How do I record a male voicebank with a high voice?!

[null]

So unfortunately I was bestowed with a high voice and though it sounds low irl, it sounds feminine when recorded. I want to record a male voicebank and just want to know what methods I could use.

 

[na4a4a]

(Oh boy it's 3am, I apologize if this isn't coherent.)

Recording/speaking out of your pitch or tone range for any extended period of time can be dangerous and cause damage to your voice so please take care when doing anything of the sort.

There isn't anything you can do to get a instant result, that being said there are some things you can try.
It's best to search YouTube or a vocal related site as video and audio would be able to describe what you could try better than text ever could.

First, avoid forcing/pushing your voice down. It's unhealthy and makes a very derpy and poor sound.
Second, for a male the best voice is often the one you naturally have, you just have to project it stronger/with more confidence.
Third, sometimes some microphones don't allow for a "manly" tone and tend to dilute a male voice.

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Looking at your profile, it says that you're 13. At such a young age you simply are probably not capable of a lower tone yet. It'll probably be best for you to not attempt to force it as a younger voice is very sensitive. The best you can do is to let nature do it's thing and as you get older you'll gain a lower voice (usually). What you can do for right now is to do basic vocal exercises to make your voice stonger and that will help make your voice as it is right now sound better.

 

[Halo]

Hello friends, longtime dealer-with-this-issue here.

@YukiteruIsSugoi , I understand how frustrating it can be. If you're young, it is very likely your voice will drop with time; but also likely you don't really want to wait 2-4 years before recording this concept. That's fine. Go as low as you can go, but only comfortably. It's very important (and honestly reassuring!) to know that what makes a masculine voice isn't depth. There's notable masculine voices that are recorded at f4+! It's not even, as clavichord mentioned, strength/confidence. After all, Matsuppoiyo and Suranki and similar have feminine voice providers, but they pass pretty well and are very soft, even meek voices (and speaking of meek, I like to think my own bank passes pretty well, too)! Its much more about tone quality and accent.

My personal suggestion is to try and find male/masculine singers and utaite with similar vocal ranges to you, but that still have a voice you like/could go for, then try to mimic and study them. How do the pronounce stuff? Does it sound very open, different vowels? This can be even better studying UTAU recordings; I've found I can outright match those a bit better sometimes, since I'm not the BEST singer but I've been recording UTAU strings for so long. After years of recording, I can also note that masculine tones often accompany a feeling of somewhat "pulling the sound up from the back of your throat", instead of pronouncing it in the forward section of the mouth (works for ENG and Japanese, though JP a bit better).

As above, be careful and make sure you're using your diaphragm/chest voice and not trying to do any of this with a head voice (unless you know what you're doing and are going for like... falsetto)! Good luck, and feel free to ping me with any specific questions if you'd like.

 

[수연 <Suyeon>]

My thoughts are basically the same as @clavichord - the vocal cords of a child are quite sensitive and any incorrect usage of your voice at this point and time could set you up for damage that can be hard to recover from:
- bad singing habits (larynx placement, jaw tension, muscle strain which often leads to uncontrolled nasality, overly hard attack, etc.)
- nodules (these are lesions that prevent your cords from opening, closing, and vibrating properly - get these bad enough and surgery can become a necessity)

Let nature take its course and record your voice naturally. You may not get a "manly" result right now, but who's to say you'll get a "manly" result once puberty has thickened your cords (I put these in quotation marks as not everyone has the same definition of manly - I'm guessing that to you manly = deep where as my definition is vocally mature)? For example: Piko - one of my favorite males. I don't think Piko sounds 'girly' at all, even in his high range; just sounds like a young male with a lot of range and not a lot of weight/depth to the voice. If your voice is too young for your avatar (as in your character/oc), then simply lower their age to match your own and have them age with you. Depending on the microphone you're using and your voice, you may be able to use the gender flag in UTAU for a lower sounding result, though the success rate is variable - some voices simply refuse to be artificially lowered by this method. I do not recommend pitching the voice through audacity - the results of this is even more artificial sounding and lowers the quality of the samples. While you can do as @Halo suggests and mimic other singers, you don't want to sound like a copycat/imitation of them, let your own natural vocal quality shine and let it be unique to you. What you do want to mimic is good singing technique. There are videos on youtube to help with this such as https://www.youtube.com/user/EricArceneaux

 

[MystSaphyr]

One thing I could throw out there, is are you recording with your head voice or your chest voice?

Many newer UTAU users tend to record in their natural speaking tone, or perhaps if they lack confidence in their own voice (as I've seen from recording so many non-fandom people) they shift into a higher headvoice/falsetto-y tone without even meaning to, even the guys at times. When I coach my voicers, regardless of gender/age, I tell them to project like a singer would: sing the samples from your diaphragm/chest voice. While you get a more powerful bank, it tends to make your voice a tad lower-sounding. After that it's really a matter of pronunciation rather than "how low can I sing".

It's how Asami Shimoda gets both Rin and Len out of her voice. Len might be a young/high voice, but he still sounds masculine when paired with Rin because he's Asami's "chest voice" and thickly voice-acted whereas Rin was recorded in her "head voice"

If you find yourself singing out of your most comfortable range, please do not do that. Be careful! As others said you don't want to force your voice, that can cause damage. If you find yourself straining or uncomfortable at ALL, take a step back. Finding out your own natural range is an important part of UTAUing safely.

 

[null]

Thanks for all the advice! I'll be sure to try everything out before taking a shot at recording the voicebank.

 

[rowan nieuport]

When i went to university i began to sing, and my voice was higher pitched by nature--i sang tenor parts and sometimes alto parts. A lot of it was Early European Music so the parts were often quite high. I guess what i am getting at is that if you can accept what your genetics gave you, maybe you will be able to make good brand for yourself. But it sounds like you have the whole world ahead of you, and your voice has time to still grow and develop. I envy you, and i wish you very well!