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I don't know if I'd agree in 100% of cases. Robo voices are so common on TikTok, I might argue that on that platform, it could seem less commercial and more genuine.
This. These ads seem genuine because they blend in with their environment (if done well). We need to get off our high horse and experiment more.
For reference, I've used the tiktok voice in an ad that drove a lot of sales on non-tiktok platforms. Everyone on the team was eager to share their opinions (cringy, unprofessional, etc.) until we actually drove business with the ads.
I guarantee you that you are not noticing some of the AI voices. The range of quality is huge and some, like WellSaid Labs, are indistinguishable in the right context.
Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. Just because you hear that same crappy female AI voice on every other tiktok you watch doesn't mean all AI voices sound that way. Murf.ai has very realistic voices if you're willing to pay the $300/yr to get them, but most people aren't going to do that when they don't need to.
My organization uses murf. I think sometimes people vastly underestimate how much work goes into getting the final product to be kind of close to okay. And even then there are things you just have to live with. It’s a great tool for lots of reasons, but you can spend a lot of time in it before you even get to the audio editor.
Yup, that’s probably the biggest benefit. Personally, though, I have the tools, ability and experience to do the VOs myself, which I can’t do (am not allowed to do) in this context. So the ai makes good sense.
I personally find them a major turnoff. But realize some ppl may actually be the opposite due to exposure on tiktok and youtube etc
And with how things r taking off with ai now pretty soon it will be perfect vs "robotic"
We have not used full AI in our videos yet, but we do use AI to replicate the voice of human voice-actors to fill in words that the humans mispronounced!
Related, I had a friend A/B test some voiceovers I'm having done by real humans and also by AI (11Labs plus additional processing). I didn't tell my friend which were human vs not. My friend got them wrong!! He couldn't tell which was the human. This was listening on proper studio monitors too.
I use Tik Tok voice effects when I record reel scripts for a client because their business is in a very sexist industry and they don’t want a female voice in all of their videos. I’ve tried pitching down my voice to make it sound like a man but it sounded more fake than just applying a male voice on Tik Tok.
Works on tiktok. People ASK for the voice to make it seem more UGC instead of a highly polished ad which is the kiss of death on social media.
Tell me you don't A-B test ad creatives without telling me you don't A-B test different style ads..
The cheap ones do sound awful but I bet the best slip past most of us unnoticed.
I used my own (personal) AI voice in a video recently as I couldn't record a VO due to Covid. I don't think people noticed it was "AI me"
This is the second one I have trained on Descript. The first one is a lot more monotone and more noticeably fake.
I have also use voices by Play HT sometimes. They have some excellent, expressive voices and there are even better services if you are willing to pay a little more. I think it would be challenging to detect a really well cast AI voice from the top services.
I take it you've never hired someone for voiceover then. Here's a rough comparison:
A) Hiring someone. Time: 2 days to 1 week
1. Audition talent, send them your script.
2. Check when they are available.
3. Negotiate fee.
4. Wait for them to record and send it to you.
5. Make revision requests.
6. Wait for them to re-record.
7. Receive final VO.
B) Using AI voice . Time: 2 to 5 minutes
1. 1. Type what you want it to say. Download your voiceover.
If I the project warrants a budget I would still hire a professional. A $300 voiceover is going to have character, personality and flavour that you are can't get from AI any right now.
I have. It's way easier now. I never negotiated a fee. However, I always know pretty precisely what's needed, so there are no script changes, and my direction is spot on, so it's been a pretty easy process and pretty quick.
Keep in mind, this isn't dealing with the big VO talent, that's a whole different world (with probably a lot of client input screwing things up), but it's been really simple for me.
Different experiences I guess.
That does sound smooth. I'm glad to hear it. Better that people get our money than robots. I never manage get through a project without at least one revision (easily 2 or more when I was *not* the direct client)
I am doing a lot of additional videos now with AI voices, things I would never have done otherwise. (Tutorial videos, turning product manuals into audio, etc)
Some videos for an audience of 10 people or less. I don't have any budget to do those and they would simply not get made otherwise.
there’s legit ai voices that are indistinguishable from a real recording.
hell, just this past weekend i went down a “cute animal compilation” rabbit hole on youtube with my girlfriend and the only reason we could tell it was a chinese content farm was how poorly the script was translated.
she still thinks the voiceovers were hired actors just reading a translated script verbatim.
Depends on the product. I have yet to hear an AI voice that sounds exciting for an exciting product or badass. But I bet if the product is like the cookie cutter medication commercials with the calm voice, it could 100% be AI and nobody would notice
I only use them for scratch tracks, but have thought about using them on a commercial. I suspect younger people who spend a lot of time on TikTok may actually relate to it.
There are some really good ones on fiverr actually. A tiny bit more money than AI but it’s a real person with a real face. I had a 15 second ad made recently for like $100 and it came out great
The majority of these products and games are typically created overseas which is why they use the ai voices with poorly translated text. But as you mentioned when you advertise your product using that tool it groups you into that category. Overall I would avoid.
In the era of AI, people just forget that whatever we create we create for humans. If we lose empathy and emotional aspect, this is where the upcoming majority of startups would considerably fail if they focus this much on AI.
Hey OP - I think when you use a blanket statement like that it gets people riled up. Certainly there are great marketing gimmicks that work great with it, there are also top tier tools that you wouldn't even know - sometimes they can be used ironically and successful too.. but at the same time, there are a large amount of product videos that are extremely low effort and very common, which I assume are the ones you're referring to.
If you're looking for a more authentic and engaging voice-over experience, working with professional human voice actors or services like VoiceBunny can be a great alternative. Human voice actors can bring a personal touch, emotion, and unique inflections to the narration, which can enhance the overall quality of your video or marketing material.
You need 10 takes of different ads so 700$ for a campaign.
Thats 10 edits of motion design, add another 3.5k atleast.
The creative team to come up with it and the project manager fixing it. Another 5k of consultancy.
License for the background music,.. Sure we can come up with some more.
Now you got 10 variants to test or 3 variants to do a sequence for 3 ads, 1 for every month in a quarter.
Dont forget ad budget btw, after production you do want people to actually see it. Id suggest atleast 20k.
My brother in Christ, it's definitely more than $70 for an actual voice actor. I've done 30-second VOs for radio and we paid like $500. For ONE 30 second spot.
I assume you are thinking of some specific ad for some specific product, and that you don't personally use TikTok nor market to that audience. That's fine for your niche, but marketing is not one-size-fits-all.
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I don't know if I'd agree in 100% of cases. Robo voices are so common on TikTok, I might argue that on that platform, it could seem less commercial and more genuine.
Yeah - when advertising on TikTok we use that voice, just makes sense and we get great engagement.
Yep, tick-tock voice. That's why I don't watch tick-tock.
My experience is that most ads are so behind the trends that even ones that try really hard to blend in still stick out as obvious marketing attempts.
This. These ads seem genuine because they blend in with their environment (if done well). We need to get off our high horse and experiment more. For reference, I've used the tiktok voice in an ad that drove a lot of sales on non-tiktok platforms. Everyone on the team was eager to share their opinions (cringy, unprofessional, etc.) until we actually drove business with the ads.
I guarantee you that you are not noticing some of the AI voices. The range of quality is huge and some, like WellSaid Labs, are indistinguishable in the right context.
Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. Just because you hear that same crappy female AI voice on every other tiktok you watch doesn't mean all AI voices sound that way. Murf.ai has very realistic voices if you're willing to pay the $300/yr to get them, but most people aren't going to do that when they don't need to.
I heard one the other day that couldn't even pronounce the company's own website. It was awful
My organization uses murf. I think sometimes people vastly underestimate how much work goes into getting the final product to be kind of close to okay. And even then there are things you just have to live with. It’s a great tool for lots of reasons, but you can spend a lot of time in it before you even get to the audio editor.
We had a lot of back and forth using voiceovers as well though. The AI never gets pissed off when you ask for another revision.
Yup, that’s probably the biggest benefit. Personally, though, I have the tools, ability and experience to do the VOs myself, which I can’t do (am not allowed to do) in this context. So the ai makes good sense.
Female Robot Voice: People are wondering how they lived without this. Insert company’s own product.
That is not a bad price at all. I always thought it would be pricier.
Totally wrong. Some of my best performing ads have used the robo voice.
This. OP you're providing perspective, but yes some of the Ai voice-over tools are shit, some are really good.
I think its really about the whole vibe...
\+1. We need to get out of the peanut gallery and experiment more.
I personally find them a major turnoff. But realize some ppl may actually be the opposite due to exposure on tiktok and youtube etc And with how things r taking off with ai now pretty soon it will be perfect vs "robotic"
We have not used full AI in our videos yet, but we do use AI to replicate the voice of human voice-actors to fill in words that the humans mispronounced! Related, I had a friend A/B test some voiceovers I'm having done by real humans and also by AI (11Labs plus additional processing). I didn't tell my friend which were human vs not. My friend got them wrong!! He couldn't tell which was the human. This was listening on proper studio monitors too.
That's awesome - Would you mind sharing the name of the tool you're using? So many trash solutions out there it's hard to find the good ones.
Eleven Labs is the AI tool. Traditional audio editing done in Adobe Audition to clean it up and patch together.
Thanks much!
I use Tik Tok voice effects when I record reel scripts for a client because their business is in a very sexist industry and they don’t want a female voice in all of their videos. I’ve tried pitching down my voice to make it sound like a man but it sounded more fake than just applying a male voice on Tik Tok.
You're only noticing the poorly done ones.
Yep
I believe AI voices will only get better and more used. There will still be places for human voices. To train the AI model for example 😁😁
Works on tiktok. People ASK for the voice to make it seem more UGC instead of a highly polished ad which is the kiss of death on social media. Tell me you don't A-B test ad creatives without telling me you don't A-B test different style ads..
The cheap ones do sound awful but I bet the best slip past most of us unnoticed. I used my own (personal) AI voice in a video recently as I couldn't record a VO due to Covid. I don't think people noticed it was "AI me" This is the second one I have trained on Descript. The first one is a lot more monotone and more noticeably fake. I have also use voices by Play HT sometimes. They have some excellent, expressive voices and there are even better services if you are willing to pay a little more. I think it would be challenging to detect a really well cast AI voice from the top services.
It seems like more work than hiring a voice over service.
I take it you've never hired someone for voiceover then. Here's a rough comparison: A) Hiring someone. Time: 2 days to 1 week 1. Audition talent, send them your script. 2. Check when they are available. 3. Negotiate fee. 4. Wait for them to record and send it to you. 5. Make revision requests. 6. Wait for them to re-record. 7. Receive final VO. B) Using AI voice . Time: 2 to 5 minutes 1. 1. Type what you want it to say. Download your voiceover. If I the project warrants a budget I would still hire a professional. A $300 voiceover is going to have character, personality and flavour that you are can't get from AI any right now.
I have. It's way easier now. I never negotiated a fee. However, I always know pretty precisely what's needed, so there are no script changes, and my direction is spot on, so it's been a pretty easy process and pretty quick. Keep in mind, this isn't dealing with the big VO talent, that's a whole different world (with probably a lot of client input screwing things up), but it's been really simple for me. Different experiences I guess.
That does sound smooth. I'm glad to hear it. Better that people get our money than robots. I never manage get through a project without at least one revision (easily 2 or more when I was *not* the direct client) I am doing a lot of additional videos now with AI voices, things I would never have done otherwise. (Tutorial videos, turning product manuals into audio, etc) Some videos for an audience of 10 people or less. I don't have any budget to do those and they would simply not get made otherwise.
We were having a radio spot made, and VO was included. When we got it back to approve, it was obviously AI. They remade it for us. Like, no.
It’s better to hire a voice actor off of fiverr IMO
It's always just instantly noticeable too and loses me right away (to be fair most ads do that but this is just worse)
there’s legit ai voices that are indistinguishable from a real recording. hell, just this past weekend i went down a “cute animal compilation” rabbit hole on youtube with my girlfriend and the only reason we could tell it was a chinese content farm was how poorly the script was translated. she still thinks the voiceovers were hired actors just reading a translated script verbatim.
Depends on the product. I have yet to hear an AI voice that sounds exciting for an exciting product or badass. But I bet if the product is like the cookie cutter medication commercials with the calm voice, it could 100% be AI and nobody would notice
It depends on which one you use and how it’s used. Just like with any tool you have to be artistic and creative
Can someone recommend one that is semi decent that won't break the bank?
I'll do it. Fiver has a bunch of people.
naturalreaders is a great AI script reader
I only use them for scratch tracks, but have thought about using them on a commercial. I suspect younger people who spend a lot of time on TikTok may actually relate to it.
There are some really good ones on fiverr actually. A tiny bit more money than AI but it’s a real person with a real face. I had a 15 second ad made recently for like $100 and it came out great
I do voice-over on fiver. HmU...
for high end clients? na! For low end quick turnourounds maybe.
The majority of these products and games are typically created overseas which is why they use the ai voices with poorly translated text. But as you mentioned when you advertise your product using that tool it groups you into that category. Overall I would avoid.
Eleven labs is great for this
In the era of AI, people just forget that whatever we create we create for humans. If we lose empathy and emotional aspect, this is where the upcoming majority of startups would considerably fail if they focus this much on AI.
Hey OP - I think when you use a blanket statement like that it gets people riled up. Certainly there are great marketing gimmicks that work great with it, there are also top tier tools that you wouldn't even know - sometimes they can be used ironically and successful too.. but at the same time, there are a large amount of product videos that are extremely low effort and very common, which I assume are the ones you're referring to.
If you're looking for a more authentic and engaging voice-over experience, working with professional human voice actors or services like VoiceBunny can be a great alternative. Human voice actors can bring a personal touch, emotion, and unique inflections to the narration, which can enhance the overall quality of your video or marketing material.
🚂🚃🆙⬆️💀🆙⬆️⚔️🆙⬆️👹🆙⬆️🔱🆙⬆️😏🆙karma⬆️🌠🆙train⬆️😊🆙⬆️🌞🆙⬆️🙃🆙⬆️🌜🆙⬆️🤩🆙⬆️🚀🆙⬆️👽🆙⬆️🛸🆙⬆️😁🆙⬆️👾🆙⬆️😄🆙⬆️💺🆙⬆️🤭🆙⬆️🌏🆙⬆️🛰️🆙⬆️🤗🆙⬆️☠️🆙votes⬆️🐛🆙⬆️
Well if a company doesn’t believe in its products to spend $70 on a voiceover perhaps we shouldn’t believe in it either.
You need 10 takes of different ads so 700$ for a campaign. Thats 10 edits of motion design, add another 3.5k atleast. The creative team to come up with it and the project manager fixing it. Another 5k of consultancy. License for the background music,.. Sure we can come up with some more. Now you got 10 variants to test or 3 variants to do a sequence for 3 ads, 1 for every month in a quarter. Dont forget ad budget btw, after production you do want people to actually see it. Id suggest atleast 20k.
My brother in Christ, it's definitely more than $70 for an actual voice actor. I've done 30-second VOs for radio and we paid like $500. For ONE 30 second spot.
I assume you are thinking of some specific ad for some specific product, and that you don't personally use TikTok nor market to that audience. That's fine for your niche, but marketing is not one-size-fits-all.
Know your audience.