---
title: "Start a studio-grade (Pro) voice clone and mint a recording link."
method: POST
path: "/voices/pro/start"
tags: ["Voices"]
---

# Start a studio-grade (Pro) voice clone and mint a recording link.

`POST /voices/pro/start`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://docs.sleeperhit.studio/api/v1`
- URL: `https://docs.sleeperhit.studio/api/v1/voices/pro/start`
- Auth: HTTP bearer

Begins a professional voice clone (fine-tuned on 30 min–2 hr of audio). Mints a long-lived browser recording URL bound to the clone job — give it to the user to record at least 30 minutes of clear speech, then call POST /voices/pro/train with the returned jobId. Premium, metered, async (~3 hours, 250 credits charged only on success). Requires `Idempotency-Key`. Scope: `story:write`.

## Headers

- `Idempotency-Key` string, required

## Request body

- ProVoiceCloneStartRequest: Start a studio-grade (Pro) voice clone.
  - `name` string, required: User-facing name for the cloned voice.
  - `language` string: ISO 639-1 language of the speech (default "en").
  - `upgradeFromVoiceId` string: Optional CustomVoice id of an existing instant clone this Pro clone upgrades.

## Response `200`

The recording link + clone job id.

- ProVoiceCloneStartResult: A Pro voice clone job plus its browser recording link.
  - `jobId` string, required
  - `recordingUrl` string, required: Long-lived browser recording URL for collecting the speaker audio.
  - `expiresAt` string: When the recording link expires.

## Other responses

- `401`: Missing, malformed, revoked, or expired API key.
- `403`: API key is valid but lacks the scope, is blocked by IP allowlist, or the account is disabled.
- `429`: Rate limit for this API key + IP + route family was exceeded.
- `500`: The API failed unexpectedly. Safe to retry with the same Idempotency-Key.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/sleeperhit/apis/sleeper-hit-studio-story-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/sleeperhit/apis/sleeper-hit-studio-story-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/sleeperhit/apis/sleeper-hit-studio-story-api/revisions/86e084144cef?raw)