Disguising Your Voice While CrossDressed?

[Janet_Johnson_cd]

Does anyone here have a good girly voice where you sound like a real Girl/Woman?

[Yes I am]

I can do a very cartoonish high pitched voice, but I prefer to use my natural voice when I dress up, it seems to keep people more at ease, including myself.

[Toni Shelton]

People call me mam or miss on the phone most time. So I don't have to discise my voice.

[Bernice]

Many times I have been mistaken as a Ma'am on the telephone. When I was younger (in my 20'3 & 30's), this bothered me a little. It's been a few years since I have had this pleasure. My voice is apparently deepening further as I enter middle age.

I'm a baritone like almost all males. I have a falsetto, but it isn't natural enough to actually try to use en-femme.

I have read that it is possible to develop one's falsetto to the point where this is passable. I know many tenors are really baritones with developed falsetto. I guess it depends upon how important this is to you. If you will work hard on this, for a long time, you can have whatever voice you want.

Hugs,

Bernice

[Julie Avery]

I have a baritone voice which I don't try to disguise, I can't imagine succeeding at that. Maybe if I worked at it for 10 years several hours a day I could begin sounding like Lauren Bacall on steroids, or Barry Bonds in a dress....

[Delila]

I read something that said that its easier to speak softly with a sweet sounding voice as opposed to trying to make your voice higher.

[Teresa Amina]

Recently purchased a copy of "Melanie Speaks- on developing a female voice".
Very interesting, have been trying the technique but it is supposed to take a while just to find the right spot in your throat to start from. I may have stumbled into it- it's what I call the "Kitty Voice", that talking to pets tone that people often use. Anyone else trying the "Melanie" method?

[EricaCD]

I just started working on my voice with the melanie speaks method. In fact this will probably be 80% of what I blog about for the next few weeks. My first practice was Sunday, and it was not pretty :(

But I very much enjoy the effort and hopefully it will pay off eventually!

Erica

[Janet_Johnson_cd]

Thanks for your answers. :)

[VeronicaMoonlit]

Don't forget Andrea James materials available at her website. Hers is the only TS voice I've heard so far that doesn't sound "TS-like" to me."


Veronica

[carol ann]

A real problem - somewhere between tenor and baritone. Even worse, everyone I have ever known knows my voice instantly when I answer the telephone

[PennieS]

I don't have any problem with the voice. I do not have a strong male voice and when I just speak softly, I am easily thought to be mistaken for a woman on the phone. So with my longer hair styles and soft voice I usually do not have any problem passing as a woman. My only problem has been, being an atheletic person most of my life is a little to much upper body muscle and a rather large neck for a person with a smaller then normal build. Although I have been on estrogen and spirno for over 6 months now and have definetly lost some of the muscle mass and softening of the skin and features

[Kate Simmons]

Nope, Speak in my natural voice. Ericka

[Gail Stauffer]

Recently purchased a copy of "Melanie Speaks- on developing a female voice".
Very interesting, have been trying the technique but it is supposed to take a while just to find the right spot in your throat to start from. I may have stumbled into it- it's what I call the "Kitty Voice", that talking to pets tone that people often use. Anyone else trying the "Melanie" method?


I have the same cd been working at it, but the voice takes a bit to get to!!

[Penny]

I have a deep voice and pretty voice. The pretty voice is not a disguise but
rather the voice that matches the pretty me. When I go thru the fast food
drive-thru, I get called mam so the pretty me then matches what people expect.

[BeckyCath]

I have had professional speach and language therapy, and it has really helped, but it is soo hard to get it right all the time...

It's not just how you say it, pitch, tone and variance, it's also how you say it. If you listen to a woman talking, she will use language differently, as well as using a different intonation to men...

Also, it's not nice practicing on your own, I struggled doing my practice for my sessions, but when my speach therapist recorded me doing a "him" role play, and a "her" role play, the difference was vast...

So, listen to women, how they talk, the way they talk, how they say things, what words they use...

Hope this helped...

Rebecca

PS GGVanya... I'd love to talk to you on the phone, I'm sure your voice isn't that bad? Problem is, I'm in England...

[Maria-Christina]

I just speak softer and slightly slower making sure I pronounciate every word correctly. Comes out a bit posh but it's the best I can do.

Maria

[Janet_Johnson_cd]

I just speak softer and slightly slower making sure I pronounciate every word correctly. Comes out a bit posh but it's the best I can do.

Maria

Good for you girl. :)

[Deidra Cowen]

I sound like Billy Bob Thorton. :eek:

[RikkiOfLA]

Talking in a falsetto, as we all know, doesn't work. It makes the voice high, but it gives a "fake" quality to it--the speaker sounds like Mickey Mouse, not a woman. That's because the falsetto voice lacks the deep, resonant harmonics of the adult voice--both men and women's voices have them.

So one thing that helps is to sing in falsetto. Singing voices have natural harmonics built into them. And singing strengthens the voice, which strengthens the harmonics. So, while speaking in falsetto isn't much help, singing in falsetto is a great help to developing a stronger femme voice.

I learned another little trick from Billie Holiday (and lots of other women with naturally deep voices). That is to talk right below the falsetto break. That's as high as you can pitch your voice without sounding falsetto. Then I combine that with one of Melanie Philips' great ideas--using pitch rather than loudness for emphasis. That means when you want to add stress (emphasis), for example on a key word in a sentence, you raise the pitch slightly. This momentarily sends the voice into the falsetto, but not long enough for the voice to register as "fake." Instead, the voice cracks, giving a charming lilt to the voice. It's disarmingly feminine!

But it doesn't work well on the telephone. That's because the phone crops harmonics from all voices, to save bandwidth. In other words, it makes all women's voices sound like falsetto, albeit a rather low one. So that means that on the telephone, it's fair to use your best falsetto, especially if it's not too high. Aim for a middle range--an alto or high tenor rather than Mickey Mouse. And it works every time!

All of this voice stuff is a lot of work, and the voice can come off as a bit affected--"posh" as our English sister called it so delightfully. So there's a last technique to the rescue. Start out a conversation putting a lot of attention into the quality of the voice. Then as the other person relaxes, gradually fall back into your normal, male voice. Because the mind places a lot of attention on first impressions, you'll still be registering as a female, albeit one with a deep voice. Spies have known this technique for a long time. They use their fake foreign accents at the beginning of a conversation, gradually relaxing back into their regular voice, so the listener doesn't pick apart goofs in their fake foreign accent.

I knew my linguistics degree would come in handy some day!

Rikki

[Wenda]

My normal voice is fairly deep, but it originates further down in the throat. Wenda's voice originates higher up near the top of the throat. It is fairly easy for me to find, but, occasionally I can't locate it properly. I have passed on the phone, but don't push it.

[Sally24]

I've practiced off and on with the Andrea James DVD/CD set. I think I'm starting to get a little bit of the feel for where you need to place the voice to get the right tones but it's quite hard and time consuming! My voice is quite deep so I have to raise it almost 1 octave to be in the right range. If you've sung very much, either with a group or just in the car I think you have greater control of your voice. Makes it a little easier.

According to most experts, it can take months to years to perfect a really good feminine voice. Balancing that is the fact that many woman don't have a very "girly" voice either. I find that my voice is my worst feature right now, but I still talk when out en femme and it doesn't seem trigger an automatic "read" with most people. Trying to talk low or very breathy and soft can be almost as bad as a falsetto. Just try to talk at a slightly higher base note. The female rythm and sing song quality is probably going to be the hardest to attain. I can do it while practicing a phrase but am unable to do it yet in conversation.


As for GG Vanya, Andrea says her program can be used for TS,CD, and GG to improve their sound professionally. You might want to try it if this bothers you any.





http://www.deepstealth.com/store/ts_voice.htm

[livy_m_b]

I may have stumbled into it- it's what I call the "Kitty Voice", that talking to pets tone that people often use.


I love this suggestion - I know exactly where kitty voice is and it's fairly well developed (maybe from having cats all my life) so all I need to do is say "kittykitty" and I'm there. Now to work on intonation and expressiveness. :)

Olivia

[Leslie16]

Recently purchased a copy of "Melanie Speaks- on developing a female voice".
Very interesting, have been trying the technique but it is supposed to take a while just to find the right spot in your throat to start from. I may have stumbled into it- it's what I call the "Kitty Voice", that talking to pets tone that people often use. Anyone else trying the "Melanie" method?

yes, I have the tape. Everytime I hear it I'm encouraged -- she makes it sound so easy. But I never can get it just right! When I go out I'm just Ms. Mute then!

[gender_blender]

Any voice I've heard come from a transgendered individual usually sounds fake, so I don't try. I pass rather well without it.



Charlie

[Kate Simmons]

This will be a hoot when Ericka starts crossdressing as Eric. Will have to learn to speak(and sing) as a guy (again!) Ericka

[Clare]

I've been told that I have a soft voice for a man, but it is by no means femininie sounding.

If I was to speak whilst crossdressed, i'd probably speak quietly, but in my normal voice if that makes sense? To me, trying a false female voice would be too conspicuous to be plausable.

[Ambercd12]

feminine voice ever since i was a teen.

[HaleyPink2000]

Nope! I don't even try. I have a voice that is in between Female and Male. So I'm lucky. It's either Ma'am or sir on the phone. My problem is word choices to use while speaking.