# Please stop with the ultra deep voices in commercials **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 12, 2008, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048 "2008-03-12T00:26:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/21 "2008-03-12T19:14:05Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] I can barely tolerate “sammich” and hate “sammie.” [/QUOTE] [He](http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/atlarge/Sammy%20Davis%20Jr.jpg) heard that. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/22 "2008-03-12T19:16:13Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] I can barely tolerate “sammich” and hate “sammie.” What I _really_ hate is “veggie.” And of course every fast food type place that even offers a vegetarian alternative calls it the “veggie”-whatever. [/QUOTE] I could not agree with this more. Not as much when done by restaurants as when said / written by actual people. Extra kicks to the nads if used with the adjective “fresh”. Just stfu already about yer goddamn fresh veggies! ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/23 "2008-03-12T23:16:13Z")
[QUOTE=Acid Lamp] We are known as Basso Profundo, and fuck you right back. That is how we sound. It is bad enough that the vast majority of modern music sounds ridiculous when we try to sing it, now you want to take away commercial announcements too? Girly- voiced dick. [/QUOTE] I will always _hear_ your posts in my head in a rich Bass Profundo, from now on. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/24 "2008-03-13T13:17:54Z")
[QUOTE=Acid Lamp] bassos are always typecast as the generic evil villain, or “the movie announcer guy”. [/QUOTE] Huh, go figure. I always think of those seismic rumblings as “the generic Voice of God” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/25 "2008-03-13T15:09:32Z")
[QUOTE=Acid Lamp] Don’t worry about it. I get a little touchy because bassos are always typecast as the generic evil villain, or “the movie announcer guy”. Dammit I have more of a range than providing back up to some dork who sounds like a eunuch when I sing as well. Just isn’t much of a market for it though, sigh. [/QUOTE] If it makes you feel better (probably won’t), check out [the sexiest voice in dubbed-to-Spanish-for-Spain movies](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0739370/) He used to be a radio personality and voiceover/dubbing actor, unknown to the general public. He’s dubbed Sean Connery, Arnold the Impronunceable, Clint Eastwood… He became famous during a stint presenting a TV cultural contest. At first he was speaking in his normal voice and this was causing such strong reactions that he was asked to pitch it a bit higher (droves of women were having to spend advertisement breaks in their bunks, which is not good for sales). Looks-wise he’s not particularly ugly but, well, I can understand why his wife says that proposing to her on the phone was his most intelligent action ever. He won’t win any beauty contests. No amount of Dolby Surround can reproduce his voice accuratedly though. I heard this amazing voice in a store once and I started checking for its source while my brain and reproductive bits did sommersaults… “oh. Oh, Romero. OK.” If it’s possible to get orgasms from a voice, Basso Profundo is definitely it. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/26 "2008-03-13T23:04:00Z")
It beats “whimsical, non-threatening, happy nerdy guy”. This is especially true in those awful cheap ads for something like a chain of hardware stores where WNTHNG introduces and ad with whimsical, non-threatening, happy nerdy music in the background, and then cuts to pasty-faced minimum wage employees talking about how much they love their jobs and their customers, and it’s all just bouncy and jolly. Makes me want to shoot my television, it does. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/27 "2008-03-13T23:21:11Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] If it makes you feel better (probably won’t), check out [the sexiest voice in dubbed-to-Spanish-for-Spain movies](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0739370/) He used to be a radio personality and voiceover/dubbing actor, unknown to the general public. He’s dubbed Sean Connery, Arnold the Impronunceable, Clint Eastwood… He became famous during a stint presenting a TV cultural contest. At first he was speaking in his normal voice and this was causing such strong reactions that he was asked to pitch it a bit higher (droves of women were having to spend advertisement breaks in their bunks, which is not good for sales). Looks-wise he’s not particularly ugly but, well, I can understand why his wife says that proposing to her on the phone was his most intelligent action ever. He won’t win any beauty contests. No amount of Dolby Surround can reproduce his voice accuratedly though. I heard this amazing voice in a store once and I started checking for its source while my brain and reproductive bits did sommersaults… “oh. Oh, Romero. OK.” If it’s possible to get orgasms from a voice, Basso Profundo is definitely it. [/QUOTE] [This guy?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgYisIxJ2_M&feature=related) Was he the Spanish Darth Vader? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/28 "2008-03-13T23:41:26Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] [This guy?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgYisIxJ2_M&feature=related) Was he the Spanish Darth Vader? [/QUOTE] Check him out in the [“Pretty Women” scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSWMm0Ly--o) from the Barcelona production of Sweeney Todd. **Nava** ’s right…the man has The Voice! ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/29 "2008-03-13T23:51:45Z")
[QUOTE=Acid Lamp] We are known as Basso Profundo… [/QUOTE] I have no complaints about people with naturally deep voices, or even people that have labored to train their voices into deepness. What bugs me is voices that have been post-processed into subterranean bass levels. If your voice is booming out of my subwoofer with a 60-Hz crossover, something fishy’s going on! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/30 "2008-03-13T23:57:23Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] It beats “whimsical, non-threatening, happy nerdy guy”. This is especially true in those awful cheap ads for something like a chain of hardware stores where WNTHNG introduces and ad with whimsical, non-threatening, happy nerdy music in the background, and then cuts to pasty-faced minimum wage employees talking about how much they love their jobs and their customers, and it’s all just bouncy and jolly. Makes me want to shoot my television, it does. [/QUOTE] Do these guys talk anything like the Ira Glass types? Tinny, nasal, generic East Coast diction, very little inflection, general impression that their nuts haven’t dropped? ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/31 "2008-03-14T00:49:34Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] If it’s possible to get orgasms from a voice, Basso Profundo is definitely it. [/QUOTE] I’m reminded of Peter Serafinowicz (the voice of Darth Maul in _The Phantom Menace_) in this episode of _Black Books_. [Skip to 1:23, then 2:01, then 4:09](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0zetsyq1t0). It isn’t his regular voice, though, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/32 "2008-03-14T02:28:34Z")
Ahh yes, That Spanish gentleman has that wonderful clarity and resonance that only come with age. Interestingly, the voice of a profundo usually isn’t mature until mid thirties, and really hits it’s stride from 40-60 apparently. I have the full range, but not that booming factor yet. For a fantastically low natural voice, may I recommend the absolutely sub sonic [Russian Bassos](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WpD2Cspn6g) Those notes are within my range, but dear Og! I have to struggle for them. Hopefully as I move into my thirties,(I’m 28) I’ll get that nice mellow hollowness! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/33 "2008-03-14T03:41:15Z")
[QUOTE=Acid Lamp] Don’t worry about it. I get a little touchy because bassos are always typecast as the generic evil villain, or “the movie announcer guy”. Dammit I have more of a range than providing back up to some dork who sounds like a eunuch when I sing as well. Just isn’t much of a market for it though, sigh. [/QUOTE] 'Nother basso profundo here. I would much rather be a “generic evil villain” (who would no longer be generic when I got through with him) than a [shudder] screeching namby-pamby tenor. But what’s worse is having to sing BOOM-ba-pa-BOOM-ba-pa-BOOM-ba-pa-BOOM-ba-pa-BOOM, ad nauseam. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/34 "2008-03-14T14:15:42Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] 'Nother basso profundo here. I would much rather be a “generic evil villain” (who would no longer be generic when I got through with him) than a [shudder] screeching namby-pamby tenor. But what’s worse is having to sing BOOM-ba-pa-BOOM-ba-pa-BOOM-ba-pa-BOOM-ba-pa-BOOM, ad nauseam. [/QUOTE] Human tuba syndrome, how do I loathe thee? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/35 "2008-03-14T15:27:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Interestingly, the voice of a profundo usually isn’t mature until mid thirties, and really hits it’s stride from 40-60 apparently. Huh. You mean that my younger brother’s voice will get even better now? He’s a profundo, and has always said that he’d need a pair of vise-grips around his nuts to be able to sing in his chosen genre (heavy metal). ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/36 "2008-03-14T15:33:27Z")
[QUOTE=Lynn Bodoni] Huh. You mean that my younger brother’s voice will get even better now? He’s a profundo, and has always said that he’d need a pair of vise-grips around his nuts to be able to sing in his chosen genre (heavy metal). [/QUOTE] Heh…yeah. Usually when you talk about bass and heavy metal it involves a brass consort. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/37 "2008-03-14T16:07:07Z")
[QUOTE=Acid Lamp] It is bad enough that the vast majority of modern music sounds ridiculous when we try to sing it [/QUOTE] Dude from **Crash Test Dummies** , is that you? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048/38 "2008-03-14T17:56:25Z")
Yeah, I know that feeling. I think the only play I’ve heard with a part in my range is Caiphas from _Jesus Christ, Superstar_. The problem is that I don’t have the high range. Not like my father, who sang barbershop quartet and could take any one of the four parts: bass, baritone, tenor, or lead. And he just couldn’t understand why I couldn’t do it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-with-the-ultra-deep-voices-in-commercials/441048.md?page=1)