Hal Douglas: You’ll Know The Voice

hal douglasI got an email from Rick Allison this morning. It was an email forward from his voiceover agent, forwarding an email from Sarah Douglas.

Dear friends and family,

I want to share with you that Hal moved on from this life last night.
He died just as he lived- with grace, courage, and tranquility. My mother and I were by his side.

If you are so moved, join us in thought and prayer as we surround his soul with love and peace for the next stage of his journey.

Onward Hal!

With warmth and gratitude,
Sarah

The name Hal Douglas probably doesn’t mean anything to you, but you know his voice. You’ve heard it a thousand times. He voiced everything!

How was it possible to have a voice so rough and simultaneously so clear? That was Hal’s gift. There’s really nothing more you could do than marvel at it. Certainly no one could compete with it!

The New York Times wrote about Hal five years ago.

Mr. Douglas says he can’t keep track of what trailers he recorded yesterday, much less over the almost 60 years he’s been behind a mike. He did “Philadelphia” and “Forrest Gump,” “Men in Black” and “Coneheads,” “Stranger Than Fiction” and “Marley and Me.” He recorded a voice-over for the Broadway play “Equus,” narrated programs on the History Channel (in the days before “Ice Road Truckers”), and served as the voice of the WB network.

“The fact is, my voice has been out there,” he said. “And it hangs out there. You sit down in the theater and sometimes in three out of four trailers I’d be on them.” – NYTimes.com

Hal’s name came up often in my conversations with Rick. We’re grownups. We discussed Hal like we’d discussed Mantle or Mays as kids. He was larger than life. A certain part of both of us wanted to grow up and be Hal, if only in front of a microphone.

There are other deep throated, beautifully phrased v/o guys. There was only one Hal. He will be missed.

It’s a Man Cave–It’s A Studio

She’s never been because… well, you know… it’s a man cave.

Though I didn’t know who he was when I was growing up I still wanted to be Hal Douglas (the voice guy in the trailer for Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedian”). As it turned out I was not blessed with “the voice.” I didn’t get to be Hal.

Darn!

I went into radio after college and was fine on the air, just not as useful when it came time to record commercials. I was the un-Hal. No pipes!

Flash forward to the present.

I saw a commercial agent yesterday. She said an audio ‘reel’¹ might get me some work so I asked my friend Rick if he could help.

Rick is a professional v/o artist. He voices commercials. No, he voices commercials beautifully. He does much of that work from a studio in his basement.

“He’s got a man cave,” Helaine said after seeing photos of his studio.

She’s never been because… well, you know… it’s a man cave.

I went into an announce booth and threw on a pair of headphones while Rick sat in the main studio wrangling Pro Tools–the standard in audio recording software.

With his help I read a half dozen real commercials. Tonight he’ll add some music and other sweetening.

I am neither Hal Douglas nor Rick. My voice is lighter. I tried for a read that is best described as friendly, crisp and precise.

I’m curious to see if my voice technique is better received today than it was when I was in radio. No matter the result it was cool to be back in the studio standing in front of a mic. It was a trip back to my roots.

¹ – Reel? Sorry. Tape is gone. All audio is kept digitally. Old habits die hard. We still ‘dial’ the phone too!

Harry Kalas

His voice was deep and multi-tonal with the syrup of a southern accent, though he was from Naperville, Illinois. He did not have the precise pronunciation classically associated with the big v/o talent. He had excitement. His call was always in-the-game.

Harry_kalas_with_whitey_1980.JPGI am obsessed with voices. It’s an insecurity thing. When I was in radio the tone of my voice was often called into question. My station in Philadelphia considered electronically lowering the pitch when I moved to mornings so I’d sound like an adult.

I follow voices. I listen to commercials and promos and know who I am listening to. Oh–Randy Thomas, or Will Lyman, or Hal Douglas, or Rick Allison. I recognize their work.

We lost one of those voices yesterday when Harry Kalas collapsed in the Washington National’s press box and later died. Kalas was the voice of Notre Dame football, NFL Films, Campbell’s Chunky Soup and most importantly, the Phillies. He’d been called the games nearly 40 years.

His voice was deep and multi-tonal with the syrup of a southern accent, though he was from Naperville, Illinois. He did not have the precise pronunciation classically associated with the big v/o talent. He had excitement. His call was always in-the-game.

Baseball play-by-play must be a great job. Those who do it often do it long past the point others have retired. Kalas was 73.

I used to enjoy listening to the Phillies games as Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn would chat-it-up. Often the Phil’s had less than a stellar team, but the conversations (sometimes only peripherally attached to baseball) that surounded the balls-and-strikes made it interesting and kept me involved.

Every baseball broadcaster seems to have a signature call. For Kalas it was, “Swing…and a long drive, watch this baby, outta here! Home run .” I wish I could have written those words as spoken. When Kalas said them they were a brightly lit, oversize exclamation point.

Harry Kalas will be missed. I don’t like change.