Where does your chest voice end and your head voice begin? This free vocal register test maps both registers from four notes you sing or choose, and shows whether they overlap (your bridge, where mixed voice lives) or leave a gap (your break). It also gives your total range and a practice tip for your result. Nothing is recorded or uploaded.
Vocal Register Test
Find where your chest voice ends, where your head voice begins, and whether the two overlap (your bridge) or leave a gap (your break). Sing four notes, or choose them if you already know them.
- Chest voice
- –
- Head voice
- –
- Overlap (bridge)
- –
- Total range
- –
Sound is analysed in your browser; nothing is recorded or uploaded. Sing gently and stop if anything strains.
How to Take the Vocal Register Test
- Warm up for a few minutes with humming and lip trills. Gentle vocal warm-up exercises make the register change easier to find.
- Press Start microphone. Step 1: in your normal, full chest voice, slide down on “ah” and save your lowest steady note.
- Step 2: stay in chest voice and slide up. Save the last note before your voice flips or strains.
- Step 3: switch to a light, hooty head voice or falsetto on “oo”, slide down and save the lowest note before it fades or turns into chest voice.
- Step 4: stay in head voice and slide up gently; save your highest comfortable note. Your register map appears.
A note is only saved when you hold it steadily for about a second, so cracks and slides don’t count. Already know your notes? Choose Choose notes and pick all four.
What Are Vocal Registers?
A register is a group of notes produced with the same basic setting of the vocal folds (how the folds create pitch is explained in how vocal cords produce pitch), so they share a sound quality. In chest voice the folds are thicker and vibrate along their full depth, giving a full, speech-like sound that you feel in your chest. In head voice and falsetto they are thinner and stretched, giving a lighter, higher sound. Above those, some voices have a whistle register, and below the normal range there is vocal fry. The differences are explained in detail in chest voice vs head voice.
How to Read Your Register Map
| Result | What it means | What to practise |
|---|---|---|
| Overlap of 5 notes or more | A wide bridge: you can sing these notes in either register | Blend the two into a mixed voice at an even volume |
| Overlap of 1–4 notes | A narrow bridge; the change is noticeable | Slow slides through the bridge on “ng” or a lip trill |
| No overlap, no gap | Head voice starts right where chest voice ends | Smooth the switch with sirens |
| A gap | A break: notes you can’t sing comfortably in either register yet | Gentle sirens and lip trills straight through the gap, getting lighter as you go up |
The notes around the top of your chest voice are your first register change, often called the passaggio (Italian for “passage”). Singers train to cross it without a crack, strain or sudden change in volume.
Where Do Registers Change for Each Voice Type?
| Voice type | Typical first register change |
|---|---|
| Bass | About B3–D4 |
| Baritone | About C4–E4 |
| Tenor | About E4–G4 |
| Contralto and mezzo-soprano | About D4–F4 |
| Soprano | About E4–F♯4, with a second change near F5 |
These are rough guides: register changes vary with training and move slightly with the vowel you sing. Higher voices change higher, which is one of the clues used to tell tenor voices from baritones. To compare your range with each voice type, take the voice type test, and read about all six types in voice types.
Why Head Voice Can Start Below the Top of Chest Voice
If your lowest head-voice note is lower than your highest chest note, the registers overlap: you can sing those notes in two ways. That is normal and useful, because it is the zone where you can choose a fuller or lighter sound and learn to mix the two. A large overlap does not by itself mean you already have a mixed voice; it means you have the raw material for one.
How to Close a Break
- Slide slowly from your low chest voice to your high head voice on a lip trill or “ng”, without stopping at the break.
- Let the sound get lighter and quieter as you go up instead of pushing chest voice higher.
- Practise the notes around the break at a soft volume first; volume makes the break bigger.
- Repeat little and often. Most breaks become smaller within weeks of daily five-minute practice.
For high notes built on a good register change, see how to sing high notes.
Tips for an Accurate Map
- Sing each step deliberately in the register named: full chest voice for steps 1 and 2, light head voice for steps 3 and 4.
- Use the same vowel for each register each time you test.
- Stop at comfortable notes; strained or squeezed notes make the map less useful.
- Test on two different days and compare the results.
Register Test vs Vocal Range Test
A range test gives you the lowest and highest notes of your voice. This test splits that range into registers, so you see where your voice changes and how the two parts connect. For your overall range, the voice type it suggests and the famous singers closest to you, use the vocal range calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between head voice and falsetto?
Both are light upper registers. Head voice has a clearer, more connected tone; falsetto is breathier. For this test, either counts as head voice.
Why does my voice crack between registers?
The vocal folds suddenly change from the thick chest setting to the thin head setting. Practice through the bridge makes the change gradual.
Is it bad to have a gap between registers?
No. It is common in untrained voices and usually shrinks with regular, gentle practice.
Is my voice recorded?
No. Sound is analysed in your browser and never uploaded.