A voice behind the movie ads

But it’s Rummell’s other voice, his paid professional voice, the one he turns on when he’s positioned inches from a microphone, that has earned him work on “Angels & Demons,’’ “Terminator Salvation,’’ “American Idol,’’ and “Oprah’’ and the reputation as one of the United States’ top voice-over artists.

“The guys that do the movie trailers, the perception is there’s one guy or two or three, but there’s probably 15 of us that work every day,’’ said Rummell, 48.

The late Don LaFontaine was probably the best-known voice in movie trailers. Stentorian and authoritative, his “voice of God’’ was used to promote more than 5,000 movies over a 40-year career until his death in September 2008. It was LaFontaine’s voice moviegoers had come to expect when the lights went down and the “Coming Attractions’’ rolled.

But it wasn’t always LaFontaine that the audiences were hearing. Often it was Ashton Smith or Ben Patrick Johnson or Rummell - lesser-known but versatile talents who can mimic the “trailer sound’’ LaFontaine pioneered - skilled voice-over artists who know how to hold audience attention without overshadowing the power of the words that they are speaking.

“The nature of a voice-over is you should not be conscious of it,’’ said Patrick Starr, vice president of creative advertising for Fox Searchlight. “You don’t want to be aware of it, but it’s the same person who’s telling you the story. It’s very difficult to command a presence but be in the background. Voice-over is really hard to do.’’

A day with Rummell proves Starr’s point. He records dozens of promos daily, often moments after he’s received their scripts on a constantly whirring fax machine. In a single hour, he recorded spots for the TV shows “Lie to Me,’’ “American Idol,’’ “Prison Break,’’ and “Dollhouse,’’ as well as for the upcoming movies “Rango’’ and “Orphan.’’

“Tell me about ‘Orphan,’ ’’ Rummell asked the producer for the trailer, who was on the other end of the phone line that connected Rummell’s in-home studio to the movie trailer production house.

“It’s kind of how it sounds,’’ said the producer. “A family adopts this girl, and weird stuff starts to happen. Like she starts killing people.’’

“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.

After a few takes, Rummell was finished - for a few minutes. He signed off the phone and walked over to his computer, where his online calendar was filled with minutes-long assignments arranged by the three agencies that represent him.

Thanks to digital phone lines that allow broadcast-quality audio to travel in real time between recording studios, Rummell’s work commute is 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.

It has taken Rummell years to rise to the top in a tough business. There are roughly 8,000 working voice-over artists in the US today, lending their talents to all kinds of promotions.

“The bulk of the money is on TV spots for feature films,’’ said Paul Wintner, owner of the voice talent agency Wintner Artist Management. “There might be a spot on Lifetime geared toward women, an action spot for the NBA Finals, a dramatic spot during ‘Lost.’ . . . You could easily do 30 different spots for a movie.’’