June 10th sees the launch of the official Star Wars C-3PO GPS voice. As with the Darth Vader gps voice launched on May 4th, this satnav voice promises to be just as exciting and innovative in the use of original Star Wars sound effects and music. The C3PO TomTom voice features the navigation talents of R2-D2! On a number of the commands you will hear Threepio ask for R2-D2’s opinion and even berate him when C3PO thinks he may have made a mistake – just like the classic Star Wars films! John Williams’ masterful main title theme tune from the Star Wars classic films is also subtly interwoven into the navigation commentary, making for a very uplifting and rich experience.

This TomTom GPS voice is distinctive, characterful and very entertaining to have in the car. Where Darth Vader is menacing, Homer Simpson goofy and Snoop just plain laidback, C-3PO is the supportive co-pilot you will want to drive around with time and time again, master.  All Star Wars fans should have this TomTom voice in their car; if you’ve already got Darth Vader then C3PO really is the perfect antidote to the Sith Lord.

So, enlist your TomTom ‘navi-computer’ in the Rebel Alliance and make sure you get the inside track;  subscribe to our newsletter and we will let you know the day  - may the moment – threepio is available for download onto your TomTom. And don’t forget, we will also be giving away free TomTom voice content voiced by C-3PO – including warning alerts, start up and shut down sounds as well as very cool wallpaper and a map icon pointer.

Chris.

Snoop Dogg GPS Voice Recording Session

Snoop turns up a little later than expected (that’s ok – he’s a star!). He had fair reasons: he’d been up all night making a series of videos to support Malice in Wonderland and then onto his son’s football practice during the day. But the moment he arrives, he’s totally ready for work. A real trooper. I have to add, he is incredibly charismatic and very courteous too (damn tall as well). I feel a bit silly shaking his hand. Being the awkward Brit that I am, I probably said something like “ How do you do, Mr. Dogg.’ Ok, I didn’t but you know what I mean: exactly how does an uptight limey address an international rap megastar? Snoop takes it all in his stride, making us feel completely relaxed from the moment he walks in. My brother in law, Sam, is a big, big fan: and having met the man, I can see why he holds such appeal for so many all around the world.

We explain how we want the recording undertaken; Snoop and his manager, Ted, listen intently. Then Snoop goes into the booth and pretty much nails the entire thing in just under 2 hours. This is a record time for us. He seems to know exactly how we want things: 3 variants of everything with all the required pauses and gaps we need for our edit points. Perfect. No guidance needed. At one point we stop to let ProTools catch up but Snoop wants to keep on. The man never lets up.

When he has given us more than enough, including all his great scripted lines, he then starts to improvise (go to www.voiceskins.com and be in with a chance to win the signed script he used at the session!) Anyway, we all spend the next 20 minutes laughing, ‘rapt’ (sorry!) with admiration; he isn’t one of the biggest and best for no reason. The man is really, really funny and despite having been up for 24 hours, he’s brilliant at improvising. Some of it we can’t use and will remain in the archive forever. But watch out for a director’s cut of the Snoop GPS end of next year on www.voiceskins.com– who knows what you might get to hear?

Snoop finishes, puts his fists to mine (so that’s how you shake hands with Snoop!), signs an album for my brother-in-law, has some food and disappears with his manager Ted into another room to do more work. The guy just never stops. Grant and I sit around chatting about the session, the safest place to be in LA when the Big One hits (clue: not in the hills, according to Anthony from Cashmere Agency), whilst we wait for the adrenaline rush to subside.

Snoop GPS voice – Larry King show

Listening to the recording at the airport, I know we have an amazing TomTom GPS voice to share with you. We hope you think so too. Check out the videos ‘The making of the Snoop TomTom GPS celebrity voices’ and the video of Snoop’s VoiceSkin shown in demo mode. You can also see other cool GPS voice videos on our YouTube channel, here.

UPDATE: just heard about Snoop on Larry King talking about his Snoop GPS voice. A very cool little piece with Snoop in his Snoopmobile showing Larry his GPS voice. You can see it here.

And don’t forget to watch Snoop also discussing his involvement with VoiceSkins and his GPS voice on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, here.

Thanks for reading!

Chrizzle H.