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The feminine voice
How do cross-dressers modify their voice to give a more feminine sound?
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35 Replies
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I am a trained singer and so I am attuned to listening to male and female voices.
I find that most crossdressers make the mistake of trying to speak in falsetto, thus soundig FALSE. The trick is in using a softer tone in just a slightly higher pitch than your normal voice. Many women speak in a male voice range, but with different inflections and vocabulary than men. Here’s one way that I practiced female speech: I taped women who were speaking on the radio. Usually talk shows where they were speaking naturally rather than acting. Then I would play the tape back and try to imitate them.
It took some time but soon I became very good at it.
Another thing to try is to make yourself sound like a cartoon character, especially a witch. (!!!) Speak a repeated phrase from the back of the throat at a high pitch. Continue to speak the phrase, but go down the scale and lower it a little with each repetition until you achieve a soft feminine tone. When out in public, have a mint or candy in your mouth to keep it moist and allow speaking to flow easier. Hope this helps.Submitted by: Amanda (not the webmistress though!!)
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My tip is this…. Do NOT alter your voice in a false manner. You will sound like a bad Meryl Streep wannabe. Just speak in a normal manner, but try to end phrases on a higher tone. You’ll notice that men tend to end phrases on a lower tone, and women tend to end on a higher tone. If you go natural, also try to just relax and speak in a gentle, very kind tone. Others will warm right up to you. (Patrick Swazie in “Too Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar” Does this very well. You want to become friends with his character “Vida” right away.
Submitted by: Chora
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What I do is speak softer, lighter and with a slight upper swing. men speak harsh with a more lower ending swing to their voice. I also find that my voice becomes much lighter and feminine when I speak from the back of my throat rather than from the bottom of my throat or diaphram…..I hope this helps you…it take practice and singing and talking to your self while your in the car driving home from work really helps….
Submitted by: Jamie
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This is an area that I have been having some trouble with myself. I do not believe there is an easy answer to this, as everyone’s voice is different. For me, it seems that there are two ways to go about getting a voice that passes (I’m sure there are more tricks).
One, you can try to create a completely new higher voice, this is difficult as you must practice a lot while you are alone or with a SO, this can be awkward (but so can sounding like Wolfman Jack in heels and a skirt). When using a completely new higher voice one has to be conscious of staying in character (a slip is much more noticeable). This can be difficult and is easier for people who are good at doing impersonations or those who have acting experience.
Second, one can try to make their own voice softer even if it is naturally deep (This is the technique I use most. I find this easier, more natural and remember a deeper sultry voice is considered sexy to a lot of people but don’t over do it!). Try using your own voice only talk lighter and more breathy (from the throat).
This also needs to be practiced, but not nearly as much. It is also much better in the case of a slip because the change is not as dramatic, you may just sound excited and it is easier to regain your “character”. Also remember to talk like a woman, Don’t curse or yell or do anything to attract attention to yourself. This may not help much but I feel it is one of those areas that needs to be practiced and how to go about this is different in every case.Submitted by: Nikki
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Some tips from Karen Take a deep breath when about to speak and try to bring your voice out by using the top of your larynx.Practice coming from the top and bottom of your voice box and you will see what i mean. Pitch,For those of you with some music knowledge,teh pitch you want is in the alto range above middle c.If you can sing on key any note from middle c to the next next c(one octave)then you should do ok resonance:this relates to the quality or timbre of your voice,Ive been able to fool with a not so high pitch on occasion by altering the quality of the sound. Practice with using your voice box in different ways to get different sounds…. Social factors can also affect the way your voice sounds.Its hard when you have male social conditioning for so long>When you start to able to pass you will feel more female and after a while talking feminine will become easier. One last point is sentence structure.Eg May i have a bloodymary please,not il ava beer mate. See you out and about love to all Karen
Submitted by: troybedford@bigp
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The voice is a hard thing to pass with. I have seen several sites
(annelawrence.com is one) and I have a book and tapes but try as I might, I
could not understand either what was meant, how to do some step or other part of
the exercise. the results were crummy. I lived with it. I did soften my voice
somewhat which helped but I also noted that if you watch and listen to other
women closely, you will note that some are high and tiny voices while others are
somewhat deep and husky. I simply got so I didn;t care. if it became a point to
be noted on the phone, I corrected the caller and went from there. if the
challenge came in person, I would ignore the jab and continue on taking care of
business.The pronouns were wrong for long months after surgery. I developed a very thick
skin. My srs surgery was years ago. during the years since, my voice has changed
on its own to be female.I have heard of some that go thru voice surgery. To date I have heard and seen
no method that works most of the time. I do know one person who went that route-
cost a bunch, her voice went back to what it was a few weeks after the surgery-
a waste. I only knew it because she mentioned it during a therapy session. to me
she sounded just like she had before.diane
Source: yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Passing
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Hi,
I think the best method for voice modification is to listen to, really
listen to the point of studying, other women.
After reading that Tara sight someone mentioned I decided to try the breathiness
style for my answering machine message. It sounded quite nice, very fem, BUT
also quite little girlish. I imagine people who heard it would not expect to
see the middle aged woman that I am. I think its all inside the head. As one’s
self-identity becomes more and more that of “woman” all the external things like
voice, mannerisms, speech, etc fall into place. We tend to subconsciously hang
on to bits of that extensive conditioning we underwent as young males, and we
need to do some self-searching to locate those areas and rid ourselves of them.
And maybe realise we will never be women in the truest sense, and accept
ourselves for what we are.reynah
Source: yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Passing
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For those interested in learning how to develop a female voice, I recomend you take a look at http://www.deepstealth.com It is run by two T-Girls, Calpernia Addams and Andria James who have put together a voice training package of CD’s and DVD’s in order to get you on the road to sounding more fem. I’ve personally bought the training package and although I haven’t had a chance to work on it as much as I’d like, I believe it is well worth the money and can definately see progress.
Alicia
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I find the hardest thing is to give yourself permission to speak in a feminine voice. I can master it, talking to my friends and to a recorder or to myself. I lapse back talking to someone I dont know so well, maybe because I’m self consious, or because I want to be accepted by family and friends.
I find that a big barrier to speaking soft and feminine.
another tip I have found to help me is to gently exhale before you open ur mouth to speak. saw that written somewhere, cant remember where, but it works, especially if you are nervous, I do find it relaxes me and clears my head..
hope you make it work,
hugs, Bre -
Learning to talk in a feminine tone is quite easy. It takes several months for it to fall into place but is quite easy to do. Once you learn it, it takes a few seconds to change gears from normal masculine voice to femme voice. The hardest part for me is that, if I’m not speaking for a while, I find that my vocal cords relax back to male mode and I have to try to shift gears without making a sound and hope that when I speak it’ll come out right.
Changing ones choice of subject, vocabulary, usage and inflections to be feminine is much harder.
Alice
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I have been roaming around the Internet, and found an interesting (you tube) a young American T-girl who is talking about developing her female voice. She has many you tube sessions talking and showing the development of her voice.
This made me wonder about my own female voice, and how to develop it. I’ve never needed one before has I don’t go out it wasn’t needed, but now I’m taking the plunge into the Christmas party it makes me think do I have a voice?
Penny
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I read once that you should just speak softly and not try to pitch your voice high.
I have never thought about a “voice”; I suppose I should practice into a recorder and see what I sound like. Probably a species of frog.
June
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My voice is my biggest impediment to passing. I usually try to speak more softly and modulate my voice. Still, it’s hard. I’d probably take speech therapy lessons if I could afford it. Although my partner would not be happy if I suddenly sounded like some stranger. At least when she hears my voice, she knows that I am still me, regardless of all the other changes that have occurred.
Simone.
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I have had very little to do with voice training but I found Candi to be very interesting in her technique http://au.youtube.com/user/candiFLA being locked up at home all things can be found fascinating.
If you have the time have a look at Candi’s videos and make your own decision.
Penny
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Hi Girlsm The development of a female voice brings together a few changes. One is pitch, and that one is easy but the others are harder. They are developing a forward resonance (resonance towards the very front of the mouth) and developing female speech patterns. The hardest is getting the forward resonance. Latrobe run an excellent speech therapy clinic at low prices but they are usually only accessed through a refferal from Monash GID centre. It truly is speech therapy stuff. If you can’t access speech therapy through Monash and you can afford it it is worth paying for it your self.
Take care
Gwen
