Get the ‘Britishalyzer’ – The Us-To-British Accent Voice Changer
When you hear someone speak, their accent is one of the first things you notice, and the subconscious judgements it influences can be significant. Accents can affect decisions you make on whether you respect that person and what they have to say, and even whether you believe they’re telling the truth.
It was George Bernard Shaw who famously described England and America as ‘two countries separated by a common language’. And there’s no doubt that the linguistic differences between these two great nations are a source of mutual fascination on both sides of the Atlantic.
The US accent is arguably the most-heard English-speaking accent of all, propagated worldwide thanks to American popular culture including film, music and TV shows. Equally, for more than 350 million people from the States and Canada, it’s probably the easiest one to understand. And there’s no denying the inherent glamour attached to an American voice, which is doubtless why so many singers, even Brits, adopt it when performing.
But, for its part, the British accent is associated with sophistication, respect and authority. In the US in particular, it can convey high status.
How Important Is the Accent?
Accent is sometimes an overlooked aspect of broadcasting. And, in the rush and excitement of getting the right voice for your podcast or radio show, it can be easy to forget that it really does matter. If you’re broadcasting in the US or the UK, there could be many reasons, as outlined above, why you’d want to have a British rather than an American-sounding voice, whether you want to convey status and glamour or simply because you believe this will simply make it easier for your target audience to understand.
Or maybe you’re broadcasting to a British audience and simply want to have something that sounds as close to their native tongue as possible to inspire trust and confidence?
Of course, the term ‘British accent’ incorporates myriad regional variances, in the same way a US speaker will sound radically different whether they’re from the South, New York or the Midwest. In Britain, Birmingham and Liverpudlian accents are considered ‘untrustworthy’, for example, while the south-west is thought of as ‘friendly’, at least according to one recent study.
Get the Britishalyzer Plugin Now
The ‘Britishalyzer’ is a clever plug-in from Adobe Audition allowing you to change a voice on your broadcast so that it sounds British rather than American. It even allows you play around with type of UK accent, whether you want the clipped Queen’s English or something that sounds closer to something from an EastEnders script.
