Voice...

[Guest Seth]

Ok, so if MTFs can feminize their voices, could FTMs deepen their voice without hormones?

[Guest Draik]

Well there is this video on youtube called booming your voice and it is supposed to work well from what i've read in like comments and stuff.

[Guest raydub]

You rock. Thanks.. i think i'll give 'er a try.

Ive been singing in all the low parts of songs, etc lately...i suppose we'll see.

Ray

[Guest harvester52]

I am living proof that this can be done. Granted, my method was NOT the "boom your voice" thing. I was told by a choir teacher when I was in seventh grade that if you work your higher register, it will increase your lower register because it stretches your vocal chords. So, I did it and years of stretching my voice have led to this (check the video.)

[Guest GoldenKirbichu]

I have a naturally deep voice, which got deeper on the limited amount of T my body produces.

I've never tried to do exercises of any kind. I might though, now.

I honestly cannot sing in a feminine voice at all.

[Guest Nicodeme]

I've heard that if you drink a little bit of milk before going to bed, the mucus buildup in combination with your vocal cords being relaxed will give you a pretty good, low morning voice. I'll have to try the "booming" technique and stretching my cords with my higher range (though that second one's going to be hard to make myself do :/) but I wanted to throw in what I had on hand that might help.

Honestly, pitch is not the most important part of masculinizing your voice. Intonation (the up-and-down pattern of your voice) will have the most bearing on whether your voice is more masculine or feminine. It's hard to find the difference on your own, but side-by-side there's a huge difference between a 'male' voice and a 'female' voice...and even the stereotypical 'gay male' voice and a 'female' voice. If I hear a person talk, unless they're practically a bass, I won't register it as anything but female if they have a female intonation. The same applies the other way around; if I hear someone speaking at a high pitch, unless it's ridiculously high up in the soprano range, I won't register it as anything but male if that person has a male intonation (including that 'gay' intonation.)

Luckily there's a little more flexibility for you as guys because the female range of up-and-down in pitch and tone is a little hard to shake off, but it's fairly restricted in my experience. (Though generally the less female you sound, the better, because people have a tendency to assume that someone is female if they're unsure.)

I'm sure most of you already know this or do this (but for the benefit of newer guys--or even female-bodied androgynes who want to pass every so often--I'll bring it up anyway) but if you try to limit your variation to one pitch per normal syllable (and avoid doing those little slides) and drop your pitch slightly at the ends of sentences it will dramatically change the way your voice sounds. I started teaching myself to do that a few months ago and when I listen to old recordings of how my voice used to be I can't believe it's me! (If it's okay with the mods, and if anyone's interested, I'll upload before and after clips, and I'd definitely be down for hearing other before and after soundclips/videos than just the ones posted here.)

I found a PDF a while ago that explains it REALLY well:

http://notrevieenpourpre.webs.com/guidelines-speech.pdf

Pages 9 through 11 are probably the most useful parts of the document.

I hope that helps any! :]

[Guest Quinn]

(If it's okay with the mods, and if anyone's interested, I'll upload before and after clips, and I'd definitely be down for hearing other before and after soundclips/videos than just the ones posted here.)

I'd definitely be interested in hearing this, honestly. I think my voice tends to be what really "makes it or breaks it" in terms of passing for me, that along with my height probably.

But yeah, I'd definitely like to hear the clips.

[Guest Nicodeme]

I'd definitely be interested in hearing this, honestly. I think my voice tends to be what really "makes it or breaks it" in terms of passing for me, that along with my height probably.

But yeah, I'd definitely like to hear the clips.

Done and done, good sir!

http://notrevieenpourpre.webs.com/DIY%20vo...and%20after.mp3

I still have a long way to go as far as pitch 'cause I'm mezzo-soprano (pushing contralto) but I'm pleased with how far intonation changes have brought me.

(Though I gotta hand it to my brother, he was a huge help.)

[Guest Vinny100]

i wish my voice could get lower ... i think i might end up staying with this little boys voice that never matured

[Flint]

My voice FAILS!

lol

I keep trying to 'train' it but it only last an hour then it goes back to normal......lol

[Guest My_Genesis]

I am living proof that this can be done. Granted, my method was NOT the "boom your voice" thing. I was told by a choir teacher when I was in seventh grade that if you work your higher register, it will increase your lower register because it stretches your vocal chords. So, I did it and years of stretching my voice have led to this (check the video.)

I wish I could do that.... even when you were singing to the female one to me you sounded like a guy trying to sound like a girl lol.

I can't even sing right now, though. My MtF (pre-transition and often goes by 'he'...) friend in college, we were studying for our finals together in his room about a week ago and I was playing my music and singing to it (fooling around with it mostly but still..) he said I sound like a cat being murdered and castrated at the same time So yeah I'm not good at singing haha...so it would be nice if I could expand my range anyway. He's also said I have a pretty androgynous voice and that it's deep for a girl... I can sing along to more male than female-sung songs, often if it's a female singer I'll have to drop an octave to be able to sing with it... but with male singers they will go too low for me sometimes too.

But yeah, just learning how to sing would probably be a good start with vocal chord stretching, lol.

[Guest Otto]

For my young age, i really have a deep voice, I really impress sometimes, i sound like my 17 year old Friend xD

[Guest Neuro]

XD my voice is dreadful. It kind of sounds like pre-pubescent Rupert Grint, only moar nasal.

By singing practice, though, it is getting better. And focusing less on my head or nose when I talk, and more on my chest. It's weird, but it helps. I am sure there are ways to help it better, but they do require time and dedication.

[Guest scooby]

hi Seth-

i had a really awful squeeky voice and i was told to try to speak from deeper down in the chest[if this makes sense]-

i tried this and couldnt do it-but maybe youll be able to!

scooby

[Guest Zane]

I have always been able to sing exceptionally high, higher then the F# in defying gravity (if any of you have heard of that)

My voice is now so naturally low now my mother mistakes my voice for my older brother

So booming and stretching will work if you just practice

[Guest Caden93]

I have a naturally higher female voice, and have always been a bit of a singer, but I can only sing in the mid-range...

and i have no idea how to get my voice to stay lower without sounding like i'm faking or something.. i'm pre-everything, and haven't started T yet, so like i said, my voice is naturally pretty high..

[Guest lukas64]

Something that helped me was singing to very bass-y songs and recording it to see how close I cold to matching their pitch and intonations. It's gotten a lot better, so I guess it works..

[Guest aleon515]

There are exercises you can do. I can't do them as I got voice strain almost immediately. You still need to be careful.

One of them is doing the repetitions-- ding dong, bing bong, king kong and holding onto the ng. Put those into google and you should find it.

As someone mentioned though there is more to a masculine voice than pitch. I would be at a total loss explaining that part or if you can do anyhting about that one.

--Jay Jay

[Guest DanD]

as one mentioned in here, the intonation of the voice can be male or female too. lot of FTM sites and even the MTF sites mention voice training and voice patterns. that men tend to be more monotone and even, and less umm articulate.

however, i recall a Mike Douglas show (it was a talk show) where he had as guest a star named Linda Carter (she was Wonder Woman on TV series). She said that she had almost lost her voice, as a result of damaging her vocal cords..

apparently she used to speak too deep and didnt breathe right when she spoke, so after they did surgery on her throat, later she had PT training in how to speak properly, and how to breathe better as she spoke, and so she demontrated, was not a very extremely noticable difference but, she was not harming her vocal cords anymore. she could have got to a point where she had no voice left at all, so you should probably be aware of these things.

However, anyone who ever sang at school or took lessons knows, you can extend the range of your voice (in pitch) by doing vocal excercises.. that la la la la la la laaa thing you do going thru a scale, etc.

mannerisms are a big giveaway, and the way you say the things you say are big giveaway too, about your gender.

men arent chicken to look you right in the eye, but girls tend to be. pay attention to the way they speak, and act when they talk. brad pitt has a very boyish face, its not that macho, his voice isnt actually very deep and he useually mumbles or whispers.. but he tries to throw in alot ot teenage youngman/boy mannerisms. If you ever watch him and then watch James Dean in an old movie, youd probably notice he copies Deans moves, alot of the time. But Deans voice was more expressive, but not in a soft or feminine way. no whispering tones like Pitt.

yeah movie stars, watch their moves and words, they emminate either man or boy or woman or girl in their words and tones and body language. If you notice you say or do something a certain way and it always gets a "ma'am" from the clerk or waitress, then dont do that anymore.

[Guest 101remington7]

I have a natural low voice so I did not really have any troubles with it. But I think the best tip I can give you is just try speeking in a lower voice. Do the awkward man voice. After awhile it will deepen

[Guest Stale]

This is something I've been trying on and off for most of this year. I've always considered my female voice to be 'dull and monotone' and definitely not a typical female voice that any girls that I knew had, but it lacks the depth of a guy's which bothers me, I guess it needs more edge, or to go that bit deeper.

I've had slight improvements with "Boom your Voice", and lately even humming and then talking immediately afterwards because it's sets a 'sound' for speech to follow through with, but obviously not very practical. I don't really have anyone to practice with or ask anybodies opinion so it's all my own assessment so far.