The voice of Asterisk solutions

Allison Smith is the voice talent behind Asterisk solutions, providing not only the default prompts delivered with the open-source PBX software but also creating new custom prompts for users, which are then made available to the community at large.

In a post on the Digium 'Inside the Asterisk' blog, she explains some more about the process behind making a prompt - and how she sometimes needs a little help with the technicalities.

"Like most other professional voice talent, I am not an audio expert," she admits.

However, she does understand much of the audio production process after ten years of trial and error.

For everything else, she consults Digium product manager Rod Montgomery, who explains the characteristics of sound files used on Asterisk solutions.

One example is the frequency range - voices cover everything from 80 to 12,000 Hz, but standard telephony equipment only carries around 300-3,500 Hz.

Ms Smith's prompts, however, are recorded at 48 kHz and 16-bit depth, ensuring they remain crystal clear and can stand up to compression by end-users if required later.