Speaker labels

At its simplest, a Speaker label is just a name in your transcript. Give that Speaker a voice or an avatar and the same label can generate speech or put a presenter on screen.

In this article, we’ll cover the mechanics of managing labels for Speakers in your script. For more info about the Speaker concept and related workflows, see our Speakers guide.

Add a speaker label

Descript offers two ways to label speakers in your transcript:

Automatic Speaker detection

When you upload a file, Descript automatically detects the distinct voices throughout and then prompts you to identify them. For those steps, see Automatic speaker detection.

Or, add a Speaker manually

  1. Open the Speaker menu: click Add speaker at the top of a paragraph, or place your cursor in the script and press @.
  2. Start typing to create a new Speaker label, or pick one of the other options:
    • In this project: apply a label using a Speaker already created in this project.
    • Add AI speaker to project: apply a label using a Speaker saved to your Drive, but not yet in this project.
    • Browse stock AI speakers: choose from Descript's library of stock voices.
    • Create a new speaker: make a new voice clone.

You can also select a portion of the script to re-label, press @, and use the same steps to assign a Speaker to that selection.

Manage Speaker labels

Move a Speaker

  1. Hover over the speaker label and click the reposition icon to its left.
  2. Drag and drop it to a new spot in the script.

Words highlight as you drag. Drop on a word to place the label before it.

GIF demonstrating how to move a Speaker label via drag and drop

Rename a Speaker

  1. Click any instance of the label.
  2. Type the new name.
  3. In the dropdown, click Rename [old name] to [new name].

Renaming changes the Speaker within this project only.

GIF demonstrating how to rename a Speaker in a project

Replace or merge a Speaker across a project

  1. Make sure the replacement speaker is already in the project.
  2. Click any instance of the label you want to replace.
  3. Click the speaker options button (⋯), select Replace in project with…, then choose the replacement.

Change label color

Click any instance of the label, click the speaker options button (⋯), select Change label color, and pick a color.The expanded Speaker menu, with the option to Change the label color opened to reveal multiple color options

Remove a Speaker from a project

Click any instance of the label, click the speaker options button (⋯), and select Remove from project. Script sections assigned to it get attributed to the speaker above.