Now that Mother Nature has started to wrap her icy fingers around the majority of the country, it's time to think about good ways to warm up the vocal cords before recording.

There are as many ways to warm up the voice as there are voice artists. From tongue twisters, to singing scales, to doing that motorboat sound with your lips while humming, each pro seems to have their own tricks and rituals.

I've stumbled across a technique that really works well for me and serves multiple purposes at the same time.

I picked up a Vicks Personal Steam Inhaler (pictured).

It's basically a heating element and a funky plastic cone that directs the steam up and out. You pour a few ounces of water in the base, turn it on, and in about a minute it's steaming. You could also do this with a tea kettle.

I usually begin my day with a mug of hot tea. I've become a​​ connoisseur of the stuff. One of my kitchen cabinets is filled with all kinds of tea: loose leaf, bagged, Oolong, Lapsang Suchong, Darjeeling, Orange Pekoe, and a bunch of fruity blends that friends have given me as gifts over the years. 

The warm tea is great on the throat, and the steam helps open the sinuses and clear out congestion.

Sometimes I will stand over the boiling tea kettle with a towel over my head, just breathing in the steam while doing vocalizations mentioned above - which, of course, is hilarious to my wife.

As most VO's know, one of the cheapest and easiest ways to practice voice-over is to read out loud every day. This really helps to improve your cold-reading skills.

So my trick, now that I have the steam inhaler, is to read out loud while breathing in the steam for about 15 minutes. I have a variety of voice-over books on my tablet, so while my face is over the steam, I turn on the e-reader and read out loud.

This serves several purposes:

Steam therapy is a great way to help alleviate congestion from allergies and colds.

Personally, when I'm sick, Hot Toddies are my go-to drink. The steam loosens the gunk in my chest, the honey soothes the throat and the whiskey ... well, the whiskey lets me not care so much that I'm sick.

But for non-sick days when there's going to be a lot of time spent in the studio, the "hot steam/ cold read" technique is perfect.