A radio feel, without the radio.

What it actually does

Every few tracks the music dips, a line or two is spoken over the top of it, and the music comes back up. The whole thing takes about eight seconds. Something like "more music, wherever you are in your day, just getting going or starting to wind down, here's a little something for you", or "hope you enjoyed that one as much as I did, here's something else to settle into". If you would rather the voice said less, choose the shorter announcements in your settings, where the whole thing takes about four seconds. We are adding to them, along with more voices to choose from.

It is off unless you turn it on, it is one button on the playing screen, and it is included in your subscription at no additional cost.

You decide how often it speaks

Three settings, with the frequency shown against each one so you are not guessing:

• Fairly often, roughly every one to two tracks. Closest to how presenter led radio actually behaves.
• A normal amount, roughly every two to three tracks.
• Now and then, roughly every four to six.

If none of those is right, you can set your own range. Whatever you choose, nothing is spoken in the first or last twenty minutes of your trading day. A voice as the very first thing that happens at opening, to one customer in an empty room, is worse than silence, and at the other end it cuts across people settling up.

The small decisions that make it bearable

A voice in a room is heard hundreds of times a week by the people who work there, which is a far harder test than a customer who stays forty minutes. Several things follow from that:

• It speaks into a track, never between two. The join between songs is where two pieces of music briefly overlap in different keys, which is the worst possible bed for speech.
• It says nothing after a Skip. If somebody skips a track they are telling you it was wrong for the room. They want the music fixed, not a voice remarking on the change, so the line waits for the next track that changes over on its own.
• It never praises a track somebody has just rejected. Some of the lines look back at what has finished, and those are held back after Calmer, Busier, Skip or Instrumental only. Hearing "hope you enjoyed that one" straight after turning something off is the sort of detail that makes a room stop trusting the whole thing.
• No line comes round again until plenty of others have played. The same phrase twice in five minutes sounds broken, even when it is genuinely random.
• One tap turns it off, and it stays off until you tap it again, without touching anything else.

Your own announcements, in your own words

The lines that come with the player are general on purpose, so they suit any room. A lot of venues want the other thing: a voice that says their name. A short welcome, what is on this month, or that the kitchen closes at nine.

That is a separate piece of work from the DJ voice, and we are working out how to offer it. Read about venue announcements ↗

The best way to judge a voice in a room is to hear it in one.

The DJ voice runs on the public demo player as well as on venue players. Open the demo, press start, and turn on the DJ voice under the controls.

Try the player ↗

Common questions

What is the SoundPour DJ voice?

It is an option in the SoundPour player that speaks a line or two every few tracks, with the music dipping underneath and coming back up afterwards, a little like a radio station. It is off unless you turn it on, and it is included in your subscription at no additional cost.

Does the DJ voice cost extra?

No. The DJ voice is part of the subscription. Announcements in your venue’s own words are still in development, and how they would be offered has not been decided.

Can I choose the voice?

Yes. In your settings, under “Which voice?”, you can choose a male or a female voice. The male voice also comes with shorter announcements, if you would rather it said less. New voices appear in the same place as they are added, without anything needing to be updated at your end.

How often does the DJ voice speak?

You choose. There are three settings, from a line roughly every one to two tracks down to roughly every four to six, and you can set your own range if none of those suits. Nothing is spoken in the first or last twenty minutes of your trading day.

Will the DJ voice interrupt a song?

No. The music dips underneath it and comes back up. In a venue’s player, Skip is the only button that cuts a track short: Calmer, Busier and the other controls change the music from the next track on.

Can the announcements mention my venue by name?

Not the standard lines, which are general on purpose so they suit any room. Announcements that name your venue or mention what is on are a separate piece of work, recorded to a script you write. It is not something you can switch on today, and how it will be offered is still being decided, so the first step is to tell us what you would want it to say.

Can I turn the DJ voice off?

One tap, at any time, and it stays off until you tap it again. It is a switch on the screen, not a setting you have to go looking for.

Does the DJ voice need anything installing?

No. It is part of the player you already have, on the same laptop or tablet, with nothing to download and nothing to set up.

What does the DJ voice do outside opening hours?

Nothing is spoken. If you leave the player running, the music carries on for up to an hour after closing and then pauses itself, and the voice stays quiet until twenty minutes after you open again.

See everything the player does ↗  ·  More guides ↗