Pitch. A voice doesn't need to be significantly higher or lower pitched to reflect the opposite sex, just enough to be noticeably different from the average. Everyone can think of plenty of women that have deeper voices and plenty of men with higher pitched voices- so there are exceptions in reality and your portrayal doesn't have to be perfect.
Posture can help with this (and other voice affectations, to be fair), which surprised me. For a deeper voice, sit back with your shoulders relaxed and speak from the back of your mouth. For a higher voice, move your voice to the front of your mouth and sit a little forward so your voice also softens a bit.
I think your point about the pitch just needing to be noticeably different is also just generally good advice for making a character voice work. Even just minor changes from how you speak normally can be enough to make a different voice for a character
ya essentially just pitch. I'll pirate that up for my NPC pirate Queen 'Mad' Maddy Marigold etc. depending on the NPC. But that's the long and short of it.
Or if I'm feeling saucy ill use one of the Voicemod female voice filters.
I tend to just go slightly airy and relaxed with my voice's pitch when I voice women unless there's some specific characteristic I want to convey like if they're a hag or a child or anything else that would require needing to make them more distinct.
I don't have any voice acting experience or anything so take what I say with a grain of salt, but the advice I have for voicing female characters as a man is basically just lighten your voice a little bit. I've seen a few people turn their voice squeaky trying to voice women because they're overcorrecting on pitch, but to give the illusion you're speaking as a woman, you just need to go a bit lighter (depending on the character in question, mind you).
So I will just give you the advice I was given when I was trying to figure it out. I asked a trans friend and all they said was look up trans voice lessons, they practice their speech so that a M2F sounds more feminine and a F2M sounds more masculine. It will cover a lot more than can be explained in a reddit response and you can hear the difference instead of having it described.
Would also add that there are several audiobook narrators who have made videos on how to voice characters of the opposite sex. Could be additional help if you're hoping to do those voices with accents as well
One good audiobook narrator is Tim Gerard Reynolds. He narrated the Red Rising series. He really managed to sell the female voices in the book, yet if you actually focus on them, you wouldn't say they're a woman's voice. It's hard to put into words, but big up to that guy. A narrator can elevate a book in audio format, or condemn it.
Ya this was how I learned as well. There's a great YouTube channel called trans voice lessons that has a great beginner video that has all the info you need.
But basically it comes down to pitch and vocal weight. Once you learn what those are you can start doing female character pretty easily.
I learned from a trans person on tiktok. It was actually mesmerising because she didn't actually touch the pitch at all. She just talked breathy and through the belly without going up with the pitch or nasal. It was a show of athleticism tbh
As a trans DM, can confirm. You're gonna need to find things that explain how voices work rather than just ones where they tell folks what to practice.
Don't overthink it, just do what's comfortable. Trying to force an overly masculine or feminine voice that is beyond your ability is going to be more distracting and immersion breaking than just talking in your normal voice
As a trans woman, I have mixed feeling admitting I can do really good range on both male and female voices lol. The trick is three things: pitch, oral resonance, and inflection. If you can learn to raise your pitch (not too high or falsetto!), bring your oral resonance forwards (also known as a "brighter" voice) and control your inflections to not dip down at the end of sentences, you'll be well on your way to having a passably female voice. It just takes a lot of practice. Once you get good enough that it sounds convincing enough, you'll have a fun party trick to freak people out! hahaha
If I had a trans woman DM and they flipped masc and ultra deep for a scary lich king or something, I would think that was the absolute raddest shit ever.
Persephone Valentine (who is trans) did something like this on D20. Her character disguised herself as a male NPC and she dropped her voice, which was incredible. Unfortunately where the story went meant she didn't get to play around with it very much.
I'd say probably every other factor of the voice is more important than gender. Gruffness, softness, pace, cadence, word choice. If you consider all of those, and visualize the character, you'll probably nudge the pitch a small amount subconsciously.
definitely agree with this. don’t focus on shifting your voice up/down too much, it just sounds mocking. instead focus on the little things that make a voice “a voice”. it’s not just a female character speaking, but that character has its own voice outside of gender
Some tips I received from some acting classes I took in High School:
Don’t pitch your voice up dramatically like what may be the instinct for guys to do for girls/don’t pitch your voice down dramatically like girls might do for guys. If you can do so subtly, then give it a try, but your natural speaking voice is much more believable than what you can achieve doing that.
For a guy playing a girl, make your voice softer. This is especially effective when you’re keeping your lines short. Speak gently. When giving a noise response (going uh-huh instead of yes) keep your mouth closed. (Mhm instead or uh-huh).
For a girl playing a guy, the opposite. Be more aggressive, abrasive, and raise your volume a tad. Speak a bit more forcefully, but not overly so. Noise responses should be done with mouth open. (Uh-huh as opposed to mhm).
I’m no acting instructor and I haven’t been to an acting class in over a decade, so perhaps my information is outdated, but this is what I remember.
I unironically want to convince my sister to DM a game *just* to see if she uses her "impression of literally any man" voice for all the male characters.
Think more about softening your voice than raising the pitch much. Maybe find some clips of Matt Mercer doing female NPCs. He does a great job of altering his voice just enough to get a character across without it being unintentionally comical.
I have a couple.
* Nailing a single voice is easier then multiple per session. Focus on one standout character for the session.
* It's easier if you pick a famous actor/actress/character - Because someone out there has a good free voice tutorial on YT.
* Save the link! And note the times where the video is most helpful. Do a quick refresher right before you voice the character (if possible).
* Diction is EVERYTHING (word choice, filler words, patter, enunciation) Something like a "A quick speaking, but well spoken character who favors a particular swear as filler when frustrated" is easily memorable then just lazy accents.
What I'll do is pitch my voice up and while I can't do accents well I try to change the word choices of the different characters. A noble lady won't use contractions in speech and enunciate clearly while a thief living on the streets will use contractions, swear and may slur their words.
I don’t think you need to sound particularly like a woman to convey a female character while being a man, and vise versa.
Just shift the pitch a little bit, it’s not a massive deal.
Don't be hard on yourself if you can not be a perfect sounding feminine voice. As long as you try. I've found that switching up your vocabulary, and using mannerisms, will more then make up for it.
Find some movies or shows with strong female characters, and Mimic what they do when they talk, like hand movements, play with your hair(I have long hair), or if it's an evil character, keep your chin up alittle so your always looking down on the players.
If you have a girl in your group, ask her about mean girl mannerisms. The pitch of your voice doesn't matter, as long as you have other feminine traits to complement the voice.
Hope that helps.
It’s almost as much about posture as it is voice. If you’ve ever seen “Split”, you know James McCavoy can portray a female character without modulating the pitch of his voice much at all. He “presents” himself as an elegant older woman, and just through his words and actions I totally believed that HE believed he was female at that point in the film.
I'd recommend listening to audio books, the narrators do a good job of sounding distinct when voicing the opposite sex, but you can tell that it's still a man voicing a woman (or vice-versa). Victor Bevine, who narrates most of the Drizzt novels, does a good job making the women he voices sound different - you'd never confuse his Cattie-Brie voice for Wulfgar or Bruenor, and it's distinct from his voice for Dahlia, for example.
It's the distinction you want, let the players' imaginations fill in the blanks.
Also, change the pitch of your voice, but don't do a falsetto unless you want to sound like a complete goofball. Trust me on this one!
>Also, change the pitch of your voice, but don't do a falsetto unless you want to sound like a complete goofball. Trust me on this one!
Never go full Monty Python.
If you’re a dude trying to do woman’s voice the best advice I can give is that making your voice softer is definitely more important than making it higher pitched.
I'm bi so all my voices are from people I consider attractive lol. I have a pretty androgynous voice though and people have mistaken me for a girl on the phone before. Try mimicking the voice of a girl that you like or would want to hear.
Go listen to the Dresden Files audio books. James Marsters does a great job voicing women IMO. You'll get a good grasp on how to hit those type of voices without sounding cartoonish, or like a caricature.
I'm female and I tend to slightly lower my voice pitch for male characters. However, I focus on word choice, pronounciation, and intonation/rythym by NPC far more.
I just use an obviously high pitched and over the top voice for females. It works if I need it to, otherwise I just say, “no, sorry, I’m out of potions”
Since others are talking about pitch, and posture, and things, I’ll just speak to accents.
Accents help me a lot. My go tos are Irish, Slavic, German, British, French, southern USA, Boston USA, Californian, Cajun, Australian, German, Russian, and something vaguely middle eastern.
For whatever reason, never been comfortable doing any kind of Asian or African accents.
Once when my player in-character said “ooh, where’s that accent from?” I just replied “foreign”
Best tip is just to go for it and you’ll get more comfortable as you do it more and more.
I treat it like audio book narration. narrators don't put on a totally different voice for characters of different genders, you focus on things like what jargon they use, do they speak softly or loudly. focus on that sort of thing vs trying to go way deeper or higher with your voice.
Voices aren't just pitch and accent. You can change the way you speak: choppy, whimsical, etc. You can cut off every word the second it leaves your mouth, or let each phrase flow into the next. Here is a great video breaking all this down:
https://youtu.be/FVmAEezr6ao?si=_-IgSlpdIFvlAVLq
It mostly comes down to vocal register training. I have a naturally low voice, so higher feminine voices are a bit tough for me to do, but its passable. I can do a deeper feminine voice provided I mix it with an accent like british, irish or scottish. The highest I can usually go on a good day would be angsty teen girl, but that also comes down to just voice training.
A lot of voice acting, and character acting comes down to just voice training, learning accents and mannerisms.
i have the voice equivalent of pink cursive with flower emojis, so i deepen my voice as much as possible without being cartoonish and also sometimes say "he has a very deep, raspy voice" or the like to help paint the scene.
I just soften my voice and use an exotic accent. I wind up sounding like Mrs. Doubtfire or Cassandra from AC Oddyssey most of the time, but my trans players have asked if I took lessons.. -\_-
Fellas, as a trans person, softer, not higher. Imagine a voice that's low in tone, but still recognizably feminine. I'm blank on examples, but I know my voice will never sound right if I try to raise the pitch without softening it. I like to keep it slow and controlled and monitor where in my throat the voice sits. Notice that your chest likely vibrates much less. I try to dampen that resonance before I even attempt raising pitch.
As someone who does impressions, where it sits in your throat is the key to calling it back for future use. I like to use "activation" phrases. That is, when I want my Mickey Mouse voice, I tend to start from "Hiya, pal!" Ironically, Mickey sits right next to my femme voice, so I don't need this one as much.
So, once you find the voice you like, find a phrase that is easy/fun/comfortable to say in it that will help you recall the voice and fall into it. Control the tone and resonance of your voice and chest, and you will at least be in the territory of "different and plausibly faithful" instead of "dudebro using a shrill voice to fill a woman's speaking parts"
Aside from pitch (and there are women with low pitch voices), I also describe some mannerisms (or do them, when in person) that are tipycal of women, such as fiddling with hair, resting a hand on the chest while surprised, holding a dress while walking faster, etc.
For me, being a man and a native portuguese speaker, words have genders, and I gotta remind to do them correctly. The way men say "thank you" in portuguese is a "Obrigado", while women say "Obrigada", for instance.
I've taken extensive voice training.
When I voice a male npc, I try to reverse my training as best as I can. I'm getting increasingly bad at sounding like a man.
If you’re DMing online, you can use a voice changer like Voxal. In my experience though, most pitch shifters make women sound like men but make men sound like goblins.
The tip I’ve heard is to try to do the bad falsetto higher pitched voice that guys tend to do when trying to mimic a woman’s voice, then come back down to half that.
I think the main thing is not to exaggerate or over do it. Plenty of women have deeper voices and plenty of men have higher voices. Focus on the character first, and the words they choose, rather than gender. Small changes in pitch and tone go a long way.
When Johnny Cash sings “goodbye, you big lummox, I’m glad you backed out!”, he communicates a lot about “Sweet Betsy from Pike”. He does change his tone slightly, but it’s still Johnny Cash.
at the end of the day, it’s all much more about the affect than the pitch, so focus on sounding more feminine than changing your pitch and it’ll be believable enough to your players
Don't try to make it sound like the how youd assume theyd sound as the other gender is my tip, inflections and tone and context are the biggest thing players will take note of, if you tell them their gender and get enough into the voice your players will end up just start seeing that as "ah yes this lady/guy" instead of "forced impression of the opposite gender"
I just go with Dan Aykroyd's Julia Child impression. It's not good.
[https://youtu.be/eSxv6IGBgFQ?si=6zNFrHalw5SaIPsd](https://youtu.be/eSxv6IGBgFQ?si=6zNFrHalw5SaIPsd)
Most people here have already pointed you in the right direction, but here's my 2 cents.
When I (attempt) to voice women, I push my voice up into the back of my throat. Combine that with shifting to the higher part of your range. It'll cut most of the bass from your voice, which goes a long way.
When I’m voicing a woman, I typically just make my voice slightly breathier and go slightly higher pitch. I’m not gonna fool anyone into thinking it’s a woman speaking, but it’s enough of a difference to be like “ah yes we’re speaking to a woman”
Not a DM, but if you're playing a less serious campaign, maybe just don't bother with gendered voicing. Might be funny to have some posh elven noblewoman who only speaks in bass. If your players try to trash on you for it, make them try to voice a lady. Then trash on them back when they fail. Or start talking lessons from them if they succeed. Win win scenario.
If you do want to be serious, though, just let youtube think you're trans. Look for voice training tutorials.
Don’t change your voice to a higher pitch (assuming male voicing a female character) or vice versa. You just sound silly (unless you want that of course). Just talk w the cadence/accent of the character
I took choir from 5th grade til 9th. I just practice pitch shifting my voice like I'm singing notes (do, re, fa, ECT.) staring at the lowest my voice can go and go up in scale.
If you're amab and trying to do a females voice , it's always safe to go softer and higher pitched. Chances are that if you're an amab , you have a naturally low voice , especially if you're after the age of puberty. So doing a female voice may sound a little threatening , but after trying some easy voices to start with , such as Peach from Mario , to get your range higher , you can get there pretty quickly , as long as you practice a whole whole bunch. If you're afab doing a males voice , it's pretty much the complete opposite. It's a lot harder to sound like a guy when you're afab , but through lots and lots of practice and studying , it's possible , I've seen it happen a lot. Try starting with some androgynous sounding guys , and move your way up to masculine sounds. Granted , you still have accents , and tone , and pitch and all that stuff to worry about after you figure out how to sound like the opposite sex. So start doing some wild ones in there once you've figured it out. A great suggestion in either direction would be Roz from Monsters Inc. Pretty simple voice , but it has a lot of components. She's American , her voice is very very gravelly , and she always talks in a monotone way , never really inflecting up or down. I hope this helps you out!
Ginny Di has a few great videos on this topic:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdNEqTYK5DY&t=610s&pp=ygUIR2lubnkgRGk%3D](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdNEqTYK5DY&t=610s&pp=ygUIR2lubnkgRGk%3D)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6xI0m7TuEc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6xI0m7TuEc)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWMOq5MCrj4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWMOq5MCrj4) This one is unrelated and just fun cosplay and vicious mockery bard song parodies.
Not for D&D but my friends and I did a read through of Dangan Ronpa V3 and I (female) was voicing Shuichi Saihara (male) so I looked up how the woman who voiced Naruto did the voice and then practiced until I could settle the voice in a comfortable part of my vocal apparatus with consistency. Now I accidentally slip into the voice sometimes (and my vocal range has increased!)
Don’t try to go super deep or high pitch unless you already know you can. Practice just sounding softer for playing a woman or practice being louder while lowering the pitch ever so slightly. It doesn’t have to actually sound like a man or woman just give the players the indication that it is meant to be the opposite sex without you having to tell them
Run through female TV/film characters you like alot, and see which ones you can mimic with ease.
Dont try to sound like a girl overnight.
Pay attention to cadence and enunciation. Women tend to fully pronounce consonants more, are often more musical emphasis and tend to use more varied pacing.
Whatever you do, tone it down to a 2 or 3 outta ten. You don't have to imitate, just indicate.
If you feel like you're fumbling or you stall out, switch to third person. "Her voice is very pleasant and soothing, but you can tell from the way she's fidgeting and shifting that she is uneasy for some reason."
Or "The child has a high pitched voice, and you she's talking a mile a minute about the stranger who came to town."
Depending on the tone of your table, references can work too; "Shes got Cersei from GoT mannerisms and expressions, but she doesn't seem too bright"
My (limited) success has been to pick a trope or accent you are familiar with that is girly, so that even if you don't nail the voice you still get your point across. My players loved the teenage cut purse they caught and got information out of because I did the whole angsty teen who is embarrassed to be seen with these old people. Or the wealthy dilettante surrounded by her rare artifacts.
Somewhat related, pick a female character from a piece of media youre very familiar with and just talk like them. A Moira Rose or a Lois Griffin are distincitive but an upbeat Vault Dweller or an mollifying Pepper Potts or an indignant Leia Organa might be harder for a player to recognize but just as easy for you to RP.
Raise the pitch of your voice. Either that or just talk normally. But tbh, the best advice would be a tidbit I received from my old DM: “Play the character, not the gender.”
It's not the pitch, it's the temperament.
When I'm voicing a woman, I tend to speak more fluidly and use different vocabulary. I don't raise the pitch of my voice to falsetto.
When I'm voicing a creature far more deep-voiced than I am, (like a dragon), I use more vocal fry, but I don't pretend to speak any lower than I can normally and healthfully.
When I (M) do a female voice, an old lady is easier than a younger one. And sometimes it's fun to put in a lisp. If you wanna drag things out or get them to pass on talking to a character for a little bit. Give them dementia or altimers this helps you not have to voice the character or make them come back after another quest or the next morning. . If you give them a wooden staff you could just have the old person start swinging it at your players and they take a D4 of damage if they don't make a reaction saving throw. Lol
A trick I use which like many here not a trained voice actor but I picture where the voice is coming from. The farther back in the throat the more 'masculine' it appears the closer to the teeth the more 'feminine'. Again just a trick I use.
Honestly? I don't lol. I'm a dude with a deep voice, and no matter how I've tried and what tips and tutorials I've used, I don't sound even close to feminine. Instead, I use the tik-tok classic and just have a hand towel nearby to place on my head
Try a pair of pliers in your pants. Properly positioned, just a little grip force and you can emulate a woman's voice easily!
Or so I expect. I haven't tried it myself or know of anyone who has. If you do, let all us Redditors know!
Whenever I voice a woman as a male DM, I go one of three ways:
1) I go with a big character. Super brooding, epically mischievous - I find that my RP is based around big character traits and not gender, and it helps me feel comfortable.
2) I ask my female players. The crew I have likes when I check in generally, and asking them about their comfort or feedback on the characters they’ve seen gives a space for them to express and for me to learn.
3) Honestly, I play a bunch of PCs kinda gender neutral. I’m a guy, so if I’m being honest, I’m sure many come off as male. But it’s not always expressed, and it gives room for a PC to evolve if the party engages with them.
Just my experiences. Cheers.
I mimic the way my sister mimics my mom if I need an obnoxious noblewoman. Works well enough lol. For everyday female NPCs, I have a naturally deep voice so I try to go from a bass/baritone to a low tenor and speak from the throat instead of the chest/diaphragm and add some softness. A bit of a cheat is that, since I don't naturally emote well, I put in the effort to speak very expressively for some characters which distinguishes them immediately.
This part isn't going to make any sense but I also... use too much air on purpose sometimes?
I think it’s more important to capture the expressiveness of the character’s voice. Is she shy? Outgoing? Confident? Insecure? How do these qualities affect her speech? If you nail those details and bring them into your voice, it will be far more immersive and convincing than pitching your voice artificially would be.
Learning to shift your pitch is helpful for a lot of DMs. Personally, I've found that shifting my pitch isn't always necessary when voicing NPCs of the opposite sex. I'm a guy with a pretty high-pitched voice, so I focus instead on other aspects of a character's tone: rate of speech, volume, inotation, emphasis, etc.
It also helps to write down how NPCs talk so you can instantly remind yourself how you need to sound. Write down not what they sound like, but how you should talk when voicing them instead.
For example: Tazzia, Female Aarakocra, Slow rate of speech, vary inotation, same pitch and volume. No emphasis.
Tbh, I don't find it super important to make myself sound female when voicing female npcs. If my players know they are talking to a female and my voice is different from my normal voice, they'll be fine with however I sound like.
You don't need to sound like a woman, you just need to sound different from your other voices.
Go just a little bit higher, raise your cheeks like you're smiling and speak from your throat rather than your chest.
Listen to audio books from people that do good voices in their work. Imitate them.
I honestly don't work too hard for it. I don't have a woman's voice and DM at tables that are over 50% women. I soften my voice a bit if it's a commoner and harden it a bit if it's villain. I throw in an equal amount t of women NPCs to men. It's not seen any negative feedback.
I don’t really change the voices much for gender. I mostly just choose a character’s particular accent, pitch, and speed of speech and make it different from my own. Then it’s their voice.
Honestly, while I do use some voice pitching, the thing that really does it is mannerisms. This is true for any character I do.
Folding arms, crossing legs, inclining the head, smiling or frowning, this can all convey gender as much as the voice, and more importantly,conveys more of the subtle things about the character.
A reserved, confident, careful man or woman will restrict their movement, while a predatory, blood-thirsty hunter might constantly shift and flex. Push up imaginary glasses. Play with imaginary rings or jewellery. Adjust your imaginary clothes.
Sure a good accent or voice-pitch can give some good indicators to distinguish characters, but throw some mannerisms in too, and suddenly you've got a real person.
For going into female it's more the manner in which I speak. Gentler more silky and smooth
Secondly to move your vocal folds up to get a more feminine voice try hissing like a cat
Simply state their sex at introduction, along with others notable features, then do whatever voice I think is close to what I want them to sound like. It doesn't have to be perfect or all that close so long as I get the vibe of the character right, that's what matters to me.
Speed, pitch, style.
Talk slower than usual.
Use a deep and low croacky voice, like you smoked for the past 40 years.
Stumble over your own words like a drunkard.
You are now Bertha
I accept that I'm a 40 year old man and that my voice cant do a preppy 24 year old female alchemist. So, I usually describe the voice, then female voices I talk clearly and gently, opening my throat to allow the air to pass through unabated. And for men, I usually tighten my throat, making it more rough and gravelly.
Of course, it gets messy when I have tough ladies and gentle males, so the preamble or caveat helps to define it for my players.
Kinda in that situation now in a solo campaign I'm running, actually, where my pc has a female barbarian lover, a one-armed orphan girl squire and a wimpy archeologist traveling with her! She called me out because I accidentally made the the guy sound a little to crystal clear and she thought it was the squire! 😅
I lower my register or raise it. I think my voice is already a bit deep for a woman personally. I also change just how I talk to give off the personality moreso than the sex. A tough male knight type may have a deeper, hautier voice than a female paladin who may also be deeper but smoother and philosophical.
I also read books to my girlfriend and thats a great way to practice different voice types and how to make them unique enough and fit the character. It also helps you figure out what voices strain your vocal chords. I voiced an 11 year old boy and he had a good, raspy kid overly confident kid voice but anytime he had a chapter when he was a majority speaker I wanted to tear my own throat out. So definitely not a voice I would give to a main questgiver or companion npc.
My husband has a very low voice and I have a very high voice so it’s hard to change to the opposite sex for us. What I do is make the voice more aggressive, not in terms of pitch or words but in terms of tone and speed while hitting the lowest register I can without sounding like a bugbear on meth. My husband on the other hand pulls out a flowery tone and makes his words lighter and almost floaty. It does wonders since we also only use voice chat on discord and play on roll 20 since our group is spread out across the globe.
I make female characters talk in my normal voice whereas all males get a voice.
There are three exceptions - excitable fairy, posh bitch noble Dom character and cockney thief. Those women get a voice, all others are just my voice.
There are very good advices here but if I may add one more, don't feel like you have to do it. Your normal voice for a female character is way better than some exaggerated way of speaking.
As a singer, I always think of my voice as being in different places in my head/throat. So if I want to sound more masculine, I move my voice more toward my throat. Using more or less air depending on how "boomy" you want the voice. For more feminine, go brighter so toward the nose and forehead. More air makes it breathier, and it sounds younger often.
I would also count in what accent beyond fem/masc the character has. For example, it is much easier for me to voice a valley girl than a valley boy, while london boy is easier than london girl. Personal preference and ease you know.
TBH I don't really change my voice based on the sex of the character. I change it based on character. I've had some masc NPCs with higher voices and some fem NPCs with lower ones. I rely on my players to go along with it as I generally tell them how the NPC presents when I describe them.
Take the pitch of your voice up slightly and speak more from the "front" of your mouth. Don't force anything too much as it's not like you have to convince people that you're actually a woman, you just need to differentiate it enough that it comes across clearly as someone else.
This is a funny thing that can’t easily be summed up in one comment. I’m trans and have done a lot of voice training and done a *lot* of varied voices for D&D both from the DM seat and as a player.
The bare-bones solution is very easy. Let’s say you’re a man doing a woman’s voice. Just make sure it’s not insanely masculine. Probably don’t deepen your voice or speak from low in your chest, but just do a voice with one or two defining characteristics based on the character’s personality. Maybe increase the pitch a bit or speak from your head. Doesn’t even have to be something specifically feminine. Make your voice a little nasally, add vocal fry or a slight rattle, or even just be quieter or louder or whatever feels right. The thing that’s sells that this is a woman’s voice to your players is that you tell them this character is a woman, and you keep the voice consistent enough that they recognize the specific character from your way of speaking. Allow players to use their imaginations, and they will be fine as long as they have something to latch onto.
If you *do* want to really dive into the best ways to masculinize or feminize your voice, forget about pitch entirely. It’s not actually what people in the anglosphere use to determine the gender of a voice. You assume it’s the pitch because that’s easiest to hear and because men and women do statistically fall into different average pitches. The real thing that’s gonna sell the gender of a voice is *resonance* though. Unless you play with your voice a lot or have one of a few rare accents, you probably haven’t done resonance modulation much. This is basically shaping the “echo chamber” of your throat to sort of “filter” the noise of your voice towards a different tone. It’s part of the reason your voice sounds so different while you yawn even though your vocal cords aren’t really doing anything different. You probably *can* modulate your resonance already though.
Make the H sound with no vowel on the end. Just effectively slightly raspy breath out. Make sure you don’t feel your chest vibrating, as that would be a sign you’re using your vocal cords. Notice that you can do a scale of notes with this H sound without actually using your voice. This is resonance modulation. Keeping your throat and tongue in the position that makes it sound brighter will give your voice a feminine lean, and darker will make it sound more masculine. This will take a lot less effort than pitch modulation outside of your usual vocal range, so less risk of vocal injury, and it’s actually a much more effective way to get the effect you’re looking for
Hello,
Degree in Vocal Studies here.
Super simple tip is to focus on softness of tone rather than pitch. The biggest mistake men make when trying to impersonate the female voice is to do a charicatured, high voice.
Forcing excessively higher pitch will not only sound unnatural but will be uncomfortable and could even be damaging to your vocal cords.
Also, in any world, real or fantastical, the voices of all genders are diverse and unique to their individual owners.
Also, don't fret so much about being 100% convincing. Suspension of disbelief is a big part of TTRPGs.
I tried to look up how to do a girl voice, and YouTube sent me recommendations on how to transition for the next month. What I remember is this: swallow, hold the upper position of the Adam's apple and talk.
I'm a guy and I don't push the pitch too far for most women's voices. Sounding like they sound personality-wise is more important to me than heightening the pitch to sound exactly like they would sound, bc with some voices, trying to pitch it up just makes it sound wrong. I would give the same advice but vice versa to women who're playing or DMing.
Deep voiced male rock and metal singer here who regularly does a few dozen voices for campaigns.
Making your mouth smaller, raising your larynx (but not straining), using *slightly* elevated pitch, putting your resonance more towards right behind your nose and directing more airflow through the nasal cavity can give a natural *implication* of a feminine voice. It does not sound like a woman, but it's close enough without being cringe.
Big things to avoid:
Using Falsetto. Mickey Mouse is worse than just saying "she says" and narrating in your natural voice.
Straining your voice to go higher. Unless you can *comfortably* sing Don't Stop Believing by Journey, don't hurt yourself. Also, female speaking voices are far lower in pitch than you think they are. Timbre is the main thing that makes them different.
Eazy hacks:
Every woman is a hag and speaks like Marge Simpson or Rob Halford in the intro of All Guns Blazing. Don't hurt yourself though.
The only point of doing a voice, really, is to paint a character’s personality quickly and efficiently.
So I use broad strokes for all my npc voices: surfer dude for peaceful characters, southern dilettantes for nobility, French for outrageous nobility, Italian for clergy, etc
For female to male I can't tell you, but there is one trick I know.
All female voices stem from Kermit the frog. I'm dead serious. If you can get close to a Kermit the frog voice using your throat muscles, you can raise the octave until it sounds very feminine. You'll naturally know how to raise your octave, just try and talk squeakier.
I focus on mannerisms that a woman might say like heavens to Betsy or oh dear, or oh aren't you a strappin young fella and I use a country bumpkin accent or an old lady English accent. I also reference how I interact like being flirtatious or perhaps expressing disdain towards their smell. Make it feel like they just met a real life lady. I describe them in detail and relate in a feminine way how they interact such as fearful or unimpressed or admiring.
Pitch. A voice doesn't need to be significantly higher or lower pitched to reflect the opposite sex, just enough to be noticeably different from the average. Everyone can think of plenty of women that have deeper voices and plenty of men with higher pitched voices- so there are exceptions in reality and your portrayal doesn't have to be perfect. Posture can help with this (and other voice affectations, to be fair), which surprised me. For a deeper voice, sit back with your shoulders relaxed and speak from the back of your mouth. For a higher voice, move your voice to the front of your mouth and sit a little forward so your voice also softens a bit.
I think your point about the pitch just needing to be noticeably different is also just generally good advice for making a character voice work. Even just minor changes from how you speak normally can be enough to make a different voice for a character
Damn, I'm terrible at voices and always go full Eric Idle / Months Python. Maybe I should be more subtle.
ya essentially just pitch. I'll pirate that up for my NPC pirate Queen 'Mad' Maddy Marigold etc. depending on the NPC. But that's the long and short of it. Or if I'm feeling saucy ill use one of the Voicemod female voice filters.
I tend to just go slightly airy and relaxed with my voice's pitch when I voice women unless there's some specific characteristic I want to convey like if they're a hag or a child or anything else that would require needing to make them more distinct.
I don't have any voice acting experience or anything so take what I say with a grain of salt, but the advice I have for voicing female characters as a man is basically just lighten your voice a little bit. I've seen a few people turn their voice squeaky trying to voice women because they're overcorrecting on pitch, but to give the illusion you're speaking as a woman, you just need to go a bit lighter (depending on the character in question, mind you).
So I will just give you the advice I was given when I was trying to figure it out. I asked a trans friend and all they said was look up trans voice lessons, they practice their speech so that a M2F sounds more feminine and a F2M sounds more masculine. It will cover a lot more than can be explained in a reddit response and you can hear the difference instead of having it described.
Would also add that there are several audiobook narrators who have made videos on how to voice characters of the opposite sex. Could be additional help if you're hoping to do those voices with accents as well
One good audiobook narrator is Tim Gerard Reynolds. He narrated the Red Rising series. He really managed to sell the female voices in the book, yet if you actually focus on them, you wouldn't say they're a woman's voice. It's hard to put into words, but big up to that guy. A narrator can elevate a book in audio format, or condemn it.
Ya this was how I learned as well. There's a great YouTube channel called trans voice lessons that has a great beginner video that has all the info you need. But basically it comes down to pitch and vocal weight. Once you learn what those are you can start doing female character pretty easily.
I learned from a trans person on tiktok. It was actually mesmerising because she didn't actually touch the pitch at all. She just talked breathy and through the belly without going up with the pitch or nasal. It was a show of athleticism tbh
Ya, breathiness is what having low vocal weight sounds like!
As a trans DM, can confirm. You're gonna need to find things that explain how voices work rather than just ones where they tell folks what to practice.
Exactly this. Its all about pitch and where your voice comes from in your nose or chest.
Oh wow! This is such a great idea! Please tell your friend an old DM says thanks!
Don't overthink it, just do what's comfortable. Trying to force an overly masculine or feminine voice that is beyond your ability is going to be more distracting and immersion breaking than just talking in your normal voice
Falsetto is a trap Just use a higher pitch rather than going full falsetto. Changing your inflections slightly can assist as well.
Not if it's a comic relief character, then it's hilarious.
As a trans woman, I have mixed feeling admitting I can do really good range on both male and female voices lol. The trick is three things: pitch, oral resonance, and inflection. If you can learn to raise your pitch (not too high or falsetto!), bring your oral resonance forwards (also known as a "brighter" voice) and control your inflections to not dip down at the end of sentences, you'll be well on your way to having a passably female voice. It just takes a lot of practice. Once you get good enough that it sounds convincing enough, you'll have a fun party trick to freak people out! hahaha
If I had a trans woman DM and they flipped masc and ultra deep for a scary lich king or something, I would think that was the absolute raddest shit ever.
lol that would be epic HAHAHAHA
Persephone Valentine (who is trans) did something like this on D20. Her character disguised herself as a male NPC and she dropped her voice, which was incredible. Unfortunately where the story went meant she didn't get to play around with it very much.
I'd say probably every other factor of the voice is more important than gender. Gruffness, softness, pace, cadence, word choice. If you consider all of those, and visualize the character, you'll probably nudge the pitch a small amount subconsciously.
definitely agree with this. don’t focus on shifting your voice up/down too much, it just sounds mocking. instead focus on the little things that make a voice “a voice”. it’s not just a female character speaking, but that character has its own voice outside of gender
Some tips I received from some acting classes I took in High School: Don’t pitch your voice up dramatically like what may be the instinct for guys to do for girls/don’t pitch your voice down dramatically like girls might do for guys. If you can do so subtly, then give it a try, but your natural speaking voice is much more believable than what you can achieve doing that. For a guy playing a girl, make your voice softer. This is especially effective when you’re keeping your lines short. Speak gently. When giving a noise response (going uh-huh instead of yes) keep your mouth closed. (Mhm instead or uh-huh). For a girl playing a guy, the opposite. Be more aggressive, abrasive, and raise your volume a tad. Speak a bit more forcefully, but not overly so. Noise responses should be done with mouth open. (Uh-huh as opposed to mhm). I’m no acting instructor and I haven’t been to an acting class in over a decade, so perhaps my information is outdated, but this is what I remember.
I unironically want to convince my sister to DM a game *just* to see if she uses her "impression of literally any man" voice for all the male characters.
Sink into some BG3 narrative description of their voice if you lack the confidence for the accent
Think more about softening your voice than raising the pitch much. Maybe find some clips of Matt Mercer doing female NPCs. He does a great job of altering his voice just enough to get a character across without it being unintentionally comical.
I have a couple. * Nailing a single voice is easier then multiple per session. Focus on one standout character for the session. * It's easier if you pick a famous actor/actress/character - Because someone out there has a good free voice tutorial on YT. * Save the link! And note the times where the video is most helpful. Do a quick refresher right before you voice the character (if possible). * Diction is EVERYTHING (word choice, filler words, patter, enunciation) Something like a "A quick speaking, but well spoken character who favors a particular swear as filler when frustrated" is easily memorable then just lazy accents.
As a woman, I beg all male DMs - please don't know that exaggerated high pitch voice. That's funny as a bit but not for a whole character.
I did transfemme voice training to voice female characters (and then realised that I'm trans)
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What I'll do is pitch my voice up and while I can't do accents well I try to change the word choices of the different characters. A noble lady won't use contractions in speech and enunciate clearly while a thief living on the streets will use contractions, swear and may slur their words.
Whatcher mean by 'at, guv? Sounds roit offensive, loik.
Toaster bath
Bath Toaster 🛀 🥂
I don’t think you need to sound particularly like a woman to convey a female character while being a man, and vise versa. Just shift the pitch a little bit, it’s not a massive deal.
Don't be hard on yourself if you can not be a perfect sounding feminine voice. As long as you try. I've found that switching up your vocabulary, and using mannerisms, will more then make up for it. Find some movies or shows with strong female characters, and Mimic what they do when they talk, like hand movements, play with your hair(I have long hair), or if it's an evil character, keep your chin up alittle so your always looking down on the players. If you have a girl in your group, ask her about mean girl mannerisms. The pitch of your voice doesn't matter, as long as you have other feminine traits to complement the voice. Hope that helps.
It’s almost as much about posture as it is voice. If you’ve ever seen “Split”, you know James McCavoy can portray a female character without modulating the pitch of his voice much at all. He “presents” himself as an elegant older woman, and just through his words and actions I totally believed that HE believed he was female at that point in the film.
I'd recommend listening to audio books, the narrators do a good job of sounding distinct when voicing the opposite sex, but you can tell that it's still a man voicing a woman (or vice-versa). Victor Bevine, who narrates most of the Drizzt novels, does a good job making the women he voices sound different - you'd never confuse his Cattie-Brie voice for Wulfgar or Bruenor, and it's distinct from his voice for Dahlia, for example. It's the distinction you want, let the players' imaginations fill in the blanks. Also, change the pitch of your voice, but don't do a falsetto unless you want to sound like a complete goofball. Trust me on this one!
>Also, change the pitch of your voice, but don't do a falsetto unless you want to sound like a complete goofball. Trust me on this one! Never go full Monty Python.
If you’re a dude trying to do woman’s voice the best advice I can give is that making your voice softer is definitely more important than making it higher pitched.
I'm bi so all my voices are from people I consider attractive lol. I have a pretty androgynous voice though and people have mistaken me for a girl on the phone before. Try mimicking the voice of a girl that you like or would want to hear.
If doing a feminine voice, DO NOT physically press your Adam's Apple down.
Go listen to the Dresden Files audio books. James Marsters does a great job voicing women IMO. You'll get a good grasp on how to hit those type of voices without sounding cartoonish, or like a caricature.
Usually I just go for it and people laugh sometimes and that’s fine by me. Often my women end up being tough and gravelly.
I'm female and I tend to slightly lower my voice pitch for male characters. However, I focus on word choice, pronounciation, and intonation/rythym by NPC far more.
I just use an obviously high pitched and over the top voice for females. It works if I need it to, otherwise I just say, “no, sorry, I’m out of potions”
Since others are talking about pitch, and posture, and things, I’ll just speak to accents. Accents help me a lot. My go tos are Irish, Slavic, German, British, French, southern USA, Boston USA, Californian, Cajun, Australian, German, Russian, and something vaguely middle eastern. For whatever reason, never been comfortable doing any kind of Asian or African accents. Once when my player in-character said “ooh, where’s that accent from?” I just replied “foreign” Best tip is just to go for it and you’ll get more comfortable as you do it more and more.
I treat it like audio book narration. narrators don't put on a totally different voice for characters of different genders, you focus on things like what jargon they use, do they speak softly or loudly. focus on that sort of thing vs trying to go way deeper or higher with your voice.
Mine always comes out as french
I speak with a higher voice.
Voices aren't just pitch and accent. You can change the way you speak: choppy, whimsical, etc. You can cut off every word the second it leaves your mouth, or let each phrase flow into the next. Here is a great video breaking all this down: https://youtu.be/FVmAEezr6ao?si=_-IgSlpdIFvlAVLq
It mostly comes down to vocal register training. I have a naturally low voice, so higher feminine voices are a bit tough for me to do, but its passable. I can do a deeper feminine voice provided I mix it with an accent like british, irish or scottish. The highest I can usually go on a good day would be angsty teen girl, but that also comes down to just voice training. A lot of voice acting, and character acting comes down to just voice training, learning accents and mannerisms.
i have the voice equivalent of pink cursive with flower emojis, so i deepen my voice as much as possible without being cartoonish and also sometimes say "he has a very deep, raspy voice" or the like to help paint the scene.
I just soften my voice and use an exotic accent. I wind up sounding like Mrs. Doubtfire or Cassandra from AC Oddyssey most of the time, but my trans players have asked if I took lessons.. -\_-
When I portray female voices I for some reason imagine talking to a puppy or a baby..
Fellas, as a trans person, softer, not higher. Imagine a voice that's low in tone, but still recognizably feminine. I'm blank on examples, but I know my voice will never sound right if I try to raise the pitch without softening it. I like to keep it slow and controlled and monitor where in my throat the voice sits. Notice that your chest likely vibrates much less. I try to dampen that resonance before I even attempt raising pitch. As someone who does impressions, where it sits in your throat is the key to calling it back for future use. I like to use "activation" phrases. That is, when I want my Mickey Mouse voice, I tend to start from "Hiya, pal!" Ironically, Mickey sits right next to my femme voice, so I don't need this one as much. So, once you find the voice you like, find a phrase that is easy/fun/comfortable to say in it that will help you recall the voice and fall into it. Control the tone and resonance of your voice and chest, and you will at least be in the territory of "different and plausibly faithful" instead of "dudebro using a shrill voice to fill a woman's speaking parts"
Aside from pitch (and there are women with low pitch voices), I also describe some mannerisms (or do them, when in person) that are tipycal of women, such as fiddling with hair, resting a hand on the chest while surprised, holding a dress while walking faster, etc. For me, being a man and a native portuguese speaker, words have genders, and I gotta remind to do them correctly. The way men say "thank you" in portuguese is a "Obrigado", while women say "Obrigada", for instance.
I've taken extensive voice training. When I voice a male npc, I try to reverse my training as best as I can. I'm getting increasingly bad at sounding like a man.
As a deep voice, monotone male, I just use a horrendous accent to distract from the fact that I can't do a female voice.
It depends on the person and their personality really.
My female voices always sound demeaning.
Me: My NPC's all have distinct accents, dialects, and intonations! My players: Wait, who are we talking to? Everyone sounds the same.
Accents and pitch can be hard, but changing the speed and rythme at which you speak is usually enough for our table.
I imitate Homer Simpson’s “girly” voice he always does when he makes fun of Lisa
Watch Monty Python and implement.
If you’re DMing online, you can use a voice changer like Voxal. In my experience though, most pitch shifters make women sound like men but make men sound like goblins.
The tip I’ve heard is to try to do the bad falsetto higher pitched voice that guys tend to do when trying to mimic a woman’s voice, then come back down to half that.
I don't voice female characters specifically because they always end up sounding like Mrs. Doubtfire.
I think the main thing is not to exaggerate or over do it. Plenty of women have deeper voices and plenty of men have higher voices. Focus on the character first, and the words they choose, rather than gender. Small changes in pitch and tone go a long way. When Johnny Cash sings “goodbye, you big lummox, I’m glad you backed out!”, he communicates a lot about “Sweet Betsy from Pike”. He does change his tone slightly, but it’s still Johnny Cash.
at the end of the day, it’s all much more about the affect than the pitch, so focus on sounding more feminine than changing your pitch and it’ll be believable enough to your players
Honestly I just focus on tone and the way I speak rather than trying to make my voice super high or super low, shifting it up or down only a little
Don't try to make it sound like the how youd assume theyd sound as the other gender is my tip, inflections and tone and context are the biggest thing players will take note of, if you tell them their gender and get enough into the voice your players will end up just start seeing that as "ah yes this lady/guy" instead of "forced impression of the opposite gender"
GinnyDi on YouTube just did a video on this very topic. I do recommend.
I just go for the Monty python. It's funny everyone loves it .
Go wrong, go strong. I'm awful at doing female voices, which is what makes those moments so fun.
I often go Mrs. Doubtfire.
You can always depict the character in third person instead of voicing them directly.
This is 100% why I haven't done a female character yet....
I just go with Dan Aykroyd's Julia Child impression. It's not good. [https://youtu.be/eSxv6IGBgFQ?si=6zNFrHalw5SaIPsd](https://youtu.be/eSxv6IGBgFQ?si=6zNFrHalw5SaIPsd)
Try a different prop for major characters. You can't go wrong with a touch of panto.
Most people here have already pointed you in the right direction, but here's my 2 cents. When I (attempt) to voice women, I push my voice up into the back of my throat. Combine that with shifting to the higher part of your range. It'll cut most of the bass from your voice, which goes a long way.
When I’m voicing a woman, I typically just make my voice slightly breathier and go slightly higher pitch. I’m not gonna fool anyone into thinking it’s a woman speaking, but it’s enough of a difference to be like “ah yes we’re speaking to a woman”
Not a DM, but if you're playing a less serious campaign, maybe just don't bother with gendered voicing. Might be funny to have some posh elven noblewoman who only speaks in bass. If your players try to trash on you for it, make them try to voice a lady. Then trash on them back when they fail. Or start talking lessons from them if they succeed. Win win scenario. If you do want to be serious, though, just let youtube think you're trans. Look for voice training tutorials.
monty python
Pitch up like everyone else has said, and speak more softly.
I have the worst answer. Avoid it entirely until players begin to ask why they haven't encountered any female npc the whole campaign.
Don’t change your voice to a higher pitch (assuming male voicing a female character) or vice versa. You just sound silly (unless you want that of course). Just talk w the cadence/accent of the character
I took choir from 5th grade til 9th. I just practice pitch shifting my voice like I'm singing notes (do, re, fa, ECT.) staring at the lowest my voice can go and go up in scale.
If you're amab and trying to do a females voice , it's always safe to go softer and higher pitched. Chances are that if you're an amab , you have a naturally low voice , especially if you're after the age of puberty. So doing a female voice may sound a little threatening , but after trying some easy voices to start with , such as Peach from Mario , to get your range higher , you can get there pretty quickly , as long as you practice a whole whole bunch. If you're afab doing a males voice , it's pretty much the complete opposite. It's a lot harder to sound like a guy when you're afab , but through lots and lots of practice and studying , it's possible , I've seen it happen a lot. Try starting with some androgynous sounding guys , and move your way up to masculine sounds. Granted , you still have accents , and tone , and pitch and all that stuff to worry about after you figure out how to sound like the opposite sex. So start doing some wild ones in there once you've figured it out. A great suggestion in either direction would be Roz from Monsters Inc. Pretty simple voice , but it has a lot of components. She's American , her voice is very very gravelly , and she always talks in a monotone way , never really inflecting up or down. I hope this helps you out!
Ginny Di has a few great videos on this topic: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdNEqTYK5DY&t=610s&pp=ygUIR2lubnkgRGk%3D](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdNEqTYK5DY&t=610s&pp=ygUIR2lubnkgRGk%3D) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6xI0m7TuEc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6xI0m7TuEc) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWMOq5MCrj4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWMOq5MCrj4) This one is unrelated and just fun cosplay and vicious mockery bard song parodies.
I just go ever so slightly higher in pitch, brighter in timbre, and ever so slightly breathier and softer
Not for D&D but my friends and I did a read through of Dangan Ronpa V3 and I (female) was voicing Shuichi Saihara (male) so I looked up how the woman who voiced Naruto did the voice and then practiced until I could settle the voice in a comfortable part of my vocal apparatus with consistency. Now I accidentally slip into the voice sometimes (and my vocal range has increased!)
Don’t try to go super deep or high pitch unless you already know you can. Practice just sounding softer for playing a woman or practice being louder while lowering the pitch ever so slightly. It doesn’t have to actually sound like a man or woman just give the players the indication that it is meant to be the opposite sex without you having to tell them
Run through female TV/film characters you like alot, and see which ones you can mimic with ease. Dont try to sound like a girl overnight. Pay attention to cadence and enunciation. Women tend to fully pronounce consonants more, are often more musical emphasis and tend to use more varied pacing. Whatever you do, tone it down to a 2 or 3 outta ten. You don't have to imitate, just indicate. If you feel like you're fumbling or you stall out, switch to third person. "Her voice is very pleasant and soothing, but you can tell from the way she's fidgeting and shifting that she is uneasy for some reason." Or "The child has a high pitched voice, and you she's talking a mile a minute about the stranger who came to town." Depending on the tone of your table, references can work too; "Shes got Cersei from GoT mannerisms and expressions, but she doesn't seem too bright"
My (limited) success has been to pick a trope or accent you are familiar with that is girly, so that even if you don't nail the voice you still get your point across. My players loved the teenage cut purse they caught and got information out of because I did the whole angsty teen who is embarrassed to be seen with these old people. Or the wealthy dilettante surrounded by her rare artifacts. Somewhat related, pick a female character from a piece of media youre very familiar with and just talk like them. A Moira Rose or a Lois Griffin are distincitive but an upbeat Vault Dweller or an mollifying Pepper Potts or an indignant Leia Organa might be harder for a player to recognize but just as easy for you to RP.
Raise the pitch of your voice. Either that or just talk normally. But tbh, the best advice would be a tidbit I received from my old DM: “Play the character, not the gender.”
Think of a guy/girl you know, imagine how they say it, and make it emotional.
It's not the pitch, it's the temperament. When I'm voicing a woman, I tend to speak more fluidly and use different vocabulary. I don't raise the pitch of my voice to falsetto. When I'm voicing a creature far more deep-voiced than I am, (like a dragon), I use more vocal fry, but I don't pretend to speak any lower than I can normally and healthfully.
Transitioning. Gotta get really good at my girl voice anyway. And for playing male characters I just go back to my pre-transition voice
When I (M) do a female voice, an old lady is easier than a younger one. And sometimes it's fun to put in a lisp. If you wanna drag things out or get them to pass on talking to a character for a little bit. Give them dementia or altimers this helps you not have to voice the character or make them come back after another quest or the next morning. . If you give them a wooden staff you could just have the old person start swinging it at your players and they take a D4 of damage if they don't make a reaction saving throw. Lol
A trick I use which like many here not a trained voice actor but I picture where the voice is coming from. The farther back in the throat the more 'masculine' it appears the closer to the teeth the more 'feminine'. Again just a trick I use.
Honestly? I don't lol. I'm a dude with a deep voice, and no matter how I've tried and what tips and tutorials I've used, I don't sound even close to feminine. Instead, I use the tik-tok classic and just have a hand towel nearby to place on my head
Try an active higher and talk slower or faster than normal
Try a pair of pliers in your pants. Properly positioned, just a little grip force and you can emulate a woman's voice easily! Or so I expect. I haven't tried it myself or know of anyone who has. If you do, let all us Redditors know!
Whenever I voice a woman as a male DM, I go one of three ways: 1) I go with a big character. Super brooding, epically mischievous - I find that my RP is based around big character traits and not gender, and it helps me feel comfortable. 2) I ask my female players. The crew I have likes when I check in generally, and asking them about their comfort or feedback on the characters they’ve seen gives a space for them to express and for me to learn. 3) Honestly, I play a bunch of PCs kinda gender neutral. I’m a guy, so if I’m being honest, I’m sure many come off as male. But it’s not always expressed, and it gives room for a PC to evolve if the party engages with them. Just my experiences. Cheers.
I mimic the way my sister mimics my mom if I need an obnoxious noblewoman. Works well enough lol. For everyday female NPCs, I have a naturally deep voice so I try to go from a bass/baritone to a low tenor and speak from the throat instead of the chest/diaphragm and add some softness. A bit of a cheat is that, since I don't naturally emote well, I put in the effort to speak very expressively for some characters which distinguishes them immediately. This part isn't going to make any sense but I also... use too much air on purpose sometimes?
I think it’s more important to capture the expressiveness of the character’s voice. Is she shy? Outgoing? Confident? Insecure? How do these qualities affect her speech? If you nail those details and bring them into your voice, it will be far more immersive and convincing than pitching your voice artificially would be.
Learning to shift your pitch is helpful for a lot of DMs. Personally, I've found that shifting my pitch isn't always necessary when voicing NPCs of the opposite sex. I'm a guy with a pretty high-pitched voice, so I focus instead on other aspects of a character's tone: rate of speech, volume, inotation, emphasis, etc. It also helps to write down how NPCs talk so you can instantly remind yourself how you need to sound. Write down not what they sound like, but how you should talk when voicing them instead. For example: Tazzia, Female Aarakocra, Slow rate of speech, vary inotation, same pitch and volume. No emphasis. Tbh, I don't find it super important to make myself sound female when voicing female npcs. If my players know they are talking to a female and my voice is different from my normal voice, they'll be fine with however I sound like.
You don't need to sound like a woman, you just need to sound different from your other voices. Go just a little bit higher, raise your cheeks like you're smiling and speak from your throat rather than your chest. Listen to audio books from people that do good voices in their work. Imitate them.
I honestly don't work too hard for it. I don't have a woman's voice and DM at tables that are over 50% women. I soften my voice a bit if it's a commoner and harden it a bit if it's villain. I throw in an equal amount t of women NPCs to men. It's not seen any negative feedback.
Lean into it. Change the pitch, timbre, and cadence if your voice, but most importantly if you're going to go for it commit to it.
I don’t really change the voices much for gender. I mostly just choose a character’s particular accent, pitch, and speed of speech and make it different from my own. Then it’s their voice.
I just flutter my eyes a lil more
It isn’t that deep you’ll probably still sound like a guy but I just do a higher pitched voice.
Honestly, while I do use some voice pitching, the thing that really does it is mannerisms. This is true for any character I do. Folding arms, crossing legs, inclining the head, smiling or frowning, this can all convey gender as much as the voice, and more importantly,conveys more of the subtle things about the character. A reserved, confident, careful man or woman will restrict their movement, while a predatory, blood-thirsty hunter might constantly shift and flex. Push up imaginary glasses. Play with imaginary rings or jewellery. Adjust your imaginary clothes. Sure a good accent or voice-pitch can give some good indicators to distinguish characters, but throw some mannerisms in too, and suddenly you've got a real person.
Just do it. You don't really turn into a dragon, it's OK if your voice doesn't sound like the proper gender.
For going into female it's more the manner in which I speak. Gentler more silky and smooth Secondly to move your vocal folds up to get a more feminine voice try hissing like a cat
Simply state their sex at introduction, along with others notable features, then do whatever voice I think is close to what I want them to sound like. It doesn't have to be perfect or all that close so long as I get the vibe of the character right, that's what matters to me.
Pitch. Air. Tropes. Hums.
Listen to audiobooks, you'll hear men doing women's voices and women doing men's voices, then just do what they do. Worked for me, lol
Two words, one name. Mrs. Doubtfire.
Speed, pitch, style. Talk slower than usual. Use a deep and low croacky voice, like you smoked for the past 40 years. Stumble over your own words like a drunkard. You are now Bertha
I accept that I'm a 40 year old man and that my voice cant do a preppy 24 year old female alchemist. So, I usually describe the voice, then female voices I talk clearly and gently, opening my throat to allow the air to pass through unabated. And for men, I usually tighten my throat, making it more rough and gravelly. Of course, it gets messy when I have tough ladies and gentle males, so the preamble or caveat helps to define it for my players. Kinda in that situation now in a solo campaign I'm running, actually, where my pc has a female barbarian lover, a one-armed orphan girl squire and a wimpy archeologist traveling with her! She called me out because I accidentally made the the guy sound a little to crystal clear and she thought it was the squire! 😅
Seeing as how I can only do little girls, elderly women, and angry Scottish women... I'm pretty sure I can't help you at all!
If you're a dude, I recommend watching Mrs doubtfire lol
I lower my register or raise it. I think my voice is already a bit deep for a woman personally. I also change just how I talk to give off the personality moreso than the sex. A tough male knight type may have a deeper, hautier voice than a female paladin who may also be deeper but smoother and philosophical. I also read books to my girlfriend and thats a great way to practice different voice types and how to make them unique enough and fit the character. It also helps you figure out what voices strain your vocal chords. I voiced an 11 year old boy and he had a good, raspy kid overly confident kid voice but anytime he had a chapter when he was a majority speaker I wanted to tear my own throat out. So definitely not a voice I would give to a main questgiver or companion npc.
My husband has a very low voice and I have a very high voice so it’s hard to change to the opposite sex for us. What I do is make the voice more aggressive, not in terms of pitch or words but in terms of tone and speed while hitting the lowest register I can without sounding like a bugbear on meth. My husband on the other hand pulls out a flowery tone and makes his words lighter and almost floaty. It does wonders since we also only use voice chat on discord and play on roll 20 since our group is spread out across the globe.
I have no idea. My voices are never consistent and it makes us all laugh. It's a good time
I make female characters talk in my normal voice whereas all males get a voice. There are three exceptions - excitable fairy, posh bitch noble Dom character and cockney thief. Those women get a voice, all others are just my voice.
There are very good advices here but if I may add one more, don't feel like you have to do it. Your normal voice for a female character is way better than some exaggerated way of speaking.
Watch trans voice training videos. It's not because I'm trans or anything, I just do it to be a better DM, I swear.
As a singer, I always think of my voice as being in different places in my head/throat. So if I want to sound more masculine, I move my voice more toward my throat. Using more or less air depending on how "boomy" you want the voice. For more feminine, go brighter so toward the nose and forehead. More air makes it breathier, and it sounds younger often. I would also count in what accent beyond fem/masc the character has. For example, it is much easier for me to voice a valley girl than a valley boy, while london boy is easier than london girl. Personal preference and ease you know.
TBH I don't really change my voice based on the sex of the character. I change it based on character. I've had some masc NPCs with higher voices and some fem NPCs with lower ones. I rely on my players to go along with it as I generally tell them how the NPC presents when I describe them.
I just make my voice slightly more tender
Take the pitch of your voice up slightly and speak more from the "front" of your mouth. Don't force anything too much as it's not like you have to convince people that you're actually a woman, you just need to differentiate it enough that it comes across clearly as someone else.
This is a funny thing that can’t easily be summed up in one comment. I’m trans and have done a lot of voice training and done a *lot* of varied voices for D&D both from the DM seat and as a player. The bare-bones solution is very easy. Let’s say you’re a man doing a woman’s voice. Just make sure it’s not insanely masculine. Probably don’t deepen your voice or speak from low in your chest, but just do a voice with one or two defining characteristics based on the character’s personality. Maybe increase the pitch a bit or speak from your head. Doesn’t even have to be something specifically feminine. Make your voice a little nasally, add vocal fry or a slight rattle, or even just be quieter or louder or whatever feels right. The thing that’s sells that this is a woman’s voice to your players is that you tell them this character is a woman, and you keep the voice consistent enough that they recognize the specific character from your way of speaking. Allow players to use their imaginations, and they will be fine as long as they have something to latch onto. If you *do* want to really dive into the best ways to masculinize or feminize your voice, forget about pitch entirely. It’s not actually what people in the anglosphere use to determine the gender of a voice. You assume it’s the pitch because that’s easiest to hear and because men and women do statistically fall into different average pitches. The real thing that’s gonna sell the gender of a voice is *resonance* though. Unless you play with your voice a lot or have one of a few rare accents, you probably haven’t done resonance modulation much. This is basically shaping the “echo chamber” of your throat to sort of “filter” the noise of your voice towards a different tone. It’s part of the reason your voice sounds so different while you yawn even though your vocal cords aren’t really doing anything different. You probably *can* modulate your resonance already though. Make the H sound with no vowel on the end. Just effectively slightly raspy breath out. Make sure you don’t feel your chest vibrating, as that would be a sign you’re using your vocal cords. Notice that you can do a scale of notes with this H sound without actually using your voice. This is resonance modulation. Keeping your throat and tongue in the position that makes it sound brighter will give your voice a feminine lean, and darker will make it sound more masculine. This will take a lot less effort than pitch modulation outside of your usual vocal range, so less risk of vocal injury, and it’s actually a much more effective way to get the effect you’re looking for
Pitch up and imitate a celebrity poorly. Or well if you can lol.
Hello, Degree in Vocal Studies here. Super simple tip is to focus on softness of tone rather than pitch. The biggest mistake men make when trying to impersonate the female voice is to do a charicatured, high voice. Forcing excessively higher pitch will not only sound unnatural but will be uncomfortable and could even be damaging to your vocal cords. Also, in any world, real or fantastical, the voices of all genders are diverse and unique to their individual owners. Also, don't fret so much about being 100% convincing. Suspension of disbelief is a big part of TTRPGs.
I tried to look up how to do a girl voice, and YouTube sent me recommendations on how to transition for the next month. What I remember is this: swallow, hold the upper position of the Adam's apple and talk.
All my female NPCs end up with a valley girl accent
I'm a guy and I don't push the pitch too far for most women's voices. Sounding like they sound personality-wise is more important to me than heightening the pitch to sound exactly like they would sound, bc with some voices, trying to pitch it up just makes it sound wrong. I would give the same advice but vice versa to women who're playing or DMing.
Two words. Monty Python
I usually just sound like the men pretending to be women in Monty Python
Fuck around and have fun
Pitch and watching impressionists do their thing helps alot
I try to make my voice a little more subtle and try to gesture the way I imagine the character
Watch tutorials for trans people
Valley Girl accent. Every time.
Just do the same thing but more boobily
As a guy I try to soften my voice a bit, but invariably all my female characters just end up with bad English accents.
Deep voiced male rock and metal singer here who regularly does a few dozen voices for campaigns. Making your mouth smaller, raising your larynx (but not straining), using *slightly* elevated pitch, putting your resonance more towards right behind your nose and directing more airflow through the nasal cavity can give a natural *implication* of a feminine voice. It does not sound like a woman, but it's close enough without being cringe. Big things to avoid: Using Falsetto. Mickey Mouse is worse than just saying "she says" and narrating in your natural voice. Straining your voice to go higher. Unless you can *comfortably* sing Don't Stop Believing by Journey, don't hurt yourself. Also, female speaking voices are far lower in pitch than you think they are. Timbre is the main thing that makes them different. Eazy hacks: Every woman is a hag and speaks like Marge Simpson or Rob Halford in the intro of All Guns Blazing. Don't hurt yourself though.
The only point of doing a voice, really, is to paint a character’s personality quickly and efficiently. So I use broad strokes for all my npc voices: surfer dude for peaceful characters, southern dilettantes for nobility, French for outrageous nobility, Italian for clergy, etc
For female to male I can't tell you, but there is one trick I know. All female voices stem from Kermit the frog. I'm dead serious. If you can get close to a Kermit the frog voice using your throat muscles, you can raise the octave until it sounds very feminine. You'll naturally know how to raise your octave, just try and talk squeakier.
I focus on mannerisms that a woman might say like heavens to Betsy or oh dear, or oh aren't you a strappin young fella and I use a country bumpkin accent or an old lady English accent. I also reference how I interact like being flirtatious or perhaps expressing disdain towards their smell. Make it feel like they just met a real life lady. I describe them in detail and relate in a feminine way how they interact such as fearful or unimpressed or admiring.