What will VO be like in 5 years?

Here is a post I found in one of the Voiceoveruniverse groups I joined, bettyezollersvoiceoverinformationcentral. The topic was "What will the VO Industry look like in 5 years?" This post blew me away. I thought it was quite compelling and broadened my perspective on what my VO career could be like in the future.

From the advancements in text to speech and voice synthesis technology I've seen, Bettye, we won't have to worry too much about competition from VO talents that charge peanuts for their labors on pay-to-play sites. They'll be replaced with "VO in a Box." For a few hundred bucks, someone in need of voice talent will be able to buy software that will convert copy from text to a voice-over in your choice of voice, male or female. You'll be able to select from, say, 500 different voices and be able to tweak the read simply by indicating emphasis, inflection, and pauses in the copy text or after the VO is rendered. A small ad agency or production house could buy this software to crank out spots and narrations without needing to shell out for real human voices.The technology to do this is here now. You can hear how close technology has gotten to real-sounding synth voices at YouTube and other video sites in videos by virtual singers like Hatsune Miku, which are created with software called Vocaloid 2.

Check out this song on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ-SnC50HQU. Listen closely and you can tell the voice isn't quite human, but it's close and as time goes on it will get closer still. Check out the original Vocaloid product here: http://www.vocaloid.com/en/index.html. Listen to the demos. Again, not quite human, but very close.After convincing voice synthesis arrives, there will still be a market for real human voices, but my guess is that the number of people that can make a living from VO full time will shrink because the low-paying gigs will go the Vocaloid route. There will be a market, of course, for real voices. My guess is that it will support a much smaller supply of the best VO talent--those that can elicit that little extra emotion and, well, humanity--that will be able to command enough to make a living. Whether this scenario is just five years away is certainly up for debate, but the technology that could make it reality is moving quickly. If technology can save someone money, technology will get the nod. And, every time I hear a badly acted local radio ad, well, that might not be a bad thing! :)Cheers, Peter Drew

So could this mean that I could be fired b4 I am even hired? lol

Btw, Peter Drew's website is an awesome resource, filled with very helpful articles along with great samples of his work. Thanks Peter!

Bettye Zoller's group is da bomb! Click here to check out her personal website.

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