Voice

[katiekat]

For MTF folks during your early transition - how do you deal with your non-feminine voice? I am passable look-wise, but voice is definitely one thing that will give me away. Now I do not have the very deep male voice, but it's still a male voice. Developing female voice definitely takes a long time, so I'm curious what tricks you have during your early transition, before your female voice is developed? Do you talk with lower volume?

[MissKairi]

I am interested in this too. I have a higher spectrum voice but its 100% male.
Even worse is how posh it is. I am far from posh and I dont put it on. I tried to old 'swallow and hold adams apple up' trick...yeah no humam speaks like that nevermind female.

On the plus point we have time to practice whilst our mind and body get fixed

[Artesia]

I don't have any tricks to share, but I tried using the techniques mentioned in the voice sub forum, and what little bit of exercises my speech therapist gave me today.  One of the girls at work said it sounded close, and just needed to be softened but the pitch seemed right to her.  I plan on practicing as much as possible before I try going full time.

[Sinclair]

It's just practice, learning to speak an octave or so higher. Trans-Males are perfectly capable of speaking in a higher, softer voice. It's just practice. It helps to have a goal for your voice. For me, embracing my family's southern accent helps a lot, as the southern accent moves up and down naturally and with practice can easily mask a deeper voice. You are asking the right questions. Voice and facial hair are the clockers all wish to avoid.

[AlyssaJ]

Unfortunately this is another one of those things that takes time and practice.  Right now I do the best I can and just accept that my male resonance more often than not comes through.  Other times my voice probably sounds fake and people know I'm pushing my voice up.  However, at the end of the day, I just don't care.  I've accepted that this is part of the process. It actually helps that I know I'm easily clocked right now anyway.  People can figure out I'm trans pretty quickly so if they figure out my voice is not real, then who cares really.

What I've been doing is practicing as much as I can whenever.  Driving alone in the car on 30-60 minute trips is a great time for this.  I record myself from time to time as well and use that to figure out what I need to improve or to remember what I did that sounded good.  I also try to sing with a female voice whenever I can (again this works really well in the car).

I have a deep baritone natural voice.  It's very chesty and booms.  Right now I'm trying to practice getting it out of my chest and softening my tone without getting squeaky or minnie-mouse-ish.  I've had varying success, but it is getting better.   I start voice therapy in 2 weeks, so that should really help as well, at least I hope.

[Sinclair]

Unfortunately this is another one of those things that takes time and practice.  Right now I do the best I can and just accept that my male resonance more often than not comes through.  Other times my voice probably sounds fake and people know I'm pushing my voice up.  However, at the end of the day, I just don't care.  I've accepted that this is part of the process. It actually helps that I know I'm easily clocked right now anyway.  People can figure out I'm trans pretty quickly so if they figure out my voice is not real, then who cares really.

What I've been doing is practicing as much as I can whenever.  Driving alone in the car on 30-60 minute trips is a great time for this.  I record myself from time to time as well and use that to figure out what I need to improve or to remember what I did that sounded good.  I also try to sing with a female voice whenever I can (again this works really well in the car).

I have a deep baritone natural voice.  It's very chesty and booms.  Right now I'm trying to practice getting it out of my chest and softening my tone without getting squeaky or minnie-mouse-ish.  I've had varying success, but it is getting better.   I start voice therapy in 2 weeks, so that should really help as well, at least I hope.

I love your attitude. The irony is cis women with husky, deeper voices are often perceived as more sexy. Not sure why, other than they may be thought to be more sexually dominate, which appeals to many cis males.