Quote from: girl you look fierce on December 10, 2012, 10:11:46 AM
I think you should speak how you naturally do....

Most people I've talked to feel this way because they've tried so hard, but can't seem to transition their voice.  For me, the bottom line is, if it's wrong to transition your voice, then maybe, that goes along with transitioning the body?  If one leaves their voice male, then why not the body?   Also, of course those of us who have a good female voice didn't magically fall into it.....it took work.....lots of work, and some back-slides.  It's not magic....it's constant work.  It's the hardest thing about transitioning.

Sean Bean. Sexy woman, even with a 'masculine' voice (from the show, 'Accused').

So-called masculine and feminine voices are not necessarily needed to express yourself and be attractive.

I think you should try to work at having a more feminine voice, but that doesn't mean you can't still do your impressions, which will be more shocking if they hear your girl voice first. They won't think any more of it than when I do my Janice impression (I still present as male). 

Quote from: girl you look fierce on December 11, 2012, 01:00:03 AM
and it is normal to change that but trying o talk like someone else is bing someone you are not.

Pitch and resonance are important, for starters, then your genuine voice falls into its own range.  Don't try to talk like someone else.  Fine tune what you have. The rest is something you don't have to think about after a while....diction, female variation in pitch, pronouncing  's' like a woman.....that's different too to varying degrees.  Most men use a hard 's', with the tongue further back in the mouth, while women generally keep the tongue more forward in the mouth, just behind the teeth when saying 's', which produces a softer sound.  Too far forward, and you have a lithp.

Trust me....after almost a decade, I AM myself....not an imitation of anyone.  I can say the same about a number of other women I know, ts women, and if you told them they were being someone else, they would be offended, or they would think it was so far fetched as to be laughable.

In the final analysis, it's your voice, your life.  If you don't mind being clocked everywhere you go, or being identified as 'sir' on the phone, etc., then, YOU are being someone else.

Unless you don't mind being genderfluid then your being yourself regardless.

So far, I've just relaxed my speaking efforts....I hadn't realized that, just like trying to "walk like a man", I'd also tried to sound like a man...

So as I let my natural Self out, my voice has softened quite a bit. It is still a work in progress, but I'm not trying to change my male voice so much as trying to allow my real voice to come out.

I try to speak more like a woman, but I think it mostly comes off sounding like mickey mouse got kicked in his little mouse balls.

Quote from: silly by the seashore on December 11, 2012, 12:38:20 PM
I try to speak more like a woman, but I think it mostly comes off sounding like mickey mouse got kicked in his little mouse balls.

If you can reach that pitch, then I don't think your normal voice can be too masculine. 

I have no idea what girly girly voice is. Can you clarify?

For me, I no longer sound like a man. However, this was my choice. I decided this route because a feminine voice makes it much easier for someone to "pass." The most "passable" trans woman in the world...who has no voice training, opens her mouth, she will be clocked. It's like one of those comedy scenes where you see a very beautiful woman and when she speaks, you know she's transgender. Men in Black 3 is the most recent movie I have seen that had this example.

So, if it doesn't bother you that you'll get clocked then you don't need to change your voice. You will get clocked without voice training...even if you had the world's best Facial Feminization Surgery.

For me, transitioning fully was much more important than keeping cartoon voice impersonations. But everyone is different

 I choose not to speak masculinely. If I were to de-transition, for whatever reason, I'm fairly confident that I would still use my female voice... because listening to my male voice really bothers me. I hate hearing it a lot... it made me cringe when I used it as a 'guy'.

I just refuse to do it any more, regardless of the situation. I don't want to be afraid of speaking because of how much I hate my voice.

I can still do voice impersonations, though. Not, like... Darth Vader, Optimus Prime, or Jean-Luc Picard... but I can still do some strange ones.

If you feel comfortable with using your male voice and presenting female, then by all means do so. It will probably take away from your quality of life, because people won't treat you as kindly (on average), but speaking with a voice that you are comfortable using is important for one's sanity. 

Well, as I am not girly girl and I don't look like one (Immah brunette) I think I will speak in a kind of profound feminine voice, something like Scarlett Johansson or Angelina Jolie and I Guess that after transition I just won't look like someone who will have high pitched voice, I'm more of a Monica Bellucci style. =)

I found this example of a "girly girl" voice on you tube

I'm only three months into HRT, and haven't put serious effort into changing my voice in public yet. That being said, even before coming out I regularly got mistaken for my mum on the phone by even her close friends. I really hate my voice, but my friends here assure me that it just sounds like a deep female voice, and I've spoken to people I didn't know in my regular voice and not had them clock me. So with any luck I might not need too much work.

Can I speak like this or is this too girly?

Quote from: Eleanor on December 12, 2012, 11:34:45 AM
I'm only three months into HRT, and haven't put serious effort into changing my voice in public yet. That being said, even before coming out I regularly got mistaken for my mum on the phone by even her close friends. I really hate my voice, but my friends here assure me that it just sounds like a deep female voice, and I've spoken to people I didn't know in my regular voice and not had them clock me. So with any luck I might not need too much work.

This is what I've been told. Won't stop me from working on it for my own confidence though.

Quote from: Sadie on December 12, 2012, 02:00:44 PM
Can I speak like this or is this too girly?

I'm that voice over

Quote from: Sadie on December 12, 2012, 02:00:44 PM
Can I speak like this or is this too girly?

mmmf. From what I saw of the audio sessions of MLP, the real voices are quite different. They are extremely edited. And Pinkie's actor can't maintain it on singing, so they need to use another person.

Quote from: Sadie on December 12, 2012, 02:00:44 PM
Can I speak like this or is this too girly?

I sound exactly like that..........on helium. [Giggle] [Hiccup]

What you want to do is understand proper placement first. You do that by swallowing and consciously maintain your adam's apple at its highest position and try to say short words. Once placement is easily maintained you proceed to a full resonance conversion. Once full conversion is set you have to teach your brain to pump volume whilst sustaining female resonance. You do that by holding an "AH" sound and increase volume, slowly, exponentially while maintaining conscious attention to the mask( look it up if you don't know what it is"singing-mask")I'm against trying to "feminize" speech patterns and inflections and such it'll come naturally in due time. You don't even consider pitch either your natural female pitch will unravel itself once proper placement is achieved. Eventually maintaining placement will not require conscious effort and your brain will forget how your original male voice sounds( because you will forget where your adam's apple needs to sit). So that's why when you do it properly your female voice will not require "conscious" attention to maintain it will even be the other way around.

I must have somewhat of a reasonably passable voice since I live full time and have never been clocked (or no one has let me know). When I met with a woman at the unemployment office she told me she had no idea I was transgender once I told her. Still I am not pleased with my voice, I have this raspy quality that doesn't sound good, IMO.  I seriously think I have something wrong with my vocal chords.  I also can't maintain a solid note when singing, my voice breaks or I lose the note. Its hard to describe. I also have trouble with resonance, I even had that when I lived male. People often told me they couldn't hear what I was saying.