The end of August always feels like a shift in season. The humidity of the summer backs off, the temps drop (even if only slightly), and the nights get a bit more cool, a bit more chilly as we sneak our way into a new season. So, how do our talented professionals keep their voices healthy during this long seasonal slide? Well, we’ve got a few suggestions to help you keep steady with voice prompts and not succumb to the flu season blues.
1. Rest Your Voice
Fall can be an especially busy time of year for voiceover actors. Professional voice recordings abound as we enter the holiday season and the recording sessions really pile up. The best advice we can give if you’re not actively working in the booth is to rest your voice! Rest is essential to keeping your instrument tuned and the health of your vocal cords depend on it. If you go to big concerts, don’t yell or scream. If you go to a local sporting event, don’t cheer too loud (save that energy for clapping)! Resting your voice is the best way to keep you in the booth and working. Rest is a sacred and essential part of the work!
2. Pay Attention to Your Surroundings
As the season shifts from Summer to Fall, keep an eye out. Not only is it flu season (wash your hands!), but Fall allergies can be pretty brutal if you don’t keep up with your immune health. If you’re allergic to a certain tree or mold, pay attention to when it rains or what leaves are shedding. Give your immune system some extra help during this time period by adding local honey to your hot tea or by checking in with your doctor to make sure your allergy medication is working. Listening to your body as it adapts to its surroundings is a key part of keeping up with your vocal health. It’s an easy thing to forget, but your body knows what’s best!
3. Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate!
Last, but certainly not least, we can’t stress enough how important it is to keep your body hydrated! Temperatures from August to October can vary widely and you can find yourself dehydrated pretty quickly. Dehydration does SO much damage to our vocal cords, so it’s important to stay ahead of it as we head into a new (colder) season. Drinking water is helpful, but you can also stay hydrated through water-rich foods such as watermelon, cucumber, broths and soups! Add hydrating fruit to your water like strawberries or grapefruit to give it a boost of flavor, and who doesn’t love a Vitamin C packet to give the immune system that extra kick! Mix it up so you won’t get tired of the same old thing, because the more you hydrate the stronger your voice will be. Trust us when we say that this step might seem like a no-brainer, but it is the easiest one to fall by the wayside as life gets busy. Set yourself up a system where you hydrate between each vocal warm-up before you step into the booth. A small ritual like this can be a game changer!
If you’d like to learn more about professional voice recording, or how Worldly Voices is using our 25+ years of experience to help a variety of clients find their right voice–please contact us! We’d love to speak with you about the many ways we’ve changed the game of voice recording during our time in the business.
