DIY free modern style automated station announcement system

[cromptonnut]

Hi all

 

I've recently come across a way to make your own station announcements - it takes a little bit of work but once it's done it's done.

 

You will need:

 

1) An Android smartphone or tablet

2) A set of powered speakers

3) Optional laptop

 

Firstly go to the Google Play store and download an app called "Narrators Voice".  Install then open the app.

 

Once installed, go to the "three lines" icon top let and select "Settings".

 

Then select the cog "Configuration".

 

Ensure you are on the settings:

 

Server: Goku (+effects) PLUS

Languages: English (United Kingdom)

Voice : Daniel - MLG voice

 

If not, click on the down arrow next to the relevant setting, then "back" when complete.

 

The free version does have a lot of annoying adverts that pop up between conversions, so simply bear with it and hit the back or cancel buttons to clear, or pay for the full version (the crossed out Ads sign top right).  However with a little patience you can easily handle this.

 

Each server has a different selection of voice options both male and female, although I found Daniel to be the closest to the automated announcer we have down here - you may however like to experiment and find something that sounds more like what you want.

 

There are two ways to create recordings.

 

Recording method 1

 

Tap on the box where it says "Memes Never Ends..." and you can type in the text that you want to say.  This can be anything at all that you want it to be so you can add your own station name, calling patterns, whatever you want.

 

Click "Back"

 

Click the "Play" > button to listen to your recording, and if you want to make any changes click on the text and repeat above until you are happy.  You may find that you need to add extra spaces, commas (or double commas) for pauses and inflection, capital letters etc to change the way it sounds as like all text to speech systems it doesn't always get it right.  You may also need to think how a word sounds rather than its correct spelling, ie "Thameslink" needs to be spelt "temmslink".

 

Recording method 2

 

Click the microphone icon and speak, it will attempt a voice to text conversion.

 

 

Once you are happy with the sound file, tap the "save" folder icon and give your recording a memorable filename.  Repeat as necessary.

 

 

Playback

 

If you tap on the "Audio Offline" button then it will take you to the folder of saved recordings on your device.  You can of course simply attach a set of powered speakers to your headphone socket and play back from there as required.

 

However, it is probably a little easier to transfer them to a laptop where you have a much larger screen to play with, especially if you have a lot of announcements.

 

Sound files are stored in the device\\narrator-s-voice folder and can simply be transferred by whatever method you normally use to get files between your device and your computer.  Once on your computer you can play them using Media Player or whatever you normally use.

 

 

 

Here's a few I made earlier, to give you an idea of what you can do.  Experimentation is obviously the key and no doubt many of you will discover new things I haven't and improve it. 

 

stand-clear1.mp3 Please stand clear

 

all-change1.mp3All Change

 

Edited November 18, 2017 by cromptonnut

[Guest]

Slow day at work, 'nut?

Seriously, looks interesting. Will have a better look later, but at the moment I'm fumbling around on a tablet with "fat-finger" syndrome.

[cromptonnut]

Slow day at work, 'nut?

 

Rest day

[DCB]

Does it give the correct unintelligible echoing resonance of the real thing? 

[cromptonnut]

Does it give the correct unintelligible echoing resonance of the real thing? 

 

There is an 'echo' function under effects although you could also add that with free audio editing software such as Audacity once files are transferred to the PC.

 

stand-clear2echo.mp3