I am in my mid-40's and have been already transitioned for a long time. However, my voice sucks. I can't afford therapy or surgery.
How does this sound? I am reading from the headlines of the Washington Post online. My voice is in the mid 200's to upper 300's mhz.
https://soundcloud.com/jen-in-pa/voice-081
I will be doing YouTube videos shortly, and the last thing I need for commenters to rip me. Appearance-wise, I pass ok, but not great. I am fat, which helps a little, but also 6 feet tall and big-boned.
You are right about it sucking but the good news is it should be pretty easy to fix. The problem is your voice is to high and you need to bring the pitch down. By doing so you will have more range and you can have a little more inflection. I am including a link to a page that will show you what I mean. As for hight, don't worry about it. I am 6'2" and on the thin, shapeless side. For many years, hight hasn't been a passing problem.
http://www.nyspeechandvoicelab.net/transgender/voice-feminization/
Thanks so much Dena for your help!
The problem if I lower the pitch, my voice still sounds masculine, and if I raise it or leave it as it is, it is falsetto.
Your link was really helpful. I think my problem is with resonance. I have not been able to alter my resonance, despite trying a ton in the past year. I feel a small amount of vibration in or below my Adam's apple no matter where I try to "place/originate' my voice in my head, and no matter what pitch I use.
I am hoping someone has a solution. Thanks!
As long as your are raising your larynx you are doing all you can to change the quality of your voice. The other issue is don't judge your own voice. It will never sound right to you. Place voice samples up here and let us judge for you. Also, what you need to do is feel the vibrations in your mouth. If you feel that, you have the voice in the right place.
The advantage of a speech therapist is the turn around is faster but many people have found their voice without using one. Try targeting about 220 Hz for your average but if you feel comfortable a little higher or lower, use that pitch. I needed voice surgery because my voice couldn't be fixed without it but the original target was 190 Hz. As the voice recovers, it looks like my voice will settle out at 220 Hz. By the way, I am still using a trained voice because post surgical my untrained voice is around 140 Hz. Surgery isn't everything and you still need to know how to use the voice.