Forest Fire Season

Furious_Phil

As the title implies, how many of you are dealing with the effects of smoke in the air?
To exacerbate matters, we just had a record-breaking hot spell on top of it.

I've been noticing lately that my high end is touch and go sometimes, leaving me with only compressed air passing my mouth as opposed the note I was calling up. In other words, the smoke is irritating the heck out of my voice.

What all do you do to compensate for this?
I increase my water hydration for starters, and I also drink a bit of Aloe Vera juice before practicing to help soothe things down.

Interested in hearing your thoughts and experiences.

Cheers,

Phillip

highmtn

I tried breathing less, but that didn't work too well. It's a little bit like smoking two packs of cigarettes a day without having to light any of them.

[Deleted User]

My sister lives in Fresno, and she's getting wildfire smoke also. I haven't talked to her for a few days so not sure how close the fire is getting to her.
I feel for you guys. It's bad enough here to have to breathe 80-90 degree weather coupled with 80-90% humidity, but I couldn't imagine to have to breathe smoke on top of it. That would be nasty. Hopefully the fires won't last too much longer.

Peace

Furious_Phil

It actually makes me wonder how professional singers deal with this when touring??? As I'm sure they come to towns with this sort of condition, or even high-pollution areas... I wonder what they do to combat it?

Furious_Phil

Also, at last count, there are over 650 uncontrolled wildfires burning in the next province over... they have been in a state of emergency for several weeks now. We are separated by the Rockies, but the jet stream has been gracing us with their copious amounts of smoke.

This may sound insensitive, I am actually looking into getting a few particulate matter respirators, as I am getting tired of having my throat scorched by the smoke... I know it is temporary, but I have a studio gig coming up, and I've lost allot of range from this as well as I can't turn off this newfound smoker's rasp. I don't like the Rod Stewart distortion all the time.

Last week Northern Alberta actually had a smoke/ash blackout during mid-day, where it became as dark as night time... This is as close to Nuclear Winter as I care to get!!!

I guess all I can do is try to postpone the recording and mitigate the smoke irritation with aloe juice and lots of water. and wear a personal filter when I have to do things outside

[Deleted User]

Just make sure when you buy the respirators, or the paper masks (which are cheaper) that they are P-90 or higher in number. It will save your lungs a lot of extra work.

I had to wear them all day doing mold remediation, and we didn't have a choice. We had to wear full face respirators. In 90 degree weather......in Tyvek suits........wooohooo it got hot! So I would look into just using the paper masks. As long as they are p-90 or higher you should be good.

Peace, Tony

Furious_Phil

Good point! I'll make sure to get the right ones

Furious_Phil

I hate to say it, but I think its getting worse :-(
10:00 and it is a dark yellowish-grey out there... light levels are barely dusk.
We need a good rainfall to smack this stuff out of the air