Lifelike Speech Synthesis: How To Do Voiceovers That Engage Learners

Lifelike Speech Synthesis Voiceover Tips

Now that you know how to write scripts that engage learners (featured in our previous article), it’s time to talk about the exciting stuff: voiceovers. How can you make your content come to life with the right text-to-speech voiceover? It comes down to a few key steps.

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Text-To-Speech For L&D Pros: The Next Frontier Of Storytelling

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How To Create Voiceovers That Boost Learner Engagement

Select The Right Avatar

First up is the selection of the perfect avatar for your recording.

You want to audition avatars as you would a voice actor. Don’t just test how avatars sound rattling off the default samples online; instead, pull one blurb from your script and then test your avatars with that. This will help you better envision how the voiceover actually sounds when reading your content.

This also helps ensure that the context of your content matches the avatar voice. For example, you may love the way one avatar sounds, but find that he’s too upbeat, casual, or dry for your specific training content. Testing avatars before you press ‘record’ will help you determine this before wasting any time recording.

What happens if you can’t find just the right avatar? The beauty of text-to-speech is that you can create one. Define attributes that are important to you, such as tone, age, gender, or personality. Some text-to-speech platforms, including WellSaid Labs, can help you create the perfect avatar(s) for your business, which you can use for future recordings.

Annotate Text For Emphasis

Just as you might add notes for a voice production artist or employee, you can annotate your scripts wherever you want your avatar to add emphasis.

For example, ellipses or commas indicate pauses, whereas quotes or capitalizations indicate emphasis. Spelling out acronyms or complex terminology can ensure the avatar says things how you want it to.

One of the major benefits of text-to-speech is that, instead of getting a recording playback from a voiceover artist or employee, realizing it sounds flat, and having to re-record, text-to-speech gives you the autonomy to edit whenever and wherever works for you. You don’t have to coordinate with an agency or employee’s calendar, set up a sound room, or ensure all of the details are perfectly in place. You can simply open your computer and make magic.

Create A Unified Brand Narrative

Text-to-speech is one of your brand’s most powerful assets. It’s one of the first things your employees engage with when they sign up to work for your company. It reflects your values, hones your processes, and ensures your organization runs smoothly. Your brand’s materials aren’t limited to advertisements or social media channels—they are reflected in your training content, too.

The avatars you choose can make your brand come to life. You can choose or create different avatars for various types of content, or weave the same familiar voices throughout your content so employees feel a continuation between your training.

Another one of the benefits of text-to-speech is that once your voiceover avatars learn how to say something once, you don’t have to train a new recording artist about your company’s vocabulary. The data is stored as long as you need, so you save time, reduce inefficiencies, and create a common language for your organization around acronyms, titles, pronunciations, and complex terminology.

Another plus is that many people across your organization can tap into this same suite of characters for all kinds of training content. Instead of having to coordinate multiple calendars, reserve certain artists, or wait until an artist is available, you can have multiple producers working with your avatars as often as needed. No matter where you are or when you pick up, there is no change in audio quality and no wait in line.

Conclusion

Text-to-speech is your best ally in bringing your scripts to life. By finding an avatar (or set of avatars) that reflects your brand and your learning context, you can have multiple people across your organization create compelling, understandable voiceovers… no down-time, re-trainings, or inefficiencies involved.

Download the eBook Text-To-Speech For L&D Pros: The Next Frontier Of Storytelling to learn how to leverage AI voice generators for your remote learning programs and boost employee engagement. Also, join the webinar to learn how you can update eLearning voiceovers on time and under budget!