Emotion Tags in AI Text to Speech: How to Direct a Voice
Updated September 3, 2026
TL;DR: on LeapFun's Leap Ultra voices you direct a read two ways: inline tags such as [excited] or [whispers] placed before the words they affect, and a director's note for the whole take (style, pace, accent). Other voice tiers read tags as literal text, so the app strips them when you switch. Tags change delivery, not the script.
The tags Ultra voices understand
Type [ in the script box and the app suggests them. The current set:
| Tag | What it does | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| [excited] | Lifts energy and pace | Hooks, reveals, offers |
| [happy] | Warm, smiling delivery | Friendly explainers, UGC |
| [calm] | Slower, settled | Meditation, sensitive topics, closing lines |
| [serious] | Level, weighty | Documentary, warnings, finance |
| [gentle] | Soft and unhurried | Bedtime stories, apologies |
| [sad] | Lowered, slower | Emotional beats in fiction |
| [angry] | Sharper attack | Character dialogue |
| [surprised] | Raised, quicker | Reactions, plot turns |
| [embarrassed] | Hesitant, softer | Comedy, confessions |
| [whispers] | Whispered | Intimacy, ASMR-style hooks |
| [breathy] | Airy texture | Trailers, romance |
| [emphasis] | Stress on what follows | Key numbers, names, the CTA |
Where to put them
Directly before the sentence or clause you want changed. A tag carries until the mood naturally shifts or the next tag. One tag per beat is plenty; stacking three in a sentence produces a confused read.
[serious] In 1977, two spacecraft left Earth carrying a golden record. [calm] Nearly fifty years later, they're still going. [excited] Here's how far they've gone.
The director's note
For the whole take, open Advanced and set style, pace and accent from the presets, or write a note in plain language: "warm documentary narrator, unhurried, slight smile, British accent." Use the note for the baseline and tags for the exceptions. This is the same mechanism a session director uses: the note is the brief, the tags are the pencil marks on the script.
What happens on other voice tiers
Leap Turbo, Expressive, Natural and Pro voices don't interpret tags — they'd read "excited" aloud. So when you switch from an Ultra voice to another tier, LeapFun strips the tags from the script and tells you. Emotion on those tiers comes from the voice choice and from punctuation: a full stop is a breath, a comma is a pause, an ellipsis is a hang.
Try it
Paste the example above on the text-to-speech page with an Ultra voice — Stella or Leo — and compare with and without tags.
Frequently asked questions
Do emotion tags cost extra credits?
No. The tag text isn't billed as speech; you pay the voice's normal rate for the words that are read.
Why did my tags disappear?
You switched to a non-Ultra voice. Those tiers would read the tags aloud, so the app removes them and shows a notice. Switch back to an Ultra voice to use them.
Can I make a voice whisper a whole paragraph?
Yes — put [whispers] at the start; it carries until the next tag or a natural shift. For a whole take, use the director's note instead.
Do tags work in Audiobook Studio?
Yes, paragraph by paragraph on Ultra voices. Combine with character voice assignments for dialogue.