VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Mike Paul

Back in the yesteryears of computing, I used to visit a website called MacHeist. They often created bundles of software for Mac that, the more people bought, the more software titles would be unlocked in the bundle for everyone. It was really cool, back when software ran on computers instead of crappy web browsers. (One step forward, two steps back?) For reasons unknown, I went there tonight and was surprised that they were still alive.

I was more surprised to discover a piece of software called Micmonster. With a tagline of "The future of voiceover" under the title, I had to click. Not saying they're good (they're not), just that they exist, for those interested in this side of the industry and how soon we'll be replaced by it. I don't think this will replace us anytime soon, though it may allow for the creator economy types to add voiceovers to their stuff if they don't do it themselves and wouldn't be paying pros (or amateurs, haha) for that type of work. My gut says we're 10 years or less away from not being able to tell the difference in general/neutral speech, and then it'll take a long, long time to convincingly portray all of the nuance a human can emote.

Thankfully you can still tell it's AI and not human. You'd love to have a law or some type of legal guardrails that say "you can't make this too real, now, ya hear?" but like that'll do anything.

If you can make it through the whole video, well.... I don't know why you would do that to yourself. You'll never get the time back. Laugh

That opening sentence in the video, though...

https://www.macheist.com/sales/micmonster-lifetime-subscription

Lee Gordon

Philip Banks · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 2:34 am Post subject:

We need to add a category to the list people who announce to unsuspecting guests at a party "Well, as a voice actor..." It's that of Utility Voice. The days of people making a living by supplying their voices to utility projects/productions are numbered.

Yesterday I needed to flip/mirror a photo sent to my iphone by a friend. Couldn't find anything, lost the will to live. AI would've done the job - Utility. A few weeks ago I did the introduction to a charity event, the copy needed the mind, heart, body and soul of a Human Being. AI consists of 101010101001010101010101, we don't!

Bob Bergen · CM Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 976

For years I was saying that we have nothing to worry about because computers can't act. Today, they can. Just listen to James Earl Jones in Obi-Wan-Kenobi, which was 100% AI created from previous recordings. AI is being used for both group ADR as well as sweetening lead actor's performances. This is here, now. It's used more often than most people know. Those who say they can hear the difference are just hearing lousy examples and are oblivious to the good ones cuz they are just that good.

VO is just the latest to be affected by this tech disruption. Set dressers and make-up artists found much of their work replaced by computers years ago.

I remember when I worked on A Bug's Life and marveled at the CGI grass, water, etc. I asked John Lassiter what his current challenge was. He said, "We are trying to figure out how to do the ocean." Then came Finding Nemo. Tech brilliance just improves.

Computers can act. They can take a single line read flat and churn out dozens of emotions and interpretations. Is it perfect? Of course not. Neither are most actors.

This is very real. I used to say this will not impact the vo industry in my lifetime. I now say I don't think this will make vo actors obsolete in my lifetime. But tech has historically demonstrated how fast it makes the previous generation obsolete. Silent films did away with vaudeville. Sound did away with silent films. TV impacted film. Cable impacted network TV. Streaming impacts everything. AI impacts vo.

ricevoice · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 8:01 am Post subject:

One thing computers can't do: be directed by a client. Clients who really enjoy directing a v-o session and having the talent "this time maybe try it this way" and making it a collaborative process... I don't see those clients switching over to AI. Thankfully, in my experience they also tend to be the clients with the bigger budgets!
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Chris Rice - Noisemaker
www.ricevoice.com

Bob Bergen · CM Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 976

George · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 8:43 am Post subject:

To piggy-back on what Bob said (i gotta stop doing that because it needs the word piggy and it makes me sound deliberately puntastic) and in response to Chris:

Bob is right: a programmer with the more expensive AI voices available, a programmer CAN direct a voice, and provide samples to a client, and the client can audition them and pick and choose which nuances they like. Line by line.

When clients find out they don't have to direct professional actors anymore and it ends up reducing cost and time and the end product is exactly what they're looking for, there we have it.

We're not fully there yet. But the rate at which it is improving is telling.

Remember how people used to say that MP3 as a music format could never get traction because the quality wasn't as good as a CD?

Remember when streaming couldn't ever possibly take the place of DVD because of the quality differences?

Remember when X couldn't possibly take the place of Y because it wasn't good enough?

Lee Gordon · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 12:25 pm Post subject:

Mandy Nelson · Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2022 1:09 pm Post subject:

I work closely with two private developers that know the right voice direction to give, that I mimic, that they can then put anywhere and you can barely tell the difference between my reading a full sentence and them putting it together. It is mind-blowing and, as said, certainly here. We've tested their stuff on people that know me well, know what I do and they can't get it right.

To be clear - they use me and my voice, pay me for my time, but ARE NOT allowed to use my voice for their programs. What they are developing will rely on programming the machine voices to sound flawless and by using a live human they are figuring it out.
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006 member of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Mic. Bonded by sound.

Manfillappsoc: The Mandy and Philip mutual appreciation Society. Who's in your network?

Have you seen my mic closet? ~ me to my future husband

Bob Bergen · CM Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 976

GunslingerWriting · Contributor II Joined: 23 Feb 2010 Posts: 62

I am astonished at how little understanding some voices on here--especially older ones--have of the capacity of AI technology to do all of the things that are being dismissed as impossible.

People don't know what they don't know...and that's at their planning/occupational peril.

Mike Paul · Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2022 8:24 pm Post subject:

It's true, Gunslinger, we don't know what we don't know and I think we're having a great discussion about the state of the art because I clearly had no idea just how good it was, but now I'm getting one.

What are your thoughts on the topic? Have some experience worth sharing?

GunslingerWriting · Contributor II Joined: 23 Feb 2010 Posts: 62

I've worked with people who've been doing this longer than anyone else I know and I've seen/heard the outcome of their work. It can be breathtakingly real, down to inflection, passion and emotional evocativeness.

The scary thing is, what they showed me many months ago that blew my socks off is five times better now.

Technologically, the sky's the limit; and so is the gutter for those who choose not to at least have a passing awareness of what this stuff is, what it can do, how it can sound and whom it will, inevitably, appeal to. Because that will be lots and lots of people who want a voice on a budget.

Mike Paul · Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 5:54 pm Post subject:

Thanks for your thoughts Gunslinger. Very interesting. What, then, would be a good hedge against this as a voice actor? For example, the hedge against the disappearance of the "announcer" read was to learn "conversational".

Now I'm wondering what I should do when this type of work comes up. My gut says to just audition for it because whether I do or don't, this is happening whether we like it or not. Can't put the genie back in the bottle .

It also kinda feels similar to the sustainability problem we're having with the "race to the bottom" of rates. In both cases--AI and rates--we need to figure out how to keep this business sustainable as a primary income for those of us striving for that. I choose to align with the GVAA and sometimes have to turn down low-budget projects that I know someone else will snag. Not because I'm financially secure, but on principle.

Suddenly between the low-ball rates and AI, the future's looking frickin dim, man.

Wondering what that hedge is.

BruceG · Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 8:28 pm Post subject:

No doubt that AI is more than catching up in terms of replicating the human voice. Recently there were times when I got a "robo-call" or listened to a narration on a YouTube video and had to really stop and ask: "Is this voice human?"

Here's my question: can AI truly "act"? Acting/Voice Acting is so integral to being human; we can improvise, take risks, try different directions, all on a whim, based on who we are as individuals. I just can't see AI touching that. Hopefully that means there will always be a demand for real voices. cool

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"What was that? An exhibition? We need emotional content." - Bruce Lee, Enter The Dragon