Talent Buddy help

Talent Buddy is where you see and deliver the voice jobs that your Radio Workflow clients send you. Every client that works with you shows up in one inbox, with due dates and what changed since you last looked.

A job is one spot you are asked to voice. It holds the script, the producer's directions, the length, the due date and what to deliver. You accept or decline it, record it, and drop your audio on the job. The producer is told straight away.

There is no password: you sign in with a link we email to the address your clients have on file for you. On a phone, your browser's Add to Home Screen puts Talent Buddy beside your apps.

Enter the email address your clients use for you, and we email you a sign-in link. The link works once and expires after 15 minutes. If it has expired, ask for a new one on the sign-in page.

Emails about a job carry a button that opens the job and signs you in. That button works once and for 7 days, and it signs in as you, so do not forward job emails to anyone. After 7 days, sign in on the sign-in page with your email address.

No email after a few minutes? Check your spam or promotions folder. A client may have a different address on file for you: try that one, or ask the producer who sends you work which address they use. Clients use different addresses for you? Sign in with each one.

You stay signed in on a device for up to 30 days, or until you have not used it for 7 days. On a shared computer, sign out when you finish. Settings, then Sessions, lists every device you are signed in on: sign out one of them, or use Sign out everywhere to end them all, this device included.

Every job shows its stage as a coloured label:

Sent

The producer sent you the job. You have not opened it yet.

Viewed

You opened the job.

Accepted

You told the producer you will do it.

Changes requested

The producer asked for changes. Their note is on the job.

Delivered

You delivered audio. The producer has not approved it yet.

Approved

The producer approved your take. It is on the spot, or they are mixing it into the finished spot.

Done

You or the producer marked it done without audio here.

Declined

You or the producer declined the job.

What a job asks you to deliver:

Dry voice

Your voice only, with no music or effects. The producer mixes the spot.

Finished spot

The whole spot, mixed with music and effects, at its length.

Live read

Read live on air. There is nothing to record.

• Due dates are days, not times: deliver by the end of the due day unless the directions say otherwise.
• Key Number: your client's code for the spot. Put it in your file names.

Open the job and drop your files on it, or press Deliver audio to choose them. The upload starts as soon as you drop a file. Nothing reaches the producer until you press Deliver.

• Formats: WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP3, M4A, AAC, OGG and Opus, up to 100 MB a file. The page tells you before anything uploads if a file is too large or not accepted.
• Uploads survive a slow or dropped connection: they pause and pick up where they stopped. You can open other pages of Talent Buddy while a file uploads. Keep the tab open until the upload tray says it has finished. If you reload the page, choose the same file again and the upload carries on.
• Your file is named for the producer from the job's Key Number, the advertiser and the length, for example HIL4412_Hilltop_Motors_30s_main.wav. Choose the take (Main, Alt, Safety, Pickup or Tag) before you deliver.
• Recorded several jobs? Open Deliver and drop all the files at once. Put each job's Key Number in its file name, for example HIL4412_main.wav, and each file is matched to its job. You check the matches before anything is delivered.
• Delivered the wrong take? Withdraw it from the job page while the producer has not approved it or put it on the spot.

A dry voice job wants your voice only, with no music or effects. A finished spot wants the whole spot, mixed, at its length. A live read has nothing to record: mark it done when it is handled. The job page says which.

Anything that is not the read itself goes to the producer as an attachment: session notes, a marked-up script, an invoice for the job, stems or a session zip, a pronunciation recording, images or documents. Attachments never change what airs.

Drop them on the job page, the same way as audio. An audio file is treated as your delivery unless you switch on Send as an attachment instead for that file.

• Documents: PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, TXT, ODT and PAGES.
• Spreadsheets: XLS, XLSX and CSV.
• Images: PNG, JPG, GIF, WEBP and HEIC.
• ZIP archives, and the audio formats above.
• Up to 250 MB a file. Web pages, scripts and programs are not accepted.

You can attach files at any stage, even after the job is done, unless the client cancelled the spot. You can remove a file you attached; the producer then no longer sees it.

Before you deliver, Talent Buddy measures each audio file in your browser: its length (for a dry voice, the length of your voice without the silence at each end), sample rate, channels, peak level, loudness in LUFS, and the silence at the start and end. A warning points out something worth a look, like a take that runs long for the spot, a file that may clip, or a stereo file for a dry voice job.

Stations set their own level. Many accept -24 to -16 LUFS or peak-normalised files. Your producer's spec wins.

After your file is processed, the word check listens to your take and compares what it hears with the script. It lists the words to check, marks the lines that look like legal copy, and goes easy on names and numbers, which the check often writes differently. Listen to the places it lists before you worry.

Every check is advice. None of them ever stops a delivery: you can always deliver anyway, and the producer decides.

Read mode shows the directions and the script full screen for the booth, in large type with four sizes and a light or dark page, with each name's respelling beside it. It keeps the screen on while you read when your device allows it, has a rehearsal stopwatch (press Space to start and stop it) that shows how your read compares with the spot length, and steps to the previous or next job.

Before you record, the job page also estimates how long the script takes at a typical pace and says whether it fits the spot. If it looks long, tell your producer before you record.

Every new job arrives by email with a button that opens it. New job emails always come: they are how clients send you work. To reach the producer, reply to a job email.

You can switch each of these on or off in Settings, then Notifications:

• A morning email, around 9:00 in your time zone, with the jobs due today and tomorrow.
• The jobs whose due date has passed, in the same morning email.
• An email when a producer changes the script, uploads a new document or edits the directions of a job you have.
• An email when a producer asks for changes to your delivery.
• An email when a producer approves your take or puts it on the spot.

Due dates and reminders use the time zone you choose in Settings.

Radio Workflow has tools that can change a recording with AI. In Settings, then AI voice, you tell producers what you allow with your voice: AI word fixes in your voice, and AI versions made from your voice, each Yes, Ask me first or No. Level, timing and noise fixes are always allowed, because they do not change your voice.

Producers see the stricter of your two answers as a badge next to your name, and both answers when they point at it. Radio Workflow records your choice but does not block the tools yet.

Earnings shows what your jobs are worth, from the rates your clients share with you: totals in each currency, by month, by client and job by job. Declined jobs are not counted. Download CSV saves the list for your own records.

Some clients keep rates between you and them and do not share them here, for some or all of your jobs with them. Those jobs are not counted, and the page names those clients. A job whose client did not enter a rate is counted as having no rate on file.

Earnings is a guide to your work, not an invoice: your agreement with each client decides what you are paid.

Availability tells every client which days you record, and whether you can deliver on the day you get a job. Producers see it when they choose talent. Saving sets the same days for every client that has you on file.

Your name, agency and rate stay with each client: Settings, then Profile, shows what each one has on file. To change them, ask the producer at that client.

Chat with support using the button in the corner, or ask the producer who sent you the job.

Ready to work? Open your jobs.