Is this hard to achieve?

[Guest laeta_lacrima]

I don't know how else to describe it other than "crackle." I've noticed a lot of people when they speak, at some point will relax their voice, it drops slightly, and this slight crackle occurs. Most men and women I've paid attention to do this, but every voice coach I've heard on youtube doesn't.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about: (30 seconds in).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9FL3cwdhFo#t=0m30s

Her voice "crackles" on "...admit that I was gay", and then again on "I had something to talk to her about". It blows my mind, because I just feel like this would be a very difficult thing to accomplish on purpose. Is it something you have to work on, or does it happen naturally when you get used to your female voice? I have nothing to back it up, but I have a feeling this is an important thing to be able to do in my female voice.

[Charlize]

I don't have a great ear for sounds as you describe but i have seen this couple before and find them very beautiful. I'm afraid i concentrate more on their stories than on the speech patterns. Perhaps that is on reason my voice seems to pass for me. The visual clues and the fact that hopefully people are more tuned into what i'm saying than how i'm saying it helps immensely.

Hugs,

Charlize

[VickySGV]

I am not sure what you mean by "crackle" but what I did hear was female inflection on her words, and that is the result of careful listening to other females around you. I cannot say I spent a lot of time trying to specifically learn to do it, but as you have conversations with women as "one of the mob" it is going to happen. To make a study of it, hit up the local library Theater Arts section and check out a collection of stage play scripts, and read the female parts. One that hits me as a good example is Tennessee Williams "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" that is set in the southeastern U.S. where the male and female voice differences are pretty distinct.

[Guest laeta_lacrima]

I don't have a great ear for sounds as you describe but i have seen this couple before and find them very beautiful. I'm afraid i concentrate more on their stories than on the speech patterns.

Perhaps "rumble" would have been a better word to describe the sound than "crackle." Maybe there's already a word for it that I don't know about.

I'm moved by their stories as well, and I hope you don't think that by listening to Katie's voice I'm ignoring her story, nothing could be further from the truth. I could have easily linked a video of Amy Lee or Otep Shamaya, but I chose Katie because I wanted to share her story at the same time as give an example of the sound I was referring to. Although Amy Lee and Otep Shamaya are inspirational to me (especially Otep), they're less likely than Katie Hill to be equally inspirational to others on this site.

Perhaps that is on reason my voice seems to pass for me. The visual clues and the fact that hopefully people are more tuned into what i'm saying than how i'm saying it helps immensely.

Hugs,

Charlize

I'm not worried about these details because I'm afraid of not passing, I'm just personally bothered by what testosterone has done to my voice and I want to reverse it as best I can for my own sake, not for the sake of the people I talk to. I do the rumble sound in my own speech fairly often, and was just concerned that it would be a chore to maintain it in my female voice because I want my voice to be as close to how I would have spoken had I not gone through male puberty as possible.

[Guest Nicodeme]

The effect you're talking about is vocal fry. It's technically the lowest part of your voice, but the usable range extends to some of the same pitches you'd reach with your chest voice. (For example, my chest voice goes down to D#3, and any lower uses fry voice. But my fry range can go up to I think C4.)

I don't know what your current vocal range is, but if it's on the higher side, it should be easy to add fry to your voice.

Prolonged use of it damages your throat, though.

[Guest laeta_lacrima]

The effect you're talking about is vocal fry. It's technically the lowest part of your voice, but the usable range extends to some of the same pitches you'd reach with your chest voice. (For example, my chest voice goes down to D#3, and any lower uses fry voice. But my fry range can go up to I think C4.)

I don't know what your current vocal range is, but if it's on the higher side, it should be easy to add fry to your voice.

Prolonged use of it damages your throat, though.

Thank you so much! Especially for the warning. I'll be doing a lot of research into this.

[Guest chibi_usa]

The "crackle" that she's talking about. Capital letters=Crackle

When I told her ThAT (0:45 sec)

We were at a very conservative area ANd (2:35)

Ok. I'm tired of doing this. XD LOL! But yes those are the crackles that she meant I believe. Anyways. What can I say.... Practice practice practice

I actually have a LOT of crackles when I talk. O.o"" Just noticed... Listened to my audio that I'm about to post up. Lol!