Voice types and vocal range chart: how to find yours

There are six common voice types. From highest to lowest: soprano, mezzo-soprano and contralto (called alto in a choir), usually women’s voices, then tenor, baritone and bass, usually men’s. Your type depends on more than your highest and lowest notes. It also depends on your tessitura, the zone where your voice sits comfortably, and on your timbre, the color that makes a voice sound light or dark. The quickest way to measure your range is the free vocal range test: sing your lowest and highest comfortable notes into the microphone and it shows your range and the closest voice type. Nothing is recorded. Then read your result against the chart below.

Vocal range chart: the six voice types

These are the typical ranges in Wikipedia’s overview of voice types, which follows classical and choral convention. The number after each letter is the octave: C4 is middle C, and A4 is the 440 Hz note you tune to.

Voice type	Typical range	Frequency	Landmarks you may know
Soprano	C4–C6	261.63–1046.50 Hz	Middle C up two octaves, to the soprano’s high C
Mezzo-soprano	A3–A5	220.00–880.00 Hz	The A below middle C to the second A above it
Contralto (alto)	F3–F5	174.61–698.46 Hz	The F below middle C to the second F above it
Tenor	C3–C5	130.81–523.25 Hz	An octave below middle C up to the “tenor C”
Baritone	A2–A4	110.00–440.00 Hz	The guitar’s open A string up to the A you tune to
Bass	E2–E4	82.41–329.63 Hz	The guitar’s low E string up to its open high E

Read it as a map, not a rulebook:

• Sources differ by a step or two. Wikipedia’s own baritone article gives G2–G4 for opera and F2–F4 for choirs; its tenor article puts most choral tenor parts between B2 and A4.
• These are classical and choral conventions. The edges describe what trained singers use in that repertoire, not a test you pass or fail.
• Classical music uses more labels. The countertenor, a male voice, sings roughly E3–E5, mostly in falsetto, and the German Fach system splits each type into subtypes (lyric, dramatic, coloratura) by weight and color.

Each row spans two octaves, and neighboring rows overlap by more than an octave. That’s why two numbers alone can’t settle your type.

Range, tessitura and registers in plain words

Range: every note you can sing with a usable tone

Your range runs from your lowest to your highest note sung with a clear, usable tone, not every squeak or growl you can make. The vocal range test works the same way: it only counts notes you hold for a moment, so a crack or a slide doesn’t stretch the result.

Tessitura: where your voice likes to live

Tessitura is the part of your range you can sing in for a whole song without tiring: the heart of the range, not its edges. Two singers with the same lowest and highest notes can have different tessituras, which is why choirs assign parts by range while teachers classify soloists mainly by tessitura. A classic example: Wagner’s Siegfried spans C♯3 to C5, yet it counts as a high part because most phrases sit between C4 and A4. For a songwriter, the tessitura is where the verse should live, and its top is where the chorus can peak.

Registers: chest, head, mix and falsetto

• Chest voice is the speech-like sound most people sing in; voice science calls it the modal register. The name describes where you feel the vibration: every register comes from the larynx.
• Head voice is the lighter, higher sound above it. Schools use the term differently; some treat it as falsetto, others as a fuller version of it.
• Mix is the teacher’s word for blending the two through the middle of the voice. Voice science describes it as points on a continuum, not a separate register.
• Falsetto is the breathy, flute-like sound made mainly by the edges of the vocal folds. It overlaps the modal register by about an octave, so many notes can be sung either way.

Passaggio: the break

The passaggio is the transition between registers. In untrained voices it can be an abrupt flip or crack, which classical singers train hard to hide. It isn’t a flaw: plenty of folk and pop singers flip on purpose. Knowing the few notes where your voice changes gear tells you where a melody will feel exposed.

How to find your vocal range safely

1. Warm up for five minutes. Hum, do lip trills and slide gently up and down. The vocal warm-up plays a guided routine with piano that takes about five minutes; the breathing exercises for singing come before it if your breath runs out early.
2. Glide down. From a comfortable speaking pitch, slide down on “ah” or “oo” and stop at the last note that still has a clear tone. Breathy or creaky notes don’t count.
3. Glide up. Do the same upward, in the voice you would use in a song. Stop before anything pinches or strains: range doesn’t grow by pushing.
4. Hold the edges. Sing each edge note for a second or two and check its name in what note am I singing.
5. Measure on two days. Your voice changes from day to day. Keep the result you get twice, not your best moment.

The vocal range test does steps 2 to 4 with the microphone: press Start, hold a comfortable low note, go down note by note, then climb. It shows your lowest and highest notes, the span in semitones and octaves, and the closest voice type. The sound is analyzed in your browser and never leaves your device. If anything hurts, stop; if hoarseness lasts, see a voice professional.

From range to key

The test gives you the edges; your tessitura is narrower. A songwriter’s rule of thumb: trim a semitone or two from each end and you have the notes you can sing take after take. Then put your result into what key should I sing in. The link opens with an example range already filled in: A2 to E4, 19 semitones, about an octave and a half, which overlaps bass and baritone in the chart. Set the song’s key and the lowest and highest notes of its melody, and the tool lists every key where the whole melody fits, the most balanced first, with capo positions for guitar.

Voice types in pop, rock, R&B and other styles

Voice classification grew up in European classical music, and Wikipedia’s vocal range article notes that it isn’t generally applicable to other kinds of singing. Pop singers work with a microphone, so a soft low note that would disappear in an opera house is perfectly usable. Rock and gospel singers often belt, carrying a chest-like sound higher than a classical singer would. Many R&B and indie singers flip into falsetto as a color. None of that maps neatly onto soprano or baritone.

Be careful with the range charts of famous singers you find online. A 2016 acoustic study of Freddie Mercury’s recordings, published in Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, could not substantiate the popular claim that his range spanned over four octaves. It concluded that he was probably a baritone who sang as a tenor, with exceptional control. The label mattered less than what he could sing night after night.

For pop, rock, R&B, folk or a sung hook over a beat, two numbers do the job: your comfortable low note and your comfortable high note. They tell you which keys work, and they carry over from one style to the next.

How to use your vocal range when you write a song

Writing for your own voice: a worked example

Say you measured A2–E4 and wrote a song on guitar in G major. The verse dips to E3 and the chorus peaks on G4, the high tonic. G4 is three semitones above your top note, so the chorus will either strain or crack.

Enter G major, E3 and G4 in the key tool with your range. The melody spans 15 semitones and your range 19, so the song fits in five keys, from C to E. D comes first: five semitones down puts the melody on B2–D4, with two semitones of room at each end, and G–C–D becomes D–G–A, all open shapes.

What follows from the example:

• Peak at the top of your comfortable zone, not at the edge of your range. A quick high note can go a little further; a held one shouldn’t.
• Keep the verse in the middle of your tessitura so the chorus has somewhere to climb; the melody guide shows how verse and chorus contrast in register.
• Check the span before the key. If the melody is wider than your range, no key fixes it: lower the peak or raise the lowest line.

Writing for another singer

Ask for their comfortable lowest and highest notes rather than their voice type; the vocal range test takes a couple of minutes. If you’re a baritone writing for a higher voice, your demo sounds an octave below where they will sing it: a C4 in your guide take becomes C5. Record the guide in your own octave, write “sing an octave up” on the lyric sheet and check the real notes against the singer’s range in the key tool. Leave a semitone or two at the top: a song sung on stage night after night needs more margin than one studio take.

Transposing with a capo or the chord player

A capo raises every string one semitone per fret, so you keep your shapes and the key goes up; the capo chart shows which shapes give which key. It only goes up. To go down, as in the example, change shapes: D shapes with no capo, or with a capo on the 1st fret for E♭. To hear the new key first, loop the progression in the chord player in D and sing the chorus over it. Once the key is settled, recording vocals at home covers the take itself.

Where Zoundroom fits: your range and best key in the song’s note

Zoundroom doesn’t measure voices; the free web test does. What Zoundroom keeps is the result, right next to the song that needs it. Each song is a project with its recordings, lyrics, notes and files, so open the song’s note and write the facts on the first line, for example “Range A2–E4 · chorus peak D4 · key D, no capo (E♭: capo 1)”. Then, in the app on your phone, record two short takes of the chorus inside that note, one in D and one in E♭; each recording lands at the cursor, under the line that explains it. Listen again the next day and keep the key that sounds free, not merely safe. When you reopen the project on your phone or on the web, or share it with the singer you wrote it for, the key is already answered. Zoundroom won’t correct pitch, add effects or mix; that part belongs in your DAW.

Frequently asked questions

Can my voice type change?

Yes. The biggest change comes at puberty: Cleveland Clinic notes that boys’ voices can drop about an octave and girls’ voices about three tones. In adults, training widens the range and can move the zone where the voice feels best, which is why teachers avoid labeling beginners early. Voices also change with age: research reports that women’s speaking pitch tends to drop after menopause, with less consistent results for men.

How many octaves is a normal vocal range?

There’s no normal to hit. Each classical range in the chart spans two octaves, and those describe trained singers. Treat claims of four or five octaves with caution, as the Mercury study shows. For songwriting, what matters is whether your melody fits: the worked example spans an octave and a minor third and fits a 19-semitone range with room to spare.

Am I a tenor or a baritone?

Look at where your voice lives, not only at the top note. Baritone is the most common male voice, and many baritones can touch tenor notes; the question is whether you can stay up there. As a rough guide, if phrases between C4 and G4 feel easy for a whole chorus, you lean tenor; if the top takes effort, baritone. Timbre and where your break sits count too, which is where a teacher’s ear helps.

Is falsetto part of my vocal range?

Classical classification counts only the modal register for most voices, with exceptions such as countertenors, who sing in falsetto. For your own songs, count the voice you’ll actually sing in: if your choruses use falsetto, include it and note where it starts; if not, stop the test at the top of your chest or mixed voice.

Why does the test say I’m between two voice types?

Because the ranges overlap. A2–E4 shares 19 semitones with both bass (E2–E4) and baritone (A2–A4), so the test names both. Tessitura and timbre decide between them; for choosing keys, you can leave the question open.

Sources

• Wikipedia, “Voice type”: typical ranges (soprano C4–C6, mezzo-soprano A3–A5, contralto F3–F5, countertenor E3–E5, tenor C3–C5, baritone A2–A4, bass E2–E4); range, tessitura, timbre and passaggio as criteria; choral parts by range and soloists by tessitura; the Fach system; Vennard on classifying beginners. Checked September 28, 2026. wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia, “Vocal range”: musically useful pitches; only the modal register counts for most voice types, with countertenor and coloratura exceptions; classification not generally applicable outside classical music. Checked September 28, 2026. wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia, “Tessitura”: definition and the Siegfried example (C♯3–C5, phrases mostly C4–A4). Checked September 28, 2026. wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia, “Vocal register”: modal voice, falsetto, their overlap of about an octave, chest and head as resonance terms, mix as a continuum, passaggio and cracks. Checked September 28, 2026. wikipedia.org
• National Center for Voice and Speech, “Vocal Function and Range”: the abrupt register transition, or voice break, in untrained voices. Checked September 28, 2026. ncvs.org
• Wikipedia, “Baritone”: G2–G4 in opera, F2–F4 in choral music, the most common male voice. Checked September 28, 2026. wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia, “Tenor”: choral tenor parts about B2–A4 and the “tenor C” (C5). Checked September 28, 2026. wikipedia.org
• muted.io, “Note Frequency Chart”: frequencies of each note with A4 = 440 Hz in equal temperament. Checked September 28, 2026. muted.io
• Wikipedia, “Scientific pitch notation”: middle C is C4. Checked September 28, 2026. wikipedia.org
• ScienceDaily, “‘A force of nature:’ An acoustic analysis of Freddie Mercury’s voice” (April 2016), on the study by Christian T. Herbst and colleagues in Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology. Checked September 28, 2026. sciencedaily.com
• Cleveland Clinic, “Voice Changes: What Can They Tell You as You Age?”: pitch changes at puberty. Checked September 28, 2026. clevelandclinic.org
• Eichhorn, Kent, Austin and Vorperian, “Effects of Aging on Vocal Fundamental Frequency and Vowel Formants in Men and Women,” Journal of Voice (2017): lower pitch in older women, inconsistent results for men. Checked September 28, 2026. nih.gov