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Voice Coaches Radio #481 – Skillz that Thrillz
Voice Coaches Radio. Everything voiceover. And welcome to this week's edition of Voice Coaches Radio. I am Josh. She is Marissa. We are delighted to have you join us. Marissa, how we doing? Every time you do that, I'm just like, I am hanging out with Ned Ford. I really am. Hi diddly ho there, Marissa! Oh, hi diddly ho!
I wish. I wish. I wish I was Ned Flanders. He was awesome. He was awesome. You'd be rolling in some bank right now, too. Right? Yeah. I feel like I would. Character voice. I feel like I would. Yeah, I mean, he's, yeah. He's doing pretty good. I don't know. Which one? Who does Ned Flanders? That's um, um, I have no idea.
Oh, um, I'm blanking on his name right now. Is it Azaria? Uh, no, I don't think it's Hank Azaria. I think it's, um, the guy who was the bass player for Spinal Tap. Okay, well, I'm not going to be able to answer that question now, so. Yeah, no, I mean, I could look it up, but, um, You lost me at Spinal Tap? You haven't seen Spinal Tap?
No. Oh my god, it's amazing. I know, we're going through, uh, you know, off the air, we're going through all these things that I haven't seen. She hasn't seen any Mel Brooks movies, guys. But any crime documentary, okay? Any, anything that's been on the iD channel. This girl has seen it. And I also know, never get a life insurance policy, okay?
Because that person that just bought that on you is going to kill you. I have life insurance policies. I have multiple life insurance policies. Okay, well, your wife is going to make some bank soon. So it's been nice knowing you. It's fair. That's cool. Yeah, so if I don't show, at least I know full well, if I don't show up, you're on the case.
Yeah, I am on it. Avenge, avenge me Marissa. Avenge me. And then do a podcast about it. Yeah, I will. I totally will. Paint me in a good light, please. That'll be my next big career move. Paint me in a good light. The podcast of Josh's death. Yeah, cool. It's alright. Hey, listen, whatever works. I'm just here to help.
I'm just here to help. Thanks so much. I'm just a conduit for help. Um. So, yeah, but no, we need to educate you on some classic movies. And I'm not a big movie guy. Like, I'm not one of those like, you know, Oh, you got these classics and like, you know, Rosebud and things like that. Like, no, that's not really me, but like, come on now.
Mel Brooks. Fine, fine, bring in the DVD. Blazing Sabbath, guys, one of my favorite, one of my favorite movies. Uh, it might be Blu ray, so watch out now. Oh, well, I got one of those too. Watch out now. Alright, fancy. It might be VHS for all I know. I do have one of those too, though. It's funny, when I, when I label the, the, you know, the podcast we're about to do, and I label it online, it's Voice Coaches Radio, I label it VCR.
and then the number. And whenever I write it down, I giggle and go, ha ha, VCR. I remember those. Good times. half are listening going, what are these letters? What, what is a cassette tape? I don't, I don't know. Oh God, I have tons of those. Tons of cassettes. Lots and lots of cassettes. My first CD, my first CD was Cracked Rearview.
Blowfish. Yes. Such a good album. Yes. Such a good album. That was my first CD. Um, yeah. And, uh, I gotta be honest, I haven't bought a CD in like a decade. Okay, I, I'm a hard copy girl, so I always have vinyl, CD, whatever. Well, but here's the thing, and the thing with CDs that I remember vividly is I, or, or cassettes, to be honest with you, like, I would go into like Strawberries.
I don't know if you remember strawberries or Newbery Comics. Coconuts? They were all named after fruit. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I used to go to Newbery Comics, things like that. And, um, this was before FYE bought all that stuff. Mm hmm. And I used to go in there and, and buy a cassette because I loved one of the songs.
And then I'd listen to it and it would be an... actual crapshoot of is this any good or do they just have one good song and I have a collection of CDs and albums that are one great song and then the rest is just hot garbage. Yeah but you know what now because of the way everything is out in the world like people people have a tendency of listening online prior to purchasing so they know like they they can't have album fillers anymore.
Yeah, well, it's cheating, but it's made it so we get actual good music with substance now. Do we though? I, I feel so. Do we though? You're talking to somebody who just, you know, is coming from radio. So yeah, I feel like there's some good stuff out there. You gotta give it a try. It's like blazing saddles. You gotta give it a chance.
All right, fine. Come on. Fine. God. Fine. If only I could find a good radio station to listen to in Boston. Well, I mean, I can give you one. I'm sure you can. I'm sure you can. Um, so I survived my race. Yes, you did. My mountain trek. I'm still here. I'm gonna be honest with you, my right knee, not that great. Uh oh.
Feeling a little, uh, it's what happens when you get old. Well, we are called geriatric millennials now. I heard that, geriatric millennials. I don't like that at all. No, no, no. What year were you born? 1983. Oh, okay. So I'm an 85 er. You're in there. Oh, yeah. I don't like that at all, by the way. Grandpa, we're in there.
Geriatric millen... No. Come on, now. Because we were always in that weird, like, well, we're not Gen X, but we're not really millennial. And, you know, what are we? And apparently now we're just... Just old millennials. Geriatric. No, thank you. I would rather be given no label whatsoever. Yeah, right? That's how I want to like go through life.
No label. To be fair, it might be accurate because part of me is like that, you know, whiny millennial and then part of me is like old McGuy. And so that might actually be accurate. You know what commercial makes me laugh? Is that one where it's like, the, the guy who, um, is trying to make you not turn into your parents after buying a house?
Yep. Yep, that is good. If you printed out directions, you're at the right place. Who else reads books about submarines? My dad. Your dad. Yeah. My, my phone doesn't have a mute button. They all have. They all do. Yeah, no, that's that's what the blue hair walks in. We all see it. We all see it. Oh, awesome. Awesome.
This is good. This is good radio for you to listen to right now. Yeah, no, I feel like that's that's fairly, but no, I am. I'm, I'm getting older. And, um, you know, it was, it was a, it was a tall mountain. I mean, it was about 2400 feet of elevation. Um, it was, it was, it was a blast. I had a good time. Perfect weather up in Vermont.
It was like 70 degrees, it was sunny, it was beautiful up there. My allergies went bananas. So that was exciting. Um, so we had all of us who did the 10 miles, we all finished. Uh, one guy did 50k, which is 31 and change miles. He eventually finished. And then we had three guys who were trying to do a 50 mile and none of them.
Um, because it was difficult. Just listening to that makes me want to sit down. It was, it was, uh, it, well, I mean they could have finished, but they didn't make the, the time cap, so they weren't allowed to go back. Uh, it was aggressive. It was definitely aggressive. There were times where I was going uphill, and I was like, this is not enjoyable at all.
But then again, there were times when I was going down, so the problem is like, you're, you're going uphill, and you can't run uphill, like. You can, but it's, I can't. And you'd get to the top and be like, Oh my god, I can't breathe. But at least I can coast downhill, right? That's the great part about getting uphill.
Except, that when you start to go downhill, it was so steep, and like, the terrain was so bad that you can't. Like, I'm pumping the brakes the entire time. That's why my knee hurts. Because I kept having to pound the brakes so I didn't... You know, feed over tea kettle and smash my face in the ground. I only fell once.
So that was pretty good for me. That would have been really interesting. If I walked in today and you're missing front teeth and like your nose is all banged up and it happens, it's no big deal, but there was one area where we were going consistently downhill and it was kind of S curves and you could tell that it was for mountain biking.
originally or initially it's for for a mountain biking course because they had like banked turns and if i tell you i was running up those bankers i felt like a freaking race car it was awesome that was fun so that was fun so you know i didn't die um so yay congratulations thank you no i feel like it's it's well deserved thank you you did a lot more than i could have it was fun it was fun just being up there honestly it's the first time i've been Anywhere, like anywhere in like a year, because I'm going, uh, as I told you guys, I'm going home to see my folks, right?
I'm gonna make my stepmom cry. That's this weekend. Uh, and I will I already told my wife she has to videotape it, and if there are no tears, You're going to make some tears. Well, yeah, because they're going to be mine. Um, The tears will roll. Yeah, I'm going to be like, I worked so hard on this. But, um, so I will have, I will have that for, for everyone.
I will, I will report back. But, like we were talking, like when was the last time we went anywhere, and it was to my, my parents house for my dad's, my dad's 70th birthday last August. And I was like, I haven't gone anywhere. I'm like packed because I was packing and I was like, what am I doing? Like, do I have enough clothes?
Like, do I need more? Like, it's one thing when I packed last week for the trip, like I had like my running stuff I had, it was only a couple of days. Like I had, you know, all my, my nutrition stuff and my, you know, hydration stuff. Like that was one thing, but this I'm like packing for like. And then again, and then the weather is supposed to be 92 degrees on Sunday and 65 degrees on Monday.
Welcome to New England. What the heck am I supposed to do with that? Not much. By the way, if we don't get a spring, which we clearly don't, why do I get spring allergies? That's not fair. I get the allergies, I don't get the pollen is here, you know? Yeah, but I don't, but I don't know. No, because if I don't get the spring, I don't get the allergies.
Okay, so that's my deal. Okay. Either give me a spring or take my allergies. Okay. Well, neither one of those things are gonna happen So sorry or burst my bubble. That's it. You can't you can't do a podcast about my death anymore. Oh So we are gonna talk about voiceover today because that's what this show is about Get there.
Oh, is it? so we we have had some some questions and and Not so much questions, but but I think some You know, concerns that people have and, you know, when they, when they start the course and I know, I know you've been working a lot with people when they come in and, you know, a similar question comes up and I, and I get the question.
I absolutely get it. Um, but it has to do with, you know, people wondering if this is something they can do, right? I don't know if my voice is good enough to do this and it's, it's difficult to, to tell people that look, this is a skill, this is something that needs to be worked on. But on the other hand, this is something that.
Anybody who puts in the work can develop. Right? I was joking with you. When I was a kid, I wanted to play in the NBA. I could practice all I'd like. I'm not going to play in the NBA. I don't know, Muggsy Bogues was very short too. He was, he was 5'6 There was always that possibility, Josh. It was all the effort you put in.
Muggsy Bogues can also dunk. And I currently have a basketball hoop that's set to 8 feet. And I can dunk. And then I moved it up to 8. 5 feet and I can no longer dunk. And so that was, I thought I could do 9. No, that was not a very exciting moment for my life. Um... No, I, no, I, no, no, never, I couldn't, no, come on now, um.
I'm not nearly athletic enough. I'm falling apart. Like, so, you know, that's never gonna happen. Even when I was a kid, I was like, yeah, that's probably never gonna happen. And even though I thought, when I was a really little kid, I thought I was gonna play baseball, but no. Um, but this is different. And, and, and I've told this story to people, you know, my sister is a middle school teacher and she loves reading.
And, and I was telling her about an audio book I was doing, and she was like, I wish I could do those. And I was like, you can. And she's like, no, I could never do that. And I was like, no, you absolutely could. You won't. But you could. And that's the thing, like, it's, you can. If you put the work in, you absolutely can.
But you have to understand that, you know, say doing an audiobook is not just walking in and reading. Right? There are people who come in and are like, well, I get to read, I can do audiobooks. I'm like, well, that's not exactly what happens at all, but I like your enthusiasm. Um, but if you're willing to put in that work, you absolutely can.
Like, if I'm willing to put in that work, I'm still not gonna play in the NBA. Ever. But... This is different. This is a whole, this industry is unique in that regard. Well, and the biggest thing to remember is, you know, I think you've hit on this before. It's like, each of our voices is unique in its own way.
It's very much like a snowflake, like that. You know, so we all, we all are bringing our own... Uh, different sound and ability and, you know, it's going to work for one thing where it won't work for another, but it is going to work for something. Yeah. And, and that's why, you know, and it was not always the way, this case, but like, look, if you're out there, you know, sending your stuff out and marketing yourself and actively putting yourself out there, guess what?
You're going to get turned down and rejected. It's not an if, it's a when. You're going to get rejected, but it's not personal, right? There was a time where it was if if I hear your voice and I don't like your voice So no, you don't have a voice to do this. That's not the case anymore because it's it's very much, you know, it's it's like It's it's a role right?
You don't fit exactly what I want in this exact situation. I still like your voice Still like your demo. You're just not exactly what I imagined here Uh, I don't know if i've told the story about uh an audition I did for uh for an audio book And if i've told the story already Let me know, because sometimes I do that.
But, again, getting old. But what happened was, I had to audition for There were two characters I had to read for. And, you know, just like a paragraph for each. Sent it in. Guy emailed me back and goes, Hey, listen, if that first guy was the main guy, boom. Love it. It was really great. The second one, I kind of pictured him with a deeper voice, and then he described him, and I quote, as, I kind of picture him as Idris Elba with a beer gut.
Yes, you did tell me that. Right? And I'm like, I don't know what that means at all. What a description. Okay, well, so I gave him a deeper voice reading for it, a couple ones, and he emailed me back and was like, I, I, you know, he's the main character. If the other one was the main character, I'm offering you the job, but this guy's the main character and I pictured him with a deeper voice.
Sorry. Don't be sorry. It is what it is. Was it disappointing? Obviously. Was it disheartening? No. My voice does what it does. Everybody's voice does what it does. And so you just need to find where that voice fits, where people are looking for that. I mean, you know, turn on the radio. Hear how many different types of voices are used for commercials.
That wasn't the case. It used to be one guy. It's not anymore. And, you know, whether, so, you know, and, and there are people, and I know you've, you've experienced this recently, Marissa, people who have that like old school announcer voice that used to dominate the industry, and they get disappointed when they hear that's not what it is anymore.
But I think here's the one thing to remember, too, is you might think that's what you have or that's who you are. We all hear ourselves differently, right? So I also had a woman who thought that she was very flat and monotone when she spoke. You know, there might be like a calmness to her. Like, you know, she might be very even keeled when she speaks, but there is a lot of variation in her voice.
It's not as extreme as me. She has to build that skill. Yeah, and she could develop that to have it be that much, if she wants to. Right. Or she could say, Okay, what jobs does this voice? Work for and there are jobs out there. Maybe it's an industrial piece. Maybe it's a voicemail piece Maybe that's where she ends up living where you don't need to point to no question right so you grow Yeah, and I mentioned audiobooks right audiobooks.
I mean span the gamut you could have really high energy over the top kids books character driven books or the only audiobooks I've ever done are Nonfiction how you know how much swing of character is that not a lot Very, very small, very, very muted, and maybe right where she is right now. And so she could be doing that while, at the same time, working on the side to develop other things, to build other things, but still working.
So, I mean, again, you can develop that, and while you are developing that, you can use what you already have. Because there's a place for that. We just need to find what that place is. We all have a place. There's a place for you. That's so sweet. You'll find that place. I don't know where it is yet, but we'll find it.
We'll find it. It's right here. It's right here at Voice Coaches. We're here for you. It's where you belong. Um, but yeah, and so again, you know, approaching it that way, right, again, there are people who, who, you know, think that I have a voice, I can do this. Yes, you're right if you're willing to put in the work for it.
If you're willing to put in the work for it. Yeah, you always have to make time, too. Like, that's the thing, is life can get in the way. So as you, you know, if you do join us for classes and stuff like that, like, we ask you to be doing things in between, right? So, reading out loud and making time for your online classes as well.
And it's like, if you don't make that time, put that effort in, you will be running in place. Oh, yeah. No question. But, you know, this is what I was actually just explaining to somebody the other day, is like, when I started in radio, I was still in school and got my first job within, like, the first month that I was there.
Um, you know, rare, rare scenario, but I had been putting a lot of work into it. So somebody, you know, that, that first program director, my first boss, heard something. and and saw that spark. So he had me join the team. Initially, I'm pressing buttons, but then something happened where the girl who was doing overnights got fired.
So now The job is between me and this guy who had actually been there for a while, part time. And we were kind of rotating, so like I would do a week, he would do a week, and it was really to see who fit that spot best. Well, he stayed the same, and I kept growing, and like leaps and bounds because I was putting all this effort and work into it.
Guess who got the job? He did? No, this girl. This girl right here. That was my first big radio job because, you know, I, I was very adamant that I was going to be successful. And, you know, that was just the beginning of it. But that's the thing is like you got to keep that effort going too so you can keep growing and keep building.
Um, and you know, that's why I've been doing this for 17 years. It's funny, I, I, when I work with people, uh, oftentimes they'll, they'll walk away and be like, I feel like I could have done better. And I will go, yeah, you could have. That's why we work at this. Right. And then you will do better. Yeah, you're never going to walk out of a, you're never going to walk out of a, I've never walked out of a session and been like, nailed it.
100%. Like, no, I'm always like, well, you know, what if I tried this? What if I did that? I could have done that a little bit better. And that's why we continue to work at it. We don't get complacent. You can't be like, that was perfect. I could not have done that any better. It was amazing. I'm awesome. And I don't need to do any work on this because that's not true because that's not true.
Right. And that's where we, you know, if we're not working on this, you know, we're, yeah. We're dying. We're dying, right? Did this go back to my death podcast? Yeah, A little bit. You're dying. Me specifically, apparently. Um, but no. And I think that's a good point. I mean, you know, it is a skill. But it's not an impossible skill.
It's not, you know, You have the tools. I don't have the tools to NBA, regardless of how much I work at it. I just don't. Maybe if I worked a little harder, I could have been a little bit better and not been covering my freshman team, which I should have been because I was terrible, but that's not the point.
Not bitter. But, I don't have the tools for that, nor will I ever, and sadly, neither will my son. Sorry, bud. Um, not in the genes. Not in the jeans. But, you, we all have, most of us have the tools for this. Now it's about putting in the work. Utilizing those tools, right? Getting the most out of those tools to make something of this.
We can do it. We can all do it. But we gotta do it. Nike. Did you just do an ad? I did, yeah, I did. I'm gonna get a pair of Nike shoes. Pop it up on my doorstep pretty soon. Oh, you're welcome. I feel like, I feel like that was a commercial and an endorsement all in one. Yeah. I'll take free stuff. They don't want to send me free Nikes.
You kidding me? I'll wear them. Send them to Voice Coaches Radio. Air Force Ones, baby. I'll take a pair of Air Force Ones, Nike, if you're listening right now. Phil Knight, if you're Phil Knight, if you're listening right now, uh, I live in Rotterdam, New York, and uh, I'll send you my deets. Let me know. I'll wear your, I'll wear, I'll wear your shoes on my podcast where nobody can see.
See them. No, we'll post it on social. It'll, it'll blow up. I'm going to put my feet on the desk. Lots of likes. Yeah, there we go. Lots of shares. Yes. Because I have huge social media following. Speaking of social media, that is something we're going to discuss in the weeks to come and how to and to not utilize that to the best of its ability, uh, including things like Twitter.
Facebook and LinkedIn. Alright, so that is definitely something we will be discussing. I have gotten a few questions about that. I haven't forgot those questions. Don't worry about that. But we will be discussing that sooner rather than later. So stick around. Uh, next week we will be back, I imagine. Uh, and I will have some, uh, some teary footage to play for you guys.
Or not. But I'll let you know how that goes Yeah, so tissues. Yes, please. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So I think that's about it for today so thanks so much for tuning in this week and Marissa, thanks so much for stopping by this way my friend and we will talk with you Next week with all of you next week.
But again, if you have any questions, any comments, anything you want us to discuss for Josh at voice coaches. com is my email. If I can remember it, Josh at voice coaches. com. It is pretty simple. That's the easiest and quickest way to get in touch with myself or Marissa or anyone here. Questions, comments, concerns, things you want us to discuss Guess you want us to book, uh, we'll do the best we can.
And uh, I'm working on some guests coming in as well for the upcoming weeks this summer as we approach and count down to episode number 500. Just for the record, this is episode number 481. So, if you want to do the math, you can do the math and figure out when episode 500 will be. But it's, uh, it's coming up.
It's coming up. And, uh, we got some big, big plans. Big plans for episode 500. And uh, if you want, you can go into the archives and, you know, start back at episode 1 and start building your way up. Alright? Start building your way up. You don't want to be caught up. Binge listen to Voice Coach's radio. It is going to take a bit.
It is going to take a sec. No question. No question. But it's worth it. It's worth it. It's worth it. Alright, again, thanks so much everyone for tuning in. Marissa, thanks so much. It was always good to chat with ya, and we will talk with you next week, and uh, until then, so long everyone. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
I wish. I wish. I wish I was Ned Flanders. He was awesome. He was awesome. You'd be rolling in some bank right now, too. Right? Yeah. I feel like I would. Character voice. I feel like I would. Yeah, I mean, he's, yeah. He's doing pretty good. I don't know. Which one? Who does Ned Flanders? That's um, um, I have no idea.
Oh, um, I'm blanking on his name right now. Is it Azaria? Uh, no, I don't think it's Hank Azaria. I think it's, um, the guy who was the bass player for Spinal Tap. Okay, well, I'm not going to be able to answer that question now, so. Yeah, no, I mean, I could look it up, but, um, You lost me at Spinal Tap? You haven't seen Spinal Tap?
No. Oh my god, it's amazing. I know, we're going through, uh, you know, off the air, we're going through all these things that I haven't seen. She hasn't seen any Mel Brooks movies, guys. But any crime documentary, okay? Any, anything that's been on the iD channel. This girl has seen it. And I also know, never get a life insurance policy, okay?
Because that person that just bought that on you is going to kill you. I have life insurance policies. I have multiple life insurance policies. Okay, well, your wife is going to make some bank soon. So it's been nice knowing you. It's fair. That's cool. Yeah, so if I don't show, at least I know full well, if I don't show up, you're on the case.
Yeah, I am on it. Avenge, avenge me Marissa. Avenge me. And then do a podcast about it. Yeah, I will. I totally will. Paint me in a good light, please. That'll be my next big career move. Paint me in a good light. The podcast of Josh's death. Yeah, cool. It's alright. Hey, listen, whatever works. I'm just here to help.
I'm just here to help. Thanks so much. I'm just a conduit for help. Um. So, yeah, but no, we need to educate you on some classic movies. And I'm not a big movie guy. Like, I'm not one of those like, you know, Oh, you got these classics and like, you know, Rosebud and things like that. Like, no, that's not really me, but like, come on now.
Mel Brooks. Fine, fine, bring in the DVD. Blazing Sabbath, guys, one of my favorite, one of my favorite movies. Uh, it might be Blu ray, so watch out now. Oh, well, I got one of those too. Watch out now. Alright, fancy. It might be VHS for all I know. I do have one of those too, though. It's funny, when I, when I label the, the, you know, the podcast we're about to do, and I label it online, it's Voice Coaches Radio, I label it VCR.
and then the number. And whenever I write it down, I giggle and go, ha ha, VCR. I remember those. Good times. half are listening going, what are these letters? What, what is a cassette tape? I don't, I don't know. Oh God, I have tons of those. Tons of cassettes. Lots and lots of cassettes. My first CD, my first CD was Cracked Rearview.
Blowfish. Yes. Such a good album. Yes. Such a good album. That was my first CD. Um, yeah. And, uh, I gotta be honest, I haven't bought a CD in like a decade. Okay, I, I'm a hard copy girl, so I always have vinyl, CD, whatever. Well, but here's the thing, and the thing with CDs that I remember vividly is I, or, or cassettes, to be honest with you, like, I would go into like Strawberries.
I don't know if you remember strawberries or Newbery Comics. Coconuts? They were all named after fruit. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I used to go to Newbery Comics, things like that. And, um, this was before FYE bought all that stuff. Mm hmm. And I used to go in there and, and buy a cassette because I loved one of the songs.
And then I'd listen to it and it would be an... actual crapshoot of is this any good or do they just have one good song and I have a collection of CDs and albums that are one great song and then the rest is just hot garbage. Yeah but you know what now because of the way everything is out in the world like people people have a tendency of listening online prior to purchasing so they know like they they can't have album fillers anymore.
Yeah, well, it's cheating, but it's made it so we get actual good music with substance now. Do we though? I, I feel so. Do we though? You're talking to somebody who just, you know, is coming from radio. So yeah, I feel like there's some good stuff out there. You gotta give it a try. It's like blazing saddles. You gotta give it a chance.
All right, fine. Come on. Fine. God. Fine. If only I could find a good radio station to listen to in Boston. Well, I mean, I can give you one. I'm sure you can. I'm sure you can. Um, so I survived my race. Yes, you did. My mountain trek. I'm still here. I'm gonna be honest with you, my right knee, not that great. Uh oh.
Feeling a little, uh, it's what happens when you get old. Well, we are called geriatric millennials now. I heard that, geriatric millennials. I don't like that at all. No, no, no. What year were you born? 1983. Oh, okay. So I'm an 85 er. You're in there. Oh, yeah. I don't like that at all, by the way. Grandpa, we're in there.
Geriatric millen... No. Come on, now. Because we were always in that weird, like, well, we're not Gen X, but we're not really millennial. And, you know, what are we? And apparently now we're just... Just old millennials. Geriatric. No, thank you. I would rather be given no label whatsoever. Yeah, right? That's how I want to like go through life.
No label. To be fair, it might be accurate because part of me is like that, you know, whiny millennial and then part of me is like old McGuy. And so that might actually be accurate. You know what commercial makes me laugh? Is that one where it's like, the, the guy who, um, is trying to make you not turn into your parents after buying a house?
Yep. Yep, that is good. If you printed out directions, you're at the right place. Who else reads books about submarines? My dad. Your dad. Yeah. My, my phone doesn't have a mute button. They all have. They all do. Yeah, no, that's that's what the blue hair walks in. We all see it. We all see it. Oh, awesome. Awesome.
This is good. This is good radio for you to listen to right now. Yeah, no, I feel like that's that's fairly, but no, I am. I'm, I'm getting older. And, um, you know, it was, it was a, it was a tall mountain. I mean, it was about 2400 feet of elevation. Um, it was, it was, it was a blast. I had a good time. Perfect weather up in Vermont.
It was like 70 degrees, it was sunny, it was beautiful up there. My allergies went bananas. So that was exciting. Um, so we had all of us who did the 10 miles, we all finished. Uh, one guy did 50k, which is 31 and change miles. He eventually finished. And then we had three guys who were trying to do a 50 mile and none of them.
Um, because it was difficult. Just listening to that makes me want to sit down. It was, it was, uh, it, well, I mean they could have finished, but they didn't make the, the time cap, so they weren't allowed to go back. Uh, it was aggressive. It was definitely aggressive. There were times where I was going uphill, and I was like, this is not enjoyable at all.
But then again, there were times when I was going down, so the problem is like, you're, you're going uphill, and you can't run uphill, like. You can, but it's, I can't. And you'd get to the top and be like, Oh my god, I can't breathe. But at least I can coast downhill, right? That's the great part about getting uphill.
Except, that when you start to go downhill, it was so steep, and like, the terrain was so bad that you can't. Like, I'm pumping the brakes the entire time. That's why my knee hurts. Because I kept having to pound the brakes so I didn't... You know, feed over tea kettle and smash my face in the ground. I only fell once.
So that was pretty good for me. That would have been really interesting. If I walked in today and you're missing front teeth and like your nose is all banged up and it happens, it's no big deal, but there was one area where we were going consistently downhill and it was kind of S curves and you could tell that it was for mountain biking.
originally or initially it's for for a mountain biking course because they had like banked turns and if i tell you i was running up those bankers i felt like a freaking race car it was awesome that was fun so that was fun so you know i didn't die um so yay congratulations thank you no i feel like it's it's well deserved thank you you did a lot more than i could have it was fun it was fun just being up there honestly it's the first time i've been Anywhere, like anywhere in like a year, because I'm going, uh, as I told you guys, I'm going home to see my folks, right?
I'm gonna make my stepmom cry. That's this weekend. Uh, and I will I already told my wife she has to videotape it, and if there are no tears, You're going to make some tears. Well, yeah, because they're going to be mine. Um, The tears will roll. Yeah, I'm going to be like, I worked so hard on this. But, um, so I will have, I will have that for, for everyone.
I will, I will report back. But, like we were talking, like when was the last time we went anywhere, and it was to my, my parents house for my dad's, my dad's 70th birthday last August. And I was like, I haven't gone anywhere. I'm like packed because I was packing and I was like, what am I doing? Like, do I have enough clothes?
Like, do I need more? Like, it's one thing when I packed last week for the trip, like I had like my running stuff I had, it was only a couple of days. Like I had, you know, all my, my nutrition stuff and my, you know, hydration stuff. Like that was one thing, but this I'm like packing for like. And then again, and then the weather is supposed to be 92 degrees on Sunday and 65 degrees on Monday.
Welcome to New England. What the heck am I supposed to do with that? Not much. By the way, if we don't get a spring, which we clearly don't, why do I get spring allergies? That's not fair. I get the allergies, I don't get the pollen is here, you know? Yeah, but I don't, but I don't know. No, because if I don't get the spring, I don't get the allergies.
Okay, so that's my deal. Okay. Either give me a spring or take my allergies. Okay. Well, neither one of those things are gonna happen So sorry or burst my bubble. That's it. You can't you can't do a podcast about my death anymore. Oh So we are gonna talk about voiceover today because that's what this show is about Get there.
Oh, is it? so we we have had some some questions and and Not so much questions, but but I think some You know, concerns that people have and, you know, when they, when they start the course and I know, I know you've been working a lot with people when they come in and, you know, a similar question comes up and I, and I get the question.
I absolutely get it. Um, but it has to do with, you know, people wondering if this is something they can do, right? I don't know if my voice is good enough to do this and it's, it's difficult to, to tell people that look, this is a skill, this is something that needs to be worked on. But on the other hand, this is something that.
Anybody who puts in the work can develop. Right? I was joking with you. When I was a kid, I wanted to play in the NBA. I could practice all I'd like. I'm not going to play in the NBA. I don't know, Muggsy Bogues was very short too. He was, he was 5'6 There was always that possibility, Josh. It was all the effort you put in.
Muggsy Bogues can also dunk. And I currently have a basketball hoop that's set to 8 feet. And I can dunk. And then I moved it up to 8. 5 feet and I can no longer dunk. And so that was, I thought I could do 9. No, that was not a very exciting moment for my life. Um... No, I, no, I, no, no, never, I couldn't, no, come on now, um.
I'm not nearly athletic enough. I'm falling apart. Like, so, you know, that's never gonna happen. Even when I was a kid, I was like, yeah, that's probably never gonna happen. And even though I thought, when I was a really little kid, I thought I was gonna play baseball, but no. Um, but this is different. And, and, and I've told this story to people, you know, my sister is a middle school teacher and she loves reading.
And, and I was telling her about an audio book I was doing, and she was like, I wish I could do those. And I was like, you can. And she's like, no, I could never do that. And I was like, no, you absolutely could. You won't. But you could. And that's the thing, like, it's, you can. If you put the work in, you absolutely can.
But you have to understand that, you know, say doing an audiobook is not just walking in and reading. Right? There are people who come in and are like, well, I get to read, I can do audiobooks. I'm like, well, that's not exactly what happens at all, but I like your enthusiasm. Um, but if you're willing to put in that work, you absolutely can.
Like, if I'm willing to put in that work, I'm still not gonna play in the NBA. Ever. But... This is different. This is a whole, this industry is unique in that regard. Well, and the biggest thing to remember is, you know, I think you've hit on this before. It's like, each of our voices is unique in its own way.
It's very much like a snowflake, like that. You know, so we all, we all are bringing our own... Uh, different sound and ability and, you know, it's going to work for one thing where it won't work for another, but it is going to work for something. Yeah. And, and that's why, you know, and it was not always the way, this case, but like, look, if you're out there, you know, sending your stuff out and marketing yourself and actively putting yourself out there, guess what?
You're going to get turned down and rejected. It's not an if, it's a when. You're going to get rejected, but it's not personal, right? There was a time where it was if if I hear your voice and I don't like your voice So no, you don't have a voice to do this. That's not the case anymore because it's it's very much, you know, it's it's like It's it's a role right?
You don't fit exactly what I want in this exact situation. I still like your voice Still like your demo. You're just not exactly what I imagined here Uh, I don't know if i've told the story about uh an audition I did for uh for an audio book And if i've told the story already Let me know, because sometimes I do that.
But, again, getting old. But what happened was, I had to audition for There were two characters I had to read for. And, you know, just like a paragraph for each. Sent it in. Guy emailed me back and goes, Hey, listen, if that first guy was the main guy, boom. Love it. It was really great. The second one, I kind of pictured him with a deeper voice, and then he described him, and I quote, as, I kind of picture him as Idris Elba with a beer gut.
Yes, you did tell me that. Right? And I'm like, I don't know what that means at all. What a description. Okay, well, so I gave him a deeper voice reading for it, a couple ones, and he emailed me back and was like, I, I, you know, he's the main character. If the other one was the main character, I'm offering you the job, but this guy's the main character and I pictured him with a deeper voice.
Sorry. Don't be sorry. It is what it is. Was it disappointing? Obviously. Was it disheartening? No. My voice does what it does. Everybody's voice does what it does. And so you just need to find where that voice fits, where people are looking for that. I mean, you know, turn on the radio. Hear how many different types of voices are used for commercials.
That wasn't the case. It used to be one guy. It's not anymore. And, you know, whether, so, you know, and, and there are people, and I know you've, you've experienced this recently, Marissa, people who have that like old school announcer voice that used to dominate the industry, and they get disappointed when they hear that's not what it is anymore.
But I think here's the one thing to remember, too, is you might think that's what you have or that's who you are. We all hear ourselves differently, right? So I also had a woman who thought that she was very flat and monotone when she spoke. You know, there might be like a calmness to her. Like, you know, she might be very even keeled when she speaks, but there is a lot of variation in her voice.
It's not as extreme as me. She has to build that skill. Yeah, and she could develop that to have it be that much, if she wants to. Right. Or she could say, Okay, what jobs does this voice? Work for and there are jobs out there. Maybe it's an industrial piece. Maybe it's a voicemail piece Maybe that's where she ends up living where you don't need to point to no question right so you grow Yeah, and I mentioned audiobooks right audiobooks.
I mean span the gamut you could have really high energy over the top kids books character driven books or the only audiobooks I've ever done are Nonfiction how you know how much swing of character is that not a lot Very, very small, very, very muted, and maybe right where she is right now. And so she could be doing that while, at the same time, working on the side to develop other things, to build other things, but still working.
So, I mean, again, you can develop that, and while you are developing that, you can use what you already have. Because there's a place for that. We just need to find what that place is. We all have a place. There's a place for you. That's so sweet. You'll find that place. I don't know where it is yet, but we'll find it.
We'll find it. It's right here. It's right here at Voice Coaches. We're here for you. It's where you belong. Um, but yeah, and so again, you know, approaching it that way, right, again, there are people who, who, you know, think that I have a voice, I can do this. Yes, you're right if you're willing to put in the work for it.
If you're willing to put in the work for it. Yeah, you always have to make time, too. Like, that's the thing, is life can get in the way. So as you, you know, if you do join us for classes and stuff like that, like, we ask you to be doing things in between, right? So, reading out loud and making time for your online classes as well.
And it's like, if you don't make that time, put that effort in, you will be running in place. Oh, yeah. No question. But, you know, this is what I was actually just explaining to somebody the other day, is like, when I started in radio, I was still in school and got my first job within, like, the first month that I was there.
Um, you know, rare, rare scenario, but I had been putting a lot of work into it. So somebody, you know, that, that first program director, my first boss, heard something. and and saw that spark. So he had me join the team. Initially, I'm pressing buttons, but then something happened where the girl who was doing overnights got fired.
So now The job is between me and this guy who had actually been there for a while, part time. And we were kind of rotating, so like I would do a week, he would do a week, and it was really to see who fit that spot best. Well, he stayed the same, and I kept growing, and like leaps and bounds because I was putting all this effort and work into it.
Guess who got the job? He did? No, this girl. This girl right here. That was my first big radio job because, you know, I, I was very adamant that I was going to be successful. And, you know, that was just the beginning of it. But that's the thing is like you got to keep that effort going too so you can keep growing and keep building.
Um, and you know, that's why I've been doing this for 17 years. It's funny, I, I, when I work with people, uh, oftentimes they'll, they'll walk away and be like, I feel like I could have done better. And I will go, yeah, you could have. That's why we work at this. Right. And then you will do better. Yeah, you're never going to walk out of a, you're never going to walk out of a, I've never walked out of a session and been like, nailed it.
100%. Like, no, I'm always like, well, you know, what if I tried this? What if I did that? I could have done that a little bit better. And that's why we continue to work at it. We don't get complacent. You can't be like, that was perfect. I could not have done that any better. It was amazing. I'm awesome. And I don't need to do any work on this because that's not true because that's not true.
Right. And that's where we, you know, if we're not working on this, you know, we're, yeah. We're dying. We're dying, right? Did this go back to my death podcast? Yeah, A little bit. You're dying. Me specifically, apparently. Um, but no. And I think that's a good point. I mean, you know, it is a skill. But it's not an impossible skill.
It's not, you know, You have the tools. I don't have the tools to NBA, regardless of how much I work at it. I just don't. Maybe if I worked a little harder, I could have been a little bit better and not been covering my freshman team, which I should have been because I was terrible, but that's not the point.
Not bitter. But, I don't have the tools for that, nor will I ever, and sadly, neither will my son. Sorry, bud. Um, not in the genes. Not in the jeans. But, you, we all have, most of us have the tools for this. Now it's about putting in the work. Utilizing those tools, right? Getting the most out of those tools to make something of this.
We can do it. We can all do it. But we gotta do it. Nike. Did you just do an ad? I did, yeah, I did. I'm gonna get a pair of Nike shoes. Pop it up on my doorstep pretty soon. Oh, you're welcome. I feel like, I feel like that was a commercial and an endorsement all in one. Yeah. I'll take free stuff. They don't want to send me free Nikes.
You kidding me? I'll wear them. Send them to Voice Coaches Radio. Air Force Ones, baby. I'll take a pair of Air Force Ones, Nike, if you're listening right now. Phil Knight, if you're Phil Knight, if you're listening right now, uh, I live in Rotterdam, New York, and uh, I'll send you my deets. Let me know. I'll wear your, I'll wear, I'll wear your shoes on my podcast where nobody can see.
See them. No, we'll post it on social. It'll, it'll blow up. I'm going to put my feet on the desk. Lots of likes. Yeah, there we go. Lots of shares. Yes. Because I have huge social media following. Speaking of social media, that is something we're going to discuss in the weeks to come and how to and to not utilize that to the best of its ability, uh, including things like Twitter.
Facebook and LinkedIn. Alright, so that is definitely something we will be discussing. I have gotten a few questions about that. I haven't forgot those questions. Don't worry about that. But we will be discussing that sooner rather than later. So stick around. Uh, next week we will be back, I imagine. Uh, and I will have some, uh, some teary footage to play for you guys.
Or not. But I'll let you know how that goes Yeah, so tissues. Yes, please. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So I think that's about it for today so thanks so much for tuning in this week and Marissa, thanks so much for stopping by this way my friend and we will talk with you Next week with all of you next week.
But again, if you have any questions, any comments, anything you want us to discuss for Josh at voice coaches. com is my email. If I can remember it, Josh at voice coaches. com. It is pretty simple. That's the easiest and quickest way to get in touch with myself or Marissa or anyone here. Questions, comments, concerns, things you want us to discuss Guess you want us to book, uh, we'll do the best we can.
And uh, I'm working on some guests coming in as well for the upcoming weeks this summer as we approach and count down to episode number 500. Just for the record, this is episode number 481. So, if you want to do the math, you can do the math and figure out when episode 500 will be. But it's, uh, it's coming up.
It's coming up. And, uh, we got some big, big plans. Big plans for episode 500. And uh, if you want, you can go into the archives and, you know, start back at episode 1 and start building your way up. Alright? Start building your way up. You don't want to be caught up. Binge listen to Voice Coach's radio. It is going to take a bit.
It is going to take a sec. No question. No question. But it's worth it. It's worth it. It's worth it. Alright, again, thanks so much everyone for tuning in. Marissa, thanks so much. It was always good to chat with ya, and we will talk with you next week, and uh, until then, so long everyone. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
In this week’s episode, Josh and Marissa discuss the skills needed to excel as a voice actor; as well as how to acquire and develop them.
