Welcome back to the weekly voice thread! This thread will be posted every Friday night here on /r/asktransgender until the community loses interest.

So what is this thread? Simple: it's an attempt to encourage others to work on their voices, by showing the progress others have made on their voices over time. The previous voice thread is below if you're interested in seeing how we've progressed since last week. Feel free to post a voice clip, even if you're just starting out. I know it's something that's not easy or fun to work on at first, but trust me - once you get something that starts to sound good, you're going to get a huge boost in confidence!

If you feel like you're late to the party, don't worry! You can still drop a voice clip even if it's been days since the latest thread was created, and hopefully someone will help you out. Also, feel free to drop more than one voice clip in the same thread!

Previous voice threads:

• #1
• #2
• #3
• #4
• #5
• #6
• #7
• #8
• #9
• #10
• #11
• #12
• #13
• #14
• #15
• #16

Here are some resources for working on your voice:

• http://www.transgendervoice.net/index.html
• http://voice.sngjackie.com/4a.htm
• ExceptionToTheRule's Voice Tutorial
• ExceptionToTheRule's Video Voice Tutorial
• Falsetto vs. Normal Vocal Range: Why you shouldn't use falsetto (by Heliotroper)
• Helio's Tutorial on finding your Head Voice
• Helio's Tutorial on feminine vs. masculine inflection
• Finding Your Female Voice (now hosted on YouTube for free!)
• girloftomorrow's Voice Tutorials on YouTube
• Have other useful resources? Please share them with us!

Websites for recording and hosting sound clips:

• http://www.soundcloud.com (requires registration, but all of your voice clips are saved to your account)
• http://www.vocaroo.com (lower quality but no registration required)

Some tips for working on your voice:

• Stay out of falsetto! Falsetto is only useful in finding your head voice, it's not a very good place to go for finding a voice to speak in. Falsetto is the vocal range above your normal vocal range, and you should feel a "break" in your voice as you transition from your normal vocal range up into falsetto
• Work on your resonance! You should feel no vibrations in your chest when speaking. The target you're looking for is your "head voice"
• To find your head voice, try pushing your larynx (the thing your adam's apple is attached to) up as far as you can, and attempt to "throw" your voice out of the top of your throat instead of your chest. You should feel vibrations in your mouth, teeth, upper throat and maybe even your nose when you're doing it correctly
• Once you get your head voice, take your guy voice up into head voice and you should get something that starts to sound female.
• Talk to yourself in your female voice when no one else is around, so you can build up muscle memory
• Have other tips for us? Please share and I'll add them in!

How to rate others' voices

If you don't know the vocabulary to describe what someone is doing wrong, feel free to simply state how close you think they are to passing. Please be honest and respectful, and don't tell someone they pass when you know they don't so that they don't end up using the wrong voice techniques. There's nothing worse than building confidence in a non-passing voice and then realizing it doesn't pass later on and you wasted your time.

If you are going to post your own voice clip, please help others with their voices as well! The best way to make this a useful thread is for everyone to pitch in :)

ALSO! New chatroom! Join us! http://tinychat.com/freetosmile