Are you trying to figure out the most effective way how to voice train? Do you want a long lasting solution to changing your voice to become more feminine?
After you're done reading this MtF voice guide, check out our other voice training posts:
- How to Feminize Your Voice
- 5 Tips How to Sound More Feminine
- Why the Roland VT-12 is the Best MtF Voice Training Device for Trans Women
As a trans woman, your voice can be one of your biggest insecurities and lower your self confidence in public, or when interacting with those around you. It also can be a major source of gender dysphoria, and stress. Don't worry though, we've put together a quick guide with few tips and tricks to help you achieve the feminine voice that you've been working towards. Check out our MtF voice changing guide below.
Section 1. The Basic Elements of Voice
The first step to changing your voice MtF is to understand the science behind each voice type. Understand the science behind the voice and what makes up the sounds we hear.
The five basic elements of voice are:
- Resonance - Resonance is the "quality" of a sound, it's depth, it's fullness, basically it's the beautiful color of the voice. When you think of great sound quality, it's rich and robust. This is an essential element of our voices, as the sounds we make are a series of complex vibrations originating in our vocal words.
- Pitch - Pitch is the ears way of interpreting the frequency of a sound. High pitched sounds have waves with narrower peaks, as low pitched sounds have peaks that are further apart. Female voices have higher pitches, thus their sound wave peaks are closer together.
- Relaxation - Have you ever noticed when you're nervous, your throat tightens up, your vocal chords tighten, and your voice might even crack. This has to do with how relaxed we are. In tense situations, our voice quality diminishes at an exponential rate. Imagine, when you're around people your comfortable with, you're able to speak freely, and your voice quality improves. Being relaxed is one of the most important factors in voice control.
- Flow and Rhythm - Avoiding choppiness in your speaking is crucial to achieving the proper rhythm in your speaking. When stringing together a sentence, focus on making each word flow smoothly off your tongue, and avoid being choppy.
- Speed and Pacing - Knowing how to speak clearly and articulately has a lot to do with the speed and pacing at which you talk. A lot of times people talk too quickly, which in turn does not allow for proper articulation. Focus on slowing down your speaking, and focusing on a smooth pace, to achieve full effectiveness.
Section 2. Understand the Science Behind Male vs. Female Voices
The difference between male and female voices can be understood best by looking at the frequencies of each individually. In most instances, women speak with a higher pitch than their male counterparts. This pitch difference is usually about one octave higher.
"Statistically, the frequency range for an adult woman's voice is 160-260 Hz. While the typical range of a man's voice is in the range of 80-150 Hz."
Knowing this as a MtF transwoman, it is important to practice speaking in the range of 160-260 Hz, to be within the expected range of a cisgender female's voice. Ideally, between 200-250 Hz, for full effect and to be sure your voice does not get mistaken for male.
Section 3. Changing your voice as a MtF Transwoman
Now that we've gone over the fundamentals of voice, and speech. It's time to discuss tips and tricks to help you change your voice, and give it the feminine tone that you've been trying to achieve.
Tip 1. Find a Voice that you Love
The first step to successfully changing your voice is to find a female's voice that you love and want to sound like. This is the best way to have a target objective that you can reference frequently until you master the voice yourself. Good inspirations are actresses, TV hosts, singers, or other public figures.
Listen to your inspirations voice daily (in the car, while working out, before bed, etc.) and really study what makes it special. Focus on her pitch, tone, and delivery. You can even use a voice app to see what frequency range she is in, and mimic the range for your own voice.
Tip 2. Get a Voice Training Device
One of the best ways to practice speaking in the correct range is to get yourself a good vocal trainer. It will serve you well in your journey, and give you the confidence to know you're practicing within the correct frequency. Practice daily, and focus on keeping your pitch within range, while exhibiting all senses of emotion, excitement, etc.
Tip 3. Focus on resonance and pitch
Both resonance and pitch are super important for changing your voice to sound more feminine. A high pitched voice with no resonance sounds artificial, and manufactured - which it totally not ideal.
Focus on slowly raising your pitch, while still maintaining the fullness, and depth of sound. Practice speaking more slowly, and pitch up over time. Remember, vocal chords are muscles and need to be stretched and strengthened over time. This can't be stressed enough.
Tip 4. Put together a practice schedule for voice training
As they say, practice makes perfect. Once you've identified a female voice that you can use as a roadmap and downloaded a voice tuner on your phone, you are now ready to put together a practice routine. Plan to practice at least once a day for two months. Start slow at first to avoid being frustrated. Remember it's not a race, its a marathon. It should be repeated that since vocal chords are muscles, warm up your voice with a simple exercise like do-re-me-fa-so-la-ti-do before each session.
Here is an example practice schedule that you can follow:
- Week 1 - 20 minutes per day on weekdays and 30 minutes per day on weekends.
- Week 2 - 20 minutes per day on weekdays and 30 minutes per day on weekends.
- Week 3 - 25 minutes per day on weekdays and 35 minutes per day on weekends.
- Week 4 - 30 minutes per day on weekdays and 35 minutes per day on weekends.
By week 4, you should start to have increased vocal strength and confidence. The following weeks, 4-8, are for additional confidence and practice in real world situations.
- Week 4-8 - Try to have at least one interaction per day using your new voice. As you build up confidence, increase the number of interactions as you see fit. Try interacting at the store, on the phone with customer service, or while ordering food at a restaurant. The choice is yours.
Tip 5. Get a voice training coach
If you are still struggling to achieve the voice that you are looking for, consider hiring a voice coach. One of the most effective ways to learn how to change your voice is to get a voice coach. There are some really talented vocal coaches out there that can work wonders. There are many great vocal coaches to choose from, so find one that understands you, and that you can work with freely.
In summation
With this understanding of how voice, frequency's, and sound works, you should be prepared to change your voice in just a handful of months. Being an MtF transwoman, you have the opportunity to choose a voice that suits you, and that you can be proud of. Have fun and keep on being awesome!
Let us know if you have any tips or tricks that can help changing your voice as a MtF trans women, in the comments below!
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