How do you describe the sound of someone's voice?

So I'm trying to flesh out some of my characters, and I'm running into a bit of a problem.<br><br>I want to describe the sound of the voice of one of my characters. It's a recurring character, and I want to differentiate it from the others, but I'm having trouble doing it in a way that's not redundant.<br><br>Now, I've heard a lot of people use these methods to help:<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>*Compare it to a singer/band/other fictional character*<br><br>They sound like XXX, the lead singer of XXX. This option feels like a cop out to me, because I'm sure every reader is going to have a different mental image of what the singer sounds like.<br><br>*Compare it to an instrument*<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>They sound like XXX [musical instrument]. I thought this was a good idea, but it really doesn't help very much when you try to think of *how* an instrument sounds. I can't really imagine how a trumpet sounds to someone who doesn't know how a trumpet sounds.<br><br>*Compare it to a feeling*<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>They sound like honey dripping from the lip of the honey barrel. They sound like cream or butter or some other food that's visibly soft. All this really says is "this person sounds nice. It sounds like sugar would taste."<br><br>*Compare it to an object*<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>They sound like [rough/smooth/etc] stones. They sound like a blade cutting through air, cutting through water, etc. I can't imagine what that sounds like if I've never heard anything like it before.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>I always thought the most straightforward way to describe a voice is to first talk about the voice's timbre, then describe the pitch, the tone, the cadence, etc. But you can't really describe that in one sentence without it being a run-on sentence.<br><br>What you do you guys think is the best way to describe a voice? Do you think there's a way to describe it in one sentence?