What Is Your
Voice Type?
Discover your exact singing voice category in under 60 seconds. Microphone test or quiz — no musical knowledge required.
What Is a Voice Type?
Your voice type is determined by four interconnected characteristics — not just how high or low you can sing.
Vocal Range
The full span of notes from your lowest to highest comfortable pitch. This is the starting point — but not the whole picture.
Tessitura
Where your voice sounds best, not just where it can reach. Most singers have a tessitura narrower than their full range — and it's the most important factor.
Vocal Weight
The natural heaviness or lightness of your voice's sound. Determines sub-types — a soprano and a dramatic soprano may have the same range but very different weight.
Passaggio
The transition point between chest voice and head voice. Where this shift occurs is one of the most reliable indicators of voice type — distinguishing tenor from baritone, soprano from mezzo.
Find Your Voice Type — Free
Two ways to test. The microphone test is more accurate. The quiz works for everyone.
Microphone Voice Type Test
We detect your lowest and highest comfortable singing notes in real time. Takes about 60 seconds. Your audio is never recorded or uploaded — all processing happens locally in your browser.
- Find a quiet room
- Sing comfortably — never force extreme notes
- Hold each note steady for 2–3 seconds
- Say "ah" or "oo" — these vowels work best
How would you describe your natural speaking and singing voice?
All 16 Voice Types Explained
The complete Fach system — used by opera houses and vocal coaches worldwide to classify singers precisely. This is what competitors won't tell you: there are far more than four voice types.
Female Voice Types (7)
Coloratura Soprano
The highest and most agile soprano. Specializes in rapid, ornamented passages (coloratura). Bright, crystalline tone. Think Queen of the Night from Mozart's Magic Flute.
Lyric Soprano
Sweet, warm, and versatile — the most common soprano. Ideal for romantic roles, art song, and musical theatre. Voice is clear and bright without heaviness.
Spinto Soprano
"Pushed" soprano — more weight and power than lyric, yet maintains top-note access. The workhorse of Verdi and Puccini. More dramatic than lyric but less heavy than dramatic.
Dramatic Soprano
The most powerful soprano — built to project over a full orchestra. Rich, dark, massive tone. Associated with Wagner heroines. This voice often matures in the singer's 40s.
Lyric Mezzo-Soprano
Warm, resonant, and flexible. Comfortable in both chest and head voice. Excels in Baroque, Classical, and Romantic repertoire. Often the most musically versatile female voice.
Dramatic Mezzo-Soprano
Dark, commanding, with chest voice power extending higher than other mezzos. Built for heroic and villainous operatic roles. Often confused for a contralto by untrained ears.
Contralto
The rarest female voice — very dark, rich, and powerful throughout the low range. True contraltos are extraordinarily uncommon. Often called "the voice of God" in choral works.
Male Voice Types (9)
Countertenor
A male voice that uses primarily falsetto/head voice. The highest standard male voice. Specializes in Renaissance and Baroque music — a tradition dating back centuries.
Lyric Tenor
Sweet, bright, flexible — the classic romantic hero voice. Specializes in Bel canto opera. High notes feel like a spinning top — effortless when well-placed.
Spinto Tenor
More power and darker color than lyric — yet still reaches the dramatic high notes. The leading tenor of Verdi and Puccini. Famous for the "money note" high Cs.
Dramatic Tenor (Heldentenor)
The most powerful tenor — built for Wagner's heroes. Enormous volume and stamina required. Extremely rare worldwide and among the most prized voices in opera.
Lyric Baritone
Warm, smooth, and elegant — the most common male voice type worldwide. The definitive art-song and Lieder voice. Incredible tonal color and expressiveness.
Dramatic Baritone (Verdi Baritone)
Rich, dark, powerful — built for dramatic roles requiring authority and weight. Verdi's great villains and tragic heroes live here: Iago, Rigoletto, Scarpia.
Bass-Baritone
A hybrid voice — baritone flexibility in the upper range combined with true bass depth below. Often cast as authority figures, gods, and kings. Barry White's territory.
Basso Cantante (Lyric Bass)
A bass that sings — deeper than a baritone but with singing agility and a higher tessitura than basso profondo. Perfect for comic and character roles.
Basso Profondo
The deepest voice type in existence. The "voice of God" in choral and operatic literature. Some basso profondos can sing below the lowest notes on a piano. Extremely rare.
The Fach System: Professional Voice Classification
Used by opera houses worldwide to match the right singer to the right role. Understanding your Fach protects your voice and helps you choose repertoire that fits naturally.
What Is Fach?
The Fach system (German: Fach = "compartment") classifies singers by their voice type — going far beyond the basic soprano/tenor/bass breakdown. It's used by professional opera houses worldwide to cast productions and protect singers' voices.
Why Fach Matters
Singing in your correct Fach means:
- Your voice sounds its best — rich, free, and resonant
- High notes are attainable without excessive strain
- Low notes have body and resonance, not a forced gravelly sound
- You can sing for longer without fatigue
- You dramatically reduce your risk of vocal injury
Fach vs. Basic Classification
Basic classification says "you're a tenor." Fach says "you're a Lyric Tenor" — meaning you should sing Mozart and Donizetti, not Wagner. This one distinction prevents singers from taking roles that damage their voices over time.
Can Your Fach Change?
Rarely, and only in one direction — voices tend to develop more weight over time. A young lyric soprano may grow into a spinto later in life. But a dramatic soprano will not become a coloratura, and a bass will not become a tenor. Fach is mostly set by your anatomy.
| Voice Type | Range | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Coloratura Soprano | E4–F6 | Agile, brilliant |
| Lyric Soprano | C4–C6 | Sweet, warm |
| Spinto Soprano | C4–C6 | Powerful, sustained |
| Dramatic Soprano | B3–B5 | Massive, dark |
| Lyric Mezzo-Soprano | A3–A5 | Flexible, warm |
| Dramatic Mezzo-Soprano | G3–G5 | Dark, commanding |
| Contralto | E3–E5 | Deep, rich (rare) |
| Countertenor | E3–E5 | Male falsetto |
| Lyric Tenor | C3–C5 | Bright, flexible |
| Spinto Tenor | C3–C5 | Powerful, romantic |
| Dramatic Tenor | B2–B4 | Heroic, massive |
| Lyric Baritone | G2–G4 | Smooth, elegant |
| Dramatic Baritone | F2–G4 | Rich, authoritative |
| Bass-Baritone | E2–F4 | Deep, flexible |
| Basso Cantante | E2–E4 | Warm, singing |
| Basso Profondo | C2–D4 | Deepest, dramatic |
Famous Singers by Voice Type
Hear what your voice type sounds like — from classical opera legends to contemporary pop icons.
Voice Training by Voice Type
How you should train depends entirely on what voice type you are. Here's what every singer needs to understand before picking up a vocal exercise.
Train Your Tessitura First
Most beginners focus on expanding their range. But training your tessitura — where you sound best — gives faster results and far less risk of strain. Solidify the middle before pushing the edges.
Avoid Wrong-Fach Repertoire
A lyric soprano singing heavy Verdi, or a lyric baritone attempting Wagnerian roles, risks permanent damage. Choose music written for voices like yours — this is why Fach exists.
Range Expands — Fach Rarely Does
With consistent training, most singers gain 2–4 semitones of usable range over years. But your Fach rarely changes — a baritone will not become a tenor no matter how hard they train.
Record Yourself Weekly
You cannot accurately hear yourself while singing — your head bones conduct sound differently than air. Weekly recordings let you track progress and catch bad habits before they solidify.
Hydration Is Non-Negotiable
Vocal cords are lubricated mucus membranes that need water from the inside. Drink 8+ glasses of water daily. Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and dairy before rehearsals and performances.
Rest Is Part of Training
Vocal cords are muscles — they need recovery. After intensive singing sessions, rest your voice. Many professional singers observe weekly "vocal rest" days. The rests are not wasted time.
Voice Type Test — FAQ
Everything you need to know about voice types, classification, and how to use your results.
Microphone pitch detection tests are reasonably accurate at identifying your basic voice type (soprano vs. mezzo, tenor vs. baritone). However, professional voice classification by a trained teacher also considers timbre, passaggio location, and resonance characteristics that an algorithm can't fully capture. Use our test as a reliable starting point, then verify with a vocal coach for definitive classification.
Your basic voice type is determined by the size, length, and thickness of your vocal cords — physical characteristics that don't fundamentally change after vocal maturity (around age 25 for men, 21 for women). However, your voice will develop, deepen, and mature over a singing career. Some singers are reclassified as their voice develops more weight — a young lyric soprano sometimes grows into a spinto soprano in her 30s or 40s.
Not necessarily. Many baritones can hit C5 or even higher with effort, but voice type isn't determined solely by your maximum range. It's about where your voice sounds best (tessitura) and where your passaggio — the register break — sits. If your voice sounds richest and most resonant in the G3–G4 range and your chest-to-head transition is around E4–F4, you're likely a baritone even if you can occasionally touch tenor high notes. Baritones singing tenor roles regularly is one of the most common causes of vocal damage.
Vocal range is the total span of notes you can produce — from your lowest to highest. Voice type is the holistic category (soprano, tenor, etc.) that describes your voice based on where it sounds best, its natural weight, and where registers shift. A soprano and a mezzo might both sing B4 comfortably, but the soprano's voice sounds best above that note, while the mezzo's sounds best below it — same range, different voice type.
The key distinction is tessitura and passaggio location — not range alone. If your voice sounds richest and most natural between E4 and B4, you're likely a soprano. If your sweet spot is between B3 and G4, with lower notes having more weight and character, you're likely a mezzo. Also check where your voice changes register: sopranos typically transition around E4–F4; mezzos around C4–D4. Both ranges overlap considerably — that's why this particular distinction can be difficult without a vocal teacher's evaluation.
Adele is widely classified as a mezzo-soprano. Her comfortable range spans roughly B2–E5, and her voice has a characteristic warm, rich mezzo quality throughout the middle and lower register. Her chest voice extends powerfully well into the fourth octave — more typical of a mezzo than a soprano. Her style of singing with weight in the lower-middle register is quintessentially mezzo.
Ariana Grande is a soprano — specifically often described as a light lyric soprano with coloratura capabilities. Her signature whistle register, agile high range, and light, bright vocal tone place her firmly in soprano territory. Her comfortable chest-voice range extends to roughly E5, and she accesses notes far beyond that through a highly developed head voice and whistle register. Her core soprano range is approximately C4–G5.
"Alto" is the choral term for the lowest female voice part in a choir. "Contralto" is the solo vocal classification — a true contralto is rarer and has a deeper, darker, and more powerful tone than the typical alto in a choir. Many altos in choirs are actually mezzos singing the lower choral part. True contraltos with that characteristic deep chest resonance throughout the range are remarkably uncommon and highly prized in classical music.
Use the microphone test above — it's the most accurate home method. For a DIY approach: find your lowest comfortable note by sliding down a scale on "ah" until your voice becomes weak, loses pitch, or goes raspy — the last clear, resonant note is your low limit. Then slide up until you can no longer sustain a clear, stable tone without strain — that's your high limit. Compare both notes to the voice type ranges in our Fach table. Our test automates this process and classifies your result instantly.
Different tests use different classification criteria. Some focus purely on which notes you can reach; others weight tessitura and timbre more heavily. Also, voices that sit on the border between two types — like a "mezzo-soprano with soprano high notes" — will classify differently depending on the algorithm. If you consistently get different answers, you're likely a borderline case. A qualified vocal teacher can resolve the ambiguity in a single lesson.
Tessitura (Italian: "texture") is the portion of your vocal range where your voice sounds its richest, most resonant, and most sustainable. It's narrower than your full range — you might technically reach notes outside it, but not for long and not beautifully. Tessitura matters because it determines what music suits your voice, what roles you should audition for, and how your voice will develop with training. A mismatch between repertoire and tessitura is one of the most common causes of vocal strain and injury.
Passaggio (Italian: "passage") refers to the transition zones where your voice shifts between registers — typically from chest voice to middle voice, and from middle voice to head voice (or falsetto in men). Every voice type has characteristic passaggio locations. For example, tenors typically have their first passaggio around E4–F4; baritones around C4–D4. Where your voice shifts register is one of the most reliable clinical indicators of voice type — often more diagnostic than either range or timbre alone.