Voice training - how have you done so?

[Anne2345]

I have no desire to sound like a really bad rip-off of Minnie Mouse. But unfortunately, my "dude voice" doesn't even remotely come close to being desirable, either. It just doesn't cut it, and needs serious work.

To those that have successfully adapted your voice, how did you do so? Other than practice, practice, practice, did you use any specific techniques, methods, training, or learning tools?

[KayleeTaylor]

CandiFLA on YouTube has some great voice training videos, I have been having success with her vids. Kathe Perez on Facebook does voice training webinars, I haven't tried her yet. There is a Facebook group called "Super awesome voice training" that has a lot of resources on it as well.

[Rianna Humble]

I was referred to a voice therapist at my Gender Clinic, then moved on to Group Practice after a number of sessions.

Unfortunately, even with that, there is no substitute for practice, practice, practice and then when you've done that, practice some more.

[Ariamythe]

I am just training mine now, but I've been using the first few EVA Voice Apps (http://exceptionalvoiceapp.com/) and I like them. They're from Kathe Perez.

[Foxglove]

I suppose I'm one of the lucky ones. My natural voice isn't terribly low--although extremely unpleasant, very whiny and nasal. I found that by pitching it a bit higher, the whine and nasal quality largely disappear. And although it would be a rather low female voice, I get by. I've never seen any untoward reaction to my voice.

So it was a question of practice. I've never done any training with a voice coach. I bought a voice recorder and have practiced reading short passages and playing them back to make sure I'm keeping my voice where I want it to be. Within a short time, it became habit to me speaking in a somewhat higher pitch than normal. Eventually it becomes automatic. You don't give yourself away by speaking in your normal tones.

I think (I think) I have another natural advantage. Having grown up in the States, I of course have an American accent. Here in Ireland, that's what people will immediately pick up on--so perhaps they don't pay so much attention to the actual pitch of my voice or my intonation. I'm not sure of this. It may be no more than speculation. In any case, as far as I can tell from people's (lack of) reaction, I think my voice is OK.

[Angela Campbell]

I used Kathe Perez' 30 day crash course. Good program well worth the money, and after that......you know, just practice, and talk, talk, talk,

[Jamie M]

entirely self taught with the help of youtube videos from deep stealth productions http://m.youtube.com/results?q=deep%20stealth&sm=1 . takes ALOT of practise but at my last appointment at CHX their verdict was that i wouldn't benefit from voice therapy and that my own development was satisfactory, high praise indeed even if i'm still self conscious of it sometimes

[stefan37]

There are lots of programs available. The secret is to learn how to use your voice so it resonates in your head and nut your chest. That is difficult enough and requires, Wait for it, Practice, practice practice.

I am finding the hardest is to consistently use it all the time. You may find after you learn it to use it around family, and friend. Getting over that feeling of self conscious is a barrier that needs to be hurdled.

[LeaP]

I think (I think) I have another natural advantage. Having grown up in the States, I of course have an American accent. Here in Ireland, that's what people will immediately pick up on--so perhaps they don't pay so much attention to the actual pitch of my voice or my intonation.

That's it - flee the country! Good thing Americans are so beloved internationally!

[tori-e]

I went for voice training through my local support group. Then had voice surgery. Then went through Andrea James' voice course. And Melanie Anne Phillips voice course. I still sound like a guy. :)

Seriously though. Learning how to raise the pitch to a level of a natural woman without going into falsetto is key. Andrea James offers a program called Spectrograph which is quite helpful if you understand it. Getting your pitch up to about 175 Hz is one goal. (I started at 95 Hz and am now about 150 Hz which is pretty much midrange between male and female) But if you do that in falsetto you lose the harmonics and you will sound like Mini Mouse. Beyond pitch, speech patterns and introducing a level of breathyness is all part of the process. Also, older women's voices are deeper, so if you're older like me you have a bit more latitude.

Find women that you can use as role models and try to model their voices. Use voice recorder of some type so you can practice and hear what you sound like. Women often enunciate better and use less slang and fowl language. So cleaning up your speech will help too.

Oh and practice! :)

Victoria

[Aprilrain]

I sang along to female artist in the car, It seemed to help. Other than that I honestly don't know what I did, whatever it was it seems to have worked. You could always try surgery, here is a link http://voicedoctor.net/surgery/audio-examples