Voice patterns.

[notyouraverageguy]

I've noticed that I speak through my nose, and I hate it.
Most guys speak through their guts using their diaphrams.
If you listen to the way people talk you can hear it, using your gut is more of a deep loud powerful voice.
Does anyone know how to train themselves to change from speaking with their nose and throat to their stomach?
Also, any other voice patterns I can work on pre-t?

[Call me Jess]

If you move the source of your vocalizations down to the bottom of your throat, that should do the trick.  It'll sound funny in your head, but other people probably won't think so.

[HarryP]

It would possibly help if you learn to breathe from your diaphragm rather than from your upper chest.  It might help you get a more resonant sound, although it wouldn't deepen the pitch.  I've always played woodwind instruments, so we learn that breathing technique.

Try putting one hand just above your belly button and feel your chest moving in and out.  That big band of muscle you can feel pushing is your diaphragm (apologies if you know this already!).  Now, stand in front of a mirror, pretty close up. Breathe in, and feel your chest expanding.  Breathe out slowly, and try to mist up the mirror with your breath.  Once you've learned to control your diaphragm, you can mist the mirror up evenly instead of in a few bursts.  You can also try holding a piece of paper against a wall and keeping it there with your breath. 

But also, don't feel you have to worry about sounding nasal.  Depending on where you're from, some accents are nasal anyway, and not all guys have big rich voices. 

[emil]

in the beginning i forced myself to direct the airstream to a spot under my "adams apple" by just placing a finger there touching my throat lightly. with some practice this will deepen and hoarsen (?) your voice a lot

[notyouraverageguy]

Thanks for the advice guys, im really trying to work on it for personal preference.

Harry, I used to play sax so I kind of remember the breathing exercises.

[HarryP]

Ah cool, yeah you'll be used to all of that stuff then! 

[Jeh]

Speaking from the throat can be bad for your voice. I'm a singer and as a teen a teacher told me I needed to find a deeper voice without telling me how to do it, and I really messed up my singing voice because of speaking so much from the throat.

Try speaking from your diaphragm. My singing teacher sometimes makes me activate the diaphragm by putting my hand over it and saying "Huh!" a few times loudly, feeling the diaphragm push out.

When I'm speaking from my diaphragm, it's a much more powerful voice.

[Lee]

If you move the source of your vocalizations down to the bottom of your throat, that should do the trick.  It'll sound funny in your head, but other people probably won't think so.

I figured I'd give this a try and have passed twice so far after having a conversation with the people. 

[xAndrewx]

What helped me in the beginning was speaking like I was exhaling. I never understood where the diaphragm was and such so instead I did something else. Kinda hard to explain but when you take a deep breath and force it out through your mouth think about sound coming from there. Then try talking with the sound coming from there instead of anywhere else. Sorry I can't explain it well but It's been a long time since I've spoken from any other place.

Also some women tend to have an upward inflection when they talk, sort of like each sentence could be asking another question where-as the average guy (not all guys do)  tend to talk with less question and more flat tone type of speech.

[Devin87]

Another thing to try is breathe in through a straw, which will pull air down toward the diaphragm.  Once you find it, you can strengthen it by putting some books on your lower abdomen while laying on your back and try to move the books up and down with your breathing.  Remember you're trying to make the bottom of your stomach expand, not the top.  If you want a really good lesson, watch a sleeping infant.  Their lower stomach expands as they breathe and then as we get older for some reason we stop breathing correctly and start breathing only into our chest.

And I second that it's not good to try to talk or anything from your throat.  That sounds like a good way to get nodes.

[JohnAlex]

Oh, wow.  this was interesting.  I never really thought about how there are different ways to breathe.  And then reading about some of the wrong ways to breathe makes me worried about trying it.    I have asthma and I don't breathe very well normally so I'm always really paranoid about my breathing.  But this does sound interesting to try, especially if it seems to be working for most people.