OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Vocal Range Test
Find Your Lowest and Highest Notes Online
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How the Vocal Range Test works
This vocal range test listens through your microphone while you sing. Start on a comfortable note, slide down to the lowest note you can hold, then up to the highest. The page records every note you sustain for about a third of a second, shows your lowest and highest notes, works out the span in semitones and octaves, and names the closest voice type. Nothing is recorded or uploaded.
A singer's range is the distance between the lowest and highest notes they can produce, but the useful number is the range you can actually hold. A crack, a fry at the bottom or a squeak at the top is not a note you can use in a song, so this tool ignores anything you do not sustain.
How the vocal range test measures your notes
The detector is the same normalised autocorrelation used by the frequency detector and the tuner. Several times a second it takes an 85 ms window of the microphone signal and finds the period of the waveform, which gives the fundamental frequency. That frequency becomes a note on the piano keyboard. A note only counts towards your range when six readings in a row stay within half a semitone of each other, which takes roughly a third of a second. Slides, breaths and vibrato wider than half a semitone reset the count, so the lowest and highest notes on the screen are notes you genuinely held.
Voice types
Choral and classical teaching groups voices into six broad types, each with a typical comfortable range:
- Bass — E2 to E4
- Baritone — A2 to A4
- Tenor — C3 to C5
- Alto — F3 to F5
- Mezzo-soprano — A3 to A5
- Soprano — C4 to C6
Once your range covers at least an octave, the tool compares your lowest and highest notes with each of those spans and names the one that fits best. Treat it as a starting point. Teachers also judge voice type by timbre, where the voice changes register, and where it sounds most comfortable, none of which a range alone captures.
Getting a fair reading
Warm up first; most voices gain several semitones at both ends after ten minutes of gentle singing. Sing on an open vowel such as "ah" rather than a hum, because the stronger signal gives cleaner readings. Keep the microphone a hand's width away and turn off any music playing in the room. If you want to practise hitting specific notes afterwards, the singing pitch trainer plays a target and scores how close you get, and the scale player gives you scales to sing along to.
You can also drop a recording of yourself singing instead of using the microphone. The tool plays it on a loop and builds the range from the notes held in it.
FAQ
Why does the test ignore some of the notes I sang?
A note is only counted once you hold it steadily for about a third of a second, within half a semitone. Quick passing notes, slides and the first wobble of a note are skipped on purpose, so a brief crack or squeak does not inflate the range you can actually use.
What is a good vocal range?
Most untrained adults hold around one and a half octaves comfortably, and many trained singers manage two to three. A wide range is less important than how well you control the notes inside it, so focus on the middle of your range sounding even before chasing extremes.
Can the voice type result be wrong?
Yes. The tool matches only your lowest and highest notes against typical ranges. Voice teachers also listen to tone colour, where your voice shifts register and where it sounds easiest, so two singers with the same range can be different voice types.
Is my singing recorded or uploaded?
No. The microphone signal is analysed in your browser a fraction of a second at a time and then discarded. Nothing is stored, saved or sent anywhere, and the page keeps working offline once it has loaded.
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