Live monitor
Pitch — fundamental frequency
Hz value of the lowest tone in your voice. Pitch and resonance are independent: a low-pitched voice can sound feminine if resonance is forward, and a high-pitched voice can still sound masculine without it.
How to use:
- Hold a vowel — the line should stay flat. Wavering = breath or laryngeal tension.
- Glides should trace a smooth curve, not jagged jumps.
- For most trans-femme targets, aim for steady pitch in 165–220 Hz while the spectrogram shows feminine resonance.
Zones: 85–155 typical masc · 155–185 androgynous · 185–255 typical fem · 255+ high fem.
Spectrogram — vocal-tract resonance
How to read it: X axis is time (newest on the right). Y axis is frequency (0 Hz at bottom, 5 kHz at top). Brightness = how much energy that frequency has right now.
Vertical streaks vs horizontal bands:
- Vertical streaks = transient sounds: consonants (T, P, K, S, SH) light up many frequencies for an instant. Normal in speech.
- Horizontal bands = formants. They only appear clearly when you hold a vowel for ~2 seconds — sustained resonance forms steady bright lines.
- The faint gridlines at 1k/2k/3k/4k are reference markers, not your formants.
F1 and F2 — the articulation formants:
- F1 (~270–900 Hz): mouth opening / jaw drop. Low for "ee/oo", high for "ah".
- F2 (~1500–2700 Hz): tongue front-back position. The key formant for feminine resonance. Higher F2 = brighter, more forward sound.
F3, F4, F5 — the anatomy formants:
- F3 (~2700–3500 Hz): often clusters with F2 on "ee" (only ~600 Hz apart) and reads as a single thicker band. Moves a bit with lip rounding and tongue tip.
- F4 (~3400–4000 Hz): determined by your vocal-tract length, not articulation. Often weaker than F2/F3 because the glottal source falls ~12 dB/octave — there's just less energy up there to begin with.
- F5 (~4400–5000 Hz): surprisingly often visible because it lands on a strong pharyngeal resonance. The "ring" of a voice lives in F3–F5.
Why some show up clearly and others don't: The vocal tract has a resonance roughly every 1000 Hz. Your voice's harmonics (multiples of pitch) only get amplified where they happen to coincide with a formant peak — so if a harmonic lands close to F4, it lights up; if not, F4 looks faint. F4/F5 also have less raw energy due to the source spectrum's natural rolloff, so they can look dim even when present.
What moves them: F1/F2 respond to articulation (tongue/jaw — fast to change). F3–F5 respond to vocal-tract length and larynx height. Slight larynx raising (NG-feel) shortens the tract and shifts the whole F3–F5 cluster up. This is the "next-level" feminization beyond just F2 work.
How to practice:
- Hold a long "eee" — look for F1 low (~300 Hz) and a thick F2/F3 band (~2200–3000 Hz).
- Hold a long "ahh" — F1 and F2 sit closer together, both lower.
- Tongue forward and high → F2 rises.
- Slight smile / smaller mouth opening → bands brighten.
- Gentle larynx lift (think "ng" or playful "kitty cat" voice) → F3–F5 cluster shifts up bodily.
- Yawn-shape / large pharynx → everything sinks. Avoid.
Brightness — spectral tilt
Smoothed ratio of energy above 1000 Hz to total energy. A real-time biofeedback gauge for forward, feminine resonance.
Zones:
- 0–25 darker — chesty, masculine placement.
- 25–45 balanced — androgynous middle ground.
- 45+ bright/forward — feminine placement.
How to push it up:
- Tongue forward, tip near lower teeth.
- Slight smile — narrows the mouth, raises F2.
- Lift the back of the tongue toward the soft palate.
- Avoid yawn-shape; that drops everything.
Weight (Breathiness)
Measures how pressed vs breathy your voice is using the Harmonic-to-Noise Ratio (HNR).
- 0–8 dB breathy — very airy, whisper-like.
- 8–14 dB light — soft, slightly breathy.
- 14–20 dB balanced — clear with warmth.
- 20+ dB pressed — heavy, chesty weight.
How to lighten weight:
- Add a tiny /h/ onset to vowels.
- Think "sigh" quality — let air leak through gently.
- Relax false vocal folds (no squeeze).
- Aim for 10–16 dB for a feminine-coded weight.