Yeson voice feminization surgery 2.0

[Dena]

I went with Dr Haben and to benefit from his surgery, I have to continue to use my trained voice. In addition, at almost three months I still have some swelling that isn't allowing full use of the voice. The surgery at best will only give you about a 80 Hz change and if you had a voice as low as mine, about 90 Hz, without the trained voice I still sound male. This is one reason why therapy is important if you don't know how to use a trained voice.

[Dana88]

So, I recorded a lil' singing  . My singing voice is still not really 'back.' That said it's DEFINITELY higher. But it still feels/sounds a bit strained and I had to use a liiiiiittttle more autotune than I normally would haha. Also vibrato for me right now is very inconsistent and uneven. Generally for not even three months postop, I'm pretty happy. I think I sound a bit more like a high tenor than a girl, BUT knowing that the notes are coming back and my singing voice is getting stronger and into a female range, I know I can train the tone quality to sound more feminine as I go along and as I recover more and more.

This song is actually one I wrote for a show of mine called MADAME. It takes place in New Orleans in 1896 and the song is song by a prostitute haha.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1yHA2nvJrvs

[Dena]

Here I a still trying to get over the swelling so I can talk for an extended period of time and you turn something like that out. I am impressed. This is the second time you have mentioned your work that I saw and I guess I need to see if it will show anywhere in Arizona and if so, make an effort to see it.

[Dana88]

Here I a still trying to get over the swelling so I can talk for an extended period of time and you turn something like that out. I am impressed. This is the second time you have mentioned your work that I saw and I guess I need to see if it will show anywhere in Arizona and if so, make an effort to see it.

Thank you! I hope some day!

If you're interested, here's a video of a song from the same show with a REAL singer singing it haha:




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[Mariah]

Dana, beautiful singing job, I'm thoroughly impressed too. I normally don't due a ton of listening in the voice and surgery forum, but yours was worth listening too. Hugs
Mariah

[Dana88]

Dana, beautiful singing job, I'm thoroughly impressed too. I normally don't due a ton of listening in the voice and surgery forum, but yours was worth listening too. Hugs
Mariah

Thanks Mariah!


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[iKate]

Sounds good! My singing voice isn't fully "back" yet but I've tried singing a few songs. I'm no better at singing than I was before though, just higher pitched. :p

[iKate]

Yesterday I was at a conference running a table/booth and no one who didn't know said a thing to me about Trans anything. I did mention it to a few people but I didn't go around telling every single person. It was kind of nice not to have to deal with his voice. However questions about "my husband*" surfaced and were a bit awkward. So I kind of told them that I'm Trans they were like, NO WAY.

Bonus: I was at the bar afterwards in Applebee's and we were really having a good time and I was able to laugh as scandalously as I wanted. Nobody said a thing and people laughed along with my jokes. Lol. Bartender didn't clock me at all. That's always good.


*some of these people know me on FB but they think my old self still exists and I'm his wife. I tend to set the record straight in this case as these are not really friends but people who look up to and respect me for my advocacy work.

[Dena]

If the husband wife thing pops up you can always use SO instead. In older days better half would have been used. Let people think what they want and you aren't lying.

[iKate]

 I'm not opposed to explaining actually. I use spouse more often than not though.

[kwala]

So, I recorded a lil' singing  . My singing voice is still not really 'back.' That said it's DEFINITELY higher. But it still feels/sounds a bit strained and I had to use a liiiiiittttle more autotune than I normally would haha. Also vibrato for me right now is very inconsistent and uneven. Generally for not even three months postop, I'm pretty happy. I think I sound a bit more like a high tenor than a girl, BUT knowing that the notes are coming back and my singing voice is getting stronger and into a female range, I know I can train the tone quality to sound more feminine as I go along and as I recover more and more.

This song is actually one I wrote for a show of mine called MADAME. It takes place in New Orleans in 1896 and the song is song by a prostitute haha.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1yHA2nvJrvs

Dana, first of all love the composition, and second of all you sound fantastic.  I see what you mean about sounding slightly tenorish, but girl you're already belting out high A's and C's in chest voice in your first attempt at singing? Very impressive results!

[Dana88]

Dana, first of all love the composition, and second of all you sound fantastic.  I see what you mean about sounding slightly tenorish, but girl you're already belting out high A's and C's in chest voice in your first attempt at singing? Very impressive results!

Thanks! And yeah, I'm CERTAINLY not unhappy at only 3 monthsish postop. As I said, my singing *range* is clearly entering into alto/belter land, and I know I can train the "tenor" out and "alto" in in terms of tone quality as long as the range is there, which right now it seems like it's getting there and I know it'll only increase as time goes on.


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[anjaq]

I am very impressed with the singing! Amazing. It really seems that singers can do a lot with the voice surgery. Especially with Dr Kims method. I still wonder about that vocal break though - you are going very high in the song and you seem to still be in a full modal ("chest") voice - is your voice break naturally high, did it change with surgery or is it just because you are a good singer that it does not appear to be an issue?

I think I will try singing lessons when I am past the 12 months stage. At least some simple things, I want to be able to sing and actually hit the notes right.

[anjaq]

Currently I am back to my pre OP voice thanks to a stupid cold. Pretty much exactly 145 Hz in Praat , which was my old pre op relaxed trained voice, which is what I do now as well ("trained"=controlling resonance). This sucks, but it is clearly audible that I have a bad cold, so I think it will not change the "passing". If I had a cold like that pre OP, I would be at 90-100 Hz or something...

[iKate]

Currently I am back to my pre OP voice thanks to a stupid cold. Pretty much exactly 145 Hz in Praat , which was my old pre op relaxed trained voice, which is what I do now as well ("trained"=controlling resonance). This sucks, but it is clearly audible that I have a bad cold, so I think it will not change the "passing". If I had a cold like that pre OP, I would be at 90-100 Hz or something...

I find that while my pitch dips if I have phlegm, the timbre is different so I end up being read as female anyway.

[Dana88]

I am very impressed with the singing! Amazing. It really seems that singers can do a lot with the voice surgery. Especially with Dr Kims method. I still wonder about that vocal break though - you are going very high in the song and you seem to still be in a full modal ("chest") voice - is your voice break naturally high, did it change with surgery or is it just because you are a good singer that it does not appear to be an issue?

I think I will try singing lessons when I am past the 12 months stage. At least some simple things, I want to be able to sing and actually hit the notes right.

My break has absolutely shifted up, there's no need for me to flip into a head register till above a C5. Pre-op my break was around an D4/E4 though I could still belt in complete chest voice to about an Ab4 without needing to flip to a head register. Now it seems my break is about an A4, and as of this moment I can belt to a C5 in complete chest voice. I'm hoping to get even more range on the pure chest register, and then also develop a more feminine mix voice.

And yeah, it's one of the many reasons I ended up choosing Dr. Kim over Dr. Thomas or Dr. Haben. Dr. Kim really does seem to have the most consistent success with singing outcome, at least from all the people I was talking to before settling on him. And since I am in the music field, obviously my singing voice was important to me.

Here's a vid of me singing at the piano pre transition to give you a sense of what I used to sound like singing wise:




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[iKate]

Yeah, I can't really find when I shift from chest to head voice. As I mentioned though, I seem to be mostly head-ish kind of voice. I barely feel any chest vibration. It doesn't sound falsetto like me trying a high voice before though.

[kwala]

My break has absolutely shifted up, there's no need for me to flip into a head register till above a C5. Pre-op my break was around an D4/E4 though I could still belt in complete chest voice to about an Ab4 without needing to flip to a head register. Now it seems my break is about an A4, and as of this moment I can belt to a C5 in complete chest voice. I'm hoping to get even more range on the pure chest register, and then also develop a more feminine mix voice.

And yeah, it's one of the many reasons I ended up choosing Dr. Kim over Dr. Thomas or Dr. Haben. Dr. Kim really does seem to have the most consistent success with singing outcome, at least from all the people I was talking to before settling on him. And since I am in the music field, obviously my singing voice was important to me.

Here's a vid of me singing at the piano pre transition to give you a sense of what I used to sound like singing wise:




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Thanks for clarifying in such detail.  I'm getting surgery mainly for speaking, but any help/extra range in the singing department would be a huge bonus.  I can belt to Bb4 now very consistently, but it sounds very masculine.  I can stretch it to B4 and C5 if I really push but it sounds really strained and rough in addition to being inconsistent.  My surgery with Dr. Haben is only two weeks away so it will be very interesting to see if my break area has a shift.  It'll be a while until I'm healed enough to sing but I'll be more than happy to report on this subject as a patient of Dr. Haben.

[anjaq]

This is interesting and strange. I would be happy if someone getting the procedure would ask Dr kim or Dr Haben about that voice break point and what determines where it sits or if it shifts.
You all have such high breaking points, I am envious! Mine was at C4 and still is at C4 and that is almost an octave lower than what you here all seem to to have!

I recorded a rainbow passage in my broken voice with laryngitis of course. It reads 145 Hz but I dont think it sounds overly male... so yeah - it sounds like my pre op trained voice which also had a more female timbre, but that is without me doing anything basically but trying to use my voice in a way that works at all....

[Dena]

Dana - After hearing your voice, I am beginning to regret not getting the triple. I had hopes that I would be able to sing with the new voice and the triple would prevent it. While my new voice is a big improvement over the old one, I have to use the head voice and am only able to reach about C5(just checked). It is clearly not going to be much of a singing voice. I can get as low as C3 but I don't think I want to be a singer in that range. I can see from your before voice why your after voice turned out so well. You all ready had a much higher male voice than I did so it wasn't much of a move to put you into the female range. Well if I can't sing, I will just enjoy your voice.

anjaq - That was an interesting voice sample. You are correct that it genders female even at that pitch. I think some of what does it is the breathiness. It softens the voice making it sound feminine. I may need to work on that idea if I ever get my voice back.