Don’t Like The Tone Of Your Voice? Here’s How To Change It (And Still Sound Like You)
Most singers assume they’re stuck with the tone they were born with. But your vocal tone is like clay—it can be shaped.
Yes, your vocal cords and anatomy play a role in your default sound. But how you shape your vowels, where you place your resonance, and how much air or brightness you add… all of that changes your tone dramatically.
“If you are not fully in love with the tone of your voice—don’t worry. We can actually manipulate the tone of anybody’s voice. That’s why impersonators exist.”
Take that in for a second. Impersonators can mimic dozens of singers using the same set of vocal cords. And you can do the same—no fakery, just flexibility. Even if you don’t want to be an impersonator, but you just want to learn how to change the tone of your voice for certain notes you’re singing, let’s have a look at how you can do that!
Why We Resist Tone Shaping
Singers often associate tone with identity.
“This is just how I sound.”
Whether or not you like the tone of what naturally comes out of you, that mindset limits expression. You can keep your essence (or change it if you don’t like it) and still shape the tone to better match the style, emotion, or color you want to express - even if it’s just for certain notes!
Tone is not identity—it’s texture.
What Shapes Tone
Whenever we look at the voice, we can separate it into 3 sections - below the vocal folds, at the vocal folds and above the vocal folds. All these of these areas can influence how your tone changes.
Below The Vocal Folds:
This is your breath. How much breath are you using to create sound.
Less breath will make your tone sound more flat (not in pitch but in tone) and more air will make it sound more 3 demential. Of course you can also use too much air… so more doesn’t always equal better!
At The Vocal Folds:
This is inside your larynx (voice box). Three things are happening here.
How firmly your vocal folds close determines wether you sound breathy or squeezed (and everything in between). Less closure = more breathy, more closure = more pressy.
How tick your vocal folds are determines what register (chest voice, head voice, mix voice) you’re singing in (simplified). Each register will sound different and therefore changes your tone.
And lastly the position of your larynx will also change your tone. A lower larynx gives you a more dopey sound and a higher larynx will make you sound more bright.
Above The Vocal Folds:
These are your resonators and articulators.
Your resonators can change shape and depending on the shape of them you’ll sound more bright or more dark. In general hard surfaces (like teeth and hard palate) will make you sound more bright and soft surfaces (soft palate, tongue) will make you sound more dark. You can adjust your resonators to hit these different areas in your vocal tract and change your tone.
Soft palate: Lifting it closes off the nasal cavity, reducing a nasal sound and increasing fullness.
Tongue: Shapes all your vowels and some consonants. A retracted tongue can make you sound like Kermit The Frog - like your voice is stuck in your throat.
Lips: The more spread your lips are the brighter and sometimes even shoutier your tone will be. The lips also help us articulate the words.
Jaw: A more dropped jaw will give your sound more space and will therefore make you sound more full.
Quick Tone Tools You Can Try
Brighten: Narrow your vowel slightly (e.g. “ee”), place it more forward, and reduce airflow.
Darken: Open your vowel (“aw” or “uh”), lower your larynx slightly, and add space in your throat.
Loosen: Try an “OO” with soft lips and minimal muscle tension.
And the key: play.
When singers stop overthinking and start experimenting—silly voices, character sounds, cartoon imitations—they learn faster. The body responds better when the brain chills out.
🎧 Check out the full tone break down with examples here:
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