Glyssen

Producing a high-quality dramatized Scripture recording just got easier.

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Glyssen

Glyssen helps you to produce scripts for a high-quality dramatized audio recording of Scripture. It’s like having a production assistant, guiding you step by step. It quickly identifies all the direct speech in the text and the biblical character who speaks each part. Then it walks you through the process of selecting a cast and assigning roles to the voice actors. Finally, it prepares a complete set of scripts to use in the recording process. It gives you the option to accept default recommendations or customize settings to better fit your project requirements.

Who speaks this part?

Glyssen starts with translated Scripture text from a Paratext project or Text Release Bundle. It finds all places where direct speech is marked using quotation marks, and for 95% of those it can automatically determine who spoke. Text that is not direct speech is assigned to the book narrator. For verses where there is direct speech from more than one known character, Glyssen prompts the user to choose from a list of expected speakers in that verse.

Cast Planning, Role Assignments

Glyssen helps you select an appropriate cast size for the project. With the narration option you select, Glyssen will then compile a list of Biblical character roles to match the cast size you select. The list of roles can be printed to serve as an aid as you recruit voice actors for those roles. After recruiting voice actors, Glyssen can adjust the plan to match the number of voice actors you actually recruited.

Recording

In the recording phase, Glyssen can still incorporate text adjustments. It prepares and exports recording scripts that can be used with the existing recording methods of SIL and Faith Comes By Hearing.

HearThis can also be used to record scripts produced by Glyssen.

Common questions

Who should use Glyssen?

Glyssen is designed for use by both novices and experts in recording projects. It will help translation teams prepare and produce a dramatized recording of Scripture. Basic computer skills are necessary.
The Glyssen step for ‘Identifying Speaking Parts’ requires knowledge of the target language in order to correctly identify which biblical character is speaking. Whenever feasible, utilize someone on the translation team for this task.
The Glyssen steps for ‘Cast Size Planning’ and ‘Assign Voice Actors’ are best done by the person responsible to recruit the voice talent cast and handle the logistics of the recording project and cast. This might be a member of the translation team or a local leader. Again, basic computer skills are necessary, though computer tasks could be delegated.

When should you use Glyssen?

If you wish to do audio recording as a naturalness check of the translation, use HearThis to quickly produce a single-voice recording.
If you wish to invest in publishing a single or multi-voice recording for long-term use, wait until the text has been consultant checked and then utilize either HearThis or Glyssen in your recording project plans.

See full FAQ list