A spoken letter to your mother for her seventieth birthday. A slam text that should finally be recorded properly. A family message for grandchildren living abroad. At Tonstudio Leipzig I record speech for hobby speakers and private occasions, with time for several attempts and an edit that makes slips of the tongue disappear.
Most people who record speech at Tonstudio Leipzig are not professional narrators and do not work in advertising. They are people who write: parents, grandparents, young slam poets, poets, indie authors without a publisher, hobby podcasters, someone who wants to record a spoken letter for a parent turning seventy. They are also people who have written books themselves and want a few chapters saved as audio, without producing a whole audiobook. What they all share: they want to hear their own voice recorded properly for once. Clear, calm, without echo, without breath noise, and without the slips of the tongue that otherwise stay in forever.
The studio in the south of Leipzig is deliberately small and personal. There is no rush and nobody judging you, just time to speak calmly. You can repeat a passage as often as you like. You can take breaks, drink some water, breathe, and carry on. If it is your first time in a studio, I start with a calm test recording, a short warm up and a few tips on how to sit at the microphone. Stumbling or misreading is not a problem: while editing I build the best version out of all your attempts.
The finished result is an audio file that sounds clear and calm: as a WAV in studio quality, as an MP3 to send straight away, mixed with background music if you want it, in an audiobook format with chapter markers, or as a CD with an individually designed cover. It depends on what the recording is for. If you are thinking about a voice recording right now: for a proper assessment of your project with a concept and recommendations, book a first consultation in the studio shop. Short organisational questions about booking are welcome by email or phone beforehand.
Voice recordings usually grow out of one clear occasion: a spoken letter, a slam text, a message for the family. These are the occasions that most often bring private speakers to Tonstudio Leipzig.
For a parent's big birthday, for your sister's wedding, as a farewell to grandparents. A letter you wrote yourself, spoken in your own voice, mixed over quiet background music, handed over as a CD with an individually designed cover or sent digitally. A gift that stays long after the occasion has passed.
Do you write slam texts, spoken word pieces, poetry of your own? Then a professional recording is the next step after performing on stage. Whether as a pure voice recording or mixed with suitable background music, the calm studio lets your text work without an audience or the pressure of a stage cutting into it.
You have written a collection of short stories, a book of poems, a self published novel, and you want an audio version that works as a sample for readings, as a personal archive or to sell on a platform such as BookBeat. For shorter projects of up to about 60 minutes. For complete audiobooks there is more detail on the separate audiobook page.
You have written lyrics of your own but you do not want to sing them, you want to speak them: as a spoken word version, as a recitation, as a listening piece. In the studio you get a calm voice recording over your beat or over licensed background music, balanced so that your voice stays in front.
Recording a life story that grandchildren and their children should hear one day. A letter to your own child for their eighteenth birthday. An audio message handed over at a confirmation, when someone moves out, at a wedding. Your own voice as a lasting family archive, far beyond the here and now.
A single podcast episode, an audio diary entry, a private message for a small circle of listeners. If you do not want to build a whole podcast but need one episode in studio quality, this is the ideal way into the format. For complete podcast concepts there is more detail on the podcast page.
From a one minute spoken letter to a sixty minute audiobook of your own: these are the three package sizes most often booked for voice recordings, shaped by many sessions with hobby speakers.
Ideal for a short recording of up to about 5 minutes: a spoken letter, a slam text, an audio message. Voice recording with several takes, editing to the best one, clean EQ and a final level adjustment. One to two studio hours, final audio as WAV and MP3, ready to send.
The most popular package. Recordings of up to about 30 minutes: spoken letters with background music, messages about a life, several spoken word pieces, short readings. Recording, editing, EQ and level balance included, with optional background music from licensed libraries. Ready to send, upload or use as a CD master.
For recording your own short audiobook: short stories, a book of poems, a chapter of a novel. Spread over several studio days, with one consistent sound across all chapters, chapter markers included, in a format suited to platforms such as BookBeat or to publishing it yourself. For complete audiobooks from 120 minutes, see the separate audiobook page.
On request your voice recording is mixed with background music, a quiet atmosphere or a sound layer of its own. Music from licensed libraries that we choose together, or a finished track you bring along. The balance is set so that the voice always stays in front.
Made for slam texts, rhythmic poetry or spoken word pieces with a pulse: recorded in time with a beat, balanced with the voice in front, and a discreet reverb for spoken word atmosphere. You bring the beat, or I choose a suitable one from licensed sources.
On request the finished spoken letter, spoken word piece or indie audiobook becomes a CD with an individually designed cover. It works as a physical gift, as a sample at readings, or as your personal archive copy.
A voice recording made at home almost always sounds boxy, with breath noise and echo. These are the three factors that make the difference in a studio.
The recording room is acoustically treated: no boxy reverb, no hard reflections, no noise from the street. Your voice arrives clean and dry in the computer. The difference to a recording made in a flat is audible immediately: less tiring to listen to, quieter in the background, more professional in sound.
The natural tendency when speaking in a studio is to get faster, out of nerves or because you want the recording over with. In the studio I watch for exactly the opposite: a calm pace, clear pauses between sentences, audible breathing in the right places. That is what makes a recording pleasant to listen to rather than exhausting.
After the recording: editing to the best version out of all your attempts. Slips, hesitations and false starts are cut out and replaced by clean repeats. EQ for a clear voice, gentle compression for a consistent level, a final level adjustment. In the end you hear nothing of the attempts, only your voice, calm and clear.
These three factors are the difference between a voice memo made in a flat and a professional voice recording. At Tonstudio Leipzig all three come from one place, and that is what makes a recording something you happily listen to for years instead of hiding it in a folder.
A properly recorded voice is more than an audio file. It is a snapshot of who you were at one point in your life, and that is exactly what makes it more valuable as the years pass.
Listening back after the first take, something unusual often happens: you hear your own voice as it really sounds for the first time, with no reverb, no breath noise, no living room acoustics. Many people say the same thing at that moment: is that really me? Yes, it is. Only without the distortions you are used to.
When the finished recording sits on your phone or your computer and you play it properly for the first time, on speakers, with headphones, in the car, a quiet pride arrives. There is something in the world that was not there before: your own voice, in your own words, captured in studio quality.
When the recording is a gift and you hand it over, as a CD, as an audio file, played at an occasion, something often happens that you cannot control. Tears, a long silence, someone who plays it not once but again and again. A spoken message lands differently from a written card.
When a slam text finally exists as a calm recording, no longer only as a live capture from the slam club but as a clean studio version, you can share it differently. Upload it, send it to publishers, use it at auditions, fold it into a larger spoken word project. Your texts get a second life.
Voices change with age, with the way life goes, with experience. In ten years you will hear the recording again and notice: that is how I sounded back then, that was my voice in that phase of life. What feels ordinary right now becomes, with time, a snapshot you cannot capture as honestly anywhere else.
A properly recorded voice outlasts you. A family message, a life story, a letter to a grandchild: in thirty or fifty years, children, grandchildren and perhaps their children will still hear the recording exactly as it sounds today. That is more than an audio file, it is a piece of who you are, left to your family.
Good preparation makes the difference between a tense recording and a relaxed, calm studio day. These are the six things that matter most, drawn from many speech sessions.
Print the text in large type or load it onto a tablet, at least 14 point, ideally 16 or 18. Clear paragraph breaks between sections, and pauses marked in the text where you want them. That way you glide through the text instead of constantly searching for the line.
In the days before the studio, read the text out loud several times, ideally at normal speaking volume, not too fast, with real pauses. That gives you a feel for the rhythm and shows you where the text is hard to speak, with sentences that run too long or awkward word combinations. You can still smooth those out before the session.
Voices react to tiredness and dryness. The evening before: go to bed early, skip the alcohol, drink plenty of water. On the day itself: warm water or tea, no ice cold drinks shortly before the recording, because they tighten the voice, and no dairy right beforehand, because it can sound thick.
If you have a clear idea, such as like a BookBeat audiobook, as calm as a sleep podcast, as present as a documentary voice, feel free to bring an example recording. It helps the mix enormously. If you have no reference, that is fine too, then I find the right tone in the test recording.
If the recording is to be mixed with background music, agree beforehand whether you bring your own track or whether I should find something suitable from licensed libraries. If it is your own music, bring it as a WAV or a high resolution MP3, and describe the mood you want, calm, dramatic or bright, briefly in advance.
If you are nervous, one person you trust, a partner or a friend, can sit in the control room. What matters: someone who calms you rather than someone who criticises you or talks over you. For very personal recordings, spoken letters to parents or messages for the family, most people prefer to come alone, because the recording sounds freer that way.
So that you know what to expect, here are the four calm steps of every voice recording at Tonstudio Leipzig.
You come into the studio, we have a coffee or tea, I show you the recording room. Then we go through the text together and talk briefly about mood, pace and difficult passages. If you want background music, we listen to a few options. Before the recording: a few sips of water, a short warm up, and everything is ready.
A first run at the microphone. I set the position, find the right distance and check the levels and your headphone mix. In the test recording you hear yourself in studio quality for the first time, which is often the moment the whole session turns on.
I record the text in paragraphs, with short breaks in between. You repeat a passage as often as you like, without any pressure. If you stumble, simply start the paragraph again. If you need a break, just raise your hand. You are in control, I listen along and only give suggestions when you want them.
After the recording I build the best version out of all the attempts. Slips disappear, hesitations are replaced by clean repeats. For shorter recordings a rough mix is made while you are still in the studio. The final mix reaches you by cloud link in the next few days.
Tonstudio Leipzig sits in the south of Leipzig, easy to reach by car, tram and train. Here you can see where private speakers usually travel in from, from the immediate neighbourhood to weekend sessions from further away.
Speakers from Connewitz, Südvorstadt, Schleußig, Plagwitz, Lindenau and Markkleeberg reach the studio in under 20 minutes. Tram 10 or 11 to Hohe Straße, or by car along the Karli or Arthur-Hoffmann-Straße. Parking in the courtyard is possible.
If you live in Gohlis, Eutritzsch, Möckern or Wahren, you get here quickly by car around the inner ring or by tram through the centre. For longer sessions I recommend public transport, then you do not have to think about parking in Zentrum-Süd.
Halle, Merseburg, Schkeuditz and Markranstädt are all under 30 minutes by car or 40 minutes by train. Halle has a lively spoken word scene, and many speakers from Halle come to Leipzig for their recordings because several sessions can be planned in one day here.
Speakers regularly travel to Leipzig for recordings from Borna, Grimma, Wurzen, Torgau and Riesa, and also from Chemnitz and Dresden. For longer journeys I recommend combining several recordings in one day or booking a weekend package across two days.
Some speakers travel in for a bigger project, from Berlin, Erfurt, Magdeburg, Jena or Hanover. In those cases I am happy to arrange consecutive studio days and suggest places to stay in the Südvorstadt, so the recording weekend works as a whole.
The studio is at Bernhard Göring Straße 17, 04107 Leipzig, in the middle of Zentrum-Süd, within walking distance of the Karli and the city centre. Parking in the courtyard, step free access on the ground floor, and several small cafés in front of the building for breaks between sessions.
Here are the answers that matter most before you ask for a recording. If your question is not here, a short message is enough. I answer in confidence and without any sales pressure.
I record private speech formats : spoken word, poetry slam, spoken letters as gifts, messages for the family, short texts of your own as an indie audiobook, lyrics spoken without music, private podcast episodes.
Even if you have never stood in front of a microphone, you are in the right place.
For purely commercial voice professionals working from agency briefings, the separate business site of the studio is the better place.
No. Most people who come for a voice recording are not trained narrators, they are hobby writers, slam poets, parents or grandparents who want something on tape.
I start with a calm settling in period, a test recording and a few tips on speaking.
What matters is not the technique of your voice but that you feel comfortable while you speak.
Voice recordings are priced by scope: a short audio message, a slam text, a ten minute spoken letter or a sixty minute audiobook project of your own.
When you ask, you get an honest estimate with a package suggestion the same day. A first consultation is bookable online in the studio shop.
Yes, that is in fact the normal case. Bring your text printed out or on a tablet, easy to read, in large enough type, with clear paragraphs.
If you are unsure whether the text flows well, I can read over it briefly before the recording and give you notes on how speakable it is.
I do not offer editorial work on the content, but we can adjust rhythm and pauses.
Anything from a thirty second audio message to a sixty minute indie audiobook is possible.
Short texts of up to about 5 minutes usually fit the compact package, medium texts up to 30 minutes the standard package, and longer work the audiobook project.
For very long texts I split the recording across several studio sessions, so that your voice does not get tired.
Stumbling happens in genuinely every recording , including with professional narrators.
I record paragraph by paragraph, you repeat a passage until it is right, and while editing I build the best version out of all the attempts.
You hear nothing of the awkward moments afterwards. There is no rush at any point.
The standard is a WAV file in studio quality and an MP3 version to send straight away.
On request you also get the recording in an audiobook format with chapter markers , for platforms such as BookBeat or for publishing it yourself, or as an audio file mixed with background music, depending on what the recording is for.
Gladly. Voice recordings are one of the loveliest ways to give something: a letter that is not read but heard.
For a big birthday, a wedding, a birth, a farewell. On request the recording comes as a CD with an individually designed cover, mixed with background music or as pure voice.
The format follows the occasion.
Yes, that is a common format. You speak your text, a slam piece, a poem, your own lyrics as spoken word, and music is added in the mix.
Either a finished track you bring along, or suitable background music from licensed librariesthat we choose together.
Level and balance are set so that your voice stays in front.
By email or through a cloud link such as Drive, Dropbox or WeTransfer. PDF, Word or plain text, every format works.
If you want to bring background music, send it as a WAV or a high resolution MP3.
Uploads are handled carefully: material is used only for your recording and deleted from cloud services once the project is finished.
With shorter voice recordings the first edit often happens while you are still in the studio, so you are there when the best take is assembled and can say what you want changed.
With longer projects, indie audiobooks or recordings in several parts, the edit happens in the days after the session.
You get a first version by cloud link, give feedback, and I finalise it after that.
This page is written for hobby speakers, spoken word artists, private audio projects and personal occasions.
If you work as a professional narrator with an agency, or want to record radio spots, explainer films, commercial audio guides or voice over jobs, please see the separate business site of Tonstudio Leipzig for companies and freelancers.
Tell me briefly what you are planning: a spoken letter as a gift, a slam text, a message for the family, a short audiobook of your own or a podcast episode. What the occasion is, what mood you want, how long it runs. I usually answer the same day with an honest assessment and a suitable suggestion for your recording. For a proper assessment of your project with a concept and recommendations, book a first consultation in the studio shop. Short organisational questions about booking are welcome by email or phone beforehand.