Join my newsletter flock!
I’d love you to join me on this magical flight through life. I’ll be sharing recommendations, snippets of wisdom and bits of work along the way.
This is the subject of much debate in the voice over world. AI has been creeping into our industry for a while. Just think about your sat nav, Alexa, Siri etc, which of course, have all been created from human voices.
Aside from such apps, we are often sent videos with guide tracks that have been created using a robotic voice. Some are hilarious, a few monotone and others, though passable, are still somehow missing that human element.
But here’s the rub, the nuances of human speech and emotion are many, as are the directorial preferences of clients. And what about the good old fashioned concept of grammar?
In the AI world, the voice over will only be as good as the script. Poor punctuation can completely alter the meaning of a sentence. As can a spelling mistake or two. Such errors are becoming increasingly common, despite the many tools available for checking such things. The voice over is often the last objective human in the chain. As such, we can spot things that others don’t. When scripts are spoken aloud by someone who isn’t consumed by the concept and production process, it can quickly become clear that certain sentences don’t quite make sense.
A voice over is the voice of the brand, product, company, charity, business it’s representing. If you’ve spent years building that brand or company, building trust and respect amongst clients and peers, it’s important to take care of those annoying details which may seem small, but can trip you up when you aren’t paying attention.
AI certainly has its place and no doubt it will continue to play an increasingly important role. But in the opinion of this voice over, there will always be a place for humans when it comes to creativity, communication and the intricacies of the human voice.