Is there a free voiceover app?
A voiceover app is a software program that allows users to record audio voiceovers and narrations. Voiceovers add context, narrative, and information to visual media like videos, slideshows, and presentations. They can also alter your voice to sound more comical, cartoonish, or different altogether. These digital voice changers and audio tools are available on desktop computers and mobile devices alike.
There is a range of voiceover apps offering various features and capabilities for different use cases. Some apps are geared more towards entertainment, letting you record funny voiceovers or add sound effects for memes and videos. Other apps provide professional-grade audio editing options for voice actors, podcasters, content creators, developers, and businesses. Many apps also utilize text-to-speech to automatically generate computerized voiceovers from text.
Popular Paid Options
Some of the most popular paid voiceover apps include Voicemod, MorphVOX, and Speechify. Voicemod (https://www.voicemod.net/) costs $10-$30 per month and provides voice changing tools to transform your voice into various characters. MorphVOX (https://www.morphvox.com/) offers voice acting soundboards starting at $39.95 for the basic version. Speechify (https://www.speechify.com/) converts text to audio for $9.99 per month and is useful for accessibility needs and learning content out loud.
Free Alternatives
Though popular apps like VoiceMod require a paid subscription, several free options exist to modify your voice on smartphones, PCs and websites.
Voice Changer Plus (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/voice-changer-plus/id339440515) is a free iOS app with features like pitch shifting, special FX, and custom voices. It allows you to record, modify and save audio clips with fun filter effects.
The Voice changer with effects (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.baviux.voicechanger&hl=en_US&gl=US) app on Android offers voice modifiers, soundboards, text to speech and other tools to change how you sound and create wacky shareable recordings.
Other platforms like Chrome and Discord have built-in options to enable voice effects and apply changes to pitch or tone during calls. Websites like Voxal Voice Changer (https://voxal.ai/) also let you download a desktop program to manipulate your mic input and control an array of voice filters.
Text-to-Speech Apps
Text-to-speech apps that convert text to speech provide a completely free alternative for voiceovers. Many modern devices come with text-to-speech engines built in. For example, TTSReader Pro – Text To Speech (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ttsreader-pro-text-to-speech/id1450546473) is compatible with both iOS and Mac devices, and offers over 100 natural sounding voices with adjustable speed, pitch and volume. Other text-to-speech apps like Speechify (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/speechify-text-to-speech-audio/id1209815023) also allow you to listen to text from documents, articles, PDFs, email and more.
Audio Editing Tools
There are several high-quality free audio editing tools available. These allow you to record, edit, and enhance audio tracks on your computer. Some top options include Audacity, GarageBand for Mac, and Ocenaudio. Audacity is an extremely popular open source digital audio editor and recording software. It provides tools for cutting, copying, merging, and more. GarageBand comes preinstalled on Mac computers and offers a streamlined interface for basic editing. Ocenaudio is cross-platform software with analysis tools like spectrograms. All of these editors offer core functionality like trimming audio clips, adjusting volume, applying effects, and exporting the finished track.
While free software may lack some advanced features of paid options, these tools allow amateurs and hobbyists to edit audio files without any financial investment. They provide an easy entry point for beginners to learn audio editing fundamentals. As your skills progress, you may eventually want to upgrade to more full-featured software. But free editors like Audacity and GarageBand are more than enough for basic podcasting, tidying up field recordings, and creating short audio projects.
Smartphone Voice Changers
Many smartphones these days come with built-in voice changing features that allow you to modify your voice in real-time. For example, iPhone and Android devices include Voice Changer or Voice Modulator apps that provide effects like helium, giant, robot, and more (The 10 best voice-changing apps for PC, iOS, and Android). These effects process your voice and alter the pitch and tone to make you sound different.
The Voice Changer app on Android works during calls and recordings to transform your voice. Some key features include voice modulation in real-time, voice recording, playback, and sharing. There are voice skins available like orc, alien, elderly, and child (Voice changer with effects – Apps on Google Play). So if you want to disguise your voice or create fun effects, check if your smartphone has a built-in voice changing app.
Online Voice Recorders
There are several browser-based voice changer websites that allow you to record your voice and apply effects to alter how you sound. Some popular options include:
- Voice Changer .io – A simple and easy to use online voice changer that allows you to transform your voice with various effects.
- Voice.ai Voice Changer – Upload an audio file and apply an array of voice effects like gender changes and accents.
- Top4Media Voice Changer – Change your voice into other styles like female, movie characters, animation voices and more.
These websites let you record audio directly in your web browser. They often offer basic editing features to trim down the length or adjust the volume. After applying voice effects you can download the final audio file to your device or computer.
Fun Uses
Voiceover apps offer lots of fun and creative ways for people to express themselves and have a good time. Here are some examples of fun voiceover app uses:
Making funny voiceovers for videos – Apps like Voice Changer allow you to record a voiceover then alter the pitch and speed to make chipmunk or Darth Vader-style voices. These funny voiceovers can be added to personal videos, vlogs, TikToks and more for comedic effect.
Voicing animation or cartoons – Apps like Voicemod let you create various character voices that you can use to do voiceovers for animation projects or homemade cartoons. Kids love using goofy voices to bring their drawings to life.
Karaoke singing with auto-tune – Certain voiceover apps have auto-tune capabilities to enhance your singing voice. You can sound like a pop star while singing along to your favorite tunes.
Pranks and jokes – With voice changing apps, you can disguise your voice and prank call your friends. Or surprise them by sending a text-to-speech message that sounds like a robot or famous movie character.
Audio memes – Adding text-to-speech voices to popular meme templates can make them even funnier. Apps like Uberduck or Voicery allow you to type in any phrase and quickly generate a voice clip for use in memes.
Professional Uses
Voiceover apps are increasingly being used by professionals for various audio and video projects, thanks to the high quality, convenience, and customizability they offer.
Voice actors and freelancers often use iOS apps like InShot and Voloco to record and edit professional voiceovers. The audio quality of these apps can rival studio recordings, while giving users total control over recording conditions. Many apps also offer post-processing tools like compression and EQ to optimize audio.
Apps are commonly used by video producers to create narration for commercials, explainer videos, eLearning courses, audiobooks, and more. For example, Speechify generates artificial voiceovers from text in over 100 languages and accents. This automates part of the production process. Other apps like Dolby On clean up location audio recorded on a mobile device.
Those in corporate training, academia, marketing, journalism, and other fields are leveraging voice apps too. They allow subject matter experts to easily record narration for presentations, tutorials, podcasts, and other educational multimedia. Apps provide portability and quick turnaround. Many also have collaboration features to get input from others before finalizing projects.
Conclusion
When looking for a free voiceover app, the best options depend on your specific needs. For basic text-to-speech, both Google Text-to-Speech and NaturalReader provide good quality computer voices that get the job done. For more natural sounding human voices, Vocalware offers a nice selection of free voices.
If you need to edit existing audio files, apps like WavePad and Audacity provide robust tools for audio editing and effects. To simply change your voice in real-time, voice changing apps like Voice Changer and Voice Modulator are fun and easy smartphone options.
For professional voice work, a dedicated online voice recorder like Vocaroo gives you more flexibility and audio quality. But for casual fun or simple projects, the free options above can produce surprisingly good results. Just experiment to see which free voice app best suits your needs.