What do you think an androgynic voice is like?

[Kendall]

Getting ready for my next post, I first, like most of the prior posts, try to figure out what everyone is thinking of, expecting, suggesting, interested in, or curious about. This one I had been very hesistant about doing, since I myself am very new to much of it, unlike some of the prior posts that I have had a few years experience. I think I have enough basics at least to put research and present some basic data, then I will change it later if we find out it errors or a different direction entirely.

Here is some of the questions I ask myself.
What does a feminine voice sound like?
What does a masculine voice sound like?
What can or does a androgyne voice sound like, or is it just an ability to change  into the other two styles, borrow from the two styles, or integrate both into its own unique style?
What are techniques or steps / tips one can try to develop the different voice sounds?
What are the characteristics, goals, and attributes of the different communication styles?
What kind of vocabulary and grammar does each style use?

I might not be able to answer all of these questions completely or absolute, but I am sure I can find sufficient to at least present a first edition.

What else can I add or are you interested in?

[Casey]

I'm not sure if this is covered by your questions or not, but how about how does mens and womens voices/speech patterns/etc. change in different circumstances? Like talking to a superior vs. a peer vs. a subordinate.

[Melissa]

I can answer this being that I was androgynous for a breif period before going fulltime.  I pretty much just talked in my male voice (same pitch, but a head voice), but softened it and made it sound more "pleasant".  It seemed that some people saw me as male using it and some as female.  I'm not sure how clear that is, but it worked.

[Attis]

Oddly, I think I've mastered an androgynous sounding voice. Now I said sounding, as for speech patterns that can be highly debated, but for over all range and pitch, I seem to have hit dead on. What I found is that it tends to be more or less "child like" instead of being more 'mature' in its sound, although it doesn't sound like a child's voice, just not old or gendered any particular way. I think I'll put up some recordings of it when I get the time [and when I get over this stupid cold!].

-- Brede

[sparkles]

i think that both melissa and brede are right about what a andro voice is like to me i think it should be either male or female no need to try and put on a voice but it should be somewhat softened and plesent or child like in nature in some way. i feel that the patterns of speech is what is important not the pitch or timber.

[Kendall]

Those born female, do any of you find your voice becoming more androgynous in certain ways?

Maybe a deeper, more agressive tone.

[Doc]

Hrm. Probably an androgynous voice sounds like mine. Right in the middle of the high/low scale, I mostly keep it on the lower edge of the middle but it will randomly wander all over the place at times. People calling me on the phone usually suppose I am female, people who'd heard me on the radio never questioned my announced maleness. I can speak in half a dozen amusing affected 'voices,' which are all convincingly male or convincingly female if you can't see me.

[katia]

 high pitched [but] with a masculine resonance.

[zombiesarepeaceful]

I agree that an androgynous voice sounds kid like. This little (boy, as they referred to him as) androgynous kid came in to work, and he looked/sounded like he could be either boy or girl.

I think an androgynous voice could also be deep, but without the rough sound of a bio male's voice, like mine. I sound like a 14 year old boy. >.< But I pass as male, probably because I have light facial hair and I'm trying to pass as male.

Matt

[Tay]

My voice is very girly, I think. 

You can judge for yourself, though.

in a desperate attempt to prove that I really couldn't sing.  I speak a bit at the beginning.

[Wendy]

KK,

MTFs can take voice training classes.  Do androgynes have an equivalent voice training class?

Does an androgyne voice sound similar for a genetic male compared to a genetic female?

Interesting topic.

W

[Intertween]

I'm female-born and my voice is similar to Jane Fonda's, just to give a known reference. This is apparently a feminine-enough voice to change perceptions. I'm called Sir until 1) they notice I have breasts or 2) I talk.

My voice hasn't changed, per se. But I less often fall into the "more societally correct" higher register "feminine" voice.

-- Sue

[Pica Pica]

Tay, your voice is very girly - the pitch changes of japanese may have increased this, as a female varies in pitch more than a male one.

However...

Isn't the very point of feeling that you are an androgyn a way of escaping the feeling of 'what is an x voice'?

Doesn't a person choose to reveal themself as an adrogyn because they are too tired trying to be male or female because the androgyn is neither/a bit of both/both in one body. Isn't androgny the true 'other' bin of gender? Isn't it a little destructive to describe the ideal androgynous voice and appearance, or am I as unsucessful an androgyne as I am a male or female?

[RebeccaFog]

     By coincidence, after I saw this thread subject, I think I heard 'the voice'. I was driving in my car and a song came on the radio. It had a voice over in the beginning that was taken from the movie 'Cool Hand Luke'. At first, I thought it was the voice of an elderly woman, but then I realized that it was the speech from the movie where the warden (boss) was saying, "What we have here, is, a failure to communicate." I realized it was that man from the movie. It totally nailed what I would expect an androgynous voice to sound like. While he was talking, I could picture that voice coming from a man or a woman.
     I don't know if the recording was messed with or not. But maybe we can find a wav file, or whatever it is that you kids use for audio now, and check it out.

    Another voice that comes close is my girlfriend. She has an unusual tone and timbre that could be taken as hard or harsh, but it has an undertone of softness to it (if that is possible). She thinks her voice sounds male over the phone, but since I know who the voice belongs to, I never noticed that until her grown son called the house once and I thought he was her. Their voices are the same over the phone.
    I won't post her voice because she'd rip my head off if she ever found out. Love keeps me in line, along with fear.

[Tay]

Tay, your voice is very girly - the pitch changes of japanese may have increased this, as a female varies in pitch more than a male one.

I've always sounded like that.  My voice rises and falls and rises and falls and rises and falls.  I can't help it. 

[Keira]

Since the voice I'm using now (as a women) is exactly the same I used before (as a man) and it passed before (obviously :-) and it passes now, I suppose it could be called androgynic; or maybe it was always girly :-).

I'll try to post a link to it if I can find a place to put up a sound file.
Any suggestion?

[RebeccaFog]

Since the voice I'm using now (as a women) is exactly the same I used before (as a man) and it passed before (obviously :-) and it passes now, I suppose it could be called androgynic; or maybe it was always girly :-).

I'll try to post a link to it if I can find a place to put up a sound file.
Any suggestion?

Can you read something cool for your sample?
Like maybe read some Theodore Roethke poems, or some crazy stuff from Vachel Lindsay?
or some marianne moore?
or some Edna St. Vincent Millay?

Please please?
I like to hear poetry and it will give you material.

[Pica Pica]

Jabberwocky....Always a fun thing to declaim.

[Keira]

I think to do an androgynic voice, the best thing is to change the resonnance of your normal voice to a more middle position between male and female if your male or female. Lower your resonnance if your female (not sure how that's done since I always hear it being done the other way around) and slightly lower your pitch. If your male, up your pitch slightly and give yourself a female resonnance (this can be done through practice, mtf do it all the time).

I think that a ftm who doesn't attempt to change his voice beyond what testosterone does to his vocal cords, will have a androgynous tone in the higher end of their range.

As for posting my own voice, if anyone can suggest a place where I can post audio clips, I would put one up. Its easy to find a place to post photos, music for a group, video clips, but just random sound clips, where?

[RebeccaFog]

Hi,

   I was on another thread, when I remembered that one of my great heroes is Leslie Feinberg. She has podcasts on her site www.transgenderwarrior.org

   People can make their own call as to the androgyne of the voice. I find with some of these voices I'm hearing (beyond those which are inside my head) that you get a more clear sense of the androgyne sound (if there is one).

   This might be what has thrown some of off when it comes to Tay's video. It might be better to wait a little while, then go back and only listen to, and do not watch, it.