What is this American accent?
December 2, 2016 3:37 AM Subscribe
Please describe the accent in this archetypical startup product video.
I don't know how you describe American(?) accents, but presumably you can give rough geographical location and class (what about more vague things like "whiteness"?). There's also a clipped quality to the delivery that I don't know how to describe well - something nasal. What's that?
Bonus question from anyone in the industry: when the voice is anonymous (not a talking head), is it usually a voice actor, or someone from the company?
I don't know how you describe American(?) accents, but presumably you can give rough geographical location and class (what about more vague things like "whiteness"?). There's also a clipped quality to the delivery that I don't know how to describe well - something nasal. What's that?
Bonus question from anyone in the industry: when the voice is anonymous (not a talking head), is it usually a voice actor, or someone from the company?
Don't know a specific area - sounds pretty generic. But I am hearing vocal fry. That's the raspy low tone at the end of sentences. Ira Glass is a male example though it's commonly used to shame women speakers. Here's an article with some SoundCloud examples. Is that the quality you're hearing?
posted by Crystalinne at 3:52 AM on December 2, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by Crystalinne at 3:52 AM on December 2, 2016 [5 favorites]
Agree- it's more cultural/generational than regional.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 3:58 AM on December 2, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 3:58 AM on December 2, 2016 [5 favorites]
Bonus question from anyone in the industry: when the voice is anonymous (not a talking head), is it usually a voice actor, or someone from the company?
Usually a voice actor, but sometimes (rarely, but sometimes) you luck out and have someone in the company who can do it.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 4:02 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Usually a voice actor, but sometimes (rarely, but sometimes) you luck out and have someone in the company who can do it.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 4:02 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Also, really the main place you can hear the mid-atlantic region in this quite regionally generic voice is in the "O" vowel here.
posted by flourpot at 4:06 AM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by flourpot at 4:06 AM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
My guess is that this guy is white, American born, under 35, middle class, reasonably well educated.
And I think he has a small-to-average build, is a metrosexual, and has dark hair.
That's way too specific, I know, except I feel pretty strongly about all those attributes.
Like... there's no way that is the voice of a tall chubby blond man with long straggly hair, right?
I think a computer in my brain is cross-referencing his voice with other men I know.
I actually think he might be a "friend of the company" because his delivery is a bit too spiky and noticeable to sound like a voice actor. He has a ton of vocal fry. Voice actors have more control and smoothness than this guy. (Source: know 200+ voice actors, am voice actor)
posted by pseudostrabismus at 4:19 AM on December 2, 2016 [24 favorites]
And I think he has a small-to-average build, is a metrosexual, and has dark hair.
That's way too specific, I know, except I feel pretty strongly about all those attributes.
Like... there's no way that is the voice of a tall chubby blond man with long straggly hair, right?
I think a computer in my brain is cross-referencing his voice with other men I know.
I actually think he might be a "friend of the company" because his delivery is a bit too spiky and noticeable to sound like a voice actor. He has a ton of vocal fry. Voice actors have more control and smoothness than this guy. (Source: know 200+ voice actors, am voice actor)
posted by pseudostrabismus at 4:19 AM on December 2, 2016 [24 favorites]
I would guess this person was born in Europe, possibly South America. He doesn't sound like someone born in the US to me at all.
posted by Kalmya at 4:28 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Kalmya at 4:28 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Bonus question from anyone in the industry: when the voice is anonymous (not a talking head), is it usually a voice actor, or someone from the company?
This is an interesting question - it used to be that if it wasn't a recognizable voice actor, it was still a professional actor, though possibly a local / regional one. Today, while the VO is rarely a company representative, and is usually someone paid to narrate, it's harder to categorize as a professional VO. The acting unions, SAG and AFTRA, have made it more expensive to use union talent in work that only shows up on the internet than it was when digital ads first appeared (and even more so when it airs in cinema or on broadcast TV). So a lot of companies save money by using non-union talent. Then with the rise of internet podcasting, more people went out and got recording equipment and now earn extra money doing voicework. So "non-union talent" - which used to mean actors who hadn't yet earned their SAG or AFTRA cards - now means anyone with a microphone hooked up to their computer and a soundproof space.
The VO was probably paid, but may not be an actor. He could be someone they found through one of the web-based VO talent sites. In many cases, it is often the voice of the video editor - they lay down a "scratch track" of their own voice to show how the timings work, and the client will often like their voice well enough to keep it (which is also far cheaper and faster than doing the work of casting and recording a professional VO).
As far as the clipped delivery goes, I think it's a combination of things. To me it sounds like the VO track was chopped into pieces, to better match the cut. So the intonation is slightly off from what it would be if they were directed to say each line a different way to go with what you're watching - though that could also just be a sign that the guy reading isn't an actor, just a paid voice. Having said that, you might like this article about "internet video voice" which seems to be becoming standard - short, clipped speech with an excited intonation (which I think is missing in your linked piece, and may be why the VO stood out to you).
posted by Mchelly at 4:31 AM on December 2, 2016 [5 favorites]
This is an interesting question - it used to be that if it wasn't a recognizable voice actor, it was still a professional actor, though possibly a local / regional one. Today, while the VO is rarely a company representative, and is usually someone paid to narrate, it's harder to categorize as a professional VO. The acting unions, SAG and AFTRA, have made it more expensive to use union talent in work that only shows up on the internet than it was when digital ads first appeared (and even more so when it airs in cinema or on broadcast TV). So a lot of companies save money by using non-union talent. Then with the rise of internet podcasting, more people went out and got recording equipment and now earn extra money doing voicework. So "non-union talent" - which used to mean actors who hadn't yet earned their SAG or AFTRA cards - now means anyone with a microphone hooked up to their computer and a soundproof space.
The VO was probably paid, but may not be an actor. He could be someone they found through one of the web-based VO talent sites. In many cases, it is often the voice of the video editor - they lay down a "scratch track" of their own voice to show how the timings work, and the client will often like their voice well enough to keep it (which is also far cheaper and faster than doing the work of casting and recording a professional VO).
As far as the clipped delivery goes, I think it's a combination of things. To me it sounds like the VO track was chopped into pieces, to better match the cut. So the intonation is slightly off from what it would be if they were directed to say each line a different way to go with what you're watching - though that could also just be a sign that the guy reading isn't an actor, just a paid voice. Having said that, you might like this article about "internet video voice" which seems to be becoming standard - short, clipped speech with an excited intonation (which I think is missing in your linked piece, and may be why the VO stood out to you).
posted by Mchelly at 4:31 AM on December 2, 2016 [5 favorites]
Sounds like a non-pro voice person (possibly employee of company) who is trying REALLY hard to enunciate each syllable and speak very clearly. Not an accent, more of an affect. He sounds like most "millennials" as portrayed on television.
posted by Mr. Big Business at 4:40 AM on December 2, 2016 [9 favorites]
posted by Mr. Big Business at 4:40 AM on December 2, 2016 [9 favorites]
Ira Glass is an interesting example because, in addition to the vocal fry (which is spot-on), he's from Baltimore, which reinforces the Mid-Atlantic idea.
Strongly agree that this guy has dark hair.
posted by kevinbelt at 4:43 AM on December 2, 2016 [5 favorites]
Strongly agree that this guy has dark hair.
posted by kevinbelt at 4:43 AM on December 2, 2016 [5 favorites]
He sounds a bit like Ira Glass but I'm not hearing any Baltimore. The way he pronounces "water" is the tip off. There's a distinctive mid-Atlantic pronunciation for that word. (wutta? wooda? can't render it in writing).
posted by Morpeth at 5:05 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Morpeth at 5:05 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
To me, he's showing a lot of features of careful speech (although with a lot of creaky voice, i.e., "vocal fry").
For example: I think the "clipped" sound people are hearing are released stops. Examples here.
There are some sounds which are made by stopping the airflow in your mouth: in English, p, t, k, b, d, and g are all stops.
A lot of the time, when a stop is at the end of a word, in casual speech, it's usually unreleased: either your lips stay together (in b and p) or your tongue stays on the roof of your mouth (t, d, k, g).
In released stops, either your lips pull apart with an audible noise (b, p) (say "Nope" really dramatically and you'll hear it), or your tongue moves away from the roof with an audible noise (t, d, k, g). People tend to do this in careful speech; the narrator is doing this a lot in the video.
English speakers also greatly reduce vowels in casual speech. What this means:
The sounds in "me" (IPA /i/), the sound in "moo" (IPA /u/), and the sound in "ma" (IPA /a/) are pronounced in different places in your mouth. /i/ is right up front, /u/ is in the back, and /a/ is in low and in the back (which is why your doctor tell you to say "ahhh"- it gets your tongue out of the way).
In casual speech, these three vowel sounds are pronounced closer together--your tongue doesn't go quite as far to the front/to the back/low and to the back. In careful speech, people tend to pronounce them are far apart as possible. The narrator is doing a bit of that, I think.
posted by damayanti at 5:41 AM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
For example: I think the "clipped" sound people are hearing are released stops. Examples here.
There are some sounds which are made by stopping the airflow in your mouth: in English, p, t, k, b, d, and g are all stops.
A lot of the time, when a stop is at the end of a word, in casual speech, it's usually unreleased: either your lips stay together (in b and p) or your tongue stays on the roof of your mouth (t, d, k, g).
In released stops, either your lips pull apart with an audible noise (b, p) (say "Nope" really dramatically and you'll hear it), or your tongue moves away from the roof with an audible noise (t, d, k, g). People tend to do this in careful speech; the narrator is doing this a lot in the video.
English speakers also greatly reduce vowels in casual speech. What this means:
The sounds in "me" (IPA /i/), the sound in "moo" (IPA /u/), and the sound in "ma" (IPA /a/) are pronounced in different places in your mouth. /i/ is right up front, /u/ is in the back, and /a/ is in low and in the back (which is why your doctor tell you to say "ahhh"- it gets your tongue out of the way).
In casual speech, these three vowel sounds are pronounced closer together--your tongue doesn't go quite as far to the front/to the back/low and to the back. In careful speech, people tend to pronounce them are far apart as possible. The narrator is doing a bit of that, I think.
posted by damayanti at 5:41 AM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
The vocal fry (which I think is the quality you're describing), together with his more "cahfee" pronunciation of coffee, makes him sound more West Coast to me. The picture in my head is a twentysomething clean cut East Asian guy that's never left California. He also doesn't sound like a professional voiceover person to my ear.
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:06 AM on December 2, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:06 AM on December 2, 2016 [3 favorites]
There's also a clipped quality to the delivery that I don't know how to describe well - something nasal.
The clipped quality is just the actor halting (I think Mr. Big Business is right - plus, maybe this is take 20 and the actor's too tired to generate a totally smooth and natural flow, just wants to get it right).
For the nasal thing, I'm putting a bid in for "this is a secretly Canadian actor". I think the vowels here sound a bit less round and more nasal than I'd associate with those produced by an American.
posted by cotton dress sock at 6:16 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
The clipped quality is just the actor halting (I think Mr. Big Business is right - plus, maybe this is take 20 and the actor's too tired to generate a totally smooth and natural flow, just wants to get it right).
For the nasal thing, I'm putting a bid in for "this is a secretly Canadian actor". I think the vowels here sound a bit less round and more nasal than I'd associate with those produced by an American.
posted by cotton dress sock at 6:16 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say this guy is from the area stretching roughly from Baltimore to Philadelphia. The tell is the word "rotation" at 0:20-0:21. That first vowel is the "Baltimore o," (as in "down the ocean"), rarely heard outside that small chunk of the mid-Atlantic.
posted by escabeche at 6:17 AM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by escabeche at 6:17 AM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
What's really getting to me is that he doesn't say "your", he says "yer". I know the "o" isn't always pronounced as "o" nowadays but this seems more marked than you usually see in commercials.
posted by Hypatia at 6:31 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Hypatia at 6:31 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
I grew up in northern California, and this guy's accent sounds very, very northern Californian to me. The "cahfee" pronunciation, "yer" instead of "your", and vocal fry are all very characteristic of west coast speech.
(There's also the fact that the company is located in San Francisco, which of course isn't definitive as their voice actor could have come from anywhere, but it is suggestive.)
posted by mekily at 6:49 AM on December 2, 2016 [4 favorites]
(There's also the fact that the company is located in San Francisco, which of course isn't definitive as their voice actor could have come from anywhere, but it is suggestive.)
posted by mekily at 6:49 AM on December 2, 2016 [4 favorites]
(what about more vague things like "whiteness"?)
He sounds like a lot of big-city gay men I've known. I can't exactly explain why; part of it is a very careful, clipped enunciation. I don't mean the stereotypical feminine gay "accent" like Jack from Will & Grace; it seems like a newer thing to me.
posted by AFABulous at 7:12 AM on December 2, 2016 [3 favorites]
He sounds like a lot of big-city gay men I've known. I can't exactly explain why; part of it is a very careful, clipped enunciation. I don't mean the stereotypical feminine gay "accent" like Jack from Will & Grace; it seems like a newer thing to me.
posted by AFABulous at 7:12 AM on December 2, 2016 [3 favorites]
I am 100% sure he is not Canadian- vowels are all wrong. And 96% sure he is not Asian- timbre is too purple (synesthesia, can't elaborate).
posted by pseudostrabismus at 8:08 AM on December 2, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by pseudostrabismus at 8:08 AM on December 2, 2016 [7 favorites]
He sounds like every California late-20s ex-drama/debate/improv nerd I have dealt with in the last few years (i.e., nice resonance, timber and variation to the voice by habit or training, but no jock / fratboy hail-fellow-well-met notes). Does not sound very East Coast to me.
The extreme enunciation may be an artifact or stylistic choice with the sound editing software, but also might be a deliberate effort to increase utility for non-native speakers, who often have trouble making out conversational-speed English with typical oral elisions and contractions.
posted by MattD at 8:21 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
The extreme enunciation may be an artifact or stylistic choice with the sound editing software, but also might be a deliberate effort to increase utility for non-native speakers, who often have trouble making out conversational-speed English with typical oral elisions and contractions.
posted by MattD at 8:21 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah I don't know where people are getting mid-Atlantic - I have family in Baltimore and they sound nothing like this. California all the way.
posted by restless_nomad at 8:53 AM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad at 8:53 AM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
The words I notice most are "then" and "since", pronounced here with more of a short i sound. I'm from Minneapolis. I notice my dad (born and raised here) especially emphasizes the e in those words; thEn and sEnse. He also pronounces milk as "melk" though, so who knows!
Other than that, listening to this video, I don't notice any really obvious signs of an accent which would point to a specific region, but that's just me. To the person who said this person is from Europe, don't think so!
posted by sucre at 9:07 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Other than that, listening to this video, I don't notice any really obvious signs of an accent which would point to a specific region, but that's just me. To the person who said this person is from Europe, don't think so!
posted by sucre at 9:07 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
> I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say this guy is from the area stretching roughly from Baltimore to Philadelphia. The tell is the word "rotation" at 0:20-0:21. That first vowel is the "Baltimore o," (as in "down the ocean"), rarely heard outside that small chunk of the mid-Atlantic.
I'm from Baltimore and have now lived in Philadelphia for over 15 years. I don't hear the "o" of my people when he says "rotation." This guy doesn't sound remotely mid-Atlantic to me.
Mostly he sounds like he's using a lot of careful speech (per damayanti's comment). I would guess that he's either west coast with some adopted "newscaster accent" midwestern influence, or vice-versa, a midwesterner relocated to the west coast. He sounds white, and 35 or younger.
posted by desuetude at 9:28 AM on December 2, 2016 [3 favorites]
I'm from Baltimore and have now lived in Philadelphia for over 15 years. I don't hear the "o" of my people when he says "rotation." This guy doesn't sound remotely mid-Atlantic to me.
Mostly he sounds like he's using a lot of careful speech (per damayanti's comment). I would guess that he's either west coast with some adopted "newscaster accent" midwestern influence, or vice-versa, a midwesterner relocated to the west coast. He sounds white, and 35 or younger.
posted by desuetude at 9:28 AM on December 2, 2016 [3 favorites]
He sounds like a millennial urban Californian to me. His sibilance, fry, and inflection all remind me of this other urban millennial Californian, George Watsky. I think he's trying not to talk too fast, which we Californian urban millennials do.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:43 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:43 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
The "gayness" I hear comes from how he says the "ee" sound but I am not a linguist so I can't explain why. I only hear it when it's the only or first vowel in the word. Examples: "heats" and "beans," but not "coffee."
posted by AFABulous at 11:57 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by AFABulous at 11:57 AM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
To me, this sounds West Coast, maybe specifically Pacific Northwest. (I feel like Fred Armisen would be great at imitating this voice on Portlandia, for example.)
I agree, definitely young, white, and probably middle to upper middle class.
posted by Sara C. at 12:47 PM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
I agree, definitely young, white, and probably middle to upper middle class.
posted by Sara C. at 12:47 PM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
I am 100% sure he is not Canadian- vowels are all wrong.
Not sure what "all wrong" means. He's not saying "about" like a classic hoser would, but I'm hearing a less round vowel shape, which is why I said "secretly" Canadian (e.g. maybe he moved to LA and is trying really hard to fake it as an American). Although I think everyone is sort of hearing a bit of what they want to!
posted by cotton dress sock at 4:01 PM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Not sure what "all wrong" means. He's not saying "about" like a classic hoser would, but I'm hearing a less round vowel shape, which is why I said "secretly" Canadian (e.g. maybe he moved to LA and is trying really hard to fake it as an American). Although I think everyone is sort of hearing a bit of what they want to!
posted by cotton dress sock at 4:01 PM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
More important: Millennial generation. The intensified clipped end, as well as the intensified downward inflection at the end of the line, is generational.
posted by flourpot at 3:44 AM on December 2, 2016 [5 favorites]