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 may be times when you 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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my voice is deep but i speak so softly
I need a female voice really bad i got the looks the style i got everything speaking out female but wen i talk it screams female i want the whole image
This would be the crowning glory for me, I believe. All of the programs are too expensive currently, much less a voice coach. I generally smile and keep my mouth shut, although when I have to speak, I’ve gotten pretty good at softening my voice.
My main problem is being a natural bass. It’s quite dificult to get around, without sounding truly ‘fake’.
hi i am having the full op jan 2015 my boyfreind is not happy becouse i am a receiver not a giver ut he is supporting me i love him he loves me
I have given up on having a passable voice. I’m not quite Barry white, but I can do a pretty good impression. I’ve followed tips, pointers, listened to myself on a recorder. And no, not even. So I’m afraid to venture out and just stay pretty at home
Try to find some women who have naturally deep voices, and listen to how they speak (maybe even record them when they don’t know, if you can get away with it!). Play it back later, and close your eyes to focus on the sounds. Listen to how they speak. Certain phrases or situations are said differently to how you would normally say them as a man (as rightly mentioned in the article, it’s quite usual as a woman, to be rather animated in speech, and try to give emotion or expression to everything said. It will be different to speaking as a male. Imagine if you were someone else, speaking to you…did they sound like a woman? If not, what was wrong? tweak it and try it again).
I’ll be very surprised if you aren’t at least a little happier with your voice, after trying this. Good luck! xx
sweetheart you go where your heart follows fuck anyone else you go for it girl
its been years of practice but I now have the voice I need the only problem is I sometimes forget when in guy mode
😀 This reminds me of when I started coming out the closet, and going out on weeknights, coming back late and going in to work a couple of hours later. Living a double life was playing havoc with my sleep and career. I would be absent minded in the office, working on something, and when someone would ask me something out of the blue, I would accidentally answer in my girl voice!!
I’d end up coughing to mask it up, like it messed my voice up, and then repeat in ‘man-mode’. Hilarious and scary all at once!! :/
I struggled with this then went with a voice coach. She was marvellous. Under her tutelage it happened quite easily and quickly.
Sally, how did you find your voice coach? Would you mind sharing where she practices? I’m looking here in Virginia but most of the speech pathologists are caring for children with speech problems and the voice coaches seem to concentrate on singing voices.
Hi Joanne. I live in Australia so I don’t think my voice coach would be convenient. She works mostly with actors – maybe drama schools would be a place to look. Good luck.
do not worry about your voice look at kathleen turner in freinds chandelers mother very deep voice
I am very lucky to have a voice that falls toward the feminine range. I also am Mammed on the telephone more often than not.