Your First Audio Story

This guide walks you through creating an audio story from start to finish, with tips at each stage for getting the best results.

Choosing your story

You have three ways to get started:

• Start with an idea. Type a story concept into the chat and develop it with the AI assistant.
• Pick a sample prompt. Choose from pre-written story starters to see how the platform works. You can edit everything afterward.
• Upload existing text. Have a story ready? Upload a .txt file (up to 4,000 characters).

Working with Narra

Narra is the AI assistant you chat with to develop and refine your story. Here's how to get the most out of the conversation:

• Be specific about what you want. Instead of "write me a story," try "write a suspenseful mystery set in a foggy coastal town with two main characters."
• Ask for changes. Don't like something? Tell Narra what to change — "make the ending happier" or "add a third character who's a detective."
• Describe the mood. Telling Narra "I want this to feel eerie and unsettling" shapes the entire script, including sound effects and music choices.
• Mention your audience. A story for children will get very different treatment than one for adults.

Once you're happy with the story, Narra generates a structured script for audio production.

Understanding the Canvas

The Canvas tab shows your script organized into scenes and segments. Each segment is one of three types:

• Voice segments — character dialogue and narration, each assigned to a specific voice
• Sound effect segments — environmental sounds, actions, and atmospheric effects
• Music segments — background music matched to the mood and pacing of each scene

You can edit any segment before generating audio. Change dialogue, rename characters, adjust sound descriptions, or rearrange the order.

Configuring voices

Each character in your script gets a voice. You have several options for how to set them up:

• Preset voices. Choose from a library of ready-to-use voices in different styles and languages.
• Voice design. Describe the voice you want — "a warm, gravelly male voice in his 60s with a slight Southern accent" — and the AI creates it.
• Voice cloning. Upload a reference recording to clone a specific voice (paid plans only). See the Voice Cloning Guide for details.

Take time to pick the right voice for each character. The voice choice has a big impact on how the final audio feels.

Generation options

When you're ready to generate audio, go to the Audio tab. You can choose what to generate:

• All generates voices, sound effects, and music together. This is the simplest option and works well for most projects.
• Voices only generates just the dialogue and narration. Use this when you want to get the voices right before adding sound design.
• SFX and music only generates just the sound effects and background music. Use this after you're satisfied with the voices.

Voices are always generated first because they determine the timing for everything else. If you select "All," the platform handles this sequence automatically.

Editing your results

After generation, you can fine-tune every detail in the timeline editor:

Regenerate weak segments

Not happy with how a segment sounds? Click on it and hit Regenerate. Each regeneration produces a new variation. You can regenerate individual segments without affecting anything else.

Adjust timing

Drag segments in the timeline to adjust when they play. Move a sound effect earlier to build anticipation, or shift music to align with a dramatic moment.

Add voice effects

Apply effects to voice segments to match the story context:

• Phone — tinny, compressed sound like a phone call
• Radio — static and distortion for radio transmissions
• Walkie-talkie — push-to-talk communication sound
• Robotic — synthetic, processed voice
• Child — pitch-shifted younger voice
• Elderly — aged vocal quality

Adjust volumes

Use the layer volume controls to balance voices against music and sound effects. Typically, voices should be the loudest element, with music and effects supporting from behind.

Exporting your audio

When you're satisfied with the result:

1. Click Export in the Audio tab.
2. Choose MP3 for sharing online or WAV for the highest quality.
3. Set your preferred bitrate (for MP3) and loudness level.
4. Download your finished file.

Tips for great results

• Keep stories focused. A short, well-crafted story produces better audio than a long, sprawling one.
• Be specific about mood and setting. The more context you give, the better the AI can design the audio around it.
• Iterate. Don't expect perfection on the first try. Regenerate segments, tweak prompts, and experiment.
• Listen to the whole thing. Play back the full project before exporting to catch anything that needs adjustment.
• Check volume balance. Make sure dialogue is clear and not drowned out by music or effects.