voicebox/docs/overview/creating-voice-profiles.mdx

---
title: "Creating Voice Profiles"
description: "Advanced guide to creating high-quality voice profiles"
---

## Overview

Voice profiles are the foundation of voice cloning in Voicebox. This guide covers best practices for creating professional-quality voice profiles.

## Quick Start

<Steps>
  <Step title="Prepare Audio">
    10-30 seconds of clear speech
  </Step>
  <Step title="Create Profile">
    **Profiles** → **+ New Profile**
  </Step>
  <Step title="Upload Sample">
    Add your audio file
  </Step>
  <Step title="Generate">
    Use the profile to generate speech
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Audio Requirements

### Ideal Sample Characteristics

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Duration" icon="clock">
    **10-30 seconds**

    Too short: Poor quality
    Too long: Unnecessary
  </Card>
  <Card title="Clarity" icon="volume">
    **Clear speech**

    No background noise
    No music or overlapping voices
  </Card>
  <Card title="Quality" icon="sparkles">
    **High fidelity**

    44.1kHz or 48kHz sample rate
    Minimal compression
  </Card>
  <Card title="Content" icon="microphone">
    **Natural speech**

    Conversational tone
    Complete sentences
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

### File Formats

Supported formats:
- **WAV** (recommended) - Lossless quality
- **MP3** - Acceptable, minimal compression
- **M4A** - Acceptable
- **FLAC** - Lossless alternative

<Tip>
  Use WAV for best results. Avoid heavily compressed formats.
</Tip>

## Recording Tips

### Environment

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Quiet Space">
    - Record in a quiet room
    - Turn off fans, AC, appliances
    - Close windows to reduce outside noise
    - Use soft furnishings to reduce echo
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Microphone Placement">
    - 6-12 inches from mouth
    - Slight angle to reduce plosives (p, b, t)
    - Use a pop filter if available
    - Maintain consistent distance
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Recording Settings">
    - 44.1kHz or 48kHz sample rate
    - 16-bit or 24-bit depth
    - Mono is fine (stereo will be converted)
    - Avoid automatic gain control
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

### Speaking

- **Natural pace** - Don't rush or speak too slowly
- **Clear articulation** - Pronounce words clearly
- **Consistent volume** - Maintain steady loudness
- **Normal tone** - Speak as you normally would
- **Complete sentences** - Avoid fragments or "ums"

## Multiple Samples

Adding multiple samples can significantly improve quality:

### Why Multiple Samples?

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Robustness" icon="shield">
    Model learns a more complete representation
  </Card>
  <Card title="Versatility" icon="palette">
    Handles different speaking styles better
  </Card>
  <Card title="Quality" icon="star">
    Reduces artifacts and improves naturalness
  </Card>
  <Card title="Consistency" icon="check">
    More reliable across different texts
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

### Sample Variety

Consider adding samples with:

1. **Different tones**
   - Casual conversation
   - Professional/formal
   - Excited/enthusiastic
   - Calm/serious

2. **Different content**
   - Narratives
   - Questions
   - Statements
   - Emotions (happy, sad, neutral)

3. **Different recording conditions**
   - Studio quality
   - Phone call quality (if needed)
   - Room acoustics

<Warning>
  All samples should be from the **same speaker**. Mixing voices will produce poor results.
</Warning>

## Processing Existing Audio

If you have existing audio (podcasts, videos, etc.):

### Extracting Clean Segments

<Steps>
  <Step title="Find Clean Speech">
    Look for segments with:
    - Just the target speaker
    - No background music
    - Minimal noise
  </Step>

  <Step title="Use Audio Editor">
    Tools like Audacity or Adobe Audition:
    - Cut out clean 10-30s segments
    - Remove silence at start/end
    - Normalize volume if needed
  </Step>

  <Step title="Export as WAV">
    Save as high-quality WAV file
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Noise Reduction

If you have light background noise:

```
1. Use noise reduction in Audacity:
   - Select noise-only section
   - Get Noise Profile
   - Select full audio
   - Apply noise reduction (gentle settings)

2. Avoid over-processing:
   - Can introduce artifacts
   - May reduce voice quality
```

## Testing & Iteration

### Test Your Profile

After creating a profile:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Generate Test">
    Generate a simple phrase:
    ```
    "Hello, this is a test of my voice profile."
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Evaluate Quality">
    Listen for:
    - Natural tone
    - Clear pronunciation
    - Proper prosody
    - Lack of artifacts
  </Step>

  <Step title="Iterate">
    If quality is poor:
    - Add more samples
    - Try different source audio
    - Check sample quality
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Common Issues

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Robotic Voice">
    **Cause**: Poor quality samples or too short

    **Fix**: Use longer, higher quality samples
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Wrong Tone">
    **Cause**: Sample tone doesn't match desired output

    **Fix**: Record samples in the style you want to generate
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Artifacts/Glitches">
    **Cause**: Background noise or audio issues in samples

    **Fix**: Clean up samples or re-record in quieter environment
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Advanced Tips

### Celebrity/Character Voices

For cloning public figures or characters:

1. **Legal considerations** - Ensure you have rights or it's fair use
2. **Source quality** - Find high-quality interview audio or clean clips
3. **Consistency** - Use clips where they speak similarly
4. **Multiple samples** - Very important for recognizable voices

### Accent & Dialect

The model will preserve accent and dialect:

- British English will generate British English
- Southern accent will produce Southern accent
- Regional pronunciations will be maintained

### Emotion Transfer

The emotional tone of samples affects generation:

- Energetic samples → Energetic output
- Calm samples → Calm output
- Mix samples for versatile profile

## Managing Profiles

### Organization

- **Descriptive names** - "John Smith - Professional Narrator"
- **Add descriptions** - Note recording conditions, use cases
- **Language tags** - Mark the primary language
- **Archive unused** - Keep profile list manageable

### Export/Import

- **Export** profiles to share or backup
- **Import** from colleagues or teammates
- Profiles include voice embeddings, not original audio

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Generate Speech" icon="waveform" href="/guides/generating-speech">
    Use your profile to generate speech
  </Card>
  <Card title="Build Stories" icon="film" href="/guides/building-stories">
    Create multi-voice narratives
  </Card>
</CardGroup>