As the title says, I ask those who have or are transitioning how long it takes before one's voice starts to change. I am hoping to be a part time voice actor, I have done some voice work on youtube before, have my own series and such, and I am worried among everything else that comes with possibly transitioning how this will affect my voice. Will I loose my ability to change my pitch? Will I no longer be able to go super high? (Which I can make myself sound like a chipmunk sometimes, and I play a stereotypical stupid vapid girl for comedy ). I play more male characters than female, but I am worried that I won't be able to keep playing the female roles I have. Some are higher toned than others, others are bit more refined and deeper to my natural voice. How long until testosterone starts to change one's voice? Or is there also a surgery for deepening the voice if hormones don't change it enough? I am unaware of such things I'm afraid. If there is anyone with knowledge with this kind of stuff, please let me know as it would help put my mind at ease. Thankyou.
Hi. I don't know much about T, but I thought I'd contribute with the little I know. As far as I know, T starts to change your voice fairly quickly, although it will depend on the dosage. It's very possible that those very high tones might become out of reach for you, I think.
Well, I know little about voice changes on testosterone for a trans male. However, in my experience as a cis male, I entered puberty sometime between 12 and 13. My voice was still up in the soprano range until I was 14, and then it dropped into baritone within a few months. By that point I had already grown body hair to some extent and had barely started shaving. I don't know how taking hormones would differ from naturally entering puberty, but assuming they operate on similar timescales you may have to wait well over a year, possibly closer to 2 years, for your voice to change.
Keep in mind I'm not a trans guy, rather the opposite. However, as I'm simply interested in trans issues in general, I've done some research. It would appear most ftm guys notice the voice drop within 6-12 months but it takes longer for some. Also, you need to consider training. Being female biologically, you likely speak like one, too. That means you need to learn to speak more from your chest, using diaphragm in greater degree. Look at videos for singing on YouTube or seems online tutorials for ftm, I believe you will get the same tips about achieving good chest voice; just remember it's not T alone that will give you best results. It's kind of what we mtf folks need to fo, just the other way around (and we don't get hormones' help); mtf needs to learn speaking more in mixed/head register, ftm need to learn more chest voice. It's just how make and female bodies work and training can mitigate a lot. So, T + training is the best option. As for singing and pitch, that's highly individual. I would expect a period of time where your abilities would be hindered just as cis boys experience it - voice cracking and so on, until you reach full vocal cords development. Will you loose high notes? Very likely, but maybe you will be able to reach them in falsetto or countertenor techniques. That is something highly individual. Also, define "super high". I mean, some cis men can get "super high" in quite full sounding voices, higher than many women. There is not such a great pitch difference between men and women in reality.
Thankyou all for the advice and information I'm not totally sure what people mean when they speak from their chest or anything like that. I guess it's just trial and error. Just keep trying different methods to see what results with what. So if i do begin to transition, at least I can train myself to still be divers in my voice.
Hello! Transitioning dude here! I had a lot of the same concerns as you when I started T Yasha, because my singing voice was really important to me (I was a mezzo soprano before T, but am a baritone now) and honestly nothing I found really prepared me for how much T fucks up your voice. Not really in a bad way though. The most important thing I can stress is doing voice exercises. Keep practicing the voices you do, because I made the mistake of taking a break from singing while transitioning and oh man did I not keep anything. Every day try and do the voices you do to try and keep that muscle memory there. Pitch is fine. If you keep up practice, you should be able to go up and down in pitch just as easily as you can now, just the starting place will be lower. The thing that would really potentially mess up your ability to do female voices is just how the sound of a guy's voice is different from a girls. I don't exactly know how to phrase it, but T makes your voice sound just the same as a cis guy's. You can't tell the difference. So honestly just think about how some guys may or may not be able to voice girls in general. That to me seems just like the luck of the draw and just depends on the person. Practice makes perfect though. Also, depending on the person, voice changes start up within the first 2-5 months I'd say. I noticed mine change after about 2 1/2 months, but my brother in law's voice changed within a couple of weeks. There aren't any surgeries for voice stuff, but T is one hell of a drug and will do everything it possibly can to make your voice gruff and deep.
Chest/head voice are not complicated concepts to grasp. Look it up on YouTube, how to sing in chest voice for women for instance (not trying to misgende you, it's simply the kind of throat you have right now) or find ftm voice tips. There is plenty of that on the internet.
Everyone is different. Some people experience huge changes early on, and some don't. Some have big drops in their voice, and some don't. So there's no telling when, or what degree T will affect your voice.
Practicing a feminine voice regularly would probably help to keep it working while your normal voice drops. I remember I could still sing soprano with a bit of effort after my voice dropped; that ability only went away after I left the school chorus.
