Day-to-day voice practice
Day-to-day voice practice
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.
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!
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 am a goddamn beautiful diva and queen of the universe. In my car :)
Somehow I get out and the voice stays in the car!!
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.
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!
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
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.
This YT channel has a very simplified take on the using the part of your larynx to get away from chest resonance.
I worked with a supportive group of folk, and I told them that I'll be voice training, and that I'll sound ridiculous for a while, and that I'm super self conscious about it, and so whilst we're all good to stir each other a bit as we have always done, I asked them to not use my voice as a target.
They were cool with that, and so I was able to just train it by using it every day.
Ultimately, I ended up getting VFS too, but my training before that was still helpful, because vocal surgery is a way of getting more for less with your training, more than a way of avoiding training altogether.
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
I tried and no matter how hard I try my voice doesn't pass as fem. Some people say it does trying to be nice but when I showed samples to some voice training communities without telling them my gender, just asking if it sounds masc or fem they confirmed my suspicions, voice training apps also confirm my voice is still well within the masc range. It's tiring to keep trying and if my voice doesn't pass unless people are being nice I don't see the point, still makes me feel bad though 😭
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.
I've been trying for years, and while it does sound different than before I know it will probably never pass. Many people have said it does to be nice, and while I appreciate them trying to make me feel better, passing or not passing is a serious problem for me. I did use voice test apps, and sent samples of my "fem voice" to voice training communities without telling them my gender first and they said it sounded masculine. Plus I can't do the different voice too long before I get tired but if I don't even pass with it, what's the point?