Is it too late to do something with your voice if you are 22?
It is, well, "inconstant". That is, the speed, the loudness, the pitch tend to vary; sometimes up to the point being slightly uncontrollable (especially loudness; I may pronounce words loudly I intended to pronounce quietly and vice versa). The resulting sound is obviously not very nice, probably rasping and somewhat unclear.
I cannot provide any examples as I have neither the microphone, nor the working jack for it. For better or worse.
I'm sure there are speech therapists that would be happy to sort you out. Failing that, singing or acting classes might even be helpful. Or you could make the most of your weird and wonderful voice and become a parody rapper of the nerdcore variety.
>Is it too late to do something with your voice if you are 22?
No. Actors continue to study and develop their voice throughout their careers. Think of the extraordinary variety of voices used by an actor like Michael Sheen or Daniel Day-Lewis in their various roles. Anyone can learn to control their voice in that manner to a substantial extent.
The key to effective speech (as with singing) is to consciously listen to your own voice. Some sort of recorder is enormously helpful in this task, even if it's just an old cassette deck or a voice recorder app on your phone.
Most people find listening to their own recorded voice to be quite unpleasant and cringeworthy, as it differs so greatly from the voice they hear in their head. Strange as it may seem, this is a good thing - the gulf between your voice as you imagine it and your voice as it actually sounds represents your opportunity to learn and improve.
Choose of a short passage of text and record yourself saying it. Listen back to the recording, focussing on a single aspect at a time. Listen to the pitch - do you speak in a monotone, do the pitches of your words vary at random, or is there a natural and melodic rise and fall? Listen to the enunciation - are your words clear and distinct, or do they blur into a mumble? Listen to the rhythm - did you speak in a rapid gallop or a slow drawl, was the rhythm static like a metronome or did it ebb and flow? Think about your breathing - where did you pause for breath, did your voice become thin towards the end of a phrase due to lack of air, did you breathe deeply from your chest or thinly from the top of your throat?
Now listen to a recording of someone else's voice and repeat the exercise. Try and work out what makes their voice distinctive. What do you like and dislike about their voice? What does each aspect of their voice suggest about their personality? Do this with a few different voices, some that you admire and some that you dislike.
Now try imitating the manner of speaking of a recorded voice. Start with speakers who have a similar accent to yours. Work slowly, just a few words at a time. Try to listen carefully to your own voice as you're speaking. Try to pick apart the voice into its individual elements, thinking in turn about pitch, rhythm, and enunciation.
As you practice these exercises, you should find yourself gaining much more confidence, control and awareness in the use of your voice. By deliberately and consciously practicing the act of speaking, you can start to develop a voice that suits you.
Here are some examples of the (silly but effective) vocal techniques used in theatre:
It may be useful to you, OP, but comedian Kevin Bridges visited a voice therapist on a TV show he done a couple of years ago (What's The Story? I believe it was called). It might be worth checking out just as an interest to the topic.
>>2670 Thanks, though I have no plans to become a rapper (not my cup of tea really).
>>2671 > Think of the extraordinary variety of voices used by an actor like Michael Sheen or Daniel Day-Lewis in their various roles.
You know what, I have just realised that I have never paid much attention to that.
> Most people find listening to their own recorded voice to be quite unpleasant and cringeworthy
Yes, that was probably one of main reasons for this thread. I found out that I sound somewhat like a pretentious cunt, apart from screeching. Not a pleasant discovery indeed but still better than ignorance.
>
Choose of a short passage of text and record yourself saying it
I'll redo this as soon as the chance shows up; the one I did some time before was rather monotone with pitch varying at random sometimes, nowhere near being natural and melodic. I'd say the words were mumbly. The rhythm was more like a gallop than a slow drawl, I am not sure about it being static or not.
Sometimes I manage to utter something that sounds quite good (in my head at least).
I'm older than you OP and I'd love to be able to control my voice as well. On rare occasions, maybe 2-4 days out of every month, my voice acquires a far deeper baritone quality, and I can start singing accurate renditions of Stan Rogers songs and can do a fairly decent Captain Picard impression.
On those rare days, even people I talk to over the phone remark on how different my voice is and how powerful it sounds. I wish I could sound like that all the time.
>>2682 I remember a few occasions of catching a cold and losing my voice completely. At the period of regaining it afterwards it would have more depth and a nicely sounding hoarseness. It was almost a pleasure both from hearing it and actually using it. It didn't last long though.
I have managed to land myself a job where I talk over the phone a lot and have access to the telephone conversations records db. I pored over it a bit and listened to myself. Conclusion, it has somewhat stabilised (it doesn't vary in pitch as much it used to) but it's still shit. Sorta gruff but in a lame way. Not the kind you'd hear from Tony Jay, Keith David or the voice actors of Lincoln Clay or Adam Jensen. My colleagues fare better.
I can affirm now that it most certainly doesn't 'ebb and flow'. It comes forcefully, like trying to push a lorry uphill (no wonder here, I'm not the talker lad). Trying to control it (the voice) helps but only to a small extent.
>>2684 I really hope I'm not the only person here who really loves how their voice sounds after a heavy night with too many rollies. I sound like I could be in a fairly successful 90s grunge band and make all the worn XL plaid shirts I wear look like a deliberate cool fashion choice rather than poverty and rapid 2 year weight loss. It's everything I've ever wanted, but is it really worth this cough and the colour of the sputum I've been hacking up? Yes. Yes it is. I sound like Russell Crowe on steroids and I want to shag myself.
You can learn to safely affect that kind of rough, gravelly voice. You have a second set of vocal chords called the vestibular folds. Normally, you only use them involuntarily when your vocal chords are very fatigued. They're much looser and deeper than the vocal chords, so they produce a deeper and more resonant tone.
You can learn to consciously use them - Tuvan throat singers do it, as do death metal singers and "deep voice" voiceover artists. By learning to use the vestibular folds and effectively use chest resonance, you can produce a phenomenally deep voice without strain.
>>3920 I didn't even notice this reply at first, so thanks >>3923 for the late bump. If I ever quit the fags I'll look into it; fuck it, I might even hire a voice coach. I've love to permanently sound like Bonnie Tyler.
>>2681 >I found out that I sound somewhat like a pretentious cunt, apart from screeching. Not a pleasant discovery indeed but still better than ignorance.
When I speak quietly, my voice goes really deep. Also when I'm drunk enough, girls have told me it goes sexually deep, Barry White style. When I'm tense, however, or if I become animated, it can go high pitched. I've also realised that I mumble and mutter at least 50% of the time. It really is eye opening recording yourself and listening/watching back, I come across as a total gimp sometimes and then at others as Mega Mr Monty Confidanté the Sexy Baritone Sexagram Man. Your body language, posture, tone, choice of words, delivery, timing, and yes, pitch - all these things combine to create an emphasis and provide emotion (or lack of) to your topic or point, or offer an allusion to what else you've got going on behind the eyes. It might sound shallow, but I've noticed the different ways people react to me based on my uncontrollable shifts in all of those qualities I just listed.
Margaret Thatcher famously subjected herself to speech training when she was running for Prime Minister the first time, and by that time, she was well into middle age. If you see early footage of her, her voice had a quite unpleasant, annoyingly shrieky tone and pitch to it. Like an endlessly lamenting housewife or a stern Victorian headmistress. But she was able to smooth all that out... and even if you hated her and her way of politics, you had to admit that her voice was not unpleasant to listen to.
Huun Huur Tu. They're Tuva's second best export (after high-quality cobalt ore). Their song "Orphan's Lament" is one of the most moving things I've ever heard.
>>3920 I'll look this up, thank you.
>>3934 Can affirm about speaking quietly, to an extent. Should I raise it to normal levels, things go not so smoothly.
I still wonder why at times I mumble and mutter - just like you - and at times sound almost decent. I lost the access to the recordings db recently so no free listening.
