The Official "I got a horse throat from doing vocals on Rockband" thread!

[RedTsunami]

I'm surprised I didn't already see a thread like this...

WELL, it's been about 3 days since Christmas Eve, and I am almost finished recovering my vocal chords. Why do I have a horse voice? Allow me to have a flashback...

On Chistmas Eve, I FINALLY got Rockband, after MONTHS of waiting. As it was my last present (intentionally, planned by my parents), I ran into the living room of the log cabin I was spending Christmas in. Once I got it set up, it didn't take long till almost my whole family (about 7 people) got involved in it. Eventually, most of them got their fill of it, and it came down to me, my mildly drunk friend, and my very drunk cousin. I swapped on and off for drums and vocals, but we collectively decided that I was better at vocals then drums, so then I should do vocals instead.

Anyways, long story short, the three of us began playing at...I think, 11:00ish, til 3:00. Could have started earlier, I wasn't paying attention to the time. lol, we didn't notice it got so late. about half way through, I was starting to want to do drums, and they're all like "noooooo, keep doing vocals! We need you in the band, man. We can't do it without you!". So I'm like "fine" and kept going...

I woke up the next morning, and checked my voice, because I had a feeling it would be scratchy. I check, then I say, in a cracked voice, "hey, that's not so bad", and immedietly begin to cough profusely.

What about you guys? Any horse voice storys?

[caribou42]

Well, I'm in my school chamber choir that sings roughly thirty hours a week as well as sing lead in an acoustic band and backup in a hardcore band, so I have some vocal endurance. BUT I did manage to thoroughly fry my vocal cords the first night of Rock Band-ing. I sang for about four hours and insisted on activating overdrive and doing all the talk parts in a metal growl or scream, just to hear the effect through the speakers... Probably not the best decision.

[Volcomite]

I finally got around to singing tonight (aka, I finally manned up and did it) and I was doing pretty well... until I sang Highway Star. I'm a decently quiet guy most of the time and I have a relatively deep voice, so my voice got torn up during this. It would have been worse, but afterwards I needed a cough drop and some water.

[WiseOldUnicorn]

This is exactly why I always keep a bottle of Propel with me when I'm playing Rock Band, and guzzle it in between songs. Comes in handy for both vocals and drums. Even so, there have still been a few times when I've totally worn my voice out...especially trying to sing stuff that really wasn't in my range at all.

[caribou42]

I finally got around to singing tonight (aka, I finally manned up and did it) and I was doing pretty well... until I sang Highway Star. I'm a decently quiet guy most of the time and I have a relatively deep voice, so my voice got torn up during this. It would have been worse, but afterwards I needed a cough drop and some water.

You could always just falsetto the higher parts directly into the mic. I find it's a lot easier to find more accurate pitch that way.

[Flyerfye]

Herbal tea with honey, you guys. Does wonders for the throat. I had this problem myself, but your throat will either get used to it, or you'll develop laryngitis. Hopefully the former. If your throat hurts, might want to consider taking a break from rocking the mic so hard for a few days...

[RedTsunami]

This is exactly why I always keep a bottle of Propel with me when I'm playing Rock Band, and guzzle it in between songs. Comes in handy for both vocals and drums. Even so, there have still been a few times when I've totally worn my voice out...especially trying to sing stuff that really wasn't in my range at all.

"trying to sing stuff that really wasn't in my range..."

(I recall a certain song...)

"...da-da...da-da--I think I'm PARA!-noid..."
psh! Yeah, right...

[RedTsunami]

Herbal tea with honey, you guys. Does wonders for the throat. I had this problem myself, but your throat will either get used to it, or you'll develop laryngitis. Hopefully the former. If your throat hurts, might want to consider taking a break from rocking the mic so hard for a few days...
ya, I did the tea thing, not only is it delicious, but it helps the throat. Also, chicken noodle soup is AMAZING.

[KillAutumn]

I murdered myself on I think I'm Paranoid too.

it's the only song I can't keep in octave with. =/

[Patriot17]

I don't really get a soar throat from signing but i sing alot ( when i'm just listening to songs) so maybe thats why.

[cjkuhlenbeck]

ive had a cold since like i got the game (release hour), so i havent sang yet, and im also im not a good singer, but the pain in my fingers from the guitar eventually went away after i was forced to play several hours non stop...just gotta prep yourself for it, do it enough, and you get used to it ;)

[evilkitty]

Herbal tea with honey, you guys. Does wonders for the throat. I had this problem myself, but your throat will either get used to it, or you'll develop laryngitis. Hopefully the former. If your throat hurts, might want to consider taking a break from rocking the mic so hard for a few days...

Herb tea (mint) and honey is really good. Have some on hand for long sessions, or else a lot of plain water. Don't drink coffee or orange juice (the acid, I think, makes your throat hurt more), or anything carbonated (makes you burp, which is kinda bad if you're in the middle of a verse). And yeah, if it hurts, stop before you really injure your vocal chords. You don't have to sing loudly - you can adjust the mic sensitivity to make up for the lack of volume.

[dodgyknees]

It's hoarse, not horse. Compare these sentences:

I felt a little hoarse this morning
I felt a little horse this morning

...only one of these is likely to get you arrested. Except in kazakhstan but that's a different story.

On a serious note, use your throat less by singing from your stomach. Takes practice, admittedly.

[creamcheese]

Just got the game tonight (in New Zealand)

been singing for about 5 hours, don't feel to bad, I'm enjoying singing a lot more than I thought I would, more than anything else at the moment, I'm sure that will change once I actually get a chance to play the other instruments

[dfjdejulio]

WELL, it's been about 3 days since Christmas Eve, and I am almost finished recovering my vocal chords.

This is why I keep bourbon, scotch, or beer handy for long singing stints. Soothes the throat after a session, much like rubbing alcohol can help an athlete's muscles.

(If only they included "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer (http://blueslyrics.tripod.com/lyrics/george_thorogood/one_bourbon_one_scotch_one_beer.htm)" with the game...)

[noudamass]

Herbal tea with honey, you guys. Does wonders for the throat. I had this problem myself, but your throat will either get used to it, or you'll develop laryngitis. Hopefully the former. If your throat hurts, might want to consider taking a break from rocking the mic so hard for a few days...

i think most would prefer that i got laryngitis ...

[fourdegrees]

This is why I keep bourbon, scotch, or beer handy for long singing stints. Soothes the throat after a session, much like rubbing alcohol can help an athlete's muscles.

(If only they included "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer (http://blueslyrics.tripod.com/lyrics/george_thorogood/one_bourbon_one_scotch_one_beer.htm)" with the game...)Alcohol is actually one of the worst things for ones throat.

[Chewy]

psh you want to destroy your throat try doing Sabotage by the Beastie Boys! Killed my throat for the rest of the night.

[dfjdejulio]

Alcohol is actually one of the worst things for ones throat.

Shhhh!

Rocking sober is like... fishing. Sober.

[LikwidFire]

Last night while I was waiting for my buddies to come over for some drinking/rb , I figured i would sing a little to get my voice going. They ended up coming over about 2 or 3 hours after I thought they would, but i ended up sining all day and night, I think I woke up at noon and sang basically non stop until 5am, so 17 hours of constant singing even the crazy songs like i'm so sick, paranoid and foreplay/long time. Needless to say, I get in to work and realize i can barely talk anymore lol. So now after 17 hours of singing, i get to talk for 9 more! :D

[Parodygm]

Just got the game tonight (in New Zealand)

Wooo! A fellow Kiwi! I'm over in the U.S. though. Enjoy the game! :D

[Ultrace]

I didn't get a hoarse throat, but that's only because I was very careful with the singing. I used enough energy to get into it, but didn't yell at the top of my lungs. And I drank a lot of water--inbetween every song and sometimes gulps during solos or vocal lag periods. Even so, I noticed that the day after Christmas my voice had lost a lot of power and I've been slowly regaining it since then. Certainly, being trained as a singer would help with handling things like this, but there we are...

[RavagerX]

Random foolishness on my part. I was having a smoke break while playing online waiting for the guy to pick a song. They picked Highway Star....

Well when the song started, I was still smoking and had inhaled. Was going to just exhale it as I did the, "Aah" part and ended up coughing it all out, etc etc.

Struggled for most of the song due to that.

More incentive for quitting yes?

[IamAwesome]

I havent tried vocals yet PS suck at singing

[Lady Siara]

I got a cold Friday, but even that didn't stop me from singing. XD

[Ultrace]

I havent tried vocals yet PS suck at singing
Set it to easy and work your way up. You might be very surprised. I am not considered a good "singer" by any stretch of the imagination, but I can get by in the game. I've managed to perform reasonably well on several songs in Hard difficulty now. If you can hold a note and then raise or lower it, you should try the singing. There's always a little arrow to let you know whether you're on pitch or not.

[Ultrace]

Wooo! A fellow Kiwi! I'm over in the U.S. though. Enjoy the game! :D
Wooo! A fellow Beavertonian. :)

[creamcheese]

Wooo! A fellow Kiwi! I'm over in the U.S. though. Enjoy the game! :D

heh, I did wonder after seeing your avatar

/on topic

I did a 9 hour vocals session a couple of days ago now, and I had lost a lot of power by the end of the night, but the next morning I was fine, a lot better than after my first 3 hour session

I'm not sure why, I have a pretty long session lined up tonight, so I guess I'll see how I am tomorrow morning

[Frederf]

I think it's funny that it was the THIRTEENTH post before someone mentioned the horse/hoarse thing. I guess we're shipping English back to England >.>

[Brew78]

haven't hoarsened from Rock Band yet, but if I happen to listen to a lot of Alice in Chains and Soundgarden in my car, my voice will typically be burned out by the time I get to my destination.

Especially from "Rooster". I've been working on it and I can do almost all of it without any falsetto. I still need a lot of vocal workout though, it really is a tough song once you get to the chorus.

[dirty_bird32]

going to football games kills my voice for a few days, but singing doesn't really take a toll.

[KSwharph]

I dont get hoarse throat, i just get pissed off. If at any time you walk in on me trying to sing on anything above easy, youll see my left hand holding up a middle finger and my right hand holding up the mic for about 6-8 minutes until i get too pissed off and just play drums again

[Latinoppa]

i can bascially sing any song in expert for hours and i havent felt anything hoarsing my throat at all. I'm not a professional singer but i do have a singing voice. Paranoid is not a challenge to me at all, however the only song in which does make me actually try is the Boston one

[DannyBoy]

I was sick for a few days before new years eve (cough sore throat). Had a Rock Band party, and oh man my voice is still reeling the effects. I didn't even sing that many songs. I think ballroom blitz is what did me in, hah.