2016 Power Intros

[Ryan Pannell 23]

On 11 August 2016 at 1:59 PM, murste said:

Looks like the new voiceovers will take over properly when Live Lounge Month starts in a few weeks. I've liked the current foursome- Merv (London-sounding guy) and Louisa (not the Scottish one) in particular have sounded great and I've liked Kyle (Geordie guy) on Dance Anthems and some of the Breakfast Show stuff and idents. Haven't liked the Scottish female at all. It was an experiment to have 4 voices but I think it's worked well- the station has sounded great recently imaging-wise and the diversity in voices has kept things fresh.

The new voiceovers might start from 1st September when Live Lounge Month starts. But then I'm not sure if they will. Grimmy used last years jingles on the breakfast show to advertise the fact LLM is coming back. It would seem daft for them to use old jingles to advertise it, and then use new ones with a new package from September onwards.

I agree that the 2014 set has worked well with the 4 voices. The "possibly incoming" new ones still have some of the old voices tagged in slightly so let's not expect them to disappear overnight. Even better, I'd rather they didn't disappear at all, this new voiceover set with Mike Wooller is alright but the 2014 set has been the best they've had in years.

[murste 63]

21 hours ago, Ryan Pannell said:

The new voiceovers might start from 1st September when Live Lounge Month starts. But then I'm not sure if they will. Grimmy used last years jingles on the breakfast show to advertise the fact LLM is coming back. It would seem daft for them to use old jingles to advertise it, and then use new ones with a new package from September onwards.

I agree that the 2014 set has worked well with the 4 voices. The "possibly incoming" new ones still have some of the old voices tagged in slightly so let's not expect them to disappear overnight. Even better, I'd rather they didn't disappear at all, this new voiceover set with Mike Wooller is alright but the 2014 set has been the best they've had in years.

Yeah I'm sort of guessing but it just seems logical that with the start of September and the launch of a big event, it would be the right time to introduce a new set of imaging or voiceovers if that's what they have planned. It's difficult to tell with 6 voices being heard on the station at the moment (7 if you include the Summer Mix VO). I'd also happily see the current voices stay for another year or so- the station sounds great and because it's so different to have 4, I'd like to see it go on a bit longer. 

Also, a power intro sounds good no matter who the VO is- some of them feature Mike Wooller, the new female VO and one of the current VOs and the current VOs sounds just as good.

As long as they don't bring back the female VO from 2012, I'm happy. Loved Mike but her voice drove me mad. Even when I listen to idents or sweepers from then, her voice is like nails down a blackboard to my ears.  Probably my least favourite R1 voiceover in memory.

[Ryan Pannell 23]

On 15 August 2016 at 8:49 PM, murste said:

It's difficult to tell with 6 voices being heard on the station at the moment (7 if you include the Summer Mix VO). I'd also happily see the current voices stay for another year or so- the station sounds great and because it's so different to have 4, I'd like to see it go on a bit longer. 

Also, a power intro sounds good no matter who the VO is- some of them feature Mike Wooller, the new female VO and one of the current VOs and the current VOs sounds just as good.

Haha, you've actually counted how many voices there are!   But I agree with keeping the current voices for longer, the station sounds great. I don't think they will disappear completely if the new Mike Wooller ones take over permanently. The current ones don't sound dated but they can last longer. Besides, it's the main part of their image and brand, the original Where It Begin jingles from January 2015 fit in perfectly around these, as does the Newsbeat theme and Official Chart theme that launched last year. Throw the main VO's off and it throws the entire stations branding and image off.

The new Mike Wooller VO's do sound powerful. Simple, but alright. I'm warming to them slightly. The fact I note times and replay them on iPlayer might be a clue there I'm warming.

[bensteele 46]

14 hours ago, Ryan Pannell said:

The fact I note times and replay them on iPlayer might be a clue there I'm warming.

This forum is getting more and more obsessed with audio branding, and I for one love it. 

If you wouldn't mind me asking, what times are they played out? Would be interesting to know.

[Ant L 51]

Judging by some of the new power intros I've heard this weekend it does seem ever more likely that we'll be hearing a blend between the 2014 voiceovers and the 2016 updates for the foreseeable.

If the old voiceovers are staying I hope we see the various IDs getting a refresh.

[Ryan Pannell 23]

That's what I have been saying the last few weeks, the old VO's aren't going anywhere. Edited or cut down maybe.

This week so far, the new VO's haven't been used as much as previously. Adverts and summer mixes are where they're mainly appearing.

[forde52 40]

Don't forget when they did the transition from Holly and David to Mike and Katie the Adverts and Trails (and The Official Chart) started using Mike and Katie a few months before they actually changed everything over.

[OohErr 232]

So no new jingles today then...

Would it be clutching at straws to hold out for Monday?

[Ant L 51]

14 minutes ago, OohErr said:

So no new jingles today then...

Would it be clutching at straws to hold out for Monday?

I would imagine so. I think it'll be a blend of both for the foreseeable but then you never know.

[Ryan Pannell 23]

I'm not trying to blow my own trumpet but I knew nothing would happen today. Thursday the 1st is an awkward date to introduce new ones. I'm not sure about this Monday. I'm abroad next week so iPlayer radio all the way for catching up in bits. 

[bensteele 46]

1 hour ago, OohErr said:

So no new jingles today then...

Would it be clutching at straws to hold out for Monday?

They usually make changes in September to the schedule and other things, but I did a little research and it looks to me like they make announcements around June time, is that correct?

[forde52 40]

We could be looking at a New Year imaging refresh, that has been known before (Newsbeat last year, around 2007ish I think they refreshed voices at new year as well). I doubt they'll refresh anything on Monday now as LLM has kicked off, they wouldn't change the imaging for that after a few days.

[TMD_24 34]

Hearing a new voiceover today, it's a female on the Sucker For Pain power intro and I never heard her before on any of the power intros.

[ThinkTank 21]

18 hours ago, TMD_24 said:

Hearing a new voiceover today, it's a female on the Sucker For Pain power intro and I never heard her before on any of the power intros.

It's only new to daytime, I've heard this lady on the residency shows, I do like it tho, they should use her more! 

[TMD_24 34]

1 hour ago, Jacob_ said:

It's only new to daytime, I've heard this lady on the residency shows, I do like it tho, they should use her more! 

Just listened and yes I agree, it does sound like her, we might now then have a current female in the new package then although I ain't going to speak too soon.

I going to place my bets on the new package coming in/after the R1 Teens Awards.

[forde52 40]

Speaking of the Teen Awards, Delicious Digital have produced the new package for the Teen Awards this year. There's a few highlights on their website including a few on air clips from Scott and Clara!

[TMD_24 34]

2 new voiceovers I have heard today on NMF.

The first one is defently a VO from the 2012-14 package, sounds like Holly Meyrick which is great if true. That makes it the second 2012 voiceover I've heard on the Power Intro package.

The second one is a male VO on the 'Blow Your Mind (Mwah)' Power Intro, sadly I don't recognise the voice so for me it's an all new voiceover.

I've noticed some things today, the new 2012-14 VO I have heard today is mainly paired with the female residency and R1 sound like they are re-doing old Power Intros. Interesting times ahead... 

[Ant L 51]

Have you noticed for a number of songs you'll hear a highly-produced intro,  and a few days later it gets dropped for a boring version? Ellie Goulding's new song for example - the original had an auto-tuned Ellie saying her name but it's since been replaced with a generic voiceover. Alice Levine mentioned on air she wasn't happy about that one actually.

It seems they're testing new sounds and voices out, dropping parts that don't work along the way. Perhaps when a sound is settled on we'll hear things on a more permanent basis.

Also heard an intro yesterday that had 'Where It Begins' mixed in. I sort of figured that slogan was getting phased out but maybe not.

[bensteele 46]

RE everything above in this thread, I think they're getting a bit messy and sloppy and don't really know what to do. 

There doesn't seem to be any formula or direction for the audio branding, I heard a really crap Justin Bieber power intro which was awful compared to the old one. 

[bensteele 46]

On 15/09/2016 at 1:51 PM, forde52 said:

Speaking of the Teen Awards, Delicious Digital have produced the new package for the Teen Awards this year. There's a few highlights on their website including a few on air clips from Scott and Clara!

Good grief. That's one awful website. 

The bed's pretty good but sounds very Capital compared to their old theatrical Teen Awards style.

[TMD_24 34]

I suppose they are trying different things out to keep everything fresh and sounding good. For me if you want a power intro to sound like perfection then you need eventually update things. The first bunch of NMF voiceovers have been used for 6 months so far, which is quite a long time and using the same lot for a while makes it age quicker than just a general package. It seems like now we are entering V2 of the power intro era with new voiceovers and remakes of songs which have have received the power intro treatment before.

I agree with Ant about some power intros being edited, I quite like the Ellie 'Auto-Tuned Goulding' power intro which then got edited to just a female voiceover announcing.. The same can be said for the 'Sucker For Pain' and 'The Greatest' power intros which gets an edit with a current everyday VO, I'm surprised to see Alice's opinion on a power intro change things.

[OohErr 232]

22 hours ago, bensteele said:

The bed's pretty good but sounds very Capital compared to their old theatrical Teen Awards style.

That's no bad thing - Capital is sounding amazing at the moment, Radio 1 could learn a thing or two from it (and already has with the power intros, which blow Capital's out of the water).

[bensteele 46]

47 minutes ago, OohErr said:

That's no bad thing - Capital is sounding amazing at the moment

I like the TOTH "This... is Capital.. from Global", and the new Capital UK brand, but everything else is very much commercial-orientated and dumbed down. The beds are very pop, tinny, smash smash smash oomf - even so, they're usually the best bit of a link. 

I HAAAAAAATE CAPITAL

 

[Ryan Pannell 23]

On 01/10/2016 at 4:32 PM, bensteele said:

RE everything above in this thread, I think they're getting a bit messy and sloppy and don't really know what to do. 

There doesn't seem to be any formula or direction for the audio branding, I heard a really crap Justin Bieber power intro which was awful compared to the old one. 

Totally agree. It's got messy now and I've had enough. THREE different types on air now. And Fridays have become NMF only verbally, you no longer hear the "It's Friday!" jingle anymore.

They need to decide which direction they're going in.

[TMD_24 34]

I'm going to disagree here. It's best sometimes to have variety so I think that's what R1 are trying to do, the more voiceovers/producers, the more variety and fresher it can sound.

I thought I would post my opinion on the new voiceovers which was regularly heard on Friday, I am a massive fan of the 2 female voiceovers. One of them has been a regular for several weeks but it was the other's first time on the power intros, (Can anyone confirm that one of the voiceovers was Holly Meyrick? It sounded like her but I need someone to double check.. ) I'm not sure on the male voiceover.. Feels like the male sounds like someone better suited for promos rather than power intros. Anyway the current NMF voiceovers are great, the new ones heard on Friday take it ever further. Tease further R1...