Trying Out A Femme Voice

[tiffanyjo89]

http://youtu.be/keCrr-mfXeE

I was wondering if y'all could give me feedback on how this sounds. In the video you see just my legs (hopefully very pixelated if YouTube has done its job). I am just looking for comments on my voice. Y'all know my face (I have some pics up).

[abigailf]

Sounds feminine to me, but it also sounded very soft. You may have a hard time being heard in loud places, like a bar, club or train station.

A good test is to make a call to some store and ask questions about some of their products and see if they refer to you as mam or sir.

[tiffanyjo89]

Yeah, I kinda have a soft guy voice more often than not too...it's something that hurts a bit in real loud places, but I am going to be working on the volume of my femme voice and making sure I can hold the volume up for a few minutes at a time.

That part about calling a store seems like a good idea, especially since they don't have a face to attach to the voice and since they will definitely not remember it (at least hopefully).

[Ressie]

Sounds like it's working to me. I think you'll improve as you practice, but it ain't bad at all so far.

[Kimberly Renee]

My initial thought was "breathy". We all start somewhere. I've read countless internet searches on feminizing the voice. Most talked about starting with falsetto and working down. I'm not sure I agree with that. I do agree with "thinking" higher and placing the words towards the front of your mouth, which takes out a lot of reverb and lower tones.
Remember that GG's come in all shapes, sizes and voices. Just as there is no perfect breast size needed to "pass", there's no perfect voice either.

[tiffanyjo89]

Yeah, I think I'll get out of the breathy stage (but then again, a little breathy could work) and yeah, I can't even get the typical falsetto.

[rita63]

You sound really good hon, really femme. Where did you find tips I need to start working on mine since the rest of me is coming along. Any help greatly appreciated PM me if you like. Thanks
hugs rita

[tiffanyjo89]

One thing I heard one time was to "pull" your Adam's apple up and let out a quick sighing sound, but it's hard to hold the box up there, so I did a little bit of that, and just raised the pitch and tried to remove as much chest as I could. It's not perfect yet, and the breathiness gets annoying after a while (it's like using a third of your breath).

[ilana]

It sounded a little awkward at the beginning, but it stabilized after about 10 seconds, and it's definitely completely different from your male voice. Good job!

[MonctonGirl]

First, I think you have a great start and your INFLECTION ( the way you say things ... the way the words FLOW into each other in a feminine way rather than each work spoken as it's own entity ) is very good. MOST trying to do a fem voice usually just sound like a "stereotypical flamboyant and girly homosexual" ( not to offend anyone, just saying there is a big difference ) and you have a good start on a feminine voice!

As a former professional singer ( in rock bands when I was younger ) I used to do soundcheck with two songs to see where there was feedback through my whole range. It is important to know that there are several different voices that a human is capable of making, and how they are made.

Highest:
Whistle ( Not a lips whistle, but one with vocal chords - Mariah Carey's highest notes are "whistle" ) Very few males can do this. I never could, even though I had a wicked falsetto that made chicks lose their minds.

High:
Falsetto - lots of male singers can do it ( Morten Harket from a-ha has a great one ) but women don't speak in falsetto.
I used to do the falsetto intro to Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" to test that range.


Medium ( and feminine )
Head Voice: This is the singing and speaking voice of typical female ...and immature male ... and ... was how Jon Bon Jovi sang about 1/4 of is lines. This is the one you are hitting fairly well now ... below I'll tell you how to do it BETTER!!!!.

Medium ( and masculine )
Chest Voice: This is the singing and speaking range of typical male and uses mostly chest resonance. It comes after testosterone changes the vocal chords and makes the chest cavity and lungs bigger. It's what your guy voice is now.

Lowest:
Fry: Like Louis Armstrong ... I used to sing "What A Wonderful World" to check the low range.

==============
To improve:

1. Forget the typical falsetto ... it would just sound ridiculous.

2. SPEAK a scale "Do, Ray, Me, Fah, So, La Tee, Do" Then up another octave ... "Do, Ray, Me, Fah, So, La Tee, Do"

At some point, your voice will start to STRAIN to get higher... so go back down a few notes and start talking femininely up around that pitch range. That is, maybe start your conversations at "So" or halfway up the second octave ...

The key is to choose a starting point that is as high as possible but where your voice is STABLE and not cracking,
so that you can speak with minimal strain, but still are exercising your vocal chords to get them ready to go higher.

Drink lots of water before and during this, to help avoid cracking and make it smooth.

Just try that octave exercise and you will notice the difference IMMEDIATELY.
Apply your feminine INFLECTION to that and you're all set.

Also helps to SING along with female high range singers to get your vocal chords doing the right things ....
Aqua ( Barbie Girl )
Taylor Swift ( anything you can handle without rage haha )

Anything cute and girly you can find ... blue-eyed white girls are best because their voices tend to be higher than brown eyed singers ( though there are exception ).

Let us hear the results! Great post BTW - very interesting!

PS. If you smoke, the fem voice will be much harder to do.

[tiffanyjo89]

Thanks for the tips...um...mon (lol). And I don't smoke, I tried, didn't even smoke a third of the pack before I realized "Hey, I suck at this." I would blow through the cigarettes the way a big dog rips through a chicken bone. That and I had better things to do with my time.

For me, it sounded a little more natural if I kept my Adam's apple down (not all the way down, too breathy), but pushed my voice up (if that makes sense). And yeah, my inflection, I spent a lot of my teenage and even pre-teenage years around girls. My mom and dad were separated and I was living with my mom and sister. Throw in the fact that I am kinda shy and my sister was always having girl friends over, but I was around them (they would be in the same area I was, mainly cause I didn't like staying in my room all the freaking time) so I think I picked up on some of their methods...lol.

[Jana]

Hi Tiffany, I think it's better than your natural voice, but there's room for improvement. The delivery isn't very natural, sounds like you are whispering, it's very breathy. Don't worry, though, we all have to start somewhere. My first attempt at this was by watching youtube videos of one CandiFla (http://www.youtube.com/user/candiFLA). Though she sounds good, she doesn't provide much of a technique to work with. So, instead of trying to develop my own voice, I just tried to imitate her. Needless to say, I sounded awful.

I felt like I needed something with a bit more substance, and that's when I found the work of Andrea James (http://www.youtube.com/user/deepstealth/videos?view=0). Another person to note is Kathe Perez (http://www.exceptionalvoice.com/voice-feminization/youtube/). Each of them provides a method, as well as exercises, for people wanting to develop their female voice with confidence. Check out their youtube videos, see what you think.

Good luck! (And as Andrea says, "PERFECT practice makes perfect".)

[tiffanyjo89]

Yeah, I was in my room and had my door open (small bedroom in a single wide trailer, poorly, no, un-insulated thing with no central heating...just a couple gas heaters on the two ends) and didn't want to try and talk too loud for fear of sounding weird to my dad (I'm only partially out to one person).

I also was not in a very good sitting position to be recording a demo of my voice.

EDIT: Also I was concentrating on keeping the pitch fairly steady so I couldn't just, you know, talk...I am probably going to do a video for as long as I can stand where I am reading some useless information, but trying to keep it feminine, maybe something about Taylor Swift's new boyfriend ;) (okay, no no no, not that, I'd rather read the dictionary than that...).

[MonctonGirl]

I am probably going to do a video for as long as I can stand where I am reading some useless information, but trying to keep it feminine,.

That's a good idea. Maybe find a dialogue on YouTube done by a female whose voice you like and practice it over and over with her inflection and see what happens.

[Ressie]

idk, I've heard some crossdressers on youtube that have a fake sounding female voice because they're trying too hard. I kind of think it's better to use your normal voice but raise the pitch a half octave or so. Guess it depends on one's acting ability?

[tiffanyjo89]

My male voice definitely sounds male (it resonates male). I'm not trying to really talk like any one girl, I'm trying to sound like myself, but myself if I was a girl. I kinda naturally talk like a girl in someways, so I am just trying to raise my range and cut out the extreme low end resonance.

[Jana]

Here's something you can do. Download a chromatic tuner app for your phone (there are free ones which are decent). Say "aaaah" into the tuner in your male voice, to see where your voice is "rooted". Then, work your way up to at least G3 (196 Hz), ideally to A3 (220 Hz) as that is the "middle" of the average female range. Maybe this will help you visualize what I'm talking about:

http://www.transgendervoice.net/images/Pitch-Chart.gif

The source for this is Christie Block at Transgender Voice Training (http://www.transgendervoice.net/pitch.html). There is more info on her website that might help.

[tiffanyjo89]

According to one tuner I downloaded (the first one I saw, and a highly rated free one on iTunes called "Pano Tuner") I can get up to 220 easily doing the ahh...so I think I have the range to do the voice...it's a matter of learning the resonance (inflection can be easily learned...heck, I tend to run my words together when I talk anyway) to make it not sound unnatural.

[Barbara Jo]

One trick that works for some it to tighten up your throat slightly (as if you are about to gargle) and then speak. It will raise the register of your voice without sounding falsetto and it can often sound very female. With a little parctice, you can fine the sweet spot and it will become second nature. :)

[tiffanyjo89]

One trick that works for some it to tighten up your throat slightly (as if you are about to gargle) and then speak. It will raise the register of your voice without sounding falsetto and it can often sound very female. With a little parctice, you can fine the sweet spot and it will become second nature. :)

Exactly my theory.

[Beverley Sims]

A soft voice that could be ambiguous.
I tend to speak similarly in a soft voice.

[NicoleScott]

We should just talk normally - after inhaling a big gulp of helium. We may not fool anybody, but at least everyone would have a good laugh.