How to make an AI voice-over for YouTube

You have a script, no microphone, no studio, and a video due this week. Here is how to get a clean voice-over in a few minutes, and what you need to know before you publish it.

Why use an AI voice-over for your videos

Recording your own voice takes time: multiple takes, background noise, audio clean-up, rewrites after the fact. An AI voice-over lets you produce the narration straight from the script, fix a sentence and regenerate only the passage concerned. For short formats (Shorts, tutorials, explainers, product reviews) it is often the single biggest time saver in the whole production.

AiValue runs on a speech engine built for natural reading: numbers, dates, acronyms and sentence rhythm come out the way a narrator would read them, in American or British English, or in French. The result arrives in seconds as an mp3, ready to import into your editing software.

Step 1: prepare the script

• Write the way you speak. Short sentences, one idea per sentence. Punctuation drives the voice's breathing: a full stop marks a clear pause, a comma a short one.
• Spell out numbers when the reading is ambiguous ("twelve hundred" rather than "1,200" if you want to control the pace). Dates written as "14 July 2026" or "July 14, 2026" are read correctly.
• Split by sequence. One generation = one passage of up to 1,500 characters (about 1 min 30). One file per sequence makes editing and corrections easier.
• Acronyms: "YouTube", "PDF", "GDPR" are read letter by letter or as a word depending on common usage. Test with the free trial before generating the whole script.

Step 2: choose the voice

Listen to the samples on the Voices page. Every sample reads the same text so you can compare like for like. For a tutorial, a neutral, steady voice holds up better over time; for a Short, a more cheerful voice hooks the viewer from the first second. Keep the same voice across a whole channel: it becomes your audio signature. If your audience is mostly American, start with Paul; for a British feel, try Oliver or Jane.

Step 3: generate, listen, fix

Paste the passage into the studio, run the generation, listen. If an intonation is off, adjust the punctuation or rephrase the sentence, then regenerate: only that passage is charged again. Credits are only used when the audio is actually produced; a technical failure is refunded automatically.

Step 4: export and edit

Download the mp3 (or the wav if your software prefers uncompressed audio). In DaVinci Resolve, Premiere, CapCut or Final Cut, import the file on a dedicated audio track, then cut your shots to the voice rather than the other way round: the narration sets the pace. Add background music at roughly −18 dB under the voice to keep it intelligible.

Disclosure and the rules to follow

The generated audio is synthetic speech. Every mp3 produced by AiValue carries a technical marker in its metadata. YouTube asks creators to flag realistic AI-generated content through the "Altered or synthetic content" option at upload; a narrative voice-over is usually not concerned, but check the current rules. In Europe, the AI Act requires informing the public when synthetic content could be mistaken for genuine. Never allowed: imitating a real person without their consent, or spreading unlawful or misleading statements.

What it costs

An 8-minute video is about 8,000 characters. With the €9 pack (100,000 characters, valid for 12 months) that is around a dozen videos, or less than €1 per video. The free trial (two sentences, no account) lets you hear a voice on your own text before you buy.