Voice!

[Lana Mae]

Of those who have been out, do you use your own voice or do you use a feminine voice? Just wondering what to do when I get out next time! Please respond! Thanks! Hugs Lana Mae

[StephanieM]

So far I've used my natural voice when I've been out. I suppose it because I know I'm not fooling anyone anyway.

[Micki_Finn]

Natural voice here. I speak a little softer, but generally feel that "faking0 it would sound even more unnatural than my own voice.

[Kandi Robbins]

Since I'm not fooling anyone, I use my regular male voice. In certain situations, I might feminize it a bit when using a few words. If, for example, some one holds the door open for me, I'll use a softer "thank you". I'm a bit talkative, so I just babble away in my own voice. The vocal changes I intuitively make are to my selection of words, not how I deliver them. I naturally call others sweetie or honey and would never even consider that in male mode.

[Alice Torn]

I have tried t olower my male voice, and make it sound almost whispery, or try to make my voice higher, Have not fooled many. It is pretty obvious i am a man, but from a distance, i think i have passed for a very tall woman.

[Genny B]

If you have ever had voice training whether in speech or singing you will learn terms like head voice and chest voice. Genny is almost always head voice except for one time i forgot when laughing...

Genny B

[Allisa]

Just my natural voice but use inflection and a "sweeter" tone, emphasize the "polite" terms and try to show the joy in conversing with the other person. Although I have a slightly higher tone than a lot of males and I "talk" with my hands a lot, a sort of distraction from my voice and just being myself and that air of confidence detracts from ones voice. Unless your pitch is in the basement no problem. I practice talking in my femme "voice"(presenting male) when ever conversing with females and if I can get them to "open up" more and usually get that big friendly smile it's working.

[Tracii G]

Natural voice mostly just softer with a head voice.

[Rachael Leigh]

Like many here it's hard for us to truly feminize our voices I just try and soften mine it seems to work for me.
But like others I'm not really fooling anybody

[Phoebe Reece]

Natural voice, a little softer. I try to smile while talking, as that lends confidence to my presentation.

[Richelle]

I use my own voice. I already have a slight accent from when I had a speech diffencency as a child. So trying to change is not that realistic for me. However, it does not seem to cause issues with my presentation as a women

Richelle

[Tama]

Good question Lana...was wondering this same thing..The few times past I've been out, I just didn't speak. That could get to be a problem however.

[Ceera]

My goal is to be fully accepted as female, and I can pass visually, so my voice is as much a vital part of my presentation as my breast forms or wig. My female voice is about half an octave higher than my male voice, is a different timbre and resonance, and is softer. I can do cheerleader cheers at full volume in my female voice, but I'm still working on getting my female singing voice up to the standards my male voice can do. (As a male I sang in a church choir, and was at a semi-professional level - able to win singing performance competitions.)

I spent a couple of months working on developing a passable female voice before I ever went out in public. My male voice is in the Bass to Tenor range, and would have had everyone looking behind the pretty girl, wondering where the football player or truck driver was hiding! I paid for two on-line courses in how to feminize a male voice, and studied a rather extensive you-tube tutorial series by a very successful MtF voice trans person, and it paid off. After nearly two years of practice, I can now drop into feminine voice and stay that way all day, without even thinking about it. Pretty much as soon as the wig goes on, the voice shifts on its own. It really isn't as hard as most people think it is. The process is much like singing - you're just altering certain aspects of how you speak, to get the pitch, resonance, timbre and speech patterns that work for feminine sounding speech.

Does my voice pass? Yes, I think it does. No one looks oddly at me when I speak while en-femme. People who see me in both modes on different occasions (like sales associates at my local grocery store) act as if they perceive me as two completely different people. They 'recognize' both versions of me as a frequent customer, but they don't seem to associate the guy with the girl. On a few occasions while with several female friends who I trust, and who had only known me as Ceera, because they know I am trans, they asked me what my male voice sounded like. It actually took a very conscious effort to shift back to male while still en-femme and show them, and my friends could hardly believe that deep male voice came out of me!

[Paula2]

Hi Lana,
Not sure what works or what people think?? I try to speak in a lighter higher pitch voice.. Not a pretend voice.. But softer and on the upper end of my range.. After awhile I might get comfortable and speak natural but still higher..Sometimes it might work??? Often times it doesn't.. IDK.. I really think it comes down to your confidence level on any given day!! You have to own it!!!

[Becky Blue]

Own voice, I try talk a lot softer, but then I am having such fun that inevitably I forget to talk softly. It is my giveaway, I have seen quite a few people's eyes widen when they hear me talk, which I have always taken as a great sign actually.

[Dana44]

I also try to talk softer. But on certain days my voice does sound feminine and on other days it does go deeper. So if i can keep it in the higher range then I can pass okay. When out and about when I say thank you to a male opening a door for me,.I never get a look from them.

[Rachelakld]

With family and neighbours I use my normal voice.
however, when out......
I'm either up and quieter when talking nicely to people, or down deeper if having fun with someone (normally male) who "spotted the tranny".

[jennifer0918]

Natural voice

[mbmeen12]

Natural voice.....

bedroom lol is another

[donnalee]

I've been a musician most of my life and have worked professionally for a good portion of it with some major names. A dozen years ago I was in a work situation that led me to do some extensive vocal work and was able to develop a 2 octave range, so I had the tools to work on a female voice. My male voice sounds like a bass drum in a gravel pit.
I was using a small digital recorder to check my voice. One day I played it back and heard this female voice that was so perfect it scared the hell out of me; it was like someone I'd never met, but it was me!
I just wasn't ready for that and haven't tried to do it again; so now I use my regular voice but try to speak softer.

[Danitgirl1]

Just my natural voice... Possibly slightly softer to lessen the blow, but I am who I am. They must deal...
Besides you can POSSIBLY 'fake it' for a few pre-planned interactions but as soon as you are off guard you are probably going to drop the facade PDQ!

[Jillian Faith]

When dressed I switch from my deep chest voice to my head voice which according to my wife can pass as a feminine voice. Not sure what you other girls mean by "Using my natural voice just softer". Are you also using head voice or doing something else?

[tvhelena]

My only experience around others was my makeover at The Boudoir a few years ago. It never occurred to me to change my voice - I didn't see it as something I felt I had to do. However, I was acutely aware of "feeling" very different when my makeover was complete. I saw myself in the mirror and something just changed in me - deep down in my very being. I often feel something similar when I get a chance to dress at home (or when I'm away), but it's not as profound. It's difficult to describe, but I feel like a different persona altogether. I somehow feel more relaxed, and more confident within myself. I guess it's possibly the "real" me coming to the surface, if that makes sense? I've often wondered if I spent longer as a woman (my record is 11 days straight) - I'm talking weeks, maybe months - if my personality would coalesce, and if something like my true voice would find its way to the surface.

[Kate Simmons]

Some years ago, I bought a book by Allison Liang, a noted CDer. In it she said it's not so much WHAT we sound like but HOW we say things. She advised to listen how women talk and articulate themselves. That is more convincing than tone as it conveys overall mindset and intentions. BTW I use my own voice when out en femme.

[IleneD]

Voice is kind of tricky, and it takes practice and a measure of forethought to act it out, especially if your Femme Voice markedly differs from your male voice.
Relatively new to expanding my CD and going out with it, I've found the most natural flow of speech follows my natural male baritone; even in Femme. Much easier to instinctively speak and respond without having to make mental adjustments.

I have been "caught" by it, however.
On one of my first Going Outs, I was taking a drive in the convertible (Infiniti) and was stopped at a light. A panel delivery truck pulled alongside on the left, the driver obviously checking out the big blonde in the convertible next to him. He called out to me, "Hey, do you know where 120th St is?". I didn't have the presence of mind to fake a female voice and I didn't think it would carry over the traffic sounds, so I shouted back, "Go about a mile straight ahead; 3 stop lights." I did it in my natural male baritone. The guy was checking to see if I was for real, because I "knew" that he knew where 120th was, given we was a delivery driver; and he turned at the very next intersection not making it to 120th. All good fun.