How to Test Your Vocal Range: Measure Your Range and Read It as mid2G, hiA or G4

The three notes a vocal range test measures

Your vocal range is the span from the lowest to the highest note you can produce with your voice. But “highest note” covers two very different things: how high you can go in chest voice, and how high you can go once you flip into falsetto. To get a range that is useful for singing, the basics are to measure these three notes separately.

At karaoke, what usually decides whether you can sing a song is your highest chest-voice note. Your highest falsetto note is normally a few semitones to an octave above it, and knowing it lets you judge things like “I can manage this if I flip only the very top of the chorus into falsetto.” The lowest note is often overlooked, but it is what makes the verse unsingable when you lower a key a lot, so always measure it as part of the set.

Steps to measure your vocal range with a mic

Even without a piano or tuner, a browser-based vocal range checker can read the pitch of your voice automatically through your phone or computer mic. There is no app to install, and your voice is analyzed only on your device, so no recording is ever sent.

1. 1

   Allow mic access

   Open the Vocal Range Checker, press “🎤 Measure with mic” and choose “Allow” in your browser prompt. In a quiet room, hold the device about 20–30 cm (8–12 in) from your mouth.

2. 2

   Measure your lowest note

   Choose “Lowest note,” sing “ahh” at an easy, speaking-level pitch, then slowly step down a semitone at a time. A note is recorded once you hold the same pitch for about 0.4 seconds, so pause on each note as you go down.

3. 3

   Measure your highest chest-voice note

   Choose “Highest chest-voice note” and rise little by little in your speaking voice. Stop where your voice is about to flip or where your throat tightens and it starts to hurt. For choosing a key, it is more useful not to record a note you forced out by shouting.

4. 4

   Measure your highest falsetto note

   Choose “Highest falsetto note” and rise in a soft, slightly airy falsetto. If falsetto is not your thing, you can skip it and still get a result.

5. 5

   Check the result

   Your range is shown in karaoke notation (e.g. mid1A–mid2G, falsetto hiD), international notation and Hz, and a keyboard diagram color-codes your chest-voice and falsetto ranges. If you choose your sex, it also shows whether you are higher or lower than the male or female average.

If the mic has trouble recording, you can also pick notes by hand. The tool’s note chart includes a keyboard that plays each note, so you can also measure by matching your voice to the note you play and checking “I can reach up to here.”

Six tips for accurate measurement

Depending on how you measure, your range can easily shift by two or three semitones. Reducing “it just happened to come out today” and “my throat was cold so it didn’t” and measuring under the same conditions every time also matters when you compare the results of practice.

• Warm up a little first: right after waking up or after a long silence, both low and high notes are harder. Humming or light singing for about five minutes brings you closer to your real range.
• Stop and hold each note: sliding smoothly like a siren keeps the pitch from settling and makes it harder to record. Think of climbing stairs one step at a time, pausing and holding each semitone.
• Don’t mix in too much air: in a breathy or husky voice the repeating waveform isn’t clear, so the pitch may not be read.
• Avoid vocal fry for the lowest note: the gravelly sound at the very bottom (vocal fry) can’t be used as a pitch, so don’t count it as your lowest note.
• Stop your chest-voice top at a singable pitch: if you count a note you shouted for an instant, you will pick songs at that height and struggle. Treat a note you can hold for a few seconds as your highest note.
• Measure at the same time of day in the same setting: many people’s voices work better in the evening than in the morning. When comparing before and after practice, keep the time of day and the device the same.

How to read karaoke notation (lowG, mid2G, hiA) and a conversion chart

Notations such as lowG, mid1C, mid2G and hiA, widely used in Japanese karaoke and among online singers, divide the piano keyboard from the bottom into octaves called lowlow, low, mid1, mid2, hi and hihi, then add the note name (C to B) within that octave. The confusing part is that the octave changes not at C but at A.

• Notes rise in the order mid2A → mid2B → mid2C → … → mid2G → mid2G# → hiA (mid2A is lower than mid2C)
• hiA is A4 in international notation, the 440 Hz tuning reference
• mid2C is C4 in international notation, middle C on the piano
• International notation (C4 and so on) changes number at C, so the boundaries don’t line up with karaoke notation even for the same “4”

As the table shows, the frequency exactly doubles with each octave (mid2A 220 Hz → hiA 440 Hz → hihiA 880 Hz). One semitone is about 1.06 times. International and Yamaha notation differ only in whether middle C is written C4 or C3, so the same “G3” is an octave apart depending on which system is used. Keep that in mind when reading sheet music or articles.

Average vocal ranges for men and women

Comparing with the average shows whether your result is high or low. The rules of thumb often quoted in karaoke and choirs are below. Individual differences are large and practice often shifts things by a few semitones, so treat these only as “the common range.”

This is why people say that for a man, reaching mid2G (G4) in chest voice puts you in the upper part of average, and hiA (A4) makes you high. In recent J-pop, many male vocalists sing hiA–hiC (A4–C5) in the chorus in chest or mix voice, so it is not unusual for an average male chest voice to fall short. It helps to know that “I can’t sing high songs” doesn’t necessarily mean “my voice is low.”

Many women’s highest chest-voice note is around hiA–hiC (A4–C5), and above that it is common to use falsetto or mix voice. When a woman sings a song by a male vocalist, the original pitch tends to feel low and an octave up is often too high, so adjusting the key is essential.

A guide to voice types: bass, baritone, tenor and more

The voice types used in choirs and voice training can also be roughly estimated from your lowest note and highest chest-voice note. The Vocal Range Checker gives an estimate based on how close your two measured notes are to the typical range of each voice type.

However, voice types in classical singing and choirs are not decided by range alone. Teachers also consider tone color (bright or dark), the pitch you can sing for a long time without tiring (tessitura) and where your voice switches registers (the passaggio). Even if your top note reaches the tenor range, if your comfortable singing pitch leans baritone, the baritone part often suits you better. Use the voice type from the Vocal Range Checker as a guide to “roughly where I sit.”

How many octaves is your range? How to calculate it

Range width is often expressed as “how many octaves you can sing,” and the calculation is simple: count the semitones from your lowest to your highest note and divide by 12.

Many people have 1.5 to 2 octaves in chest voice and 2 to 3 octaves including falsetto, while typical pop songs fit within about an octave and a half. In other words, if you have 1.5 octaves or more in chest voice, you can sing many songs as long as you match the key. More often than “my range is too narrow,” the problem is that “where my range sits and where the song sits don’t line up,” which is why the key matching below matters.

Choosing a karaoke key from your measured range

The numbers on a karaoke key control, like “−1” or “+2,” are semitones. Japan’s major karaoke systems, DAM and JOYSOUND, both let you change the key from −7 to +7. Once you know a song’s highest and lowest notes, you can calculate which keys fit your range.

1. 1

   Look up the song’s highest and lowest notes

   Lyrics sites and range databases often list them like “mid1E–hiB.” If they don’t, find the highest note of the chorus and the lowest note of the verse on a keyboard.

2. 2

   Count how many semitones the top note exceeds your chest-voice top

   If your highest chest-voice note is mid2G and the song’s top note is hiB, then mid2G → mid2G# → hiA → hiA# → hiB is 4 semitones over. Matching only the top note gives a key of −4.

3. 3

   Check that you can still reach the lowest note after lowering

   Lowering the key lowers the lowest note by the same amount. If the song’s lowest note is mid1E, −4 makes it mid1C. If your lowest note is mid1A, you still have 3 semitones to spare.

4. 4

   Choose a key with room above and below

   A key with one or two semitones to spare at both ends is steadier on the night than one you can barely reach. In this example, −5 or −6 leaves at least a semitone of room at both the top and the bottom.

Enter a song’s lowest and highest notes in “Recommended key for a song you want to sing” in the Vocal Range Checker to compare every key from −7 to +7: whether it fits in chest voice (◎), fits if only the top part is in falsetto (○), or how many semitones short it is and where (×). The key with the most room above and below is selected. If you accompany yourself from a chord chart, you can use the chosen key number directly for transposing the chords. How to find a song’s original key is covered in How to find a song’s key.

Can you extend your range? When to measure again

Your lowest note is strongly influenced by the size and length of your vocal folds, so lowering it much through practice is difficult. Your highest chest-voice (or mix-voice) note, however, often rises by a few semitones depending on how you sing. Falsetto is also an area where people who aren’t used to it can widen their range relatively easily.

• Measure once before starting voice training, then again every one or two months under the same conditions to see in numbers what has improved
• Your range tends to shrink after a cold or throat trouble, so don’t read too much into results from that period
• Before chasing your top note, learn to sing around mid2E–mid2G (E4–G4; for women hiA–hiC, A4–C5) easily and for a long time. That tends to open up more songs
• Records are saved in the browser on the device you used, so measure on the same device when comparing

Aiming for high notes tends to push you into tensing your throat and shouting. A top note stretched out by straining won’t be stable in real songs. Use your result as a tool for choosing songs and keys that suit you now, and widen the range you can sing comfortably bit by bit. That is the shortest path. Warm-ups, falsetto and mix-voice exercises and a four-week plan are covered in How to sing high notes and extend your range.

Causes and fixes when measuring doesn’t work

Your recorded voice sounding higher or lower than you expected is due to the difference between the voice you hear through bone conduction and the voice that travels through the air. If it bothers you, also read Why your recorded voice sounds different.

FAQ

Is there a free way to measure my vocal range?

A browser-based vocal range checker lets you measure it for free with just your phone or computer mic. Simply sing “ahh” and step down and up little by little; your lowest note, highest chest-voice note and highest falsetto note are recorded and shown in karaoke notation, international notation and Hz.

How many Hz is mid2G?

mid2G is G4 in international notation (G3 in Yamaha notation), about 392 Hz. It is the G five white keys up from middle C (mid2C, C4) and is often used as a benchmark for the top of a man’s chest voice.

How high is hiA?

hiA is A4 in international notation, exactly 440 Hz. It is the same pitch as the “A” used as the tuning reference. It is on the high side for a man’s chest voice and an average top note for a woman’s chest voice.

What is the average highest chest-voice note for men?

By the rules of thumb often quoted in karaoke and choirs, many men top out around mid2E–mid2G (E4–G4, about 330–392 Hz) and many women around hiA–hiC (A4–C5, 440–about 523 Hz). Individual differences are large, and practice often raises it by a few semitones.

How many octaves is a normal vocal range?

Many people have 1.5 to 2 octaves in chest voice and 2 to 3 octaves including falsetto. Most pop songs fit within about an octave and a half, so with 1.5 octaves or more in chest voice you can sing many songs by matching the key.

How many keys should I lower at karaoke?

Use how many semitones the song’s top note exceeds your highest chest-voice note as a guide. If your chest-voice top is mid2G and the song’s top note is hiB, that is 4 semitones, so −4. But the lowest note drops by the same amount, so check you can still reach the bottom, and choose a key with one or two semitones to spare at both ends for stability.

Why are my results different in the morning and at night?

Because how high you can sing changes depending on whether the vocal folds and surrounding muscles are warmed up. Right after waking, both low and high notes are harder, and many people find their voice works better in the evening. When comparing practice results, keep the time of day and the method the same.

Is my voice recorded or saved?

The Vocal Range Checker analyzes mic audio only on your device and neither records it nor sends it to a server. Your measured range is saved only in that device’s browser.