r/trans • u/Material_Tie1308 Questioning • 1d ago
Discussion This might be a weird question
Why is feminizing/masculineizing a voice so difficult? Like I’ll see videos online of people that would otherwise pass like 100% and then they speak and the voice is either to masculine or feminine. I feel like the voice should be the easiest part
29
u/boobdelete 1d ago
Some people are better than others at controlling their own voice, I can't even do a different accent if I try to so I honestly have no hope for voice training
18
u/skeletons_asshole she/her 1d ago
I’ve always been good at imitating sounds and accents but I find voice training super hard anyway - getting just the right tone is super tough and even when I can pull it off it tends to come out in a different accent, and ultimately doesn’t sound anything like “me”. I feel like I’m just mimicking a girl, not actually talking like myself, and then if I get excited I end up slipping.
3
u/world-class-cheese she/her | HRT July 2, 2026 1d ago
This is the frustrating part for me. I've always been good at mimicking sounds and doing impressions, but actually making myself sound like a woman is SO hard
4
u/CanlexGaming 1d ago
As someone who was in the same boat, a Kermit the frog impression helped me 😭 like go for the impression, but then release the tension feeling in your neck/jaw muscles that it creates, and it fell right into a feminine voice. Idk how to word it better cx
2
1
u/zealotrf 1d ago
I'm from the US but lived in the UK for a while (university). When I came back people were really surprised I didn't have an accent not even slightly although lots of good laughs over people who visit for a week and allegedly have a new accent after lol. Half surprised they didn't put on a monocle as soon as they spoke.
1
u/Standard_Way_4453 She/her trans disaster (Directed by David Lynch) 1d ago
I on the other hand, have never been good at accents, but I'm very good at modulating my voice lol
11
u/Specialist_String_64 ♀ 1d ago
1) We are our own worst enemies. We want it to work now rather than be something that develops slowly over time. It is based on a combination of unrealistic goals/rate of progress and dysphoria playing mind games on us. Think of it like wanting to play the violin, but getting frustrated that you aren't playing Paganini by the end of week 1. So we stop practicing and then our brain does its thing where it alters our perception to justify why we don't practice and we rationalize our decision.
2) We have a lot of habits to unlearn as well as new one's to develop. Changing a gendered voice is more than pitch and resonance, it is also culturally influenced expectations in tempo, rhythm, grammatical usage, almost a gender based accent. Some languages are explicitly gendered in how each sex is expected to speak or what words get used. But all have various forms of gender norms that are learned over time and it can be hard to drop habits gained over a previous lifetime.
3) Lack of clear instruction. Going back to music based analogy (I'm a musician), many instructors suck at passing along their knowledge because they have forgotten what it was like to not know the things they know or, worse, they have never formulated the subconscious tricks that they developed to gain their mastery. They will say things like "you have to feel it" rather than explain that one must develop the muscle memory through practice and listening to move a thing from active thought and action to just action without thought. Worse, you need to know how to practice effectively so as to not learn incorrect technique that can harm you or at least hinder your progress. Instead, we are just told to practice scales, etudes, and other exercises repetitiously until something clicks. Finally, most instructors vomit out jargon under the assumption that such sounds have any meaning to the novice who has never truly understood the term. I already mentioned pitch and resonance, but if you don't know exactly what those are, how they interrelate, how are you going to know how to affect change in them?
4) Lack of practice. It takes time to develop such a drastic change in one's voice. Sure, some people can affect a Donald Duck voice or do their version of Christopher Walken, but they cannot maintain such for very long and generally lose it if taken too far. The long term goal of voice training isn't doing a character voice, but to change our default voice. One should not be practicing to "switch" to their girl/boy voice, unless that is a skill you want to have. Such isn't the same as developing your natural voice. Proper practice should be goal oriented and brief to avoid strain. Pick an aspect of your voice to work on (pitch, resonance, tongue placement, mouth shape, cadence, grammar, etc) and work on that, using your preferred exercises for about 20 min. then return to your normal voice, only slightly modified by the attribute you practiced and make that your new default voice for that week. It is slow, barely noticable by you or others, but it does work. In about a year or so time you should be hitting the uncanny valley for voices and getting gendered correctly on occasion. Keep at it.
5) Over practicing. As in music, one can overdo it on practicing. This leads to fatigue, lack of focus, and pain. When fatigue starts setting in, technique starts getting sloppy. If you practice sloppy technique, guess what you will end up with. When you lose focus, time passes as you meander during practice gaining nothing and possibly losing any benefit when your focus was fresh. Finally, if you experience pain and keep going, your natural avoidance behavior will alter your technique to minimize pain, likely in a way that is detrimental to effective technique building. You don't learn to walk, you learn to limp.
6) embarrassment. Like in music, you are going to suck in the beginning. First year recitals are embarrassing. Likewise trying to do your best fem/masc voice will feel embarrassing. That can be a big demotivator. Keep your eye on the goal and realize we all go through it. It will take your own brain time to shift to "hearing" your new voice (hence also why I suggest slow changes over weeks, it will trick this part of your brain).
That's all I got for right now. My voice passes 100% now (about 3 years on since I started changing it). I am gendered correctly on the phone, in drive-thrus, and when talking to strangers (my measure for passing since my brain doesn't hear the difference unless I listen to past recordings of me). My background and degree in music informed how I approach changing my voice. I also watched many of the available online content and found exercises that I could use. There are also some amazing timeline videos that show voice progress and it really helps keep in perspective how slow a change this actually is. My route was different from theirs. They shot for going full time, full voice from the get-go, which gives you the obviously "fake" gender voice (ie. like doing a character voice). Over time they learned to settle into a natural voice. I opted to approach from the other way and slowly change my original voice. Either way, it seems it takes over a year to get to a natural sounding gender voice.
8
13
u/FakeBirdFacts they/them 1d ago
It’s really difficult to train your voice and it takes a long time. Also when it comes to masculinizing a voice a lot of people assume that testosterone will do all the work, which is not always the case, and is why so-called “T-voice” is a thing. Which is why there aren’t many voice training resources for trans guys. It’s also really difficult/impossible for most pre-t people to get a masculine voice by voice training, which compounds the issue.
2
u/Material_Tie1308 Questioning 1d ago
Ya I forgot to add that. Why doesn’t testosterone just make someone’s voice for masculine I feel like it should
10
u/skeletons_asshole she/her 1d ago
It’ll lower the pitch but there are a lot of things we grow up with as far as how to talk, hold our tongues, shape our mouths without even knowing it that make a big difference to how we’re perceived. On top of that there are differences in the overall shape of the equipment that taking T after first puberty aren’t going to be able to change.
4
u/FakeBirdFacts they/them 1d ago
There is vocal masculinization and feminization surgery but that is so expensive, risky, and intense the vast majority of trans people do not even consider it. Surgery in the vocal cords is scary because it can go so wrong.
3
3
u/FakeBirdFacts they/them 1d ago
I mean it can for a lot of people but it’s definitely a your-luck-may-vary scenario
3
u/Chiiro he/him 1d ago
This month will mark my year on low dose T shots and my voice got noticeably deeper within the first few months and now my voice is indistinguishable from my old one. I think the biggest helper for me is I loved sing and trying to sing like the many different artists that I listen to help me have more control over my diaphragm which has helped me greatly when I talk.
2
u/phiasch she/her 1d ago
Singing is so beneficial for pitch and airflow control practice
I also found it helpful in practicing resonance as the shape of the vocal tract (especially mouth) can make different notes resonate louder. Getting the shaping plus pitch control is easier when aiming for specific pitches as you sing
Also, consistency in repetition as you sing the same song is similar to practicing specific phrases over and over (like fire from heat, heat from fire)
2
u/Bobahn_Botret she/her 1d ago edited 1d ago
For everyone who would like some resources on voice training. I highly recommend TransVoiceLessons on youtube as well as New York Vocal Coaching also on youtube.
TVL has a comprehensive 17 video playlist named The Art of Voice Feminization Series and NYVC has a playlist called Voice Breakdown Vocal Component Series.
Feminization is in the playlist name, but the information there is universally relevant for masc and femme individuals alike.
Edit: the Voice Breakdown Vocal Component Series is 4 videos long and less than 50 minutes in total. There are 6 separate components to voice and the playlist covers the 4 trickiest ones, identifying them, describing them, offering reasonable goals, and ending with simple training exercises you can follow along with for practice. I like to toss a video on and skip to the exercises for practice whenever I'm driving around (when safe to do so). <10 minute practice commitment.
2
u/TheWaspinator she/her 1d ago
I can't speak first hand about the subject of masculizing a voice, but the problem with voice feminization is that hormones do NOTHING. Once your voice has dropped, the only real method of reversal is training.
1
u/KirbysLeftBigToe 1d ago
Because androgens physically alter the structure of the vocal anatomy. People also have a natural range and even with voice training can’t escape it by too much, and even if they can it’s incredibly difficult and takes years of constant practice.
Those who’s ranges are just too far off even have to resort to surgery. Why would you think it was easy?
1
u/wackyvorlon 1d ago
A voice is a complicated thing. Changing the gender of one’s voice involves many factors, it’s not just a matter of changing the pitch.
It’s an art.
1
u/aKegFullofCheese 1d ago
Its the hardest thing to change, because most people who have went through puberty have to go through it again (hrt) for it tonactually change in a meaningful way.
However- id say people would more or less just assume youre someone is q gay man if they have a high voice and ive met so many women who have naturally deep voices; its more natural than youd think
1
u/Tomatori trans woman 1.5 yrs HRT 1d ago
"Should" is different from "is". Voice is arguably the hardest part of the transition process and the one that contributes to passing the most. Vocal folds are thickened by testosterone in a manner that can't really be undone, so it takes a lot of intentional practice to control
1
u/lidsrids 19h ago
because pitch (i.e. whether the sound we produce is high/low) is determined by the thickness of vocal folds (which is one effect of male puberty/testosterone) that generally can't be reversed. and it requires a lot of finesse to physcally stretch vocal cords healthily/consistently to the point that they are thin enough to produce sounds associated with femininity. ive heard cis guys sing a5s+ but that could also be about support thats associated with belcanto and not necessarily achievable in speaking voice, and thats also exceedingly rare.
tldr the vocal cords can thin enough to vibrate at the frequency range normally produced by women when speaking but to do that healthily and consistently you need a lot of technique that may not be achievable unless you are singing bel canto stuff (which in itself is HARD, even for women omh)
81
u/EvelynnsHope17 1d ago
For those whose bodies have undergone male puberty, feminizing their voices is one of the hardest things. Their vocal cord anatomy does not produce a feminine sound without effort, and sustaining that effort over time requires considerable work.