Narrating in your authentic voice
Why parrot-fashion narration is not something to chirp about
Recently we saw a promo for an automated voice-over tool that claimed to offer “lifelike voices” to use in video voiceovers.We hire professional narrators so I was curious to see how much the tech had moved on from “Siri” etc.
Recently we saw a promo for an automated voice-over tool that claimed to offer “lifelike voices” to use in video voiceovers. We hire professional narrators so I was curious to see how much the tech had moved on from “Siri” etc. I scrolled down the page enticed by buzzwords like “synthesize”, “cloud platform”, and “AI”. We listened to two samples, “Joanna” and “Matthew” - both sounded very familiar. Like the “Text to speech” feature built in to my OS...stilted, monotonous and robotic.
Claims such as “Sounds Like A Human Voice” fell flat and I was reminded of the “like a golf” TV commercial*. Technology is great - when it works - but this didn't come close to sounding natural. This may be my subjective opinion but I suspect the vendors thought so too - it sounded like they used a real voice over artist in their video rather than their own system!
If you want “the human touch” use a human or your carefully crafted pitch could fall on deaf ears if it is read “parrot-fashion”. For added authenticity that human may even be you. Alternatively professional narrators can add value. As well as being authentically human they can vary their delivery and even advise on copy.
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Authentic voice animation from Sound-Motive on Vimeo.
* https://lnkd.in/gGTnP3k