32-bit Sound Files?

[Guest Gary Knotts]

Does any know why a 32-bit VoiceGuide file will play, but mine won't?

 

The sound files provided by VoiceGuide are Mono, 8000Hz, 32-bit. When a script plays one of these files, the sound quality is good. When a script plays a Mono, 8000Hz, 32-bit sound file that I created, I get an error message. The system tells me there's a file format problem. For some reason, files I create have to be Mono, 8000Hz, 16-bit and the sound quality is terrible. Does anyone know why I can't play 32-bit files that I create? VoiceGuide's files work fine.

[SupportTeam]

Sound files provides with VoiceGuide are not 32bit.

 

See: http://www.voiceguide.com/vghelp/html/SoundFiles.htm

 

Even the best quality phone lines out there only transmit 8 bit sound quality (or equivalent in compressed format).

[gknotts]

Then what tool can I use to generate a welcome message of equal quality to the sound files provided with VoiceGuide? I've used AT&T Natural Voices to generate a welcome message that's mono 8000Hz 16-bit and the result is terrible.

[SupportTeam]

Messages which come with VoiceGuide are professionally recorded. See: http://www.voiceguide.com/servCallflowDesign.htm

[gknotts]

What information is needed to get a quote for the voiceovers? Is it the number of words or is something else required?

[SupportTeam]

This varies. Each 'Voice Talent' sets their own rates and charging schemes - best to contact them direct.

 

(also Google 'Voice Talent'...)

[ktruk]

Voice Over Tips:

If you are happy to do the editing yourself, then ask for the "talent" just to record a script that you supply (they will charge by the word or by the hour).

Read thru the script with a stopwatch, and allow yourself approximately 4x times this in your budget if its by the hour. This is usually enough to price the job and get the unedited recordings sent to you.

Ask for wav format recorded at the playback rate (ie: 8khz/11khz, 16bit) to avoid downsampling distortion.

Ask them just to repeat the fluffs so they don't wast time stop/starting the recording system.

Ideally, go with someone you can a) ring-up and talk too and someone who can email/ftp the files.

The sound files will be quite large, so arrange for your script to partitioned up into say 5 or 10 min chunks. Use Audacity/Cool Edit/whatever to extract the prompts. Bingo, you will save a fortune.

If you ask the talent to edit each prompt, you should budget about 10-12x the read-thru time as a guideline cost.