Vocals Trouble with voice after singing

[William B.]

Hi, sometimes I practice vocals/singing and it can go decent. Often for like 2-3 days after a good day my voice is messed up, it's like dry or hoarse and I notice my tone when at the store or something. For a while I kept getting worried I damaged my voice or something but I think it's from the practice ( among other things ).
Is this normal and are there ways to prevent this? I'm not very experienced and have been kind of going about it my own way.
I heard drinking tea and having ice cream is good.

I need to go for now

 

[Chris Johnston]

Hey man, so my advice is purely from my own experience, as I'm not a 'trained' vocalist - however I've got a fair bit of live gigging vocs experience.

From what your describing (hoarseness when speaking etc) it sounds like you could be straining/pushing your voice when singing - this has happened to me a fair few times.

A few things that have helped me are:

1. Warming Up Properly
So many singers go straight into singing without warming up, and it can end up causing vocal strain. The voice is essentially a muscle, so spending a decent ammount of time doing warm ups before you even start singing will help your vocal longevity. If you YouTube 'vocal warm ups' you'll find a whole host of techniques to try.

2. Know Your Limits
I've been guilty in the past of really pushing/straining to hit high notes/notes teetering on the limit of my range, and it always lead to hoarseness after. I was basically pushing my vocal chords past their limit. Now if I need to sing something I make sure that nothing feels painful/uncomfortable when I need to belt/push my voice etc. Always transpose the let down if you feel like you're fighting your voice for a note.

3. Hydrate
It seems obvious but make sure you have a good supply of water (room temp if possible) to keep your vocal cords hydrated. From experience, dryness/hoarseness is much more likely to happen if your singing for long periods of time and your vocal cords become dry/un-lubricated. Adding squeeze honey to your water will also sooth your cords - I used to use it if I had a tired voice before a gig - it really made a difference

4. Limit your dairy intake.
This one took me by surprise but really helped. Make sure before you sing you keep any Milk/cheese/Milky Coffee etc consumption to a minimum. Milk & Cheese can coat your cords in an unhelpful way, creating phlegm and causing you to want to clear your throat constantly - creating friction, hoarseness etc. ( Spicy/crumbly foods can also cause this)

Hope this helps!

 

[Rad Synner]

What Chris is said is pretty on point. What I would add to the conversation is simply that in order to sing right and consistent, you have to be consistent. The voice out of everything is subject to so many different challenges. Not only is a good warm up important but also good practice is imperative to master your voice.

And what I mean by good practice is that you need to do the exercises correctly because if you don't you will damage your voice. Out of all the instruments on the planet, I believe that singing is the one that needs proper lesson the most. It's very difficult to know if you're doing it right and having a professional be there to help and guide will make the difference.

Adding to that, as Chris mentioned with the dairies, a diet is believe it or not really important for consistent vocals so be watchful of what you eat!

Good luck!

 

[William B.]

Yeah so indeed often I don't warmup and probably not properly overall. I came up with some exercises but I don't really stick to them. Honey sounds good. I really enjoy dairy so that's a problem for sure. I'll try to drink more water, often I forget, also I'll look up some videos on YT. I do feel like I could/should be able to do a half or full tone more on the high notes, like than it would feel more complete. Usually it's the days I have a lot of energy or feeling good that I push limits/overdo things, than I suffer a few days. Also like coffee


Thanks!

 

[Kate Swan]

Hello! It is probably a wrong technigue. I had it, too, before I learnt a modern technigue used by musical singers. Yes, might sound soft, but my neck does not ache anymore, my voice is normal after singing and the voice sounds fuller and stronger. Maybe you should also check if your work with breath is right and work with your body, too - it would maybe help to find some trained actor/musical singer - they do not do metal/rock singing, but they know well how to control your own body and work with breath and singing technique - believe me that despite this browses into theatre a little, only to learn how to work with your own body well will help a lot! Also in general -coffee, cola, alcohol are not ideal to dring before a performance because they dry...you need rather juicy drinks - I always drink juice. ) I hope this helped a little!

 

[William B.]

I like that stuff