AI dubbing for TikTok: one 45-second video in 3 languages, $0.44
A dubbing pipeline on Sume is detach, STT, your translation, TTS per language, then a render: about $0.44 for three 45-second versions.
"AI dubbing TikTok" and "AI dubbing video translator" are on Google's autocomplete today (read 2026-10-07). Sume's docs do not describe a single dubbing endpoint. They describe the parts: an audio extractor, speech to text, text to speech with a voice per language, and a timeline render. Put together they dub a video, and the cost is small enough to total on one line.
The pipeline below makes three versions of a 45-second TikTok. It changes the voice track only; the mouth in the picture is the original, so it suits voice-over, screen recordings, product shots and cutaways more than close-up talking heads.
The five steps
- Detach the audio once:
POST /v1/audio-detach, WAV, $0.01. - Transcribe it:
POST /v1/stt-1.0/transcribewithlanguage_codeas a hint, $0.01 for the minute. - Translate the text yourself or with your agent. This step is not a Sume media job and carries no line in the media rate card.
- Speak each translation with
POST /v1/tts-1.0/generate, one voice per language. - Render each language: Timeline 1.0 with the original video and the new file as
audio.url, $0.10 per output minute.
Cost for three languages
Assume about 700 characters of script in each language for 45 seconds of speech, which is a planning figure, not a measured one. At $0.0475 per 1,000 characters, 700 characters is $0.033, rounded up to $0.04 per job.
| Step | Count | Each | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audio detach | 1 | $0.01 | $0.01 |
| STT, 45 s billed as 1 minute | 1 | $0.01 | $0.01 |
| TTS, about 700 characters | 3 | $0.04 | $0.12 |
| Timeline render, under 1 minute | 3 | $0.10 | $0.30 |
| Total | $0.44 |
Where it goes wrong
- Send the right
languageto TTS. If the voice and the language disagree Sume returnstts_voice_language_warningand wants a confirmation before the retry, which is the guard working as designed. - Dubbed speech is a different length from the original. Measure the TTS
duration_seconds, and cut or extend the picture to match before the render. - Korean, Japanese and other long scripts count by character, spaces and punctuation included, so run a
dry_runormax_spend_usdcap on batch jobs. - Listen to a name or a number in each language before you ship; a receipt proves the input reached the job, not that it was pronounced right.
Sources
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Written by Sume