Business
Our next guest in Voice and AI series - Andrew Curnock fought for the rights of music creatives to be able to license their work in the gaming industry. He wants to bring this same model of licensing to AI Voices through his work at Replica Studios. Replica is a text-to-speech AI voice generation engine that is currently focusing on voices for video games, primarily place-holder voices. Listen to this episode to learn about the future of AI voices in video games, the voice actor’s place in character acting, and how to license your voice for a possible stream of passive income #LIKEABOSS. About Andrew: Andrew is the Talent Coordinator for Replica Studios. Replica’s core technology takes a few minutes of speech and creates a Replica Voice which can be given a script to say anything. Replica is launching a product to make it easy for voice talent to create their own Replica Voice and enabling voice talent to license their voice at scale. Takeaways Andrew works with voice actors to help them create AI voices for Replica’s platform Replica is a text-to-speech AI voice generation engine that is currently focusing on voices for video games, primarily place-holder voices Replica always wants to be transparent with voice actors and acknowledges their concerns about usage, and licenses audio. Replica does not own the audio in perpetuity Replica is working towards a profit-share model so voice actors get a portion of the game sales For now, Replica is paying a flat rate for a 12 month license period If you don’t have the budget to have a voice actor record scratch tracks, you can use Replica voices for placeholders Video game AI voices can be new avenues for revenue for voice talent Voice actors recording for Replica need to be strong character actors When recording for AI, the content doesn’t always make sense or mix with the accent To be believable, AI voices must have a contrast between moods and emotions and take into account the musicality of a voice Replica is in chats with the Union to build a framework that is mutually beneficial for the company and voice actors Replica also licenses music for games, they don’t own the music Replica licenses voices as well, you own the copyright Andrew works with voice talent and addresses any concerns Voice actors working with Replica are considered part of the team and are allowed to shape the process Any voice actor who is afraid of AI voices, doesn’t understand AI voices If there is a future where we are interacting with robots, they will need voices Replica needs more voices - if you would like to audition, pick a character and record it with three contrasting moods and send this in! Tweet This A computer can't react, breathe, or act #VOBOSS AI is one tool that can help improve video game development A computer can't hold a candle to a human voice actor #VOBOSS Referenced in the Episode Learn more about Replica Studios Watch the RAPlica video Listen to Andrew’s open letter to the games industry Click here if you want to work with Replica Recorded on ipDTL