"So it's a comedy," Rummell joked, demonstrating an amiable personality that is part of the reason for his success. Another reason: his ability to intuit directions and deliver the exact sound his clients want.
"Give it a little bit of darkness, but not too much," said the producer.
"OK," Rummell said in his regular speaking voice, before clearing his throat and mutating it into its professional incarnation as he read lines of copy that would become increasingly sinister.
"The Coleman family has a new daughter," Rummell read in a dramatic and throaty whisper that seems in keeping with his cherubic face and portly frame. "But there is something wrong with Esther."
"Good," came the producer's reply. "Now make it brighter at the top and twist it on the last line."
A few more takes, and Rummell was finished -- for a few minutes. He signed off the phone and walked over to his computer, where his online calendar was being filled with minutes-long assignments arranged by the three agencies that represent him. In just a couple more minutes Rummell would record a promo for an ABC special with Michael J. Fox.
"We start our days with nothing," said Rummell, who, like most voice-over artists these days, works from home, which is why he's able to dress in board shorts and Hawaiian shirts on the job. Until six years ago, he used to drive from his house in Yorba Linda to Hollywood every day, traveling between Paramount, Disney and the other studios that hired him to record seconds of copy.
Thanks to digital phone lines that allow broadcast-quality audio to travel in real time between recording studios, Rummell's commute has been reduced to about 15 seconds. That's how long it takes him to get from his kitchen, where he starts his day with a hot cup of coffee to warm up his vocal cords, to a home studio that is so impervious to outside noise that when his next-door neighbor spent a week jackhammering her pool, it didn't affect Rummell's work.
Rummell's home also has a pool. He says it was designed by the same Imagineer that dreamed up the Splash Mountain ride at Southern California's most famous theme park. His immaculate and spacious two-story home features other totems from Disneyland, where, as a child, the Orange County native was first attracted to the spoken word through the announcers who talked visitors through the rides. Later, Rummell himself became the voice for the theme park, announcing its many shows and daily attractions.
