The read
A year before Shawshank made him the movies’ official narrator, Freeman was on Fresh Air talking about directing his first film. The reputation says the magic is depth. The measurements say otherwise: his average pitch sits mid-band for an adult man — unremarkable. What the instrument found instead is time. Under three syllables a second — about 115 words a minute, dictation pace — and forty-six stops in two and a half minutes, with how often he pauses and how long each one holds both reading optimal. The most imitated calm in narration isn’t reaching lower than other men. It’s just refusing, syllable by syllable, to hurry.