Hello all

After small amount of time I am here with a new topic, right now about the voice. I have started training my voice like 2 weeks ago from youtube videos. But there are plenty of them, some of them are saying going to falsetto other ones that is a bad habit. But in both cases it looks that the results are working. I do not have problem raising a pitch, actually I can speak 220Hz normally, but it still sounds male, even if I go higher. So I would like to ask you what helped you achieving more female voice? Which technique helped you? How long did it take you to get the satisfying results?

I found FYFV series of 9 youtube videos, which looks most explained. But I have no idea how long I should take each step. I would appreciate every advice how to improve speaking voice .

Michelle

You could have a look here:
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,190936.msg1701516.html#msg1701516

There is a software called overtone analyzer. You can record and directly see the results. Its shown as graphics.
Otherwise its possible to play a recording and see the result as graphics.
Levels can be marked.
For levels its possible to look here:
nyspeechandvoicelab.net/transgender/voice-feminization/


hugs

The software sadly can only help you with pitch analysis and not with the way the voice sounds. For that, so far only other people or listening to own recordings helps.

I personally learned to sound female, but not to increase pitch too much with Melanie Anne Phillips method which is described online as text and I think she still sells videos or audio instructions. Her method is similar to the youtube videos of "CandiFla", so you could probably combine them. They are also similar to what Lena from Kiev describes on her homepage. Basically this is a method that can work as a shortcut - if it works, it is a rather fast way to feminize the voice by switching into a different timbre or resonance and thus sounding female even at lower pitches. Basically it is about going into clear falsetto, then play with that to make a witch voice and then lower pitch again to a lower female range - 180 Hz or so and if you are lucky after some attempts you will get a feminine voice that only has to stick. Some people had it "stuck" right away and they had trouble going back to male mode (Melanie described it that way). It does not work in all cases though.


A lot of people seem to have success with the FYFV Videos and DVDs. They require much more effort and time than the shortcut methods but are apparently more healthy in the end and are also suited in the shortcut does not work. You need to do rather long exercises from alphabetic tables though in addition to some warm-up exercises. Some speech therapists are basing their transgender voice courses on these principles though, so it seems to be good. If you buy the DVD, only get the DVD with the voice part though, I think the other DVDs they offer are not really useful. Most of the video content is also on youtube.

Of course at some point you definitely should consult with a speech therapist - ideally one knowledgeable in trans issues, to check if what you are doing at that point is ok or damaging for your voice.

Speaking at 220 Hz is not the goal, unless you had a very high voice to begin with. Most therapists and instructions will tell you to rather aim to the lower female range, which is around 180 Hz. It is healthier for the voice and you can use it for a longer time if you do not have to push the voice up that high.

Good luck

Quote from: anjaq on September 10, 2015, 03:31:37 AM
The software sadly can only help you with pitch analysis and not with the way the voice sounds. For that, so far only other people or listening to own recordings helps.

Yes, listening helps. The own voice sounds different when coming from a recording.
This way a few different methods can be tried and results can be listened to.

Quote

Basically it is about going into clear falsetto, then play with that to make a higher voice and then lower pitch again to a lower female range - 180 Hz or so and if you are lucky after some attempts you will get a feminine voice that only has to stick. Some people had it "stuck" right away and they had trouble going back to male mode (Melanie described it that way). It does not work in all cases though.

Well it might not be necessary to go too high. A few days of training with a raised voice might be enough to get the feeling of being in another register.
From there on levels can be adjusted, a bit higher or lower.

Breathiness is a method that can work quite fast. Speaking a bit breathier. Just not too much.

And using more indirect expressions, and more intonation.

I work with a speech therapist and initially it was just understanding how to bring the resonance to your head then what I found more difficult was to get the resonance to the front of the mouth. I've used straws effectivly to bring the resonance forward and to rest the vocal cords look at, . Presently, I'm comfortable at the 220hz but I get tired and it drops to 190 hz. I downloaded the  Voice Analyst and also Sonneta voice (i-phone and I pads no android). Plus it was also causing mucus and that was solved with pineapple or dark grape juice.

After that is was learning how females speak and how the mannerisms are when they talk. Just a quick mention:Head movements tend to mimic that of conversational partners, face is expressive and open, eyes seem to speak, conversational postures tend to move towards the partner, smile more, more variance in pitch and more touching.

Hope this helps.

Thank you all for your answers

I am working at radio and recording myself in studio and listening to this was one of the first things I was doing. I am lucky with the pitch, I have very high male voice at range 200-220Hz, which looks like it is avg female. But pitch is not making voice sounds female, I was trying for middle C as was mentioned in FYFV videos with exercises, so for me it was slight push higher, which is not a problem, it is just 2 notes, but still sounding male, sometimes maybe I have more female passages, maybe more time would fix that.

Unfortunately CandiFla videos disappeared from the youtube and cannot find them anywhere. But did not hear about shortcut method. So gonna try this I think. Will see, how it will works, thank you very much for that.

Speech therapists, who worked with trans people... In my country are just 3 gender therapists on 5.5 mil people and as far as I know there is no Speech therapist here specializing on this. I can hope for finding someone who will help me, but I am sure that he/she will not have any acknowledgement with trans issues.

My mannerisms and the way I speak was somehow always more feminine . I do not need to learn this after all, it is natural for me. I was trying before not to do that female mannerisms before I came out. Thank you for the advice with straws .

I guess I will be updating the topic in future with voice samples, which method I used etc. to maybe help others, if I  improve.

You could try a software like the overtone analyzer, and mark a line of about 150 hz.
Its those undertones below that line which make the voice sound male.
Note a few small undertones might sound sexy. But the majority should be above 150 hz.

You could try to move your voice from your chest to your head.
If you lay a hand on your chest there should be no vibrations there.
You can try to gently lay a hand on your larynx. When speaking in a higher voice it should move up.
The muscles to hold it there have to be trained.

You could simply read a book in a higher voice.
It takes consistent training, maybe only a few minutes in the beginning.
Never overstrain your voice.

I only tried a little voice training and I found that Finding Your Female Voice by Andrea James was better than the others. It is available for free on YouTube.

Quote from: Michelle3 on September 09, 2015, 03:23:37 PMI found FYFV series of 9 youtube videos, which looks most explained. But I have no idea how long I should take each step.

Visit www.genderlife.com and look for the Finding Your Female Voice PDF Workbook that goes with the video series.  The workbook details how much time should be spent on each step.

If you find the videos and workbook useful, remember to donate to them.  It looks like a lot of work went into the production of their system.

I know this is an old thread, but it's still one of the first threads I found on voice training so figured this question should be answered properly.

Quote from: Janna on February 12, 2018, 11:54:58 PM
Visit www.genderlife.com and look for the Finding Your Female Voice PDF Workbook that goes with the video series.  The workbook details how much time should be spent on each step.

I also found this particular set of videos and workbook very useful, with very clear explanations and exercises - I purchased them a couple years ago.

Janna, since this was your first post I'll add information we like to provide to new members.  Thank you for joining Susan's and for posting!  When you get a chance it would be great if you can introduce yourself in the Introductions Forum.

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So after research I came to the conclusion that there were three things I really needed to work on to get my voice passing

What I mean by specific terms in this case:

base pitch/tone: high high your voice is or what frequency (hz) the middle of your range is at and what is the quality of the sound you are producing.

cadence: the rhythm of how your words come out or do your words come out in burst or evenly.

accents/inflections: how do you emphasize words and key points to what you are saying.

Just to get started I was a music minor in college and had a full year of Aural Skills (class about singing and rhythm)
with a major in mechanical engineering. I still play as part of an orchestra on violin so I tend to use a lot of what I know from music and engineering to apply it to my voice training.

So the first thing I wanted to do, like all girls is raise my pitch. Since I was familiar with vocal training and singing I started with increasing my range. When I looked at what are considered feminine traits I found that women tend to speak in a wider range of frequencies then masculine voices(frequency is how we can measure how high a tone/your pitch is). I found that the cadences that were considered where feminine was speaking in burst, or words closely together with pauses between the bursts. The final thing I picked up on that I needed to change was how I enunciated words along with how I accented specific words. This really builds off the first two.

So my goal was to extend how high I could go without falsetto since this alters my tone in an undesirable way and adds way to much stress to my chords for constant use that talking would require. So what I would do is everyday I would practice talking at the highest pitch I could sustain. This pitch was substantially higher then I wanted the base pitch of my voice as I wanted to be able to raise and lower my voice comfortably. its important when you are practicing to give your voice rest when its needs its. The goal is to build muscles to reach these pitches and by over exerting them you can cause damage.  As time went on I was able to reach higher and higher pitches for longer periods of time.

Durring the same practice sessions, I started practicing my cadences. At first I spoke very metered and evenly which is what I was looking to change. as things progressed I had awkward feeling burst that didn't make a lot of sense. eventually my new cadence felt more natural and I was able to just wing it and it worked out fine.

Finally once I felt I was pretty solid on these two aspects I started to work on inflection and enunciation. So the difference that I found between masculine and feminine is that males tend to emphasize words with their volume and a feminine voice used pitch. I also found out that women tend to use more lip and use a different part of the tongue to pronounce words rather then using the tip of their tongue. This results in a softer almost warmer feel to your voice as opposed to a harsher quality in masculine voices. This part is a constant learning process as I try to use different words and sometimes I completely mess up the pronunciation. another fun result of using more lip is that when talking it also gives your face a more feminine look to motion as your lips move a lot more. It took a lot of experimentation to find exactly how I wanted to change the pitch of my voice as well. I think this part is where you really get to develop your style of speaking and is sorta the lynch pin of making everything come out natural.

while practicing my voice I always used several different passages so that i could focus on my voice rather than what i was saying along with recording my voice so i could hear what i wanted to change. at first this was difficult but as i became aware of what i wanted it became easier. once i started using my voice on a day to day basis I noticed I was very quiet. but passable. As time drew on my voice got louder and louder and while I am still soft spoken I can be heard in loud areas. I also noticed that the lower range of my voice is harder to talk in and causes me to need a lot more water as they've seemed to atrophied or something.

I think its also important to pick a range that is complimentary to your body. I looked at my face and vocal chords and found the range and how i wanted to talk based on what I would expect to come out of my lips. This was important to me. Your vocal chords have limits as well so try to respect them or the quality of your voice might not be what you desire as well. my bff at the time had this issue and we literally lowered her range by a minimal amount (half a step in music terms) and vola the quivering ceased immediately and her voice became exactly what she wanted it to be.

I'm not saying quivering or bad tone is bad during practice, its normal and good but once you start to settle in its something I like to try help remove as it makes girls self conscious. I have helped three other girls with their voices, one didn't do the practice and thus never really improved, and the other is happy with her voice.

The trick is to be critical with how you speak and regular practice.

I'm sure there are things i'm forgetting but this has been my experiences with vocal training.