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A I is taking over audiobook narrating?

 
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Bruce
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Joined: 06 Jun 2005
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 25, 2023 2:31 pm    Post subject: A I is taking over audiobook narrating? Reply with quote

The answer is Yes for producers who don't care about the quality of the read and are satisfied with low or no cost results. Here's a short clip of the opening chapter of a book I recorded several years ago. I did it with no direction. I just interpreted how to do it from the language before me. I've also engaged two low cost AI narration websites to read the same copy with no help. Let's see if you can hear a difference. From Dirty Parts of the Bible:

Dirty Parts opening by Bruce

Dirty Parts opening by LOVO

Dirty Parts opening by MURF

Now there are some sites that will let you "direct", changing speed and mood, but then the author or producer needs to spend valuable time going through the entire book telling the AI what to do, while a competent narrator will just do that all for you.

B
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todd ellis
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 25, 2023 5:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have to say the MURF version is not horrible. I wouldn't listen to it for more than a few minutes before it drove me out of my mind.

It's definitely getting better.
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Mandy Nelson
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Location: Wicked Mainah

PostPosted: Wed Jan 25, 2023 10:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Todd is delusional( giggle). NOTHING replaces your warmth, your style, blah blah, etc...
I've had the pleasure of working with several developers over 25 years who are striving to make "it" sound right but they know...THEY KNOW AND ALL SAY...it is dependant on the voice actor.
I'm sticking with those developers. We have nothing to fear.
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Mike Harrison
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Joined: 03 Nov 2007
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Location: Equidistant from New York City and Philadelphia, along the NJ Shore

PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 8:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

LOVO: Repulsive. No life. Truly icky.

MURF: Not quite as repulsive but, oddly, it has a "boxy" sound. While it does seem to place emphasis correctly, it's still rather sterile, sounding like a local radio station commercial, in which everything's read with the rubber-stamped "upbeat" style.

Bruce's take, of course, was just what the doctor ordered.

Concerned about this very topic, I recently asked my healthcare agency client of 14 years whether his clients had ever expressed an interest in trying AI (while simultaneously offering my opinion of it). He said they hadn't, but also said he would absolutely recommend against it (for the very reasons I'd stated), saying he prefers the believable, human sound.

Hope persists.
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todd ellis
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 10:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would never describe Bruce as "Not horrible ..." Obviously, his version is BY FAR superior. I'm just saying the robots are getting closer.
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George
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Joined: 09 Dec 2019
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Location: Seattle, WA

PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 10:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The rope bridge over the uncanny valley is almost complete. Once that's done, it's steel girders and suspension cables.

Veritone is using an example when pitching to actors their engine that is unnervingly close to undetectable. Close. Not there yet. But enough to sell to clients.

Side note: Veritone is now charging actors $23,000 to record the voice print and make their voices available to be licensed to clients. We are -also- getting close to the point where there is a cost of admission and it is -steep-.
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todd ellis
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 11:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm hoping to be dead by then.
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Moe Egan
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Joined: 11 Sep 2006
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2023 1:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

LOVO: '...made a siller blush...'
MURF: typical AI choppy up-down, up-down, up-down cadence. Couldn't listen to a whole audiobook narrated by this one-dimensional sing song dreck.
Bruce: Ahhhhh. Warm and rich, like hot cocoa and my favorite blanket on the couch. THAT is how you narrate an audiobook.
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GunslingerWriting
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What people don't get is the relentless, proven ability of AI to mimic a vast range of human capabilities...and that copying emotional nuances with virtual perfection is no longer unimaginable to those in leading-edge AI organizations.

AI's competitiveness in VO is inevitable and to dismiss that inevitability is dangerous in this--and any other--artistic profession.,
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todd ellis
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 1:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
I'm hoping to be dead by then.

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Lizden
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 7:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As Monty Python proclaimed: We're not dead yet! Kiss
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