That announcer...

[edwin_m]

sorry about that last post, something went wrong when i tried to reply

Bit like what happens with automated PA systems?

 

[SMBC]

Heathrow Connect used to have a clearly spoken gentleman with a mellifluous tone.
I was told his voice was also to be heard in some of their lifts.
Unusual to hear a male voice but I understand that change was made because the higher female tonal range cuts through the hubbub of travel
I would rather it did not.

Chiltern seem to be going over from personal announcements by their drivers to boring recordings

That mellifluous tone was mine. It was replaced when Terminal 5 opened and I wasn't around to record new announcements. Shame, as I never took a recording.

p.s. I am an employee of HEX.

 

[Midlandman]

In Wurzburg (Germany) they got a local school to record all the stop announcements on the trams. They used all the age range. You haven't lived until you've heard one stop announced by a voice-just-broken teenager and the next by a squeaky-voiced excited six year old, sounding as if they've pumped the previous announcer full of laughing gas between 'takes'. On a weekend visit, we thought it was hilarious. Our daughter, living there at the time, said the novelty wore off pretty quickly and most people wished they'd go back to 'normal' announcements

 

[Monty]

Once on SWT, there was a really long pause, and everyone joked that she had stopped to take a massive breath. sorry about that last post, something went wrong when i tried to reply

That is a memory issue with the Desiro stock itself and the problem is not unique to SWT.

 

[Muzer]

Unusual to hear a male voice but I understand that change was made because the higher female tonal range cuts through the hubbub of travel

I think anyone who has heard both Phil Sayer and Celia Drummond at a station will call BS on that

 

[Crossover]

That is a memory issue with the Desiro stock itself and the problem is not unique to SWT.

I have never heard such pauses on 350's when with London Midland, but I once got one of them when on loan to Southern back in 2009, and I seem to recall it had buffering issues. Then, it did have some rather long place names to read!

 

[Uzair]

Who is the announcer at London Victoria, the new female one? She's awful.

 

[fairysdad]

I think anyone who has heard both Phil Sayer and Celia Drummond at a station will call BS on that

I'm now imagining Phil and Celia having an automated argument like the airport announcers at the beginning of Airplane!...

 

[trentside]

Who is the announcer at London Victoria, the new female one? She's awful.

I don't think anyone knows the name of the voice over artist, but she's also used at some smaller Virgin stations along with WCML.

 

[Monkey Magic]

I think that to help passengers each train should have its destinations voiced in the appropriate regional accent.

So any train to Plymouth needs to have its destinations read out by a Janner, any train to Glasgow by a Taggart soundalike.

There is a guard who does the last Paddington-Worcester train as far as Oxford who is perhaps the most enthusiastic guard I've ever heard.

 

[Hyphen]

I think that to help passengers each train should have its destinations voiced in the appropriate regional accent.

So should XC services for example carry a full bank of announcements and station names in 25 different regional accents so it's always able to announce the destination and following calling points in the accent of whichever part of the country it's in at present? Or would you have one person from each XC served station record its name in the appropriate local accent, so you get to hear an entire nation's worth of accents in every single announcement?

 

[causton]

So should XC services for example carry a full bank of announcements and station names in 25 different regional accents so it's always able to announce the destination and following calling points in the accent of whichever part of the country it's in at present? Or would you have one person from each XC served station record its name in the appropriate local accent, so you get to hear an entire nation's worth of accents in every single announcement?

I would actually like to hear the last one! Can't see any problems with that

...hmm...!

 

[Monkey Magic]

Well if it were a Dundee to Plymouth train via Newcastle, Birmingham and Bristol then you would have an interesting mix of accents.

It would make a change from the monotony and hegemony of middle class RP accents

 

[Crossover]

Well if it were a Dundee to Plymouth train via Newcastle, Birmingham and Bristol then you would have an interesting mix of accents.

It would make a change from the monotony and hegemony of middle class RP accents

As it goes via Leeds, for some reason, this springs to mind

 

[southern442]

I see what you mean, and that was only Forest Gate to Manor Park. I would be going spare by Brentwood !

Still think how much better it will be when she has to announce all stations from Shenfield to Maidenhead

I sometimes have to put up with her on the London-Portsmouth runs!

 

[cmovcc]

she says this on the 365s to Cambridge with monotonous regularity

 

[Smethwickian]

In my opinion the Virgin auto announcer is a million times worse than JB.

Seconded. At least JB sounds vaguely human and not utterly robotic. Travelled from Birmingham to Carlisle and back on Tuesday aboard VT voyagers with. The intonation all. Wrong. And several times northbound seeming to 'crash' and announce: "Welcome aboard this Virgin Trains service to we will be calling at the following principal stations" - with not even a pause in between or anything to follow.

 

[jon0844]

she says this on the 365s to Cambridge with monotonous regularity

Ha, sounds like she nearly forgot to mention King's Lynn!

I believe the 365s will get an all-new system as part of their refurbishment, so I wonder who will do the voices if they're all new? That's assuming it isn't just the same software/system as retrofitted on the 317s.

 

[fgwrich]

I'm now imagining Phil and Celia having an automated argument like the airport announcers at the beginning of Airplane!...

Well, you can almost get that in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QaIAEr-Wt0

jonmorris0844

Quote:
Originally Posted by cporter View Post
she says this on the 365s to Cambridge with monotonous regularity

Ha, sounds like she nearly forgot to mention King's Lynn!

I believe the 365s will get an all-new system as part of their refurbishment, so I wonder who will do the voices if they're all new? That's assuming it isn't just the same software/system as retrofitted on the 317s.

God that's awful, she starts off sounding all happy and welcoming, and very quickly turns robotic.

I'll still always laugh at the Jubilee line's PA Though (I think that's Eleanor Hamilton too). This station is WIIIIIIILsden Greeen. This a Jubilee Line train to straatford.

 

[jon0844]

And Neeeeeesdon!

 

[Termy]

The English Automatic Announcer at Newport South Wales (and presumably other ATW managed Stations) always amuses me with the way she extends the place name Cwmbran a little longer than it needs to be.
It always comes out as Cwmbraaaaaaaaan. :P

 

[dvboy]

Seconded. At least JB sounds vaguely human and not utterly robotic. Travelled from Birmingham to Carlisle and back on Tuesday aboard VT voyagers with. The intonation all. Wrong. And several times northbound seeming to 'crash' and announce: "Welcome aboard this Virgin Trains service to we will be calling at the following principal stations" - with not even a pause in between or anything to follow.

Gotta love the Pendolinos with their four different voices too :roll:

"Sandwell and Dudley" sounds like they forgot to record it in the first lot, and had to go back and ask for someone to do it.

 

[VauxhallandI]

My Mother is the voice in the lift at Edinburgh Airport, I couldn't possibly comment on the quality!

 

[NickBucks]

There is a very ou-la-la sounding french lady doing announcements at Baker Street LUL
station. Makes it sound like Paris. Perks me up for the rest of the day when I hear her at 6.30 in the morning !

 

[talbotsteve]

If passing back from Crewe I generally sit with my fingers in my ears until my train comes(one day I'll miss the platform change from 11 to 6!!) as the bloke who speaks through his nose is almost impossible to understand, and the 3 year old with the very soft girly voice is absolutely grate-ing!!

Who is it that interviews these people and thinks I've a great job for you, lets put you on the tannoy???

By the way hi, I'm Steve.

 

[Wronskian]

she says this on the 365s to Cambridge with monotonous regularity

And in the other direction, the 365s always sound like they're going to Blunden King's Cross.

 

[cmovcc]

I'd swear she says Kitchen instead of Hitchin as well...

 

[jon0844]

I've always assumed it's Dlundon King's Cross, on account of someone editing the sound sample of her saying 'and London King's Cross' badly, to split the and out and say it separately.

 

[Starmill]

The English Automatic Announcer at Newport South Wales (and presumably other ATW managed Stations) always amuses me with the way she extends the place name Cwmbran a little longer than it needs to be.
It always comes out as Cwmbraaaaaaaaan. :P

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilnecote!

 

[Crossover]

Seconded. At least JB sounds vaguely human and not utterly robotic. Travelled from Birmingham to Carlisle and back on Tuesday aboard VT voyagers with. The intonation all. Wrong. And several times northbound seeming to 'crash' and announce: "Welcome aboard this Virgin Trains service to we will be calling at the following principal stations" - with not even a pause in between or anything to follow.

That sounds about normal for a Pendolino does that :P