I can make all the sounds, but maintaining a feminine tone is still pretty hit-or-miss. Since I spend all day at work talking to my team online, I figured it would be good to use that time for voice practice. (I’m already out, so hopefully they won’t think I’m going insane)
I’ve been slowly pushing the pitch up over the past few weeks to avoid straining, and with a pitch tracker going it looks like I’m sitting at around 150 Hz right now (for reference I usually aim for 200 Hz when training, which I can comfortably manage for short periods). Not quite target pitch, but at least I’m not dropping out of the androgynous range too often. End-of-day huskiness is slowly getting better but my resonance is all over the place.
Anyway, how do you all get your practice hours in? Any fun anecdotes? I’m still in awe of all the trans women on Youtube with perfectly passable voices.
I used to try doing voice training but whenever I do a girl voice it sounds like a man trying to sound like a woman. I practiced for a long time and made zero progress. I shared on the voice training subreddits and they confirmed that it does sound super masc. I’ve basically given up at this point, it sucks and feels helpless. I might as well not even bother since even when trying the best I can people will still instantly clock me.
I’m saving for vocal surgery personally. I’ve voice trained with professionals and by myself for years. My voice can pass for 5 minute conversations with massive amounts of effort, but any longer than tnat and theres no way for me to maintain it. My voice also gets exhausted very quickly doing it.
Lots of people genuinely can get by on training alone. But others can’t, and surgical options have expanded a lot over the last few years. Something like 60% of trans fems report dissatisfaction with their voice after transition. Read a study on that a while ago. A lot of trans fems just cope. It’s worth trying training first, but surgery also exists and is worth looking into.
You can totally do it! It takes a lot of practice and dedication, and yes, you are going to sound off at first but that’s normal.
I suspect the reason your voice didn’t sound as feminine as you wanted is because you need to brighten your resonance more. Even with a deep pitch, a bright resonance will make your voice sound noticably more feminine.
The other thing it could be is perhaps your voice was too breathy, because it’s not natural sounding and it’s an easy mistake to make. I even made that mistake myself when I started out.
I’ve been trying for years, and while it does sound different than before I know it will probably never pass. Many people have said it does to be nice, and while I appreciate them trying to make me feel better, passing or not passing is a serious problem for me. I did use voice test apps, and sent samples of my “fem voice” to voice training communities without telling them my gender first and they said it sounded masculine. Plus I can’t do the different voice too long before I get tired but if I don’t even pass with it, what’s the point?