How to make instagram reels with voiceover

Instagram Reels aren't far removed from TikToks, and they give users many of the same video-making tools. You can film short videos and edit them with various effects like adding audio, controlling the speed, using a filter, overlaying text, and adding voice effects. We're going to focus on voice effects, and show you how you can add voice effects to your Instagram Reels.

Table of Contents Show

1. Tap the "Reel" button at the bottom of your Instagram feed screen
2. Tap the camera icon in the top right corner to create a Reel
3. Hold the record button to create a Reel, edit it using your initial editing options, and then tap "Preview"
4. You'll have more editing tools at the top of the Preview screen. Tap the audio control tool that looks like a music note
5. Tap "Effects" in your audio controls, and pick whichever effect you want to add to your voice
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Whether you want to sound like you're a giant, a robot, an announcer, a vocalist, or if you want to sound like you've just inhaled an ungodly amount of helium, here's how you can access this feature.

1. Tap the "Reel" button at the bottom of your Instagram feed screen

The "Reel" button. Also, we hope you like this post of a cat in a little sweater enjoying a refreshing beverage. Credit: instagram

2. Tap the camera icon in the top right corner to create a Reel

Tap the camera icon in the top right corner Credit: instagram

3. Hold the record button to create a Reel, edit it using your initial editing options, and then tap "Preview"

4. You'll have more editing tools at the top of the Preview screen. Tap the audio control tool that looks like a music note

Audio control tool Credit: instagram

5. Tap "Effects" in your audio controls, and pick whichever effect you want to add to your voice

Voice effects in your audio controls Credit: instagram

The voice effect you chose will be added to your Reel, and then you'll sound like a robot, or a giant, or...you get the point. You won't sound like you did before.

Instagram has added text-to-speech and voice effects to its TikTok competitor Reels, two features TikTok has had for some time. The robotic voice-overs used as narration for videos grew so ubiquitous on TikTok in fact, that voice actor Bev Standing sued the company in May, saying it didn’t have permission to use her voice. In September, TikTok reached a settlement with Standing that included a licensing agreement.

While it’s popular among TikTok creators, more importantly, text-to-speech is a widely used accessibility feature that allows blind people and those with low vision to hear spoken versions of written text.

To use text-to-speech in Reels, open the Instagram app and go to the Reels camera, record or upload a video, and add text to the video using its text tool. Tap the text bubble to get to the three-dot menu, and select “text-to-speech,” then choose which voice option you want. Then post the Reel as usual.

If you want to add voice effects to your Reel, which lets you modify audio including a voice-over, after recording a Reel, tap the music note to open the audio mixer, tap “effects” and choose the voice effect you want. Options include “helium,” “giant,” and “robot.”

You can add voice effects to Instagram Reels.Image: Instagram

Reels launched in 2020, meant to be a direct competitor to the wildly popular TikTok. Instagram launched a bonus program for creators in July, part of parent company Facebook’s (now Meta) plan to pay $1 billion to creators through 2022, and has offered creators with high follower counts as much as $35,000 in bonuses to create Reels.

Meanwhile, TikTok has evolved its text-to-speech feature with specialized character voices; on Friday it introduced text-to-speech voices from Disney characters including Stitch, Chewbacca, Rocket Raccoon, and others.

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