Trans Voice Help

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Hi! This community exists as a place for trans people of all genders (or gender fluidity, or non-binary etc.) to help them overcome the challenges of being able to speak normally as their preferred gender. Upload audio clips, screenshots from analyzers, or what ever you feel like in order to get feedback and help perfected the voice you have into a state where you are comfortable.

Rules

These are going to be fairly open, since I trust that most posts here are seeking genuine help.

No shaming. This should be obvious. People are looking for help and advice here.
Absolutely no transphobic rhetoric will be tolerated. One warning (with a timeout), then a ban.
If you post an audio file, keep it SFW. We don't need to hear that stuff.
Keep criticisms pertinent and overall kind. Part of this whole thing is practice. We shouldn't expect immediate improvement.
This is a zero politics zone. If you bring them up, goodbye.
No slurs (I hate that I feel this is necessary)
If you have negative feedback, do so in a constructively respectful manner while remembering that this kind of thing is a journey and can't be immediate.
This being the internet, help with voice mod stuff is encouraged. It can make a huge difference for someone with voice dysphoria if others hear them they way they wish to sound.
These rules are not necessarily exhaustive, and if you are generally a jerk or toll, expect a ban

Welcome! As I find them, I will be linking resources in this sidebar.

Resources

A good, free place to upload clips.
An Omega level resource

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

jawa21@lemmy.blahaj.zone

what are you currently working on? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 1 week ago by dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/trans_voice_help@lemmy.blahaj.zone

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Was just wondering what aspects of your voice you're currently working on?

My issue is mostly that I drop my pitch a bit too low, which invites a heavier weight and sounds too masculine to my ears.

How about you?

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[–] kivihiili@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

my approach initially was to treat it like pronouncing words in a foreign language/putting on an accent. the neat trick about this is that i've already done that, so all of a sudden it became a lot easier. even if one has never learned a second language, the mindset may make concepts involved with voice training seem a little more manageable.

i love the idea of using a vowel chart though! i've had a fair amount of experience with phonology, and i've noticed so much material i read on transgender voice training assumes the reader has an intuition for vowel formation—the most prominent example i see of this is stuff saying "mask the sound with /i/" (what you said with "'e'-ifying). such a chart would absolutely be helpful in demonstrating how this actually works, and more importantly that the idea refers to tongue position, and not /i/ (e as in eel) just being "higher pitch". one can of course say "just move your tongue forward", but thats a hard instruction to follow without gobs of context and explanation, and is near useless for truly understanding how it feminizes the voice.

if it sounds like i'm making an education curriculum, i pretty much have been! while my first approach was learning it like a foreign language, my approach now is to study and write about it as though i'm going to teach about it. i personally find that the best way for me to learn, but of course people differ :)

[–] dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 week ago

yes, I think the framing of treating it like an accent is much easier to learn and integrate - I think the vowel chart and anatomy discussion mostly misleads students, it's just not how we know how to alter and make sounds. Instead, mostly we are good at mimicry, and treating vocal feminization like voice acting or like learning an accent or a foreign language is much more appropriate. Still, it is really hard to teach someone an accent over text, which is why I think so much vocal feminization resources and lessons are overly focused on explaining anatomy, vowel formants, etc. rather than demonstrating through sound and videos.

This is why I think voice training is mostly an in-person exercise, I think it was important for me to have someone to visually watch and mimic, and also for them to be able to watch me and correct when I was making a major beginner mistake (like root tongue tension, or tightening neck muscles and my vocal folds too much, etc.). It was also helpful for getting immediate feedback on when I was mimicking or demonstrating something correctly vs not.