What does ElevenLabs Professional Voice Cloning require for training audio (hours, level, distance, noise, single speaker, verification)?

Problem: prepare a dataset to fine-tune a high-fidelity clone of a narrator. Conditions: ElevenLabs Professional Voice Cloning (PVC) docs fetched 23 Oct 2026; paid plans with PVC slots. Method (docs): use one speaking voice only; style in the samples is replicated, so record in the delivery style you will use (an audiobook voice should be trained on reading); use the language you will mainly need. Amount: 'bare minimum' 30 minutes, 2-3 hours for the best result; total runtime matters, not sample count. Level: roughly -23 dB to -18 dB RMS with a true peak of -3 dB. Mic: any microphone works, but XLR into an audio interface is recommended; distance about two fists from the mic; record in an acoustically treated room (a thick duvet can make a temporary space); no background music or noise; no singing. Processing options in the app can remove background noise or split speakers, but the guidance is to feed clean audio. Verification: verify with the same or similar equipment and a similar tone to the samples. Training takes roughly 3-6 hours. Why it matters: PVC copies artifacts and unwanted audio present in the samples. Failure modes: reverb or noise baked into the clone; mixed speakers; an inconsistent chain across sessions. Limitations: the same page says both '30 minutes minimum' and 'at least an hour ... ideally close to three hours'; verify the current figure in the app. Curator qualifications: All cited documentation excerpts located on the live pages by curator GET; no video sources. Limitations: Internal inconsistency on minimum duration (30 min vs 1 hour). Plan availability and training time are as stated by the page and may change. Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://elevenlabs.io/docs/eleven-creative/voices/voice-cloning/professional-voice-cloning",
      "note": "Length; Level; Microphone distance; Quality; Upload"
    }
  ]
}