diff --git a/lib/synth-audio.js b/lib/synth-audio.js
index a19b8ed..1ba7cc0 100644
--- a/lib/synth-audio.js
+++ b/lib/synth-audio.js
@@ -257,9 +257,10 @@ const synthGoogle = async(logger, {credentials, stats, language, voice, gender,
   const client = new ttsGoogle.TextToSpeechClient(credentials);
   const opts = {
     voice: {
-      ...(typeof voice === 'string' && {name: voice, ssmlGender: gender || 'SSML_VOICE_GENDER_UNSPECIFIED'}),
+      ...(typeof voice === 'string' && {name: voice}),
       ...(typeof voice === 'object' && {custom_voice: voice}),
       languageCode: language,
+      ssmlGender: gender || 'SSML_VOICE_GENDER_UNSPECIFIED'
     },
     audioConfig: {audioEncoding: 'MP3'}
   };