Buying A Female Voice

[Julie Marie]

When I auditioned for the lead vocals in a T-Girl band I kept thinking about how all of the members used guy voices when singing.  Granted, it's pretty rare to find the genetic male who can sing female.  I have a deep voice and can push it fairly well but no way can I hit a female voice.  It just breaks and cracks.  But there was something that bothered me about singing in a guy voice.  I've pretty much stopped doing Karaoke simply because of that.

After the audition was over I mentioned having been out with my brother and our wives for dinner and in the lounge was a local singer/guitarist.  So we went in to hear him.  At one point he was looking for volunteers from the audience to sing backup and I was volunteered by my brother and wife.  I was given a mic but just didn't sound nearly as good as the performer, and the vocal parts were well within my range.

When I sat back down I mentioned this to my brother and he said, "He has a voice processor.  He can adjust it to make him sound a lot better than he really does.  He probably set your mic off so he sounds better."  Then he started laughing.  So I mentioned this to the band members and they were all familiar with it, "if you have the money to buy one".

Last night I find myself intrigued by this device and wondered how much one would cost.  So I went online.  There were a lot of voice processors but none that would do what I wanted.  After a few more searches I ended up at a website that had what they called a voice transformer.  When I went to the manufacturer's website to get some literature about it they had a picture of the equipment and under it the heading "Gender-Bending Vocal Effects"!  Then I read some reviews and one said, "Perfect for changing a man's voice to a woman's! 100% believable!"

Guess what I did?  

Looks like I've accepted the position!

Julie

[HelenW]

I can't wait until the implantable version is available!!

'Til then, I sing alto at best.

smiles & hugs
helen

[Suzy]

The bass player in my band has one made by Alesis.  It can change a voice by as much as two octaves up or down, and add harmony.  Really cool.  But it has a pretty steep learning curve, and has to be programmed.  Other than that, lots of fun.  It really fun to watch him do a solo on stage where he sings every part, sometimes two or three at a time.  Really a mind bender.  I have simililar Boss pedal for my Strat that I use on one solo that put it down an octave, and a Digitech board that will take it up or down.  It gives my acoustic guitar a 12 string sound.

Peace,
Kristi

[Julie Marie]

The bass player in my band has one made by Alesis.  It can change a voice by as much as two octaves up or down, and add harmony.  Really cool.  But it has a pretty steep learning curve, and has to be programmed.  Other than that, lots of fun.  It really fun to watch him do a solo on stage where he sings every part, sometimes two or three at a time.  Really a mind bender.  I have simililar Boss pedal for my Strat that I use on one solo that put it down an octave, and a Digitech board that will take it up or down.  It gives my acoustic guitar a 12 string sound.

Peace,
Kristi

The voice transformer is made by Boss.  I bought a little 50 watt Alesis amp to work on it at home.  From everything I read, it's pretty easy to use.  You can program four different settings or just use the slide controls.  There's only four, pitch, formant and mix balance for voice character and reverb.  Like the Alesis unit you described, the Boss unit can give the effect of a man's and woman's voice singing simultaneously.  I can do duets... Solo!  

The only negative I read was there was an echo even when the reverb was down all the way.  It didn't sound bad enough to hamper the sound quality.  The brochure tells you up front the unit won't work with a phone but that wasn't my intention.  They recommend a uni-directional mic and tell you to keep as much background noise out as possible or it won't work.  "Sing as close to the mic as possible."  I think it will take some work getting the hang of.  I'm a bit worried about background noise though.  If I'm up on stage in front of the drummer, I don't know how that will effect the unit's workability.  We'll see.

I should be getting it sometime this week.  I'm pretty excited about this.  I hope it lives up to my expectations.

Julie

[Hazumu]

When I was gigging in the early 80s, custom pickups that gave you that [fill in name of famous guitarist] sound were all the rage.  I thought:  Wouldn't it be fun to have custom larynx's -- you could go to the music store and buy a Steve Perry or David Lee Roth or Brad Delp voicebox, have it installed, and you'd be able to sing just like your favorite famous vocalist?

Thank you, Julie, for another interesting question, and a challenge.  With just the raw tools available in Audition 1.5, I took a narration track out of an old news piece I cut years ago, pitch-transposed it and then tried to adjust the resonance with filtration.  As I was trying to sound authoritative, I used speech patterns and resonance that can't be changed by mere software.

Here are the results.  The altered voice is first, the unaltered voice follows.

Karen

[tinkerbell]

When I was gigging in the early 80s, custom pickups that gave you that [fill in name of famous guitarist] sound were all the rage.  I thought:  Wouldn't it be fun to have custom larynx's -- you could go to the music store and buy a Steve Perry or David Lee Roth or Brad Delp voicebox, have it installed, and you'd be able to sing just like your favorite famous vocalist?

Thank you, Julie, for another interesting question, and a challenge.  With just the raw tools available in Audition 1.5, I took a narration track out of an old news piece I cut years ago, pitch-transposed it and then tried to adjust the resonance with filtration.  As I was trying to sound authoritative, I used speech patterns and resonance that can't be changed by mere software.

Here are the results.  The altered voice is first, the unaltered voice follows.

Karen

Okay...don't scratch my eyes out now.. >, but is the altered voice supposed to be the female voice?  Can you set it up to "speak" in a higher pitch, more melodical patterns?  IMO the "altered voice" still sounds male, for it is monotone and has no inflection.  Just my honest thoughts......I know ....I guess you could say the Mrs. Ego has taken over  Hey but seriously, it has nothing to do with ego, it is just what it sounds like, honestly!

tinkerbell  

[Julie Marie]

The altered voice sounds like a lesser version of what I've heard called 'chipmunk voice'.  The voice transformer brochure and independent reviews say this unit does not create that chipmunk effect.

It should be coming some time this week.  If I can figure how to record it to the computer I'll do before and after samples.  That is if I don't take them up on their money back guarantee.  

Julie

[Hazumu]

Okay...don't scratch my eyes out now.. >, but is the altered voice supposed to be the female voice?  Can you set it up to "speak" in a higher pitch, more melodical patterns?  IMO the "altered voice" still sounds male, for it is monotone and has no inflection.  Just my honest thoughts......I know ....I guess you could say the Mrs. Ego has taken over  Hey but seriously, it has nothing to do with ego, it is just what it sounds like, honestly!

tinkerbell  

And that was my point, too.  What I couldn't do is formant shift (changing the resonance), or altering the male speech patterns.  And that still got the altered version read as male.

I think in the voice changer Julie ordered, you still have to feed it a female-patterned input, and then it has to change both the pitch and the so-called formant frequency.  So the GIGO principle is in effect.  

It's interesting you called the inflection 'monotone'...   There IS pitch and stress inflection in it, and quite exaggerated, too (for broadcast purposes.)  But it's male pitch and stress inflection -- female speech does something recognizably different.

Karen

[melissa90299]

I am a pretty accomplished blues/rock/pop vocalist and I don't accept the notion that there exists strictly a female voice and a male voice when it comes to blues/rock/pop singing. Certainly, there are unmisatkably male voices (Barry White) and unmistakenly female voices but there are a plethora of voices that fall into the androgynous pitch range and why they are  perceived male or female largely depends on something (timbre, phrasing, breathiness, delivery) that is impossible to quantify and impossible to be electronically altered.

My suggestion is just sing your heart out. I have seen many feamle blues singers in San Francisco that if you closed your eyes you would think you are listening to a guy If you are connecting with the auduence, no one cares. They just know they like you (or don't)

[Melissa]

I am a pretty accomplished blues/rock/pop vocalist and I don't accept the notion that there exists strictly a female voice and a male voice when it comes to blues/rock/pop singing. Certainly, there are unmisatkably male voices (Barry White) and unmistakenly female voices but there are a plethora of voices that fall into the androgynous pitch range and why they are  perceived male or female largely depends on something (timbre, phrasing, breathiness, delivery) that is impossible to quantify and impossible to be electronically altered.

I think you are quite right about that.  Usually females have naturally higher pitch, but that's the majority of the difference (hence the electronic device working).  I know I have sand in public as female and successfully passed.  You do need to sing a bit differently to pass as female, but it's not as different as speaking.

Melissa

[Julie Marie]

Remember that voice transformer?  I couldn't get it to work at all and nothing came out of the amplifier?  Well, I did some reading and it looked like I needed a pre-amp but I really didn't want to spend any more money on the hopes this thing would work. 

So I went to the website where I bought the other equipment and put the pre-amp on my wish list.  It was another $70.  Then I decided I wasn't going to spend another penny until I KNEW what was wrong.  So I emailed the place I bought it from and told them the problems I was having.  I said if I couldn't get this thing to work I would have to return everything.  I waited for a reply but none came. 

Then as I was about to ask for a return authorization I noticed I had an email from them.  I thought it was a reply telling me what I needed to do to make this work.  I felt they were going to say something that meant I needed to shell out more cash.  Instead what I found was a gift certificate for $75.00.  I went to the website and found that with shipping and all the pre-amp was just under $75.  What a coincidence! 

So I ordered it and it came today.  I hooked it up and it works!  No chipmunk voice, no high male voice, it sounds very just like a female voice.  There's a little reverb in it but I already read that so it was expected.  I sang some songs in my male voice and out came a female voice!  WOW!

If anyone knows how to record something so I can upload to the web, let me know and I'll let you hear for yourself.  I'd need help from hooking it up to the computer on down to how and where to upload it to the web.  The unit has RCA jacks on the output.

Now I'm going to have to find some girl tunes and take them to the band.

Julie

[cindianna_jones]

Julie...

I've done pitch shifting for years when I've done my own vocals.  With the tools that I've had available, I have been able to shift my voice up a third and get a fairly female sounding voice without getting into chipmunk land.  I'd have to flatten my vibrato to make it work. And it can get pretty hairy in changing keys for when I lay down instrument tracks. I'm pretty anxious to try this thing too!  My primary interest now is in getting a cello to play music in higher octaves so I can play a string quartet with myself. So get on your singing shoes... and forward me a clip for a listen.

If you want to record something, you can use the windows recorder.  Just plug in your device to your mic jack and wail away.  If you want to get more advanced, you can download a free software package called "Audacity".  It does multitrack stuff.  I haven't used it but it looks fairly straight forward.

Cindi

[Suzy]

With Audacity, or any audio program for  that matter, you will be limited to two tracks.  You will need a stereo splitter to do that.  The good news is that you can go to Radio Shack and make one for a few bucks out of some of their assorted adapters.  Just tell the person working there what you want to do and what kind of jacks you have on both ends.

In my home studio I use an M-Audio 10 Delta track sound card with Sonar and SoundForge.  With that software I can record in my normal voice and then shift the file up or down by as much as two octaves.  And I record to a high speed RAID array to keep up with the data transfer.  If you want to try it out drop by!  Can't wait to see ho wit sounds.

Kristi

[Julie Marie]

I put it through its paces last night.  It was kind of hard to tell just how it sounded because I'm hearing my own voice too.  But there's no question I heard a female voice coming out of the amp.  I need to hook up headphones to the amp so I won't be picking up my voice.  I plan on buying up a pair tomorrow.

One thing I think I detected was it occasionally took my voice out of key, just for a second or two.  I can't be sure though if it was the transformer or my own voice because it happened every time I was concentrating on listening to what was coming out of the amp.  I also didn't have any karaoke music to play so I just sang over the vocals in the song.  That added a third vocal I had to try to drown out. 

I played with it a lot to find the right mix.  I had the pitch up a full octave and the formant up about half way.  Even if I dropped the pitch the voice still sounded female.  What really surprised me was hearing a lilting, just like a natural female voice.  And when I could hear it undistracted the voice coming out was unmistakably female.  I was pretty impressed.  The residual reverb is sort of distracting though.  I don't know if there's any equipment that could eliminate that but if there is this system would be amazing.

Of course there's a lot more you can do with it.  I used what I call the evil monster effect, the very deep and gravely voice you hear coming from evil fictional characters.  And there's a robot effect, which removes inflection, as well as a number of other possible vocal effects.  I did the Munchkins perfecto!  I'd say Hollywood uses something like this for many of the voices it creates.  A radio station here must have one because I was able to do a lot of voices I hear them do. 

All in all it's a pretty cool toy but the jury is still out if it can be used successfully in performing.  I'd have to do recordings and play them back to get a better assessment.  When I have time I'll see if I can record something on the computer.  I've got to have some kind of software that can do that.  If I'm successful, I'll just need to find a place on the web I can upload it to.

Julie

[Melissa]

Hi Julie.  You could also try to record the output and then play it back later, so you don't lose concentration.  You can buy a karaoke CD+G at most bigger music stores, so you could also use that.  I have a collection of around 300 CD+Gs myself.  I'm not saying how I got them though, but it wasn't through a music store.

Melissa

[RuthChambers]

Help !!! I've just downloaded a CDG file and it wont play ....

Recommended software ?

Thanks, Ruth

[Melissa]

The one I have is called Power CD+G Player Pro by Power Karaoke.  It's about $40 and works great.  Unfortunately, I had registered my copy back in my old name, so I still have to see that when starting the program.

Melissa

[melissa90299]

With Audacity, or any audio program for  that matter, you will be limited to two tracks.  You will need a stereo splitter to do that.  The good news is that you can go to Radio Shack and make one for a few bucks out of some of their assorted adapters.  Just tell the person working there what you want to do and what kind of jacks you have on both ends.

In my home studio I use an M-Audio 10 Delta track sound card with Sonar and SoundForge.  With that software I can record in my normal voice and then shift the file up or down by as much as two octaves.  And I record to a high speed RAID array to keep up with the data transfer.  If you want to try it out drop by!  Can't wait to see ho wit sounds.

Kristi

I use Sonar 2.0 and I have a Delta 4, I have never had much success when raising the pitch on my voice, which specific Sonar effect do you use to raise the pitch?

[Suzy]

I use Sonar 2.0 and I have a Delta 4, I have never had much success when raising the pitch on my voice, which specific Sonar effect do you use to raise the pitch?

Melissa,
While I do the recording in Sonar, I do the pitch editing in SoundForge.  It will let you adjust +/- an octave or any fraction of it.  It is great for when I record someone's track and a couple of notes are out of tune.  I can fix it no problem.  And when you have them both installed, many of the features load as plug-ins for Sonar so you can use them without exiting the program.  Cool, huh?

Hope this helps.

Kristi

[Krisstina]

LOL...   I have one.  After I while I got tired that people were calling me "sir" on the phone, so I went online and purchased a cheaper version.  Voice changer SP600 or something like that.  I just hooked it to my telephone, and I turn it on everytime I don't recognize the name on my caller ID.  There are many kinds and the prices vary considerably.  I only paid $80 for mine.  There's a cheaper version which you can use in a wireless telephone; I think it was $40.  There are other types which are called "professional voice changers", and they are expensive; the most expensive one was $850.

Now, this voice changer I have makes my voice sound female, more male, like an old person's, and like a child's.  My personal opinion?  it works but the female voice sounds rather robotized.  The only disadvantage is that if you forget and leave it on, other people in your house can answer the phone and the person on the other line will not know who it is.  That happened to my BF when his boss called  > LOL

Great idea Julie!  let's just not get used to it, for it can prevent us from practicing 


tinkerbell

HEhehe. I bet he didnt care for that much