How to get better results with ElevenLabs

Creating an AI voiceover with ElevenLabs text-to-voice can be straightforward if you know how to use it. 

There’s a lot more to generating solid, realistic AI voiceovers than just testing out voices and playing with the settings. Most ElevenLabs voice generator tips focus on controls, but the real difference comes from how you write. 

You may be surprised to know that there is a quick fix, and it's usually the script. While  ElevenLabs can handle tone and pacing well, it still needs to work with what you give it. So if the text sounds stiff or boring when it's read out loud, that's what it’ll sound like when spoken by your AI voice generator, too. 

Here’s a quick guide to getting better, more natural results with ElevenLabs text to speech. 

What ElevenLabs text to voice does well

ElevenLabs gets closer to real speech than most text-to-speech tools. The voices feel more human, with better pacing and more range, so you could potentially use them in finished content.

And this is where your creative decisions might hold you back. It all comes down to your script. If your text reads like one long block, with no clear pauses or rhythm, the voice won’t know where to breathe or shift tone, and your finished result will be anything but natural or interesting.

While ElevenLabs is a really strong AI voiceover tool, it's still an actor at heart: you still have to give it the goods so that it can perform, not just read.

If you want a deeper look at how the latest models behave, this breakdown of ElevenLabs Multilingual v2 on Artlist shows how voice quality and flexibility have improved.

Why AI voiceovers sound unnatural

Interestingly, most AI voiceovers don’t sound unnatural because of the tool, or the settings being played around with (although this can definitely influence things!). The most influential factor in how your AI voice sounds comes down to how you've written your script, punctuation and all. 

Most creators might be creative across the board, but when it comes to writing an exciting script, it can be tricky. As a result, a lot of scripts are written like blog posts (at best) or academic essays (at worst). That man, long flowing sentences with no clear pauses, with long chunky paragraphs, and maybe some over explanation. That might work out as an article, but it doesn’t so much when spoken out loud. 

Mostly, what might make your AI voice sound unnatural is that there’s no rhythm to what you've written. If you think about it, when you speak naturally, you pause, you add stress to certain words, and you change pace depending on what you're trying to say, your emotions, and so on. If your script doesn’t guide any of that, the voice you’ve chosen will just move through it evenly, and that’s what makes it feel unnatural.

How to find the right tone

Another common issue is tone-voice mismatch. For example, a casual script paired with a very formal voice, or an energetic message written in a slow, heavy way. If your script feels or sounds boring to read out loud, it will sound boring and/or unnatural when generated.

Here’s how the same idea, just using a slightly differently structured script, sounds with the same AI voice (Artlist’s ElevenLabs v3’s Deadpan):

Version 1 (typical AI-sounding script):

Prompt: Our product helps surfers to ride big waves in every type of weather in every type of water. All you need is your surfboard and your wetsuit.  

The voiceover does a good job, but if you’re looking to create a product, activity, or brand voiceover, you need to make sure it connects with the audience and builds the excitement and emotion. 

Version 2 (written for voice):

Prompt: Want to ride the waves, whatever the weather?
Move at your own pace with our product! From the ocean to a puddle, just bring your board! Surf’s up!

This version has a clear set of pacing, thanks to the shorter sentences, natural pauses, and exciting punctuation, and language. 

And yet, the only thing that changed is the script, not the settings, the voice, or the model being used. 

How to write scripts that sound natural in ElevenLabs

You don't need to be a writer to create a natural-sounding AI voice. You just need to write like you speak.

1. Read your script out loud

This is where you'll find most of the issues. If you read out loud and you find that you’re running out of breath, it means that the sentence is too long. If you’re stumbling over words, then your phrasing is off. If the whole thing feels boring, it’ll sound boring after generating. 

2. Use punctuation to control how it sounds

Punctuation is more than just correct grammar. In this case, it's providing the model with direction. For example: 

• A comma adds a short pause.
• A period gives the voice a reset.
• A line break creates space and timing.

You need to add in breathing pauses for the model, and punctuation does just that. If you want more control over delivery, check out these guides to audio tags for ElevenLabs and voiceover settings, which break down how different adjustments affect pacing and tone.

3. Break up long text into short chunks

Heavy, chunky paragraphs are hard to read, and even harder to say.

ElevenLabs does better with shorter lines because the structure is clear. Each line becomes a small unit of meaning, and the pacing improves without touching any settings.

The rule of thumb is that if a sentence has more than one idea, you should split it.

4. Match the tone to what you’re saying

Think about how you’d actually say it out loud. If the message is light and casual, keep the wording simple and direct. If it’s more serious, slow it down for emphasis. The model can't fix a mismatch of tone and wording, but you can. 

Choosing the right voice also matters. This overview of the AI voiceover generator explains how different voices fit different types of content.

5. Fix tricky words manually

The model will naturally stumble over some words. And when that happens, don’t fight it, just adjust the text. Add a vowel, break the word up, or spell it in a way that’s easier to read, or phonetically.

For example: 

Here’s Trail, being prompted to say “Gif” with a soft “g”: 

•  “Gif”:

• “Giif”

• “Jhif”:

• And finally, the correct pronunciation: “Zhif”:   

When to adjust settings vs. rewrite the script

If your goal is to improve AI voice quality, start with the script before touching any settings. Sometimes, you’ll need to adjust the settings, but the trick is knowing when it's a settings issue rather than a script issue. 

Most of the time, the script is the issue. If the pacing feels strange, or the emphasis is wrong, go back to the script first. Fix the structure, add pauses, and clean up the phrasing. 

Then, if you've rewritten the script and the voice still doesn't sound quite right, it might be time to play with the settings, but always do so gradually. 

But, be warned. Playing with the stability can change your voice’s expression, but it can also change it for the worse. You might also find that a different voice can better match the tone of what you're trying to communicate. But ultimately, these are small adjustments, not fixes for unclear writing.

For example, here's Bright saying the same sentence — “If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, how do doctors do their grocery shopping?” with different levels of stability:

50% (baseline):

0%: 

100%

And here’s Grounded, also at different levels of stability: 

50% (baseline):  

0%: 

100%

While each of these different levels of stability might sound pretty similar at first, small differences start to show up — in slight mispronunciations, wrong inflections, and a general uncanniness that gives it away as an AI voice. Stability can also vary a lot depending on your AI voiceover's accen

Getting the best from ElevenLabs: better script, better voice

Getting the best out of ElevenLabs is pretty straightforward once you know how the model works. The trick is to simply prompt it better. 

With AI Voiceover, the prompt is a script, and to write a good script, you need to think creatively! While AI tools are powerful, you’ll only get out what you put in. ElevenLabs follows your script closely. If the writing has energy and structure, the voice will too. 

Write and experiment with your script, find the right voice for your project, and see how ElevenLabs can give you a natural, human-sounding AI voiceover with Artlist’s AI Toolkit.  

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