Well, if it helps, I have a friend that sings and plays lead guitar in his band. I’ve also been present both when they’re performing and recording. Dated a less professional singer as well, plus was forced into a chorus class as a teen.
Singing is not easy. You’re not only using your vocal cords, you’re using your whole body.
You’re breathing in fast, while sustaining long phrases with vibration. This makes the entire throat get dry, and draws blood into the throat tissues. Mucous production does increase, but it’s in response to the irritation and stresses, which means that everything from your lips all the way down to your lungs is working very hard.
Singers all have their own remedies for this. I don’t know any that use a spray, they tend to favor soothing beverages of some kind.
But even doing a single song, with warming up before singing, causes minor irritation. The process of recording a single track can be enough to need a decent length break, depending on exactly what you’re singing and how. Some notes (usually the ones in your highest resister) are more strain than others, and if you’re doing unusual techniques like growls, screams, overtone singing, etc, it can be more stressful to the anatomy.
I’ve recorded both a fairly mild metal growl, and some overtone singing with my friend. My throat felt like I had strep after maybe a half hour of work. Took me that night and the entire next day to feel better. But I’m an amateur, so most singers wouldn’t take that long to recover from a minor amount of work.
But doing an hour on stage, or recording all day? Your throat is going to feel rough no matter how well you treat it.
Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 3 days ago
It’s pretty normal to happen even when you are just speaking loudly for an extended time. Singing can be a lot more taxing than just loud speaking. Singers have issues with their throats all the time because of that. Here’s one article I found on the subject, but there’s lot of material online: centerforvocalhealth.com/…/throat-pain-with-speak…