The "Does my voice pass?" thread

[kelseygal]

I think your voice sounds feminine and passable, and pretty good actually!

Do you have to make effort for this voice or just natural? If you can do this voice on demand without thinking then you do not need VFS.

Thanks, you really think so? This was after about a 20 minute practice session, so it is at its best - I did feel very relaxed reading the passage. I can hit my natural pitch easily from the start, B3, but the voice as a whole is something I need to think about constantly, I'm hoping this will fade with time. Right now I live male 90% (well, outwardly  ) so I get very little chance to practice. It just feels awkward or uncomfortable for me to unnaturally raise my pitch and resonance around others. Especially those that have known me as male.

I'll give time to internalize the voice and get used to hearing it myself before opting for VFS. Would much rather spend that allotted money on a trachea shave (not enough in the budget for both).

K

[Lyndsey]

Thanks, you really think so? This was after about a 20 minute practice session, so it is at its best - I did feel very relaxed reading the passage. I can hit my natural pitch easily from the start, B3, but the voice as a whole is something I need to think about constantly, I'm hoping this will fade with time. Right now I live male 90% (well, outwardly  ) so I get very little chance to practice. It just feels awkward or uncomfortable for me to unnaturally raise my pitch and resonance around others. Especially those that have known me as male.

I'll give time to internalize the voice and get used to hearing it myself before opting for VFS. Would much rather spend that allotted money on a trachea shave (not enough in the budget for both).

K

Hi kelsey

You voice sounds Great!!

Hug's Lyndsey

[AbbyKat]

Alright!  First time on this thread and first time using Vocaroo (which is pretty awesome, by the way).  Sooo... here's me rambling because I wanted to record a somewhat natural conversational voice instead of the Rainbow Passage (which I also do all the time).  Anyway, since I can't trust myself to be objective, I leave it to you:

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0Mj2ZNsi6EB

[Dena]

I have been so busy I haven't been checking this thread. The pitch is high enough but here are three areas that could use a little work. Your speech pattern is a bit flat and you could use a little more inflection in your voice. The second is your deliver rate could be a bit faster. The fix for this to to think of what you will say before you start speaking so it's like reading from your mind instead of thinking on the fly. The third issue is vocal fry. The buzz in your voice when you drop low can be use in small amounts but it shouldn't be a regular feature of your voice.

Overall, the voice isn't bad and may be passable but it isn't interesting. What I suggest will make it a voice people want to listen to .

[AbbyKat]

I have been so busy I haven't been checking this thread. The pitch is high enough but here are three areas that could use a little work. Your speech pattern is a bit flat and you could use a little more inflection in your voice. The second is your deliver rate could be a bit faster. The fix for this to to think of what you will say before you start speaking so it's like reading from your mind instead of thinking on the fly. The third issue is vocal fry. The buzz in your voice when you drop low can be use in small amounts but it shouldn't be a regular feature of your voice.

Overall, the voice isn't bad and may be passable but it isn't interesting. What I suggest will make it a voice people want to listen to .

I don't know if that was directed at me or not but, either way, it is good advice.  Thank you.

[Dena]

I don't know if that was directed at me or not but, either way, it is good advice.  Thank you.

Yes it was directed at you, and you are welcome.

[VioletKnight]

I'm back.

Let me know which sounds better

https://soundcloud.com/ultravioletknight/rainbow1

https://soundcloud.com/ultravioletknight/sunlight2

[Bobbie]

I feel like I have no idea how my voice sounds, please let me know what you think.
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0Pm7ZOjxosC

[kelseygal]

I'm back.

Let me know which sounds better

https://soundcloud.com/ultravioletknight/rainbow1

https://soundcloud.com/ultravioletknight/sunlight2

Definitely the second link, I prefer it because your cadence feels much more natural! Pitch and tone sound good to me! I would have gendered you female in both clips though.

J

[kelseygal]

I feel like I have no idea how my voice sounds, please let me know what you think.
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0Pm7ZOjxosC

Your voice is on the lower end, but it still sounds distinctly feminine. I would have gendered you female as well.

[kelseygal]

Ok, so I've learned and practiced a lot over the past month, and would like your opinion/feedback. It's so hard to tell when it is your own voice... to me, I still hear a lot of the same ol' "me" sound, if that makes sense. Overall I've been happy with the Kathe Perez perfect voice training, and have practiced daily for just over a month now, but had a rude awakening last night when I tried to use my voice with real people for the first time - apparently speaking off the cuff is MUCH different than speaking along with an instructor or reading books/poems out loud.

Here is a little free speech (sorry, it is a little long, I totally rambled and repeated myself, not the best public speaker FYI):
http://vocaroo.com/i/s1IiFnoZUvAM

PRAAT showed this recording as a total average of 193hz. It's hard to see the total range because it is picking up phantom stuff that is much lower or higher, but it looks to be between about 150 and 270

This is my boy voice, pretty big difference, I think:
http://vocaroo.com/i/s1QrzfTKmENk

One interesting thing I noted about this clip, is that my boy speech has actually gotten higher! the clip I sent to Yeson a few months back was 123hz as I recall, and this was a little over 140 hz.

[jinruinooto]

This is my newest test. A friend of mine said my older voice sounded fake and strained and so I should try it closer to my natural pitch. I pull up the pitch a little bit at the end, but she thinks it sounds good, I still think I sound like a guy.

https://soundcloud.com/gabrielle-annalise-huffstutler/round-2

[Dena]

This sample is a mixed lot and I am having a little trouble picking out the problem with were it goes wrong. First the good news. Most of the sample sound feminine and you would not have problems using the voice. The problem seems to be there are spots where either the pitch drops or you fall into a flat male speech pattern. When you do that, my brains switches to male and then back to female when you leave that  zone. I suggest you run a Praat check and see how low you are dropping. If you are in the feminine range, then it's the speech pattern I am hearing.

Speech patterns can be controlled by not talking on the fly. Figure out what you are going to say before you start to talk and deliver the entire thought. The Aaaahhhhs and Eeeerrrrrrs are real killers so they should be avoided as much as possible.

I think you are much closer than you think to a feminine voice.

[Dena]

Ok, so I've learned and practiced a lot over the past month, and would like your opinion/feedback. It's so hard to tell when it is your own voice... to me, I still hear a lot of the same ol' "me" sound, if that makes sense. Overall I've been happy with the Kathe Perez perfect voice training, and have practiced daily for just over a month now, but had a rude awakening last night when I tried to use my voice with real people for the first time - apparently speaking off the cuff is MUCH different than speaking along with an instructor or reading books/poems out loud.

Here is a little free speech (sorry, it is a little long, I totally rambled and repeated myself, not the best public speaker FYI):
http://vocaroo.com/i/s1IiFnoZUvAM

PRAAT showed this recording as a total average of 193hz. It's hard to see the total range because it is picking up phantom stuff that is much lower or higher, but it looks to be between about 150 and 270

This is my boy voice, pretty big difference, I think:
http://vocaroo.com/i/s1QrzfTKmENk

One interesting thing I noted about this clip, is that my boy speech has actually gotten higher! the clip I sent to Yeson a few months back was 123hz as I recall, and this was a little over 140 hz.

The pitch and inflection are both good and the voice sounds feminine but there is one place that could use improvement. When you speak, the syllable are not distinctive and kind of run into one. It something that I suspect people normally wouldn't pick up on and most likely it wouldn't out you but if you can correct that, I think your voice would really shine.

[Jewelxo]

Does my voice pass and what can I do to make it sound more feminine/better? Thank you!

https://soundcloud.com/luxmid_xo/rainbowpassage-04082016

[Dena]

Does my voice pass and what can I do to make it sound more feminine/better? Thank you!

https://soundcloud.com/luxmid_xo/rainbowpassage-04082016

The voice is in the proper pitch range and mostly sound feminine. The one place where it could use work is it sounds tired and flat. A little more excitement or inflection would greatly improve the voice and make it interesting to listen to. The voice would pass in public but somebody with a trained ear would detect something off without knowing exactly what it is but inflection will correct that.

[Jewelxo]

The voice is in the proper pitch range and mostly sound feminine. The one place where it could use work is it sounds tired and flat. A little more excitement or inflection would greatly improve the voice and make it interesting to listen to. The voice would pass in public but somebody with a trained ear would detect something off without knowing exactly what it is but inflection will correct that.

Thank you Dena!  I will work on my inflection and do another voice recording when I've improved.

I am 9 month post-op with Dr. Haben now (Had surgery July 8, 2015). The surgery helped increase my pitch but I still feel that voice training is a must after vocal surgery. Without training my voice drops down into something more androgynous sounding

[Dena]

Pitch is not as important in gendering a voice as inflection is. A woman can have a pretty low voice but with the proper speech pattern, it will be gendered feminine. I have heard voices at or above your pitch that sounded male because of the speech pattern. They worked on their voice a little and the gender switched from masculine to feminine.

Some people have naturally expressive voices and can get away without therapy but you are correct in saying that therapy is an important part of voice surgery.

[KayXo]

I believe resonance rather than voice inflection or pitch is key to sounding female. I don't have female speech patterns and pass 100% of the time.

[RachelsMantra]

Hey y'all so here's a video of my voice. I know my voice doesn't pass at all yet but I was curious to hear some feedback and possibly some tips for improvement. Thanks!



For some reason the embedding videos doesn't seem to work. I can't get the video to show up for me and I can't seem to post a link to the url no matter what I do.