Character voices The voices for animated characters are provided by voice actors. For
live-action productions, voice acting often involves reading the parts of computer programs, radio dispatchers or other characters who never actually appear on screen. With an audio drama, there is more freedom because there is no need to match a dub to the original actor or animated character. Producers and agencies are often on the lookout for many styles of voices, such as booming voices for more dramatic productions or cute, young-sounding voices for trendier markets. Some voices sound like regular, natural, everyday people; all of these voices have their place in the voiceover world, provided they are used correctly and in the right context.
Narration In the context of voice acting, narration is the use of spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. A narrator is a personal character or a non-personal voice that the creator of the story develops to deliver information about the plot to the audience. The voice actor who plays the narrator is responsible for performing the scripted lines assigned to them. In traditional literary narratives (such as novels, short stories, and memoirs) narration is a required story element; in other types of (chiefly non-literary) narratives (such as plays, television shows, video games, and films) narration is optional.
Commercial One of the most common uses for voice acting is within commercial advertising. The voice actor is hired to voice a message associated with the advertisement. This has different sub-genres such as television, radio, film, and online advertising. The sub-genres are all different styles in their own right. For example, television commercials tend to be voiced with a narrow, flat inflection pattern (or
prosody pattern) whereas radio commercials, especially local ones, tend to be voiced with a very wide inflection pattern in an almost
over-the-top style. Marketers and advertisers use voice-overs in radio, TV, online adverts, and more; total advertising spend in the UK was forecast to be £21.8 billion in 2017. Voice-over used in commercial adverts had traditionally been the only area of voice acting where "de-breathing" was used. This means artificially removing breaths from the recorded voice, and is done to stop the audience being distracted in any way from the commercial message that is being put across. However, removal of breaths has now become increasingly common in many other types of voice acting.
Translation Dub localization is the practice of
voice-over translation, in which voice actors alter a foreign-language film or television series. Voice-over translation is an
audiovisual translation technique, in which, unlike in Dub localization, actor voices are recorded over the original audio track, which can be heard in the background. This method of translation is most often used in
documentaries and
news reports to translate words of foreign-language interviewees.
Automated dialogue replacement Automated dialogue replacement (ADR) is the process of re-recording dialogue by the original actor after the filming process to improve audio quality or reflect dialogue changes, also known as "looping" or a "looping session". ADR is also used to change original lines recorded on set to clarify context, improve
diction or
timing, or to replace an accented vocal performance. In the UK, it is also called "post-synchronization" or "post-sync".
Automated announcements Voice artists are also used to record the individual sample fragments played back by a computer in an automated announcement. At its simplest, each recording consists of a short phrase which is played back when necessary, such as the "
mind the gap" announcement introduced on the
London Underground in 1969, which is currently voiced by
Emma Clarke. In a more complicated system, such as a speaking clock, the announcement is re-assembled from fragments such as "minutes past", "eighteen", and "p.m." For example, the word "twelve" can be used for both "Twelve O'Clock" and "Six Twelve". Automated announcements can also include on-hold messages on phone systems and location-specific announcements in tourist attractions.
AI-generated and AI-modified voices Since the late 2010s, software to modify and generate human voices has become more popular. In 2019, AI startup Dessa created the computer-generated voice of
Joe Rogan using thousands of hours of audio from
his podcast, while video game developer
Ubisoft used
speech synthesis to give thousands of characters distinguished voices in its 2020 game
Watch Dogs: Legion, and
Google announced that same year their solution to generate human-like speech from text. Most voice actors and others in the entertainment industry have reacted negatively to this development due to the threat it poses to their livelihood. The
2023 SAG-AFTRA strike included negotiations between the union and Hollywood studios about the regulation of AI, as well as discussions with video game studios about new terms that would protect voice actors who specialize in that field. Although SAG-AFTRA heralded the deal it struck with AI company Replica Studios as a breakthrough due to its supposed ability to give actors more control over licensing their voice and how it may be used, the deal received backlash for its actual lack of protections from prominent voice actors such as
Steve Blum,
Joshua Seth,
Veronica Taylor, and
Shelby Young. In October 2023, during the start of the British
Labour Party's conference in
Liverpool, an audio deepfake of Labour leader
Keir Starmer was released that falsely portrayed him verbally abusing his staffers and criticizing Liverpool. That same month, an audio deepfake of Slovak politician
Michal Šimečka falsely claimed to capture him discussing ways to rig the upcoming election. In January 2024, voters in the
New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary received phone calls featuring an AI-generated voice of U.S. President
Joe Biden that tried to discourage them from voting. ==Voice acting by country==