The townhalls were going great until the oPods showed up.)
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To: IYAS9YAS

intermittant = intermittent.


13 posted on 09/30/2009 1:42:41 PM PDT by IYAS9YAS (The townhalls were going great until the oPods showed up.)
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To: goseminoles

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.


14 posted on 09/30/2009 1:45:34 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: Samizdat

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.


15 posted on 09/30/2009 1:59:27 PM PDT by Harley (Life is Tough, But It's a Lot Tougher When You're a Liberal. Stop Global Whining Now.)
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To: goseminoles
When I started working at a GM dealership it was explained to me that Onstar uses female voices because they are more believeable.

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 . . ."

16 posted on 09/30/2009 2:11:54 PM PDT by Oatka ("A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves." –Bertrand de Jouvenel)
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To: Harley

My GPS has an womans voice with a english accent.

I call her Lola.


17 posted on 09/30/2009 2:47:38 PM PDT by mowowie
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To: DuncanWaring

I’ve heard that elsewhere. The higher pitch is more penetrating. Just ask any guy who’s been married for a while.


18 posted on 09/30/2009 7:36:55 PM PDT by Locomotive Breath
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