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Post by jacks on Jan 8, 2016 15:37:18 GMT
Boarded a train at Hampstead this afternoon which was announcing 'This is a Northern line train terminating at Edgware', first time I've heard such an announcement! Also added on 'where this train terminates' after the usual 'The next station is Edgware'.
Car was 53671 and managed to get a recording of the former announcement (sadly without the display!)
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Post by Alight on Jan 9, 2016 16:31:58 GMT
Interesting. Do the recordings sound newer?
You're right in saying that usually it just announces the next station, with the termination message play once you're actually at the station. That said, I've heard on the repeated termination messages on the approach to Kennington, which instruct passengers to leave the train at Kennington. As I don't usually travel that way, I have no idea how new these are.
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Post by Tomcakes on Jan 10, 2016 21:37:19 GMT
I heard the "This is a northern line train terminating at Edgware" the other night but, being after a very long day, I did wonder if I was hearing things! It certainly sounded natural and in keeping with the other announcements.
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Post by greatkingrat on Jan 13, 2016 19:42:41 GMT
Noticed a change to the automated announcements today. "This is a Northern line train via Charing Cross, terminating at Kennington", instead of the old "This train terminates at Kennington via Charing Cross". Sounds a bit odd as the different parts of the message were obviously recorded at different times. I suppose the idea is that most people are more interested in which Central London branch is used than whether it goes to Kennington or Morden.
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Post by phoenixcronin on Jan 13, 2016 20:23:35 GMT
Is it still Celia Drummonds voice?
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rincew1nd
Administrator
Junior Under-wizzard of quiz
Posts: 10,286 
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Post by rincew1nd on Jan 13, 2016 20:35:40 GMT
We'd already started discussing this over on the rolling stock board. I've merged the posts from there to the start of this thread as it makes more sense to discuss it here.
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Post by hounddog on Jan 13, 2016 20:54:16 GMT
Noticed a change to the automated announcements today. "This is a Northern line train via Charing Cross, terminating at Kennington", instead of the old "This train terminates at Kennington via Charing Cross". Sounds a bit odd as the different parts of the message were obviously recorded at different times. I suppose the idea is that most people are more interested in which Central London branch is used than whether it goes to Kennington or Morden. I would hope it's the fact that someone in authority has finally worked out that there's no such place as 'Kennington via Charing Cross'. |
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Post by greatkingrat on Jan 13, 2016 22:08:40 GMT
Is it still Celia Drummonds voice? Not sure, it does sound a bit different but I guess her voice would have changed since she originally recorded the announcements anyway. |
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Post by jacks on Jan 13, 2016 23:04:27 GMT
Yes, I don't know if they sound 'newer' but they definitely sound different. Would take some getting used to, sounds a bit wordy to me compared to the normal. Finally got round to uploading what I recorded, unfortunately the beginning of the announcement is cut off but you get the idea.
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Post by jmm on Jan 13, 2016 23:29:30 GMT
It sounds like three different voices to me...
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Post by countryman on Jan 14, 2016 9:24:09 GMT
The announcement that gets me is 'this train is for xxxxx'. The new one sounds much better.
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Post by uzairjubilee on Jan 14, 2016 11:19:13 GMT
Most ridiculous announcement. Why are they getting less fluid on the Underground along time?
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Post by t697 on Jan 14, 2016 23:12:16 GMT
Most ridiculous announcement. Why are they getting less fluid on the Underground along time? The recording link doesn't seem to appear for me. I've nothing to do with these NL recordings, but a rule of thumb I've used when editing such things elsewhere is "Am I prepared to ride these trains most days and listen to this over and over?" Once I get to the point of saying "Yes I suppose so", it's probably good enough for repeated use. I don't mind so much if it's a little used or service disruption type message, a little lack of fluidity there tends to jar and make you listen better. |
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Post by phoenixcronin on Jan 15, 2016 11:45:59 GMT
Hi I managed to get a few shoddy clips of these new announcements today. The first one is at London Bridge, when it now mentions "National Rail Services" instead of "Main line suburban etc" and also London City Pier.
The next one is at KXSP, now mentioning "Hammersmith and City" instead of "Hammersmith" and also "National and International Rail Services", as well as the new "This is a Northern Line train, terminating at High Barnet".
The next one is the new terminating announcement at High Barnet with visual display
I apologise for the crotch shot but I didn't wanna get funny looks
Other changes include:
Interchanges are now announced on approach
The beloved "Charing +" is gone
Some more which I'll add later
will upload more clips later
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Post by will on Jan 15, 2016 15:20:40 GMT
Sounds so much better and now finally they are trying to have all the announcements in the same style across all stocks.
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Post by jacks on Jan 15, 2016 18:30:45 GMT
The beloved "Charing +" is gone Yay! The London City Pier announcement sounds a bit jarring but thankfully I don't pass through London Bridge that often  |
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Post by uzairjubilee on Jan 15, 2016 21:16:10 GMT
Sounds so much better and now finally they are trying to have all the announcements in the same style across all stocks. Apart from the fact that on the Bakerloo, Central, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Victoria and Waterloo & City lines, the announcement format is "This is a (name of line) train to (destination)". |
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Post by Alight on Jan 16, 2016 12:24:29 GMT
phoenixcronin -- thank you very much for sharing those clips! It appears to be a mixture of Celia Mk1 and Mk2 recordings, which means that in places it can sound a little unnatural e.g. "Hammersmith & City" - which must have been taken from the 1996ts message library. I'm surprised they didn't revist the older 1995 upgrade (which was reverted back) to make for one consistent 'Mk2' voice, but I suppose they didn't want to lose to popular 'Mk1'. I wonder whether they've stuck an 'Exit here for' in front of 'Moorfields Eye Hospital' at Old Street? All in all it's good news as far as I'm concerned - I'd rather they kept Celia than use the generic Sarah Parnell... this is why it's good that the JNP use a different DVA supplier to the BCV and SSL! |
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Post by patrickb on Jan 16, 2016 23:51:32 GMT
I'm not particularly bothered about the DVA voice over artist. It's all about clarity and smoothness. I certainly don't prefer this 95TS mash up of new and old announcements as heard here. Also I don't think that the various different DVA's are synonymous to the different Line Sub Groups. BCV uses mostly Emma Clarke except the 09TS and the whole SSL uses Sarah Parnell by default because S Stock is used throughout. JNP uses Celia and Julie Berry. As older rolling stock is replaced, older DVA's from Emma, Celia and Julie will be phased out.
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Post by Alight on Jan 17, 2016 11:41:07 GMT
I travelled on the Northern line last night and had to let about six trains go before I boarded one with the upgrade. It appears they've added a reference to riverboat services at Waterloo and Embankment. Interestingly, they didn't use this opportunity to add a reference to London Overground at Euston... I suppose it technically counts as a National Rail service, so isn't absolutely essential. I'm not quite sure why the references to 'platform 6' etc. have changed to the deeper voice. Also I don't think that the various different DVA's are synonymous to the different Line Sub Groups. BCV uses mostly Emma Clarke except the 09TS and the whole SSL uses Sarah Parnell by default because S Stock is used throughout. JNP uses Celia and Julie Berry. As older rolling stock is replaced, older DVA's from Emma, Celia and Julie will be phased out. The SSL and BCV use Global Radio Systems, with the voice of choice being Sarah Parnell. Sarah was selected specifically to 'blend into existing tones' i.e. could be used to replace Emma Clarke announcements as and when, as was the case when the D78 stock required a new message to announce the temporary closure at Blackfriars, or the new termination reminder announcements on the 1972 stock. You're right in saying that as older rolling stock is replaced, the Emma announcements would be phased out in favour of Sarah Parnell. The Northern line CIS upgrade was carried out by KeTech - the voice of choice continues to be Celia. |
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Post by phoenixcronin on Jan 17, 2016 12:41:29 GMT
I'm not quite sure why the references to 'platform 6' etc. have changed to the deeper voice. Its also weird how it seems they've not chosen to rerecord the entire destination announcements, and instead we now have a new somewhat fainter "This is a Northern Line train" then a very upbeat "terminating" and then the old "Edgware/High Barnet/Morden etc" |
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Post by patrickb on Jan 17, 2016 20:05:56 GMT
The SSL and BCV use Global Radio Systems, with the voice of choice being Sarah Parnell. Sarah was selected specifically to 'blend into existing tones' i.e. could be used to replace Emma Clarke announcements as and when, as was the case when the D78 stock required a new message to announce the temporary closure at Blackfriars, or the new termination reminder announcements on the 1972 stock. Yes, the DVA Suppliers are different for each Sub Group, I was referring to each voice over artist. I'm very aware of why Sarah Parnell replaced Emma Clarke on the BCV and SSL. They are actually both my favorite type of DVA, I traveled on the 67's everyday for five years getting used to Emma Clarke's 'Stand Clear of the Closing Doors'. I certainly agree that Sarah Parnell was the best replacement. Such a shame that Celia is used, updates to the Northern and Jubilee Line DVA's are now turning into salvage jobs, and not pretty ones too by the sound of it. Does KeTech supply announcements for the 73TS? I believe that Bombardier refurbished them... Julie Berry's DVA was lucky to not require any updates until now, changes will certainly be needed now for Heathrow T2&3. |
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Post by Alight on Jan 17, 2016 21:14:43 GMT
The reason why I mentioned the suppliers is this seems to correspond with the voice over artist. I suppose in theory KeTech could use Sarah Parnell, but it for some reason doesn't seem to work like that! You'd have thought the collapse of Tubelines and Metronet would have brought it back altogether again, but obviously not! I'm not even sure whether the messages themselves are dictated by London Underground, General line management or a combination of the two.
According to correspondence I have on record, Ketech apparently also supply the announcements for the '73 stocks, however I'm not sure why the voiceover is different. It could be because of the rolling stock manufacturer itself (as you allude to) or the fact that Julie is who they went for in 2006 and that they only still require Celia for ad hoc changes to the '95 and '96 stocks.
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North End
Beneath Newington Causeway
Posts: 1,769
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Post by North End on Jan 17, 2016 21:25:23 GMT
The reason why I mentioned the suppliers is this seems to correspond with the voice over artist. I suppose in theory KeTech could use Sarah Parnell, but it for some reason doesn't seem to work like that! You'd have thought the collapse of Tubelines and Metronet would have brought it back altogether again, but obviously not! I'm not even sure whether the messages themselves are dictated by London Underground, General line management or a combination of the two. According to correspondence I have on record, Ketech apparently also supply the announcements for the '73 stocks, however I'm not sure why the voiceover is different. It could be because of the rolling stock manufacturer itself (as you allude to) or the fact that Julie is who they went for in 2006 and that they only still require Celia for ad hoc changes to the '95 and '96 stocks. You can add Operational Upgrades to the list, they are a business unit within LU and certainly they designed the 09 and S stock systems. As both were different projects and project teams, this likely explains the differences between these. Basically someone at Broadway or wherever produce a specification, and it's up to the project teams to find a solution which meets that specification. The plus side is we get some variety, the down side is there are some messy inconsistencies between the lines as different people have found different ways to meet the specification, as well as all the systems having been designed at different times. I do think the new setup on the Northern sounds a bit of a mess. Tourists may not really notice, but for regular users it's quite noticeably a lash up. Whilst the original voice is very good and I'd be sorry to see it go, in my view a complete re-record would have been better. Likewise on the Jubilee the mix of voices in my opinion sounds unprofessional. They should get Janet Mayo back, her original recordings on the 92 stock were still the best in my opinion. |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2016 20:32:18 GMT
Hi
I have been looking for a set with the new announcements does anybody know how many have the new announcements.
Cheers
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Post by phoenixcronin on Apr 20, 2016 21:17:46 GMT
51630 has them
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Post by jacks on Apr 21, 2016 7:42:26 GMT
For the past week and a half or so it feels like the majority of the Northern line journeys I've made have included the new announcements (before this I'd heard them maybe once since first hearing them in January).
I did wonder whether the Charing Cross branch had been updated first as I use that more often and it's most trips I've heard the announcements but not all (could just be coincidence, but I don't recall hearing 'via Bank, terminating at Morden').
edit: Scrap the above, heard the new announcements on a Bank train today!
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Post by Alight on Apr 21, 2016 22:09:19 GMT
I was wondering what had happened to then. Since January I heard them on three trains (including Bank branch), however in the past week they seem to have made a reappearance as jacks points out. I am wondering whether they were sent back for edits, but I will have to wait and see if there have been any improvements.
Moorgate definitely needs improving - sounds like a right mishmash. They could have at least used the new "Circle" snippet from the Bank recording (which has been rerecorded entirely) rather than using the original, which sounds jarring against the new "Hammersmith & City".
I also don't understand why the opportunity wasn't taken to include "London Overground" at Euston and make Moorfield's Eye Hospital an "Exit here for" at Old Street.
I have most of the key interchanges. PM me.
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Post by Tomcakes on May 7, 2016 18:06:05 GMT
I agree that in the last couple of weeks there has been something of an explosion in the number of trains with the new system. The voice does sound a little disjointed and the change to the terminating announcements (via Charing Cross, to Kennington rather than Kennington via Charing Cross) takes a little getting used to.
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Post by Alight on May 9, 2016 17:18:59 GMT
There is a new "trains to" messaged slotted in at Finchley Central: "This is Finchley Central. Change here for trains to Mill Hill East." While at Finchley Central, "The next station is West Finchley" message is also played.
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