7 tips for creating a professional-grade voice clone in ElevenLabs

Voice cloning has evolved from sci-fi curiosity to production staple. Whether you’re localizing a game, building a branded voice, or producing audiobooks at scale, a high-quality AI voice can streamline workflows and expand creative reach.

ElevenLabs Text to Speech technology makes it possible to achieve studio-grade results without a machine-learning background. But even the best model depends on disciplined inputs. 

1. Start with pristine recordings

In generative audio, "garbage in, garbage out" is doubly important. Poor training data limits audio quality, and flawed prompts lead to unsatisfactory results even with well-trained models. 

High-quality training data and precise prompts are essential for good generative audio outputs, as flawed input at either stage significantly compromises the final result.

Always record a short room tone first. If your DAW shows visible noise, fix it before reading a single line.

2. Capture expressive, varied speech

ElevenLabs has the capability to replicate the nuanced details of human speech, including emotion, pacing, and prosody, but the quality of this reproduction is directly dependent on the presence and variation of these elements within the audio data used to train the model. 

In other words, the AI can only effectively recreate what it has been shown during the training process. If the dataset lacks expressive variations or contains flat, monotonous speech, the resulting voice clone will likely reflect those same qualities.

Include:

• Neutral narrative
• Dialog with changing energy
• Smiles, whispers, and emphasis

Insert short silences (1–1.5s) between paragraphs and shorter between sentences to teach natural pause behavior. Avoid vocal fry or throat clearing unless you want it replicated.

For character work, record multiple “mood passes” (e.g., calm, excited, distressed).

3. Clean your dataset

After recording:

• Remove repeated takes, stutters, filler words, and disruptive breaths
• Normalize to –3 dBFS, but avoid compression

The goal: a dataset that already sounds ready for release. That quality will propagate to every output.

4. Maintain consistent conditions

When I recorded my first Professional Voice Clone I gave it a number of sound files recorded in different locations, thinking voice is voice. For the final version I recorded it all in my home office, reading from the same script. It still wasn't perfect but it is much better than the instant voice clone.

Switching mic chains mid-recording confuses the model.

For multi-session projects:

• Fix mic placement and gain
• Record within the same 24–48 hour window to avoid vocal drift
• If using old and new recordings, train separate voices and blend using Voice Mixing—don’t dilute a single clone

5. Feed the right amount of data

To achieve the desired balance between speed and quality in your voice clone, it's important to provide an appropriate amount of training data. The following table provides guidelines for data length, based on the intended application.

More than ~60 minutes can create diminishing returns. For nuanced needs, build sub-clones tuned to accent, emotion, or age.

6. Tune ElevenLabs settings

To achieve the best balance of speed and quality in your voice clone, it's important to provide the right amount of training data. The table below outlines recommended data lengths based on how you intend to use the voice.

Pro tip: Save a “Gold Preset” once tuned. Apply it in bulk for chapter reads or commercial spots.

7. Stress-test in real scenarios

Narration test: Generate audio using all 5,000 characters available to see if there's any drop in audio.

Multilingual test: For bilingual voices, run mixed-language lines. Assess smoothness in code-switching.

Maintain a feedback log—small dataset tweaks often outperform big setting changes.

Managing your voice clone library

Naming: Use [Project]_[Actor]_[Emotion]_[v1] Example: RPG_TavernKeeper_Jovial_v1

Version control: Clone before major edits to A/B compare changes.

Metadata: Record mic model, room setup, date, and rights-holder—essential for compliance.

Archival: Back up raw WAVs and training bundles (e.g., to S3 or LTO) in case of future re-training on new engine versions.

Conclusion and next steps

A great voice clone is equal parts engineering and direction—clean input, thoughtful design, and precise tuning.

Ready to hear your own?

1. Sign in to ElevenLabs Studio (free tier available)
2. You'll need a significant amount of audio data. An hour or more is best. Upload 5–6 segments of 10 minute samples of high-quality audio.
3. Generate first outputs in seconds
4. Refine with Stability and Style settings

Need more control? Upgrade for voice mixing, multilingual cloning, and longer content generation. Keep iterating. The voice you imagine is within reach.