The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #452: Experimenting with AI Vocals to See If I Can Turn My Male Voice Female

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #452: Experimenting with AI Vocals to See IF I Can Turn My Male Voice Female

https://archive.org/download/podcast-452/Podcast%20452.mp3

This week, I’m experimenting with artificial intelligence for music.  There’s this one track that’s been holding up the final stages of the latest Thirteenth Hour soundtrack LP – it’s written, the backing track was made ages ago … but it’s meant to be sung by a woman (Aurora, the female protagonist in The Thirteenth Hour).  Of course, the obvious thing would be just to find a woman to sing it, but I have a very specific idea in mind for what I wanted Aurora’s voice to sound like.  I was thinking about saying the hell with all that in the interest of just getting it done, but then all this AI business started popping up in the last year or so.  I got to thinking – is there technology that could turn my vocals into female ones?  

As it turns out, yes, there is.  Kind of.  It may be more trouble than it’s worth.  But I’m discussed two software programs (Voice.ai and ACE Studio) that allow you to create AI vocals that I used to try to turn my voice into that of a woman’s.  I had the most success in trying to sing super high first (I basically sounded like Mickey Mouse) and then using the programs to turn that into something sounding more feminine.  

This is the very definition of a work in progress, as I’m still in the learning/experimenting phases, but I thought it would be interesting to document here, as I’m sure the landscape surrounding this topic will change dramatically in the future.

If you haven’t gotten the chance to check out last week’s episode with fantasy author and podcaster Melinda Kucsera, it’s a good one!  Here’s a highlight that Melinda featured on her show:

You can find more about her books on her website or on her podcasts. 

You can find our first conversation on Youtube, which is episode 100 of her podcast, Fantasy, Lore, and More (discussing Empty Hands).   https://melindakucsera.com/2024/01/28/fantasy-lore-more-empty-hands/

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #451: Welcome, Fantasy Author Melinda Kucsera to the Show

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #451: Welcome, Fantasy Author Melinda Kucsera to the Show

https://archive.org/download/podcast-451/Podcast%20451.mp3

This week, prolific fantasy author and podcaster Melinda Kucsera joins the show.  We first talked not long ago when I came on her show, and I wanted to have her back on mine to continue the conversation.  We had a chance in this conversation to really get into the world her character inhabit (and have since her childhood).  We also had the chance to discuss a number of things about the creation of stories, book publishing, and a number of other things you might find interesting about the creative process, especially if you are a writer yourself.

Her first novel, Curse Breaker Enchanted, which came out in 2016, introduces the world all her stories take place in and a number of the main characters.  You can actually read it free on Amazon (at least in the US), and it’s almost 500 pages!   Click on the link or picture above to check it out. 

You can find her other books on her website or wherever you buy books.

The cool thing is, if you like the characters, they come back in many of her other books, as well as on her podcasts (the early ones have sections from her books, and there are also guest appearances by the book characters as they are able, through some wizardry a Muggle like me probably can’t comprehend, leave their world and enter ours.  

Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/epic-fantasy-adventures-books-lore-more/id1670011250

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4xUNSzQmb5ngW6HXi4HOzr?si=c1df61dbc11c4afd

You can find her on a number of social media platforms:

-Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/melindakucsera

-Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@melindakucsera_fantasy

-Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/melindakucsera/

-IG: https://www.instagram.com/MelindaKucsera28/

-Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mkucsera28

You can find our first conversation on Youtube, which is episode 100 of her podcast, Fantasy, Lore, and More (discussing Empty Hands).   https://melindakucsera.com/2024/01/28/fantasy-lore-more-empty-hands/

Thanks for coming on the show, Melinda, and thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #442 and Like a Hood Ornament #55: Reading an Excerpt from “The Rocketeer vs. the Third Reich”

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #442 and Like a Hood Ornament #55: Reading an Excerpt from “The Rocketeer vs. the Third Reich”

https://archive.org/download/podcast-442/Podcast%20442.mp3

This week, I’m reading an excerpt from a Rocketeer choose your own adventure style short story I wrote that I’ve mentioned here before.  It’s done, and I’ve been looking for beta readers to give it a once over to make sure all the moving parts of the story (since there were multiple story lines).  You can find the story here on the platform Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/360143474-the-rocketeer-vs-the-third-reich-where-you-determine-the-ending

Edit (5/30/24): this story is no longer on Wattpad but can be found as an interactive text based game on itch.io.

 

We will be reading from the first few segments of the story in this podcast.

In other news, I was recently guest on the show of fellow author and podcaster, Melinda Kucsera, Fantasy, Lore, and More discussing Empty Hands.  You can listen / watch here: https://melindakucsera.com/2024/01/28/fantasy-lore-more-empty-hands/

Speaking of podcasts, you can listen to podcasts like Melinda’s or this one on the platform Fountain and support the show.  You also get paid in Bitcoin to listen.  Here’s the link to listen to The Thirteenth Hour podcast on Fountain.  

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞