Jaume Ferrete Vazquez. Your father is speaking with my father's voice

Your Father is Speaking with My Father’s Voice

E. Eh. 'E'. This, now, comma, blah. I am a synthetic voice. This, now, comma, blah. I am a synthetic voice. his is a computer’s vocal tract speakeaking. Welcome to the world of speech synthesis. (Pause).

1984, the engineer Dennis Klatt develops the commercial system of speech synthesis, DECtalk. The DECtalk voices are based on recordings of his own voice.

His wife´s

His daughter´s

2013, the daughter of physicist Stephen Hawking finds the daughter of engineer Dennis Klatt. She says to her: Laura, I have to tell you something. Perfect Paul sounds just like my dad. Is Perfect Paul based on your father’s voice?

And she says yes.

Which therefore means that my father is actually speaking with your father’s voice.

And she says yes. It’s amazing. He would be so thrilled. I think it’s been such an amazing experience for me to talk to you about how your father’s life has been transformed by my father’s research. And I had never really thought before that my father’s voice lives on.

My father is speaking with your father’s voice

My father is speaking with your father’s voice

My father is speaking with your father’s voice my father is speaking with your father’s voice

My father is speaking with your father’s voice

Your father, your father, my father’s research, my father’s research, your father’s life, your father’s life. How your father’s life has been transformed by my father’s research. My father is speaking with your father’s voice.

My father is speaking with your father’s voice.

tapapa

tapaba

tachacha

tadada

tafafa

tagaga

tacaca

talala

When I passed through the door I started to sing along with the record, trying to make my voice sound just like on the record.

Me. Singing. With my own voice, and my voice on the machine also singing.

The audience were leaning forward and trying to see my lips, to see if my lips moved. This was the only way of seeing, or knowing, if I was singing or not.

Then the lights went out. And the audience were looking but only saw darkness. And the sound of the music and the voice.

Only the ears could guide them. And their ears failed them.

The lights came on and there I was. Me. With a frozen smile and a still mouth, my mouth.

Now spell.

'Voice', as in: ‘Find your own voice’. 'V'. 'O'. 'I' ‘C’ ‘E’. ‘Find your own voice’.

'V'. 'O'. 'I' ‘C’ ‘E’. ‘Find your own voice’.

Correct! Now spell: ‘Mouth’, as in: ‘Find your own voice, bite your mouth’ 'M'.'O'.'U'.'T'.‘H’. ‘Bite your mouth’

'M'.'O'.'U'.'T'.‘H’. ‘Bite your mouth’ ‘Find your own voice, bite your mouth’

Correct! Now. ‘Bite your mouth, stick out your tongue’. 'T'.'O'.'N'.'G'.'U'.'E'. ‘Stick out your tongue’,

Tongue. 'T'.'O'.'N'.'G'.'U'.'E'. ‘Bite your mouth, stick out your tongue’.

Correct! Now. ‘Twist your tongue, put your body in’. 'T'.'O'.'N'.'G'.'U'.'E'. ‘Twist your tongue, put your body in’.

'T'.'O'.'N'.'G'.'U'.'E'.  ‘Twist your tongue’.

Put your body in.

'B'.'O'.'D'.'Y'. ‘Twist your tongue, put your body in’

Correct, now. Speech. 'S'.'P'.'E'.'E'.‘C’ ‘H’. 'Speech that doesn’t know what it is saying’.

‘S'.'P'.'E'.'E'.'C' ‘H’. 'Speech that doesn’t know what it is saying’.

Correct! Now. Voice. ‘As if your voice was not your own’.

'V'.'O'.'I' ‘C’ ‘E’. ‘As if your voice was not your own’.

Correct! Now. As in the echo.

In the echo, something I’m not, it speaks to me with my own voice, sounding just as I sound.

In the echo. Like the nymph called the the Echo.

A voice like this, what is it able to do?

Now. This is not a voice exactly.

This voice is not a voice exactly.

This voice is not a voice exactly. This voice is not a voice exactly. This voice is not a voice; it is a discourse. This voice is a discourse. This voice is a discourse. It is not clear whose it is exactly. This voice is not a voice inasmuch as it speaks. This voice is a voice inasmuch as it does. It is not clear who is doing it exactly. This voice is not a voice; it is a discourse. This voice is not a voice; it is a discourse. This voice is not a voice exactly. This voice is located in a continuum. This voice is a quote of other voices. This voice is located in the continuum. This one too. And this voice is a quote of other voices. This voice is a discourse. This voice is a discourse. It is not clear who is speaking exactly. Those who are speaking is not clear. Those who are speaking is not clear. Those who are speaking is not clear. Those who are speaking is not clear.

No. A voice is not tied to an identity or specific people.

No, no. A single voice can be produced collectively. A unique voice can be produced collectively.

A single voice can be produced collectively.

Has this voice been produced collectively?

Or not. As speakers we are not compact entities. Listen

You listen. No, no. I don’t have speech organs. My words are not a direct and transparent expression of my subjective experience.

Words are not the direct expression of their subjective experience.

My words are not the direct expression of your subjective experience. The direct and transparent expression of your subjective experience. Your father is speaking with my father’s voice your father is speaking with my father’s voice.

Your father is speaking with my father’s voice. No. Words are not the direct expression of a subjective experience. Are these words the direct expression of a subjective experience?

No, no?

No, listen to this. Vocal timbre is not the unmediated sound of an essential body.

Vocal timbre is not the unmediated sound of an essential body. It is the result of habitual performance that has shaped the physical body.

Vocal timbre is the result of  habitual performance that has shaped the physical body. Vocal timbre is the sound of a performance that has shaped the physical body. An habitual performance that has moulded the physical body.

This. This is performance. Welcome to the world of speech synthesis.