Are you old enough to remember when Memorex marketed their cassette tapes with that old phrase, “Is it live or is it Memorex?” They were trying to say their cassettes were better than others.
They dared to believe that any cassette recorded voice could sound like the real thing. But after an era with only LP’s, cassettes were great. Not only could you listen to music without scratches, but you could now record anything. Yahoo! This was great!
Let’s face it, though. We all weren’t born with a golden voice. So the idea of recording our own voice makes us cringe. We are our own worst critics, right? Among my friends we used to say, “not ready for primetime”.
One of the lucky things that has come out of technological advances is the fact that artificial intelligence, or A.I., has gotten tremendously better over time.
So good, in fact, that software can now transform text into a 100% natural sounding human voice – complete with inflections.
Introducing Speechelo
Speechelo is the brainchild of the developers at Blaster Products. Blaster has over ten years of experience in producing online software products, and Speechelo has been in the works for almost that entire time.
I appreciate the fact that they put effort into the product so that it would be the best that it can be before putting it out there.
What is Speechelo?
Speechelo is text-to-speech software. Believe it or not. artificial intelligence has begun to yield voiceovers that sound exactly like a person is talking. So, what it does is turn text into speech online.
Until now, the technology for AI-created human voice was available, but not in the realm of affordability for the average person. It is likely that we have been listening to computer generated voices for years.
You know those phone calls you get from time to time that sound just like a person? The only problem is, it’s trying to interact with you, and eventually the conversation falls apart. But, for a moment, we are fooled, right?
Speechelo provides this same text-to-voice realism at an affordable price for the rest of us. Businesses are using it for educational videos, training videos, and even sales videos.
How Speechelo Works
The overall concept is really simple.
- Log into the program and paste your text
- Select one of 23 languages, and the type of voice – man, woman, or child
- Adjust things liking breathing sounds, longer pauses, speech tone and even vocal speed.
- Preview, generate and download your voiceover
As a regular mp3 file, your final recording can be used with any video or as a standalone. It will work seamlessly with any video creation software including Camtasia, Adobe Premier, or Invideo (which is what I use).
NOTE: Video is not part of Speechelo – you will need to pair your final recording with video
A Few of My Favorite Things
Okay, as a self-proclaimed techie and “all-things-marketing-gadget-related”, I love Speechelo. I could literally spend hours with it. Here are my favorite takeaways:
- It really is such an easy program to use – anyone could use it, even a child.
- Even though it’s not a toy, you can keep playing with it until you have the final voice the way you like it.
- They have over thirty human-sounding voices including men, women, and children
- It works with twenty-three languages (what?!!!), and English with a British accent as well.
- You can change the overall “feel” of the voice to be more joyful or more serious.
- MY FAVORITE: It has a one-time investment of $47 – not only is that inexpensive, I like that I don’t have to keep paying every month.
They do have an upgrade, but there is a monthly charge. I advise – get used to this, and go Pro only if it makes sense for you afterwards.
The Bottom Line
If you are creating videos and would like vocal variation, or don’t like the sound of your own voice, this is for you.
It is truly a one-of-a-kind idea that is taking artificial intelligence to the next level, and allows you to do the same with your marketing.
RECOMMENDATION?
YES – a fantastic tool for marketers!
I have read about Speechelo before, but reading about it, on this article you have written, for the second time is really nice and educating. Speechelo seems to be a very great text to audio tool that is highly recommended. With this, putting Speechelo into consideration when getting a text to audio software won’t be bad.
Hi again! This is yet another interesting article on is it live or is it memories. I really like coming across your website because you always come with valid information that are necessary. I’ve heard of Speechelo before and it’s a very great software. The text to speech software would help me as I’m about to start training videos. Thanks for this idea.
I am just beginning to get into YouTube videos. Speechelo sounds like it would make voice over narration pretty easy. I find that things I type seem to be more flowing than things I say on the same subject. It this tool allows me to thing through a narrative subject and then speech it, even if artificially, that would be great.
I have not heard of Speechelo before so found this post to be very informative and helpful. I certainly do not like the sound of my own voice on a recording, so this would be the perfect solution for using a tool to do a voice over.
The only thing that would worry me about using a tool like Speechelo, is that people that know me might say it is not the real me as the voice is different, and therefore it might detract from the authenticity. I would be curious to know what you think
It depends on how you are using it. I guess I would not use it in a way that someone would think I’m trying to pretend it is me. Rather, more like maybe you hired a person to do voiceover for your video.
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First yes I am old enough to remember the phrase is it live or is it memorex, used to love those commercials in the late 70’s and early 80’s. It seems like text to talk has come a long way since it first arrived in the market. I will be truthful when I say that this scares me just a little bit. But, that is progress isn’t it? I guess that I’m just old fasioned that way, thanks for bringing this technology to lite for me. Have a blessed day my friend.