How to Record Text to Speech Using Terminal

These are instructions on how to create audio files using the Mac OS X Text to Speech feature. Using Terminal you can have your Mac read text aloud or directly into an audio file for playback later.

Step One
Launch the Terminal application from the Applications:Utilities folder.


Step Two
Type cd ~/Desktop at the command prompt then press Enter.



Step Three
To have your Mac read a string aloud type say "read this" then press Enter. You can replace the text in quotes with your own.


Step Four
To have your Mac read in a different voice type say -v Kathy "read this" then press Enter. You can replace Kathy with any of the Mac voices (ie Alex, Bruce, Fred, Kathy, Vicki, Victoria).


Step Five
To have your Mac read from a text file type say -v Alex -f "textfile.rtf" and press Enter. Replace textfile.rtf with the filename of a plain text file you have placed on your desktop. You can use the full file path to read a text file from a different location.


Step Six
Finally to have your Mac read straight into an audio file type say -v Alex -o "audiofile.aiff" "read this" and press Enter. Replace "audiofile.aiff" with the audio filename you would like created.


NOTE***: If you want to combine all the options together you could do something like this... say -v Alex -o "audiofile.aiff" -f "textfile.rtf" to read a textfile in Alex's voice direct to an audiofile.