I can make all the sounds, but maintaining a feminine tone is still pretty hit-or-miss. Since I spend all day at work talking to my team online, I figured it would be good to use that time for voice practice. (I’m already out, so hopefully they won’t think I’m going insane)
I’ve been slowly pushing the pitch up over the past few weeks to avoid straining, and with a pitch tracker going it looks like I’m sitting at around 150 Hz right now (for reference I usually aim for 200 Hz when training, which I can comfortably manage for short periods). Not quite target pitch, but at least I’m not dropping out of the androgynous range too often. End-of-day huskiness is slowly getting better but my resonance is all over the place.
Anyway, how do you all get your practice hours in? Any fun anecdotes? I’m still in awe of all the trans women on Youtube with perfectly passable voices.
Pitch actually doesn’t matter too much. Like others in this thread have said, resonance is way more important.
For example, it’s actually really difficult for me to talk in my old voice, because I haven’t used it in such a long time. While I can get the pitch down if I try hard enough, I can’t do the same for my resonance, so my voice still sounds somewhat feminine even when I’m talking in a low pitched voice.
I never practiced for a set amount of time. I’d just do it kind of randomly whenever I felt like it. Usually I would practice at night when I was having trouble sleeping, but I’d sometimes do it while driving as well.
Also random hot tip: Have a word that you can say really well in your feminine voice that can be worked into any sentence, such as um or like, because then you can use it to recalibrate when you feel your feminine voice starting to falter.
Just as you say - if I concentrate I can (sometimes) get a really good bright sound, but maintaining it is going to take a lot of practice so I can do it without thinking. I like the idea of a “reset” word; I’m going to try that going forward.
Something you might benefit from is practicing with an “increased cognitive load” - basically doing something that uses your brain while also speaking. It can be difficult at first, but eventually, it helps with being able to use your voice without thinking about it.
I used to try doing voice training but whenever I do a girl voice it sounds like a man trying to sound like a woman. I practiced for a long time and made zero progress. I shared on the voice training subreddits and they confirmed that it does sound super masc. I’ve basically given up at this point, it sucks and feels helpless. I might as well not even bother since even when trying the best I can people will still instantly clock me.
I’m saving for vocal surgery personally. I’ve voice trained with professionals and by myself for years. My voice can pass for 5 minute conversations with massive amounts of effort, but any longer than tnat and theres no way for me to maintain it. My voice also gets exhausted very quickly doing it.
Lots of people genuinely can get by on training alone. But others can’t, and surgical options have expanded a lot over the last few years. Something like 60% of trans fems report dissatisfaction with their voice after transition. Read a study on that a while ago. A lot of trans fems just cope. It’s worth trying training first, but surgery also exists and is worth looking into.
Have you tried actually changing the way you talk, like instead of a high pitch version of your masc voice, why not like alter it so you speak snappier or more rounded, so you sound different I found that helps a lot for some reason
You can totally do it! It takes a lot of practice and dedication, and yes, you are going to sound off at first but that’s normal.
I suspect the reason your voice didn’t sound as feminine as you wanted is because you need to brighten your resonance more. Even with a deep pitch, a bright resonance will make your voice sound noticably more feminine.
The other thing it could be is perhaps your voice was too breathy, because it’s not natural sounding and it’s an easy mistake to make. I even made that mistake myself when I started out.
What if I just want a girl voice to game with? Is that a thing or do you need supplemental stuff?
dont need supplements just need to know the correct technique for girl voice. i am sure there are some tutorials out there
There sure are! TransVoiceLessons is pretty well known.
I practiced in the shower and in the car when I did it - I wasn’t out and didn’t have many safe spaces.
Are you focusing on resonance at all? It’s generally more important than pitch. Focus on raising your resonance, and pitch will follow.
Also, if anyone is interested in starting a discord to practice voice training, please invite me!
I am a goddamn beautiful diva and queen of the universe. In my car :)
Somehow I get out and the voice stays in the car!!
Yeah, I can control resonance but if I don’t concentrate the finer points (tongue, lips, sharpness etc) tend to drift back to my old voice.
A practice space sounds fun!
I would be interested if it wasn’t in discord but something more secure
Discord has e2ee in its voice and video calls now based on MLS, so if that is all you use it for then that would be plenty secure.
i doubt it would be used like that, discord servers tend to get chaotic quick , not saying its impossible though
Sure, just letting you know. No worries.
I’ve been reading a random Wikipedia article aloud to warm up my voice before my first meeting.
I have a poem I like to do, but I also do sentences from here when practicing in english
Personally just decided to ‘practice’ all day everyday at school without coming out to people. Had to keep a water bottle with me all the time to keep my throat from drying out. I’ve found that speaking brighter sounds more feminine but takes more air, which causes dryout.
It’s incredibly important to stay hydrated while practicing! Thanks for bringing this up!
