Comparative Review of Two Popular Voice Training Programmes.

Finding Your Female Voice by Andrea James (& Calpernia Adams)

and

Melanie Speaks (Girl Talk) by Melanie Anne Phillips.

September 2003

I recently decided that I wanted to work on what I view as a crucial element in one's ability to pass - the voice. I spent some time researching the different programs that are available out there, and decided that I would purchase two of them, hoping that between them, I would get enough pointers to be able to develop my own, passable female voice. The two programs I chose are listed above.
Let me start by saying that both women have done an excellent job at developing their female voices. I would challenge anyone to tell that they were not genetic females based on their voices alone. From that perspective, I felt that both of them were well qualified to help me in my quest for an authentic female voice. (An interesting point to note, but both women are  in the video production field, and this also led me to believe the production quality of the respective programs would be outstanding - but more of that later).

Andrea's program, Finding your Female Voice, comprises a Video or DVD (with a small pamphlet) and an optional CD (or cassette). You cannot buy the CD or cassette by itself, but I highly recommend that you do get the CD as it contains over 50 exercises you can use to develop your voice. The DVD/CD combination makes the program a little on the expensive side, $58, and I found that I spent the vast majority of my time, using the CD in my car, whereas, I've watched the DVD only twice.     FYFV goes into the theory just enough to give you a good idea of what is happening. Andrea makes use of a piano, and uses the scales to help you find the pitch that is right for you.
The production value of this program is good, both on the DVD and the CD, although there are some anomalies with the piano recordings.

Melanie's program, Melanie Speaks, was originally produced as a video tape, and goes into a broader range of subjects than Andrea's. Melanie's approach is that voice is only part of the requirement, other factors such as enunciation, vocabulary, gestures etc. make up the total package. She spends a lot more time going into the theory behind each of these areas, and fills in with anecdotes from her own experience, but there are no exercises to speak of (forgive the pun), mostly one-off examples.
I have to admit that I was disappointed with what I got for the $26 it cost me for Melanie Speaks. Rather than take advantage of the audio medium, the majority of the CD comprised of the sound-track from the now aging videotape. The audio quality was not good and the editing at the end of each section had a loud, hiss and popping noise. Melanie had recorded a new section for the introduction, where the quality was better, but that was not where the meat of her program was to be found.
On the plus side, the additional information Melanie includes is relevant and worth paying attention to.

I would summarize the two programs this way:
Andrea's is heavy on the lessons and practice, with lots of "repeat after me..." exercises; but lighter on the theory. Melanie's is more into theory and additional elements of producing a convincing female presence. In reality, the two programs combined give an in-depth overview and more than enough practical pointers.

How effective the programs are, comes down to you as an individual, and how much time you're willing to commit to your goal. Developing the right throat muscles is a lengthy and somewhat tedious task. Personally, I'm not there yet, but I am slowly improving.

As a side note, Andrea recognizes the fact that many of us are likely to be working on our voices in "stealth mode". She therefore purposefully doesn't label either the DVD or the CD overtly, but rather, uses the acronym, FYFV and a version number - hand written on the disks - to help disguise their true purpose from prying eyes. Melanie's CD, on the other hand, arrives with a colour photo of Melanie and the CD title emblazoned across the top. The first thing I did was to use some "Goo-Gone" to remove the label and then borrow from Andrea's approach, and hand-write an acronym and some meaningless numbers on the clean CD surface..
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