Tips on how to crack less?

[Liminal Stranger]

My voice has been cracking pretty badly lately, if it's like this now I don't even know how bad it'll be when I get on T. It hasn't even dropped that much in a long time, I only got a little deeper but not significantly lower. As of now it seems to pass well for a young guy, maybe if I work up the balls to (pun intended) I'll upload a clip of me speaking for reference.

Anyway, what do you guys do for voice cracks? When they first started back almost two years ago it was infrequent and no one ever noticed, now it happens quite often. They're really funny but I'd like to converse with people without being cut off by the inevitable "LOLOLOL VOICE CRACK" that follows :c

At least the friends I talk to the most are pretty good about it, they laugh but don't dwell on it for ages. It does really help with being stealth but still.

[BrotherBen]

Is it common to crack pre-t? I was taking something I shouldn't have been for a while (precursors), and after a late night trying to make myself heard over the music at a club, my voice got  hoarse, which isn't unheard of... but then it never recovered. I've since stopped taking that stuff for a couple weeks now, but my voice is still very hoarse and it's really starting to bug me. I haven't been going out of my way to talk lower or anything. I just wish I knew what was going on or how to fix it.

[Liminal Stranger]

Is it common to crack pre-t? I was taking something I shouldn't have been for a while (precursors), and after a late night trying to make myself heard over the music at a club, my voice got  hoarse, which isn't unheard of... but then it never recovered. I've since stopped taking that stuff for a couple weeks now, but my voice is still very hoarse and it's really starting to bug me. I haven't been going out of my way to talk lower or anything. I just wish I knew what was going on or how to fix it.

Not from what I know of, no  Though from what it sounds like, you may have done a bit of damage to your vocal cords. That's all soft tissue in there, and any sort of injury if not given time to heal does lead to a thickening of the tissue, plus any strain itself would be likely to cause lingering hoarseness. I'd suggest going on a bit of "vocal rest"- give yourself time to get some R&R in, and drink tea with honey in it to help recovery.

I think I'll upload a clip as soon as I can get a decent recording of my voice, which should be as soon as I stop procrastinating XD

[BeefxCake]

my voice cracks and im not on T. I have a pretty low voice for a girl as it is and i know sometimes in the middle of talking my voice will crack when i talk in a  female pattern speech. more pitch variation. though, it's usually just random, my friends like to point it out

( I have pcos so my T levels are higher than a normal girl. could have something to do with it.) but if i talk a little more mono tone or (volume wise) either on the louder side or the quiet side cuz in between sets it off too. 

so yeah, less pitch variation when speaking can help. keep hydrated too, if im thirsty i know i crack more.

[harlee]

I'm so jealous haha! I've been on T for 6 months now and I think my voice has hardly changed at all It was deep to begin with, but I want it to be much deeper. For some reason I really want to have a huge voice crack and have everyone laugh at me even tho it would be super embarrassing. In one of my jobs I have to call out orders in a loud voice, so I'm just waiting for it

[Liminal Stranger]

Yeah, mine isn't deep at all but seems to go with what I look like. And trust me, it might be fun at first but after a while you're going to sit in the corner with a sad face on. This is why I don't go on Xbox Live anymore XDD

Made a short recording of my voice just now. I don't hear any cracks in it, but oh well. I'll probably keep trying to record audio until I can get one to put up for reference.

https://soundcloud.com/mr-liminal/my-voice/s-htRtr

[MrJ]

My voice used to crack while I was singing when I was in my teens and pre-t pre-transition. It never cracked while speaking, but the cracks while singing seemed totally random. I lived in fear of it, because the last thing you want when you're singing is to go for the big note and crack. In my early 20's it settled down.

Then when I started T, I didn't get any voice cracks, initially. My voice just dropped, fast, with no cracking. But I do get a less intense version of the teenager on the Simpsons with the constantly cracking voice if I try and speak higher up, where my range would go into falsetto. I don't have a very strong falsetto so it sounds like my voice is breaking up there. I was in a rehearsal for a play a few days ago and my speaking voice naturally went up there and just for that one word it sounded like my voice was breaking.

Your voice clip does sound like a young guy to me, and if it matches how you currently look, sounds like it's working. I wish I had some good advice about the cracking, but when I was pre-T and it was cracking while singing it was always totally random. MAYBE it happened more when I pushed my voice too much and not enough from the diaphragm.

[Soren]

Yeah, your voice sounds like a young guy's... And you talk really fast. Seriously. Were you in a hurry or something?

[Liminal Stranger]

My voice used to crack while I was singing when I was in my teens and pre-t pre-transition. It never cracked while speaking, but the cracks while singing seemed totally random. I lived in fear of it, because the last thing you want when you're singing is to go for the big note and crack.

You mean like this? 

Yeah, your voice sounds like a young guy's... And you talk really fast. Seriously. Were you in a hurry or something?

It's the area I'm from, actually. We all talk in a rapid-fire manner up here, I was actually trying to slow down for that.

Thanks for the feedback so far, I've had pretty brutal cracks a couple of times out of nowhere while singing and speaking as well. Maybe I'll only have to go through it until I get on T and allow it to drop for real. Crossing my fingers here.

Also did try speaking with less pitch change, it helped a tiny bit but my mother screamed at me for "talking like a robot"  I was barely even decreasing the fluctuations, sheesh.

[MrJ]

You mean like this? 

bahahahaha... no, but as a guy I've definitely done that in a lesson or just rehearsing by myself. I'd probably never go out without a bag on my head if I ended up doing it on youtube!

And now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure my voice used to crack while speaking pre-T too - moreso as a teenager, less in my 20's, but still occasionally. Now it only cracks if I try and go too high.

[Jack_M]

Liminal Stranger, whether you're consciously aware or not, you're definitely straining to lower your voice in that clip.  I can hear it in the background of your voice, there's a higher voice being pushed away and then towards the end it starts to appear, that's more your natural voice range.  Because you're trying to make it lower, either consciously or unconsciously that'll be what's causing the cracking because your vocal chords are kinda rebelling against the abuse.

I think this is why you're cracking as it's not really typical to crack.  Do you ever get sore or tight throats?  That might cause that too, or at least eventually.  Right now maybe the cracking is just a kinda warning.

I recognise it because I do impressions and I know when I deliberately lower my voice, I record it and then keep working to lose that little background voice for when I do it.  But it's not something I can sustain for too long before that part at least comes back.  There's that little tell tale sound.  It's really hard to explain but at 12 seconds there's a good example of it right before you say crack. 

I'd suggest that if you want to work on keeping the depth you have now to look for some kind of vocal coach to help.  There's ones out there that teach metal singers how to scream without it hurting, so sustaining that depth without straining may well be possible.

[Liminal Stranger]

Unfortunately, like all other things, vocal coaching costs money. I don't have any of that :c
I'll take a listen but I'm not sure if that's something I do all the time or just me straining because of congestion. I know my cords have suffered some pretty bad abuse from a type of reflux that sends my larynx into a spasm and twists them as it pleases, luckily it hardly ever gets that way now but it used to be horrible and keep me from being able to breathe for periods of time. Some of that can be heard on certain bad days as a bit of a buzz in the back of my throat.

If it is me lowering it subconsciously, I don't think that's caused the cracks either, considering I got them back when I had a really high voice, too. So I dunno.

Edit: Took another listen to the clip, that's actually a bit of the sound I'm talking about. Started back when I was around 11, if I remember right. What comes after that sounds like straining to me as well but that tends to follow it. Going to try getting a clip on a better day for them to see if what you heard persists, though.

Double edit: Tried actively making my voice higher. Makes my cords feel raw to do that like when I used to push them to sing high soprano notes (they had me all over the place when I used to do choir), but maybe that makes the other noise you heard go away. I can still hear the buzzing, but maybe that's different.

https://soundcloud.com/mr-liminal/voice-again/s-KGlHs

[Liminal Stranger]

Sorry for the bump. Tried resting my voice and all, now I'm in a skype call and my voice cracked horribly three times in the span of 40 minutes. As in those kinds of cracks that actually hurt your ears. At some point I'm going to retry the whole voice clip thing but I at this point I want to resign myself to never speaking again XDD

[Soren]

Maybe you could ask around in the voice therapy forum? Some of the ladies might have tips.

[Liminal Stranger]

Maybe you could ask around in the voice therapy forum? Some of the ladies might have tips.

That's actually a good idea, thanks man! Made a post over there.