| How to Talk With a Deeper Voice Feb 19th 2013, 08:00 Listen to yourself... and learn to vary and control your sound. Have you ever wanted to speak with a well rounded, deeper voice? Many radio announcers, voice over artists and public speakers have such voices because they command attention while at the same time suggest gentle authority. And if you're male, you might be interested to learn that many women tend to subconsciously associate men who have deep voices with increased attractiveness, fitness and strength.[1] If you have a higher pitched voice or if you'd simply like to extend the depth and range of your voice for an acting or voice over role, it is possible to do. Whatever the reason, speaking in a natural sounding, deeper voice is not as hard as it might seem. Train your own voice by following the steps in this article. Discovering how you sound now - Listen to yourself to understand better how you sound now. Knowing your voice pitch well will help you to control its volume and to make a conscious effort to shift it to deeper pitches. You can listen to yourself attentively as you speak in front of a mirror, you can record your voice on the computer, a portable recording device or a tape recorder and play it back. Some devices will sound truer than others, so try to find good quality recording gear. Be sure to choose somewhere quiet to record your voice, to avoid interference from other sounds or people talking.
Dictaphones or lecture recording devices are useful for hearing your voice. - Cup a hand behind your ear to help hear yourself.
- In private, try facing very closely into a corner (for better acoustics) to hear yourself more clearly, in natural voice and practice your variations.
- Have fun paying attention to your tone of voice. Is it too airy, shallow, high, shrill or whiny? Is it somewhat deep but not quite there yet?
Lauren Bacall had a renowned deep voice. - Are you male or female? Most females will naturally find speaking more deeply harder but it's not impossible, just different. Think of the husky tones of actors like Lauren Bacall, Anne Bancroft, Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Beals as some of the deeper voiced female examples.[2]
Improving your capacity to change voice tone - Relax your throat. When you try to speak in different tones that are lower than your usual voice, your voice is less likely to crack. Aim to relax your throat as much as possible, so that you do not tighten or tense your voice.
Relax your throat as best you can. - Moisten your your voice box (larynx) and keep it sounding clear by working up a little extra saliva occasionally and swallowing.
- Drink warm water or warm weak tea before practicing. Warm tea or water will help relax the muscles of the throat and voice box (larynx). On the other hand, cold water will cause tightening of the vocal cords.[3]
Keep the tea warm and weak. - Breathe naturally. Breathe rather deeply to fill your lungs and improve breath control, taking your breath from the diaphragm. Avoid taking short, shallow breaths (and definitely avoid hyperventilating).
This diagram shows the depth of your diaphragm––seek to breathe from here! - Your posture is important for achieving a good speaking voice. Standing with good posture opens up your diaphragm to allow the air more space to move freely and helps you speak more clearly. Check your posture in front of the mirror to see if it's okay or needs improvement. Watch yourself speaking in both your usual and your desired deep voice change, to see if you can improve the sound by improving your posture.
Training your deeper voice - Open your mouth quite naturally, in order to speak normally. Do not purse, cup or shape your lips or cheeks (unless you want to make odd sounds).
- Avoid speaking with a guttural (growl), rattle or raspy (rough) sound, as much as you can. Doing any of these sounds can damage your voice; however, if these sounds persist despite trying, you may be suffering some type of permanent complication, such as from strep-throat, too much screaming at sports, scars, or even precancerous polyps. It would be very prudent to see a doctor if having a raspy voice is a continually present condition, as it could be a symptom of a serious underlying medical condition.
- Avoid making totally or mostly nasal tones. For example, something like a buzzing in your nasal passages (the infamous Willie Nelson, country voice). Talking with either a more nasal tone (less chesty) or less nasal (more chesty) requires persistence, because you have to find and decide how you want to sound––and to make it a habit or your "new-usual" tone.
- Avoid using an overly airy, soft, smooth, too hollow-resonance or echo-like sound that you can feel in your chest (called a chest voice). Only use these sounds if you want a completely covered, no-nasal-at-all and a "woo-woo" voice (baritone (men)/contralto (women)).
- Cultivate your lower voice and get more volume in the low registers.
- Hum deeply from your throat, with your lips parted and your chin pointed down toward your chest, to warm up your voice.
- Raise your chin slowly while humming and then begin speaking directly from that humming voice so that it sounds from that deeper tone.
- Add a pleasant, small amount of nasal tone for a stronger sound.
- Work on both lower and higher tones, plus more and less nasal, more and less chest-voice, as well as your usual tones to learn to control your voice modulations. This is very similar to practicing musical voice-tones but not a "sing-song" voicing; namely, you're not actually singing.
- Practice projecting your speaking voice. Learn to talk so that you hear your voice out in front of yourself. Don't hold you stomach in while learning this. Breathe from your diaphragm; you should feel breathing not only in your chest, but also as if air is moving your upper abdomen, stomach area and pushing your lower chest upwards and away from your body.
- Speak deliberately. Voice your syllables somewhat slowly, so as to purposely not fall back into your previous habit of using a higher speaking tone.
Checking on and maintaining your voice progress - Record your new voice with a good mic. Play it back with good speakers or earphones (with good bass capability) to hear how you sound. Check recordings to know how you sound in conversation with other persons to compare your new voice to see whether the recording sounds natural or not when heard by other people.
Actors and voice over artists get to hear a range of voice pitch and tones back after recording their voices. This helps them to change as needed. - Note: If others sound like themselves on the recordings, then expect that what you hear actually does sound like yourself, desired or not. Work on it!
Yes, practice speaking more deeply, without baying or howling, at least not normally!
- Practice changing gradually. Avoid making harsh or hard, efforts to change your voice, so as to prevent any straining of the vocal cords. At the start, only work your voice out for short periods of time, and do so only a couple of semitones below your normal pitch. Over time, carefully lower your practice pitch, and allow yourself extra time.
- Experiment with your deeper voice. Work on it. Do it over and over, that is, practice it many times, not only a couple tries. Have fun and experiment with friends and family to see how they react (they're more likely to be forgiving). Try funny voices and odd tones to learn better control. And keep aiming to ensure that your voice sounds as you prefer it.
- Be as natural as possible. Don't be embarrassed, if you sound differently from what you would like, even after trying extensively.
- Maintain your sound: not too loud, airy, loose, tight or nasal. Extreme nasality should be controlled and used as you like for effect (such as character or cartoon voices for fun or profit).
- If can afford it, you might like to try a few speech or voice lessons. If so, talk to a speech or singing-voice teacher to see what one may suggest and the costs involved. If you decide to ask for voice training help, don't be too touchy or sensitive about their comments; simply allow the other person to explain honestly––without embarrassment––what they think that they can achieve with your voice.
- Practice using a deeper voice on the phone to see if your friends recognize you.
- Expect to be able to control your different tones to the needed extent, without sounding fake or put-on. For example, if you're an actor, you may find the need to squeal, speak with a high pitched voice or adopt a whining tone for cartoons, a particular role or for emphasis. The ability to change between pitch can be very useful in this case.
Edit Warnings - Do not strain your voice by forcing sounds that are uncomfortable. Always be better safe than sorry in how you practice.
- If you are a tenor, do not strain or try to change your natural voice. A tenor voice is great; keep it that way––healthy and strong.
- Avoid speaking in hard, rough tones, or harshly clearing your throat. That can injure your voice, over time.
- Do not use lemon juice or other strippers. Your voice cannot be replaced if harmed and abused beyond repair.
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