Do you voice mod?

[Trinity]

Do you mod your voice?

I have a radio audition tonight to record, very short, announcer's position, unpaid.   It'll be deep, rich tones, gendered unmistakably male.  Interesting that I get to go after that, the producer only knows me as sh'e.  But, I don't mod in that particular environment where I met him.  So he is reacting to his ear, not his eyes.

I normally don't mod, but if stealth female and in public where it can be dangerous, I often do.

Do you mod?

[Leena]

I've been working on it quite a lot, though it still needs some work. I can get it into feminine range fairly easy, though I sometimes dip into androgynous range, or even masculine range by the end of a long sentence.

Bigger issue though is that people often don't understand what I'm saying. Also, I seem to have much more of a southern accent when I use my feminine voice, which might be part of the problem with people here not understanding what I'm saying.

[Trinity]

Dec 18, 2019 9:33:42 GMT 8 Leena said:

I've been working on it quite a lot, though it still needs some work. I can get it into feminine range fairly easy, though I sometimes dip into androgynous range, or even masculine range by the end of a long sentence.

Bigger issue though is that people often don't understand what I'm saying. Also, I seem to have much more of a southern accent when I use my feminine voice, which might be part of the problem with people here not understanding what I'm saying.

Valerie on this board has an amazing female voice mod.  Enough that my wife overheard it and got very jealous, thought I was cheating.

I have another friend who nails it spot on, up in Jacksonville.  But for fun she dropped her voice and it was astounding.

Personally I can't do that.  Mine is a whisky voice, raspy, sexy low.

[Iona]

If the question is 'Do I?' the answer is strictly speaking, no. But I am beginning to try it out.

My default voice is very low. I'm not sure that that's any more 'natural' than a more modulated voice would be, but I've never really tried to train my voice in any way.

I feel if anything this low rumble of a mumble I tend to resort to is a function of a fear of being heard. To make sure people only hear me if they want to, if they try.

It almost therefore feels like very much not my natural voice.

I would like to find a more ambiguous voice. One that will be heard.

So I'm seeing what my voice can do, in the privacy of my home just now. We'll see where it goes.

[Von]

Sometimes; If I'm strictly out fem, I don't restrain my high customer service "phone" voice, you know? the polite one. Like at a restaurant. But anywhere else, especially if I'm presenting masc, I lower my voice just a bit more than its dropped already to compensate for the polite upswing or giggle. Not that it tends to help, I'm still clocked female everywhere still.

[Leena]

Pitch isn't the only part of voice training. Resonance is pretty important too. You may be in the masculine range on pitch, but still have a bright resonance.

I found this video really helpful:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=21ZfGPp-Ves

[Von]

Dec 19, 2019 5:23:07 GMT 8 Leena said:

Pitch isn't the only part of voice training. Resonance is pretty important too. You may be in the masculine range on pitch, but still have a bright resonance.

I found this video really helpful:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=21ZfGPp-Ves

That WAS informative.  And wow that person has great range. 

Yeah I think my problem is resonance.  I'm loads too bright, I think.  Especially in those slip ups in public. 

I think I'll start practicing on my cats.  Talking to them any which way I feel like doesn't hurt anything.  And they don't judge. 

[Ativan Prescribed]

All the same, there is an overlap between men and women's voices, and resonance is a big part of it.
But if you listen to the voices of people in like movies, you get to see how much closer they are, that ultra feminine voice in a movie or whatever is used for effect, and the voice that a lot of women have falls in that range, I know, but people pay more attention to the lower voices of women and men do not have booming low register voices, I hear the ones who are doing that and I can hear the strain they have maintaining it, men just don't have that lower frequency than an earthquake voice, and the ones that are paid attention to are the ones closer to a woman's voice.
How many times have you been fooled by a voice on the phone or anywhere for that matter.
The sexiest women's voices always are the ones that are low and silky smooth, and the same goes for men except in slightly higher register, one of the things that always works no matter who you are is to have the breathy voice.
Just use a little more air than usual and watch people reactions, not the out of breath breathy, but think of the way that news people sound, there is a lot to how they speak that keeps peoples attention and yet they are fully recognizable, but for some, if you didn't know to begin with...
If you want to figure out how to sound, then record your voice not during times when practising, but otherwise, like yelling at the damn cats to get off the counter, or the kids, or the neighbors, they sometimes do that maybe, sorta kinda, but you get the idea.
Phones are pretty good and you know how to listen to them, but a good mic and headphones is way better and if you really want to get into it, there are fairly cheap ways to record voices, but remember that it isn't so much you voice but everyones and how well you blend with them, there is the easy to spot strained voice and if it isn't within the middle sorta ranges, it makes it very noticeable, like the booming male voice that is almost certainly fake, as well as the squeaky high voices women can have that are up there with making the neighbors dogs howl.
And then there is the way men say words and the way women say the same word in the same situation, not to mention there are different words used more for each.
Sounds like a lot but it is more a practised thing to get close, it doesn't have to be right there here most people think a woman's voice is or man's voice is, there is a difference, but not that much, not as much as people think there is.
once you get comfortable enough, then doing it all the time is the way it becomes less strained, more natural, and you can always be refining it, but the best way to do it is to record yourself, and practice.