Vocal Range Calculator

Calculating Your Vocal Range

Your vocal range is the span between the lowest and the highest note you can sing. The calculator finds both notes, measures the distance between them and shows the voice type that fits your range best.

Using the Microphone

1. Open the Microphone tab, select Start Recording and allow microphone access.
2. Sing “ah” on a comfortable note and hold it for about a second, until the status shows “Captured!”.
3. Step down one note at a time until no new notes are captured. Then go back to the middle and step up the same way.
4. Select Stop, then Use Captured Range.

The microphone hears notes from C2 to C7 and counts every note you hold, including falsetto. Your recording stays in your browser for playback. Only anonymous pitch readings, with no sound, are saved.

Using the Manual Test

1. Open the Manual Test tab, move the slider to a note and select Play Note.
2. Sing the note back. Work down until you find the lowest note you can sing clearly, then select Set as Lowest.
3. Work up the same way and select Set as Highest.

The slider covers C2 to C6 and needs no microphone.

Reading Your Result

Voice Type Chart With Note Ranges

The calculator uses the six main voice types: soprano, mezzo-soprano and alto for female voices, and tenor, baritone and bass for male voices. Compare your lowest and highest notes with the chart. The type that shares the most notes with your range is your closest match.

• Ranges overlap. Neighboring types share most of their notes, so a result near a boundary can fit two types almost equally well.
• Alto or contralto? Alto is the name of a choir part and a general word for a low female voice. A singer called an alto is usually a mezzo-soprano or a contralto, the lowest female voice type.
• Most pop singers are mezzos. The Kennedy Center’s guide to voice types says most female pop and Broadway singers are mezzo-sopranos.
• Range is only part of it. A singing teacher also listens to the tone of your voice and where it feels easiest. The calculator works from your two end notes only.

Average Vocal Range From 1,230 Tests

The typical (median) vocal range on this page is 27 semitones, a little over two octaves. Half of all tests fall between 20 and 33 semitones.

• 92% of tests reach at least one octave.
• 64% reach two octaves.
• 15% reach three octaves.

Find your result in the table to see how it compares.

Laboratory measurements give wider ranges. A study of 534 adults by Hollien, Dew and Philips (1971) counted every sound each person could sustain, from the lowest up to the top of falsetto, and found an average of about three octaves: 38 semitones for men and 37 for women.

These figures come from anonymous microphone tests taken on this page between June 27 and October 24, 2026, counting the best attempt in each sitting. People who test online are not a random sample. The test also stopped at C6 at the time, a note one test in five reached, so wide ranges may be understated.

Songs and the Range They Need

A song fits your voice when your range is at least as wide as the song’s span. Compare your result in semitones with the Span column. A few semitones to spare at each end makes the song easier to sing.

The notes are the vocal range on the sheet music in each song’s original published key, from Musicnotes editions. Men usually sing these melodies an octave lower than written. Changing the key moves every note up or down by the same number of semitones, so the span never changes. You can work out the frequency of a note any number of semitones away from a starting pitch.

The Star-Spangled Banner is known as a hard song to sing, with a span of 19 semitones. A Northeastern University music professor told Northeastern Global News in 2026 that most people have one good octave, and notes above or below it can sound strained. Reaching a note in the test is easier than holding it through a song, so pick a key that leaves you some room.

Choir Parts and Their Ranges

Choir parts use narrower ranges than solo voice types. Choose the part whose notes fit inside your range with a little to spare, ideally inside your tessitura. These are the generally accepted ranges for four-part choir writing from the Open Music Theory textbook.

Tips for a More Accurate Result

• Hold each note. About a second of steady singing is enough. Slides and speech do not count.
• Vibrato is fine. A normal wobble still registers the right note. A very wide wobble, a full semitone either side, registers nothing.
• Use a quiet room. A steady electrical hum can appear as a low note you did not sing, such as G2 or B2. Check the captured notes before you select Use Captured Range.
• Seeing “Sing louder”? Move closer to the microphone or sing a little louder.
• Try two or three times. Across our tests, the typical first attempt was 24 semitones and the typical best attempt 27. Keep your widest result.
• Test when your voice is well. Colds, acid reflux and tiredness all affect the voice, according to the NIDCD. If you lose high notes you can normally reach, or your voice stays hoarse, see a doctor.
• Compare like with like. To track progress, test on the same device, in the same room, after the same warm-up.

Accuracy of the Microphone Test

In our tests with computer-generated tones, the microphone test named all 61 notes from C2 to C7 correctly, in quiet and with heavy background noise. Its readings were within 4 cents of the true pitch, and within 14 cents with heavy noise. A semitone is 100 cents, so both are well inside the right note.

Pitch is found with YIN, a method for speech and music published by de Cheveigné and Kawahara in 2002. Each reading is matched to the nearest note of the standard scale, where A4 is 440 Hz.

The test has three limits: it needs each note held steadily, a steady hum can add a note, and it cannot tell falsetto from full voice.

Common Questions About Vocal Range

Is Two Octaves a Good Vocal Range?

Yes, it is a typical range. Two octaves is 24 semitones. On this page, 64% of tests reach it and the median result is 27 semitones. Two octaves covers 11 of the 12 songs in the table above.

Can a Phone Measure Your Vocal Range?

Yes. Results from phones and computers on this page are almost the same: a median of 27 semitones on phones and 28 on computers.

Is E3 a Low Note for a Female Voice?

Yes. E3 is one semitone below F3, the bottom of the alto range, so a woman who can sing it clearly has a low voice. For male voices, E3 sits inside the tenor, baritone and bass ranges.

What Voice Type Is G3 to C5?

Alto for a female voice, tenor for a male voice. G3 to C5 is 17 semitones and fits inside both ranges, so the notes alone cannot separate the two. The calculator shows Alto.

Does Falsetto Count Toward Vocal Range?

Yes, in this test. The microphone counts every note you hold, including falsetto. For your full-voice range only, test again without falsetto and compare the results.

What Is the Rarest Voice Type?

Contralto, the lowest female voice. The Kennedy Center guide calls contraltos arguably the rarest female voice type, and describes the deep tones of basses as rare too.

What Is the Widest Vocal Range on Record?

Ten octaves. Guinness World Records lists Tim Storms of the United States, who covered 0.8 Hz to 807 Hz in 2008. Most of that range is far below C2 (65 Hz), the lowest note this calculator hears.

What Was Freddie Mercury’s Vocal Range?

Just over three octaves. A 2016 study of his recordings measured a singing range of 37 semitones, from F#2 to G5, and a speaking voice typical of a baritone. It found no reliable evidence of higher notes.