Text-to-speech from media content item snippets

A method comprising:

• obtaining input text;
• portioning the input text into a first text set, a second text set, and a third text set;
• determine a quality described in the first text set,
• identifying a first track based on:
• the first track having first track lyrics that include the first text set;
• and
• the first track having the quality;
• identifying, using forced alignment data, a first audio location of the first track corresponding to the first text set;
• creating a first audio snippet containing the first audio location;
• identifying a second track based on the second track having second track lyrics containing the third text set based on similarities in musical style between the first track and the second track;
• creating a second audio snippet from the second track based on the second text set;
• using a speech synthesizer, creating a synthesized utterance based on the second text set;
• combining the first audio snippet, the second audio snippet, and the synthesized utterance to form combined audio;
• and
• providing an audio output that includes the combined audio.

A system providing text-to-speech functionality, comprising:

• a forced alignment engine for aligning input track audio and input track lyrics, wherein the forced alignment engine is configured to:
• receive a third track having track metadata;
• receive third track lyrics associated with the third track;
• select an acoustic model from an acoustic model data store based on the track metadata;
• using the acoustic model, generate third-track forced alignment data that aligns audio data of the third track and the third track lyrics;
• and
• add the third-track forced alignment data to a forced alignment data store;
• the forced alignment data store having stored thereon forced alignment data for tracks;
• a combining engine configured to:
• obtain input text;
• portion the input text into a first text set and a second text set;
• identify a first track having first track lyrics that include the first text set;
• identify, using the forced alignment data, a first audio location of the first track corresponding to the first text set;
• create a first audio snippet containing the first audio location;
• using a speech synthesizer, create a synthesized utterance based on the second text set;
• combine the first audio snippet and the synthesized utterance to form combined audio;
• and
• provide an audio output that includes the combined audio.

A method comprising:

• with a forced alignment engine for aligning input track audio and input track lyrics:
• receiving a third track having track metadata;
• receiving third track lyrics associated with the third track;
• selecting an acoustic model from an acoustic model data store based on the track metadata;
• using the acoustic model, generating third-track forced alignment data that aligns audio data of the third track and the third track lyrics;
• and
• adding the third-track forced alignment data to the forced alignment data store obtaining input text;
• portioning the input text into a first text set a second text set;
• determine a quality described in the first text set,
• identifying a first track based on:
• the first track having first track lyrics that include the first text set;
• and
• the first track having the quality;
• identifying, using forced alignment data, a first audio location of the first track corresponding to the first text set;
• creating a first audio snippet containing the first audio location;
• using a speech synthesizer, creating a synthesized utterance based on the second text set;
• combining the first audio snippet and the synthesized utterance to form combined audio;
• and
• providing an audio output that includes the combined audio.