Endpoints: Recording Voice Messages

As you know, Omnilert's default voice messaging option is to use text-to-speech for translating outgoing messages from text format into voice calls.

However, Omnilert also allows you to record your own voice messages for use with all Omnilert voice services; Voice Calling, VoiceCast, and Hotline.

Why record your own voice messages?

In some instances, recording a pre-made voice message just makes sense. Some such situations include:

• Messages with lots of tech jargon. Text-to-speech engines tend to trip up on jargon such as web addresses and acronyms.
• Messages with proper nouns. While the text-to-speech engine will get most common names, some proper nouns may sound odd when spoken by a computerized voice.
• Messages with lots of dates/times, and other shorthand. Text-to-speech engines tend to mishandle shorthand. Dates, times, and other shorthand tend to work better in texts than as text-to-speech.
• Intro music. If you want your theme song before your message, a recording is a must. (See Message Preamble / Postamble)
• Tones for siren systems. If your voice call will be played over a public address system, a recording with the proper alert tones might be worth uploading.
• Foreign language alerts: The text-to-speech engine is English language pronunciation only. If your alert is in Spanish, French, etc., you should record a native speaker's voice for better results.

Recording a Voice Message

Open the voice service configuration and open the Recordings tab.

Recording your own voice is very similar to recording a voicemail greeting. The setup process is easy. First, enter a name for the message. Make it something descriptive enough to recognize later! 

Note: Voice recording labels can be to 100 characters long. The system accepts letters [A-Z  a-z], numerals [0-9], and the following special characters:  _ # . ,  or /  

Then click Generate Pin. The system will generate a 4-digit PIN number and give you a number to call. Call the number, enter the PIN and follow the telephone prompts to record your message.

When complete, you'll save the message using your phone (the auto-attendant will guide you). When you refresh the page, you'll see your new recording listed:

If you want to preview your voice message, click on it.

To delete a voice message, click the trash can icon. (Note: Deleted messages can't be recovered!)

Want to upload a recording?

If you have recorded your message and want to upload it as a WAV file, you may do so using the upload function.

WAV files can be up to 2MB in file size.

This may seem small, but please remember that these will be used for phone calls. Telephone quality is 8-bit mono, so 2MBs should be plenty of size for such low bitrate audio!

Using a newly recorded/uploaded voice file

When sending a message, you can select any of the existing recordings stored in your account. New recordings can also be made on-the-fly while composing an alert

To record and use a new recording, click on the Voice endpoint when composing a new message...

...then click the "Recording" tab to manage the recordings in Omnilert...

 ...next, record or upload your new voice recording.

Then click the Refresh button to reload the list of recordings:

Now that the list of voice files is reloaded, you can return to the Call Details and select your new recording from the list of available voice files.