Your voice is an important part of your image as a trans woman or crossdresser. Even if you rarely go out in public as a woman, there will be times when you’ll need to speak to someone.
You want to be the whole pretty package, right? Having a voice that’s congruent with your image is a big part of that.
In this post, I’ll share 5 common voice feminization mistakes that can hold you back from achieving a natural, “passable” female voice.
1. Speaking Too Deeply
No surprise here, but the deeper your voice, the more masculine it will sound.
How do you know if your voice is too deep? Your best option is to use a frequency tuner to measure the pitch of your voice. Here are the typical frequency ranges for masculine and feminine voices:
- Male voices typically range from 100-150 Hz
- Female voices typically range from 175-250 Hz
The good news is that you can easily measure the pitch of your voice by using a frequency tuner app on your phone. Here are a couple free apps for both iOS and Android:
2. Speaking In Falsetto
Trying to mask a deep voice by speaking in an unnaturally high voice – otherwise known as falsetto – isn’t good, either. Speaking this way doesn’t make you sound like a woman, it makes you sound like Minnie Mouse.
While you do want to raise the pitch of your voice, you never want to go too high. Again, a frequency tuner is invaluable for helping you find your correct range.
3. Whispering
If you are self conscious about your voice, you may try to compensate by speaking more softly.
However, lowering the volume of your voice doesn’t make you sound more feminine, it just makes it impossible to hear you.
4. Upswinging Your Sentences
Women naturally have more “melodic intonation” to their voices. In other words, they are more animated when they speak.
Some crossdressers and transgender women make the mistake of trying to imitate this by “upswinging” their voices at the end of every sentence.
Upswinging your voice tends to make each sentence sound like a question. The result is that you sound like a stereotypical Valley Girl, which is probably not the type of woman you want to emulate.
5. Pinching Your Voice
One of the reasons that men have deeper, richer voices than women is because they have a larger “throat space.”
If you try to compensate for your deeper voice by constricting your throat, the result will sound pinched. Think Pee Wee Herman or Kermit the Frog. Again, this is something you will want to avoid.
Avoiding these mistakes is the first step towards achieving a passable feminine voice
It’s easy to go wrong in your attempts to feminize your voice. The good news is that you CAN achieve a passable feminine voice with the right tools and strategy.
That’s why I’m so excited to share my new course, Vocal Feminization for Beginners: 30 Day Transformation!
Taught by opera singer and vocal coach Lera Sonzogni, this easy-to-follow program will teach you the basics of achieving a feminine voice in just 30 days.
Learn more about Vocal Feminization for Beginners here!
Love,
Lucille
P.S. Before you go, be sure to take my voice feminization poll below. I’d love to know how important this issue is for you, along with your thoughts on the topic!
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I think sometimes I’ve passed visually and upon speaking to someone, they were startled. I don’t want to fake a voice. That would just make me more self focused, increasing my anxiety. I would rather want to feel more natural and relaxed. So though my voice is a concern, feeling comfortable is more important. I am contemplating voice surgery. Maybe in the future.
Hi Joan, Actually I went to Jane Hienemeyer in Sioux Falls SD. I live on the other side of the state in the Black Hills near Mt. Rushmore. The photo above was taken on a motorcycle ride with my boyfriend in Washington. I have been doing some remodel work for some friends out there.
Hi Morgan! I have just finished voice lessons with a voice therapist from my area. I can’t say enough about the help she was to me! I STRONGLY recommend lessons from an actual therapist. Until I did this I would usually get misgendered on the phone, even with my best efforts at sounding female. As of today, I have not been misgendered in several months, and even though I feel I still have a ways to go before I am satisfied, My therapist says I am doing great and no longer need her services! It is SO REWARDING to be heard as female and responded to accordingly!
There is an awful lot to learn about pitch, breathiness, proper breathing, inflection, forward resonance, hand gestures and body language… it is mind blowing, but TOTALLY worth it, and not terribly expensive. I would be happy to contact my therapist and see if she knows anyone in your area if you would like! As far as surgery goes, I have heard that the results are pretty iffy. Voice training is a great way to go, I think, but it does take work and practice. I wish you luck and please know that you have been an inspiration to me! I have read several of your posts and appreciate your input very much! Hang in there girl!
Hi, Danielle. I tried to reply earlier, but my note ended up on another’s post. What I said was:
I see from your photo that you might have gone to Barbie Scott. Idid. She’s good. Joan
Danielle! OMG you look happy and healthy! I haven’t seen your name on the posts for awhile, but I think that it’s an indicator that your life is moving forward and being full-filled. You look great, Biker Babe! Thanks for filling me in on voice therapy. That probably is the better way to go and surgery as a last resort. I’ll keep your recommendation in mind. It’s good to hear from you. Keep safe girlfriend! Love and Aloha.
My voice is very important to me… i need every little bit of info i can get. I had to learn to pitch my voice by myself and its important to learn how to speak in a conversation, But i didn’t know everything and i have am glad to know how to do my voice proper.
As a crossdresser, how can I learn to make my voice more feminine is a way that allows me to change back when I’m not Crissy.
There are some feminine voices that are so hot. I would love to sound like that.
I highly recommend training with Kathe Perez. I did one-on-one personal training with Kathe via Skype and she was really excited for me and the progress I made. When speaking to her during the course of each session, if my voice would go too low, she would put up her hand as if to say “STOP!” She said either you speak like a woman or don’t speak at all. It was great training. On a recent stay at a hotel, I had three different women address me as “ma’am.” That felt so awesome!
Thank you Lucille for these great tips. But it is so freaking tough to monitor yourself while speaking
Heard that you can get your vocal cords shaved is it safe operation
How do I know if I sound female I have record myself and I think it sounds good but I just don’t know, I’m pre hormones too
I’m gonna need help applying makeup as I’ve never done it before. Anyone?
There are loads of really good tutorials on Youtube. Concentrate on one aspect at a time. I am not perfect yet but after using these video tutorials, I am certainly more passable.
Go to a make up place like euphoria and pay to have make up put on, they will tell you what their doing and why,so u might want to have a recorder on,them have them take a picture of you when their done