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French to English translations [PRO] Tech/Engineering - Media / Multimedia / Radio
French term or phrase:ton off
Hello,
I am translating a promotional text to be read on the radio.
It starts off with "Female voice, playful tone" etc. and then has the main blurb. Then there is another heading
Ton off:
Which is followed by a couple of phrases. I can't seem to find the translation for this anywhere. Could it be a specific radio term? Or perhaps the same meaning as voix-off? Or actually describing her tone?
Explanation: 'voix off' (and why not 'ton off'?) are used slightly differently in FR from in EN, which explains this apparently illogical use in radio.
In EN, 'voice off' can mean different things, but when we want to refer to an off-screen narrator, commentator etc., we usually use the alternative expression 'voiceover'.
From the script lines you mention, it sounds to me as if the earlier 'dialogue' is probably meant to be said by the performer 'in character', whereas what follows in 'ton off' is meant to be a neutral 'narrator' type performance — a different tone of voice, and also (perhaps incidentally) a different sound quality.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 42 mins (2010-05-26 11:08:14 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Would that be consistent with the script lines you have before and after?
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 45 mins (2010-05-26 11:11:30 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Definitely not 'off-mike' though — and I think it does refer to the 'tone of voice' (really more the style of performance), rather than the technical quality of the sound itself.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 46 mins (2010-05-26 11:12:45 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
No, from the lines you suggest, these would need to be very 'up-front', and not at all 'in the background', so it's absolutely not/i> 'off-mike'
Sorry Tony M, completely failed to read your title! It's one of those days I fear!
Having done a little more digging, off-mike is the name for a radio effect where the voice sounds as it it's in the background so that's the one I reckon.
Many thanks everyone.
I'm certain that it's not part of the script, that it's an instruction as to how the phrases below should be read. Off-mike had occurred to me but it seems a little strange, as does sound off given that it's a radio ad.
Perhaps there are two readers? The playful female voice who reads the main bit and then almost an "off-stage" narrator who says the last bits (which are things like 'Available in all good pharmacies", "Always wear skin protection" etc.). That's a bit like off-mike though I suppose.
Are these actually lines of script? Or could this be some kind of sound effect? Alternativelt, might it be describing the sound quality, processed in some way to make it sound different because it is 'off' (usually off-screen, but in radio, I assume it means 'off-mike') — you know, the way they EQ sound to make it sound like it is over the telephone, or on a tinny transistor radio, etc.
Chris Hall United Kingdom Local time: 01:36 Native speaker of: English
41 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +3
narrator / voiceover
Explanation: 'voix off' (and why not 'ton off'?) are used slightly differently in FR from in EN, which explains this apparently illogical use in radio.
In EN, 'voice off' can mean different things, but when we want to refer to an off-screen narrator, commentator etc., we usually use the alternative expression 'voiceover'.
From the script lines you mention, it sounds to me as if the earlier 'dialogue' is probably meant to be said by the performer 'in character', whereas what follows in 'ton off' is meant to be a neutral 'narrator' type performance — a different tone of voice, and also (perhaps incidentally) a different sound quality.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 42 mins (2010-05-26 11:08:14 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Would that be consistent with the script lines you have before and after?
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 45 mins (2010-05-26 11:11:30 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Definitely not 'off-mike' though — and I think it does refer to the 'tone of voice' (really more the style of performance), rather than the technical quality of the sound itself.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 46 mins (2010-05-26 11:12:45 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
No, from the lines you suggest, these would need to be very 'up-front', and not at all 'in the background', so it's absolutely not/i> 'off-mike'
Tony M France Local time: 02:36 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 116
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): -2
