Super Groggy Voice

AdrianD

Hello!

I've had a super groggy voice for the past month and a half (i had a cold for the first month). I sing predominantly in the upper mid - high register (soprano / hair metal register).
Im currently on tour, and every night before a show i do the master lesson very lightly (almost predominantly headvoice) and gradually i add a bit more power into the sound. A lot of the lower-upper mid stuff has a lot of weight, and sounds like white noise. Usually takes about 4-5 songs into the set to snap out of it.

Is there anything I can do to bounce back quicker & get out of the grog / alternate warmup method to help snap out of this?

Adrian

Heres a quick rough recording of tbe grog:

https://app.box.com/s/x9jtlub8cpfua2b66kw09cfj4pznnwyy

highmtn

Hi, Adrian. Are you singing some of your songs with distortion? And if so, are you faithfully "cleaning up the voice" after singing with distortion?

I also hear this sound sometime when students are not fully opening the throat, and allowing a little bit of "drag" on the cords, rather than a completely open throat. If we let that openness "sag" it can create a fry sound that can overlay the clean voice.

You can sing very lightly to warm up, and start high, singing down-scales. Go through the passaggio and keep that light sound intact as you go through the vocal break. Don't force it, but do work on getting a clear sound without any fry. Listen to that fry and see if by manipulating your throat muscles you can find where the rattle is happening. At that area, you may need to open up more. Work on clearing up the fry sound.

JenniferCampion

While you're trying to get your vocal mojo back to 100%, with the techniques mentioned in Bob's previous post, or any little things of your own that you feel comfortable doing to help, perhaps you should talk with your band and see if there is a possibility to swap the placements of some songs in your set list so you can ease into it until you got this all cleared up.

That way you won't tire yourself, you're only human and you can catch colds and flus like everybody else, I'm sure they will understand if you feel you should do this for a while as all good bands respect that thier singers voice is thier instrument too.

Sorry it's not technical. But it is practical. Tours mean keeping up the pace and anything to allow for that while healing a wee glitch is fine. The more relaxed you are about it all, the better your performance.

Fans often like some set list changes anyway. Keeps it fresh and varied. Even if all it is are the same songs in a different order. You don't have to change much in the end at all really.

Good luck to you, your tour and your band.

Best Wishes,

Jenny.