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!
Loading ...
Finally I managed to make it back to my gmail and in here I was about to lose it my ability to come in here is all that’s keeping me together I think I really get frustrated when things screw up and keep me out of here it seems like forever since I was here last I’m still waiting on my check and I’m getting so frustrated with waiting I’m not sure how long I can keep up the patience it helps me to come in here I get a real sense of calm when I’m here since I cant dress and I’m stuck in male mode I’m really starting to get anxious about getting started I know I should be more patient I guess I just got overly stressed during my moving most of what wanted to storage and having to leave so much behind it’s not really that much it just hurts so bad all the memories there both good and bad the bad doesn’t bother me its all the good memories so many good I just cant help myself at times my female side is hurting so bad I know I’m stronger than I think but to me the tears are what makes me strong she is my strength my male side is only skin deep if that Love M.J.
Hello Lucille this is maybe funny at least to me I’ve always thought that Mickey and Minnie sound just alike I’m not sure though I haven’t seen many cartoons with Minnie in them or Mickey either for that matter not a large Disney fan I do wish to sound as feminine as possible I will have to get a frequency tuner app on my phone when I get one in order to adjust my voice farther to find the best voice closest to my own or the easiest to adapt to I hope Love M.J.
I know I need to practice mu voice to stay in character it will be a little bit tough although I think I have a fairly fem voice anyway but I’m not sure hard to judge yourself like others do I do my best but I still wonder recording myself will help but still I do a great Bugs Bunny or Sylvester and not too bad on Daffy Duck I’ve never really tried too hard to get a female voice down pat but I’ll try my stars I just don’t know who to be B.B. hey how about Babs Bunny needs some work but !!!
I have yet to find that perfect feminine voice that I need 🙁
I’ve taught myself to speak in what I, and my gurlfriends think is a very sexy feminine voice. I’ve practiced and mastered speaking in a low throaty tone like the famous German actress Marlene Dietrich, Even though it is deeper than many feminine voices it is very alluring and sexy. I’ve learned to emulate her sexy voice quite well.
You can find Marlene speaking and singing in both English and German on Youtube.LiliMarlene is wonderful, it’s about a hooker standing under a street lamp at the gate of an Army base.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-szCTIE4q0
What’s more , Marlene was one of us, a notorious lesbian, The fabulous glam actress Rita Hayworth once said, “The best head I’ve ever had was not by a man , it was from Marlene Dietrich
I may look further into this category because my voice is one of the few things I have dysphoria about!
I just purchased the Fundamentals of Your Feminine Voice and it really helps. I love it!! Thank you Kathe and Lynn.
Is a deep voice really a problem, there are some genetic women with deep voice and they sound good. I have a medium to soft voice. Some men have a hard gravelly voice, they will have trouble changing their tone. Has anyone noticed some genetic women seem to scream/screech everything they have to say,
I don’t think TG women need to emulate that.