Just a couple years back, if you explained Text-to-Speech to someone, 9 out of 10 you would hear the response “why would anyone use that?” Now, the dialogue isn’t about whether to use it or not, but whether which ones are better than the rest. From those that offer subpar voices to the ones that offer human-like sophistication, we have found 7 essential qualities every effective Text to Speech software must possess.
1. Voice Quality
The primary aspect that differentiates any text to speech software from its competition is the quality of its voices.
There are many facets to consider when we say “quality”:
- expressivity
- clarity
- intonation
- punctuation
- pronunciation
- styles and emotions to fit the context
- human-like imperfection
- over-all fidelity
A text to speech software should deliver high-quality voices that mimic the style, prosody, and emotion of human speech. Through contextual awareness, the AI voice should also be able to pause, breathe, and enunciate in all the right places as necessary.
2. Variety
There should be a bevy of options for gender, age, language/accent, and use case. Such diversity is what makes a TTS tool so powerful: it’s like having hundreds of voice actors at your fingertips.
Regardless of whether you are only serving a local community or the global population, having the ability to produce content in multiple languages, accents, and dialects help you tailor your offerings and overcome any cultural or language barriers. Customizing the voice based on your audience, content, and the brand significantly amplifies business opportunities for you.
Additionally, having an array of emotions and styles to choose from grants you the flexibility to utilize that same voice in different contexts, unlocking creative potential for you and your business.
3. User Interface
User Interface (UI) can make or break a sound product, but unfortunately, there is no “one size fits all”. Some prefer a simpler look, while others prefer a soft, pastel tone, and then there are those who need the most professional design to get their work done. The one experience that should run through various UI is that it should be easy to use. With just a few clicks, users must be able to convert text to speech and create compelling realistic voiceovers for their projects.
In other words, the platform should be user-friendly, intuitive, and doesn’t require an extensive training.
4. Control
Any solid TTS platform should empower you with mastery over your final output.
This can be as basic as modifying speed of the readings, inserting pauses in between sentences, or adding emphasis to certain words. A more advanced tool would allow you to edit the pronunciations of words so you can get the proper pronunciations for foreign words, acronyms, and special nouns. The most robust products will let you adjust the pitches on phoneme-levels for that granular control.
5. Import & Export
Another essential feature of an easy-to-use Text-to-Speech service is the ability to seamlessly import and export files in multiple formats. Importing and exporting files is a key part of any content work, so user should be able to either copy-and-paste text to an editor or import text files in different formats directly. At the same time, there should be an option to export the final audio or video file in various formats.
An added advantage would be allowing users to add media files such as images, videos, music, and presentations to the final voiceover and sync them to create the perfect digital content.
6. Add-Ons
You may start with the notion that you’ll simply turn text into a voice and be done with it. However, as you get more acquainted with TTS and AI voice tools, you’ll soon have a few “I wish I could do this” pop-up in your head.
Best Text-to-Speech products should support you with an arsenal of add-ons, such as a library of music, non-verbal interjections, and sound effects (SFX). Your productivity and creativity will increase exponentially if you don’t have to search the web for background music or sound effects (i.e.; fire burning, car honking, or bomb blasting). Having non-verbal interjections like coughs, uhms, and “wows” make your voiceovers that much more human and realistic.
A handful of top TTS platforms lets you clone your voice or create a custom branded for your business as well. You can create as many content as you want without ever having to record yourself, allow your team or colleagues to create content on your behalf, or come up with a special voice that your customers can remember you by.
7. Future
One of the most overlooked but a nonetheless important aspect to consider when deciding on any content creation tool should be its life expectancy.
By that, we mean:
- Will this product exist a couple years, or even a few months, down the line?
- Will there be updates and upgrades?
- Will there be someone to help me when I’m stuck?
You don’t want to get situated with a platform, have your routine set up around it, and then realize it’s gone the next moment, or the founding team’s deserted it. Make sure you choose one that’s alive and kicking so you can provide them feedback and help it improve – so it can help you.
So, What Makes Genny the Best Text to Speech Software?
Genny checks all the boxes in the list and more. Genny’s intuitive yet professional UI makes it simple and easy to convert text to audio, or combine the voices with a video to use for any marketing, e-learning, or training purposes. Not only are Genny’s voices authentic and realistic, but they also allow customizations like speed variation, pauses, emphasis addition, pitch adjustment, and pronunciation modification.
Creators can take advantage of Genny’s robust catalogue of 300+ voices in 100+ languages and accents, with almost 30 emotions and styles. You can: source from an expansive list of English voices covering various British, American, and Australian accents; go global with different dialects of Spanish, French, and Chinese; and make your characters come alive as they are either excited, apprehensive, drunk, or excited and drunk at the same time.
Additionally, users can import and export different file formats to and from Genny. Either upload your script as a word document or simply copy-paste the content to the text blocks. Similarly, you can download the final voiceovers and videos in multiple file formats, including MP3 and WAV for audio, and MP4 for video.
Genny goes beyond simply converting text to voice by enabling content creators and businesses to add images, videos, and music, and sync them with the voiceovers to create perfectly-timed, engaging voice over videos. Genny also hosts a vast library of royalty-free background music, non-verbal interjections that truly make the voices human, and sound effects that bring your content to life.
Last but not least, Genny features a voice cloning service so you can consistently produce quality content regardless of your health or condition, or secure a custom branded voice for your business to stand out among the noise.
In Conclusion
Choosing the right text to speech / AI voice generator for your voiceover needs requires a lot of in-depth comparison of the pros and cons of the various tools in the market. The above list should work as a go-to guide you can base those off of – make sure you find the right partner to get the best content creation experience!
Make sure to also check out these posts:
– LOVO Makes Base10’s Trend Map: Generative AI!
– Finding the Right Voice for Your Content
