I am only about three months on hormones. Even I try my best to dress well, people say to me "sir" that devastates me so badly...I definitely have to work feminizing my voice, but I have no clue how? Is there any good video or other on-line resources that I can watch and learn? I read descriptions how to raise voice to what Herz but it does not make sense to me. PLease, help, I really want to understand....
Vicky

Welcome to Susan's Place. Voice take a good deal of work and I am willing to answer your question. This link is a good place to look for what you are asking. While 220 HZ is the ideal pitch to aim for, a voice can be feminine at a much lower pitch if inflection and speech usage follows a feminine pattern. If you are unsure what your voice problem is, you may post a voice sample and we will tell you what you need to work on.

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^ Dena, can you recommend a strategy for what areas to start with first and practical ways to practice during RLE over time?  I'm getting quite frustrated at the process

Quote from: VickyZ on September 02, 2017, 09:17:34 PM
...Is there any good video or other on-line resources that I can watch and learn? ...

There are plenty of YouTube and online resources...

Years ago, when I first heard this person's voice...
https://www.youtube.com/user/deepstealth/videos
http://www.genderlife.com/free-transgender-voice-resources/voice-tutor/
... I actually thought she was a ciswoman helping transgender people and explaining transgender issues, was surprised to find out she's trans. Disclaimer: I have used these resources but do not benefit financially from promoting them.

You might try general web and YouTube searches...
https://www.google.com/search?q=transgender+voice+tutorial&oq=transgender+voice+tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=voice+feminization

I think there's plenty of info online... it's really about practice and finding a good/safe technique that works for you.

One transwoman told me she uses a recorder in monitor mode (i.e., recording while you have an earpiece in your ear, or headphones)... you talk and hear yourself at the same time... I tried that and actually found that really helpful... very immediate feedback and more accurate than listening to yourself by ear (without the recorder).

Then there's video/tape recording yourself, and playing back... this is helpful but less immediate to the monitor mode recorder thing... though I've looked at some of the older practice videos during a time I was practicing daily and am astonished how well I was doing at times... at the time I did not feel it was so good. I find seeing myself in a video played back or in a mirror can be helpful.

I personally I have excellent info for working on my voice but I don't apply it regularly and consistently enough... for example, that recorder monitor-mode thing is a nice little review tool... I could do that daily but I don't. I feel that's my weak point... that's my laziness and not a lack of information or tools. But for what little I've practice, when I apply myself and work to have a voice, I'm often quite surprised. I just don't think I've done it enough to make the muscle memory super automatic... it's there if I find it... but when I wake up, for example, I'm at the lowest... yet I've noticed if I wake up and apply myself, it's there... so for me it's like a mind-over-matter-overcome-laziness thing. All of this is to repeat the above, for me at least it seems really about effort and safe technique... not lack of online resources... that's my very personal opinion.

Quote from: Dena on September 02, 2017, 10:54:17 PM
... While 220 HZ is the ideal pitch to aim for, a voice can be feminine at a much lower pitch if inflection and speech usage follows a feminine pattern. If you are unsure what your voice problem is, you may post a voice sample and we will tell you what you need to work on.

I think sharing here per what Dena mentioned will get you great input and it may actually be inspiring to have help. I have discovered I am at my best when I'm working on my voice around others.

I've heard from several sources, including several transwoman who have excellent voices, that what Dena mentions about a "pattern" is quite accurate... recently I've been more relaxed and practicing a little more and I think I'm seeing some patterns emerge. I also try to listen to women on the news or interviews, that sort of thing.

The one factor I find absolutely essential to a passable voice is TEXTURE.

That is, the sound of the voice itself, rather than its prosody, inflection, or pitch (which matter, but you could nail every one of those and miss the target because of texture.)

Think of it like this - the default male voice is full and resonant. Your female voice is 'behind' that. Getting a good voice texture essentially means removing overtones from the voice. Project it higher into the head resonators and shape it so that any edgy, masculine overtones are suppressed. (It'll likely be breathier and softer: that's because you're controlling how the vocal folds vibrate.)

At its best, my sound passes flawlessly. But that's the issue with non-surgical voice control. Unless you have some Ross Mathews voice to start with, it'll likely take constant effort and 'guard' to maintain in all applicable situations. Even though my voice is not all that low relatively speaking and can sound really good or at least 'passable' most of the time, there are still situations daily that after 10+ years I know my voice can't handle or where it just doesn't sound like its speaker, so to say. It takes its toll on the speaker over time and you end up feeling limited or disingenuous.

So I'm having surgery soon. I think good pitch + texture resolve 99% of the major problems, and that prosody is a piece of cake you'll actually feel encouraged to get right if you have the pitch range & practice at achieving good texture to begin with.