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Are you paying
Carson New York's Berry
NBC's Frank McGee, WCBS' Lou Adier . . . "like a bell
■ Background noises that accompany most radio-listening and tvviewing make it imperative that the sponsor's message be deUvered by an announcer whose voice can be heard.
Otherwise, says Sidney N. Berry, president of Carson New York Corp., film producers and audiovisual specialists, the advertiser is simply paying for "debit decibels."
"The sponsor has got to find a voice that'll cut right through the clatter at the listener's end," this sound expert insists, "and still not be swallowed up."
An announcer's voice can be tested for this in advance by measuring its range with an oscilloscope.
Although human voices vary enormously, they generally modulate somewhere between 175 cycles and 4000 cycles, as measured on an oscilloscope. Berry continues. "Those that track consistently between 450 cycles and 2500 cycles, however, are the best for broadcasting and the most audible," he contends, basing his statement on "hundreds of voice tests" he has
conducted "over a period of years."
Voices under 300 cycles (that is, most basses) or over 5000 cycles (the high sopranos) are generally difficult to hear in transmission. They are even more difficult in reproduction.
In particular, this audio specialist continues, the typical bass (or soprano) lacks overtones. And it is overtones that increase audibility and intelligibility by suggesting sympathetic vibrations with sounds that are both higher and/or lower.
This phenomenon can be demonstrated on a piano.
"Strike a middle A," Berry proposes, "and you get overtones — that is, harmonic vibrations from the octave above and the octave below, which enrich and emphasize the principal tone."
"But it won't be the same," he warns, "when you strike a high C. The sound at that level doesn't have enough overtones to stimulate the other octaves."
Thus, it is the middle range — not only for the piano but also for the human voice — that promises the greater overtones. And, as a
result, it yields the greatest strength when broadcast.
Who are some announcers that have penetrating middle range voices?
Berry feels that both Frank McGee of NBC and Lou Adler of CBS "come through like a bell."
Among women broadcasters, Nancy Dickerson of NBC has a voice that is "very fine," while Mary Pangalos of WCBS-TV's New York news staff also has a "good penetrating voice."
He also cites Betty Furness as a model of audibility. Her broadcast strength comes from having essentially the same vocal range of Dinah Shore, whom Berry calls "the perfect example of an audible, intelligible voice." (Many singers, he notes, fail the test completely and are genuinely difficult to hear.)
Don't confuse vocal range with other factors, Berry warns, such as talking speed, delivery method, articulation, loudness — although most professionals will call such factors into play to give color to their speaking and, hopefully, to help you understand them better.
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