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Voice Coaches Radio #497 – The Pre-Demo Jitters
Voice Coach's Radio. Everything voiceover. And welcome to this week's edition of Voice Coach's Radio. I am Josh Heller. She is Marissa Lanczak. We are delighted to have you joining us here this week. Marissa, how we doing? I'm fantastic. Now you, you're just coming back from a little, a little vacay. Yeah, but for whatever reason, I still almost forgot my coffee in my car.
Who am I? Well, no, it's one of those things, like, I feel like most vacations nowadays, at least for me, like, I need a vacation from my vacation, uh, because it's usually more work than... Well, you know what happened for me? This is what I noticed. Okay. So I got back late Sunday night and Monday and Tuesday, I went hard.
Like I, I like... Scraped my deck, re stained it, did a whole lot of things at the house, in between work, and next thing you know, like, Wednesday and Thursday got here and I'm like, Mortal Kombat, finish her. Like, it was awful. And you have to work on Saturday, don't you? I do, yeah. Yeah, that's, uh, unfortunate.
Sorry for me. That is unfortunate. Where did you go? I know you were traveling. Yeah, so I flew to Chicago and met a friend and then we took a 10 hour drive to Tulsa, Oklahoma. And I know that seems completely random, but it's not when you're a Hanson fan. Which is also completely random, but sure. It's not random, though.
It's not. Not if you know me, it's not random. You're, uh, you're a Hanson fan? Yeah. Oh. Okay, first of all, you say that because you clearly have not heard anything since 1997. But they have six studio albums with the seventh one on the way. I also didn't want to. Huh? I also didn't want to. Well, you might change your mind if you know they're just a complete rock band.
Uh, no, I'm good. I'm good. Fine. Fine. Be all judgy. It's fine. I will. I will. And honestly, part of it is just I don't want to. Be known as a Hanson fan. Well, that's just rude. Yeah a little bit. Yeah, I'm not gonna deny that I'm sure they have some good stuff. Mmm. Pop is a terrible song. Well, it's not it's one of the biggest pop songs ever But that does not the negate.
It's terrible
It's a popular we're gonna fight it's a pie here's the main thing issue I have with it is that it is an absolute Earworm. Oh, yeah. And if I hear it, even today, it is now, it's currently in my head, and I hate you, a little bit, uh, for that. And our listeners for bringing it up now? Yeah. Is this gonna be in your head the rest of the day?
Uh, yeah. I'm so excited about that. That's, uh, that's, that's definitely, definitely possible. Definitely possible. Um, so But here's the thing. For anybody who hasn't heard them since 1997, I'm just gonna say this. Look up the songs, Against the World and Stronger. Those are the brand new songs that just came out in the last two months, and they are awesome.
So good. You don't have to, Josh. But anybody else that actually wants to take two seconds to care about something. I think we're both well aware of the fact I'm probably not going to. That's okay. But it's alright. It's alright. I will, uh, I will try not to judge you too much. You shouldn't. But anyway, it was like 100 degrees there the entire time.
And then I came back to New York and it's like 70 or lower. And I'm just like, why did I leave? Yeah, it's nice. It's fall. Love the fall. One of my favorite seasons. Football's back, and hockey's not Halloween's around the corner. I don't mind hoody weather, but I also just miss when the sun is not out as much.
Sweater weather. Sweater weather. Sweater weather. Sweater weather. Sweater weather. Sweater weather. Although I gotta be honest, I don't like pumpkin things. Like pumpkin chai and like pumpkin lattes. I don't really eat many pumpkin or drink pumpkin things. Pumpkin bread? Pumpkin cookies. My mom makes some bomb pumpkin cookies.
My wife makes pumpkin bread? Oh, yeah. That is, that's the thing. And pumpkin pie, I, I, you know. Oh yeah, pumpkin pie. How did I forget about that? I have no problem with pumpkin pie. No, I could eat that all the time. But, uh, but yeah, I don't like the pumpkin flavored things, that, that weirds me out a little bit.
Like, there's like this, like, Cheerios that are pumpkin spice or something, I'm like, you're going too far, alright? Can we stop? Ice cream? Like, no, just stop it. Yeah, I've actually had pumpkin ice cream, it's okay. Pumpkin beer, not my thing. Mmm. Not my, then again, a lot of that has to do with, um, with, uh, uh, memories it brings back of unpleasantness.
I was gonna say, there's vom involved. Oh my god, yeah, it is conceivable that we ran out of, cheap beer and used, uh, pumpkin flavored beer for beer pong, and it was a horrific idea. I just won't go near beer in general just because I don't like the smell. Oh, that's fair. That's fair. Well, I'll be honest.
Vodka all day, man. Smells even worse afterward. Oh, I'm sure. Unfortunately, the vodka that we drank in college had a smell. Well, that was probably because it was the cheap stuff. It smelled like rubbing alcohol. Now, here's a good question, and I implore those listening in, if you're still listening and haven't, uh, you know, turned us off because of mmbop.
Oh, stop it! But, um, for those who are still listening, did you guys have a cheap college vodka? Because, like, every region has one. Uh, so ours was Rubinoff. It was the stuff called Fleischmann's, but mostly Rubinoff. I can't even tell you because I didn't start drinking until I was in radio. For the obvious of reasons, because I was in radio.
That's fair. That's fair. Yes, we'll drive you to drink. Yes. No, I, I, I grant you that. I grant you that. Well, um, we're glad you're back. Please. So you went to Tulsa. Any, any other? Uh, we, we drove like, I mean, obviously there was a long drive from Chicago to there and back. And, um, You know, I just, I got to see, I mean, this is just gonna make me, uh, you, you judge me even more, but like, I got to go to different places around Tulsa, like, that they filmed videos and stuff, which was cool, uh, but then on the way back, you know, I didn't realize that Route 66 kinda like, goes right through the route that we were, so I got to see a bunch of like, little touristy attractions, like, I went to, um, I went to Uranus.
Uh. It's Missouri. I'm beggin I'm beggin I'm beggin your pardon. Uh, that's, I didn't know there was a, a, a, Uranus, Missouri. Yeah, you know, this is what the hilarious part was, so we stopped, cause this is even worse. It's the Uranus fudge factory. But, um, you know, so we're there, and we're walking through like the little shops and whatever.
World's largest belt buckle. Right, got to see that. But we go into this one, uh, shop and the woman is just like so overly enthusiastic with her job and I said something because she, she like greeted us in whatever way and I'm like, something tells me you enjoy saying that every single time and she's like, sure do.
And, um, she was telling me that that specific strip literally used to be a strip club and she used to go there all the time because her friend would dance. Oh, fair enough. I was like, I got so many stories here. This is great. So when I was. Um, when I was looking at colleges, we, I was looking in Pennsylvania, and we went to Philly and went out to Pittsburgh, and on the way back, we stopped off in Amish country, and we stopped off in, in Lancaster, and right next to Lancaster is...
Intercourse, that's right. Uh, and blue ball, Pennsylvania. Of course. Um, and, did I buy signs that said that? Yes, of course I did. Of course. Yes, of course I did. Did I buy a sticker that said Uranus? Of course I did. I'm 12, like, come on. No, I, listen, I'm 100% on board with that. Finally, finally we agree on something.
It was an mbop and Uranus weekend. Yeah. God, I love all of it. I love everything about it. It's gonna let that one lie. So, uh, speaking of which, on a more wholesome note, uh, big day, big day in the Heller household. Yeah. Uh, yesterday, my son had his first day of kindergarten. How old do you feel? How, oh my god, so, well, here's the thing, like, when he turned five, I, whatever, I don't really remember five, but I remember kindergarten, like, not a ton, but, like, I remember my teacher, I remember my classroom, um, I remember, you know, walking to school with my sister, um, so I remember things from that, and that freaked me out.
I very much remember the big giant crayons and the smell that they brought. Oof. Waxed. Love it. Love it. But yeah, and so that was, uh, that was awesome and, uh, he held it together well, I held it together pretty well. At least while he was still there. Um, and, uh, yeah, so, uh, so that was, uh, that was, uh, it's big, big, big, big things happening.
Big things happening. You'll make it through. Yeah. I promise. He'll be fine. I mean. Oh, he will. I didn't say anything about him. I said you'll be okay. It's, it's, it's still up in the air on me. It's, it's definitely still up. It depends if I think about it too much or not. I'm trying not to. I'm trying not to, to think about it too, too much.
Um, but no, he had, he had a great day yesterday, apparently. Um, Or so he said. And uh, and so that was good. So hopefully that, uh, that continues. And he, and he rocks the kindergarten. The kindergarten. They read a book yesterday called Miss Begar Gets Ready for Kindergarten. Wow. Um, so that's awesome. Um, yeah.
So there you go. Speaking of Earworms, um, my son is also a big fan of the movie called Vivo. Have you heard of this movie? It is on Netflix. What is it called? It's called Vivo, V I V O. And it's Lin Manuel Miranda. It's a cartoon, or it's a, yeah, it's a cartoon. It's Lin Manuel Miranda, um, who plays, uh, Kinkajou.
Um, which is a type of monkey? Okay. Something like that? Uh, not really. It's a type of, like, looks like a, kind of like a lemur, or something like that. But anyway, uh, really good music in it, and it sticks in my head a lot, and you should check it out. It's good. I, I like how that sticks in your head a lot, so you're, you know, pushing that.
But Mbop, on the other hand, is like, nah, never mind. That gets stuck in my head, but I hate it. Uh, yeah. Dude, this is terrible. You know, it'd be different if I said, I love Aqua and Barbie Girl. Like, that'd be much different. Unless you're saying it in, like, tongue in cheek. Like, I traveled, like, thousands of miles to go see Aqua.
Like, then I would expect you to judge me. Well, okay. So, uh, one of my first concerts I ever went to was at, uh, Great Woods. In Mansfield, Massachusetts, which became the Tweeter Center, which became... Is that the Xfinity Center? Is that? Sure. Yeah. It's the outdoor amphitheater? Yeah. It's like SPAC. Uh, but yes.
And one of the first The first concert I ever saw there was The first concert I ever went to, while my dad took myself and my sister, it was to, uh, The Beach Boys. With America. And, uh, it was really good. Um, however, I went to a The first concert I went to by myself there was... Creed. And do I have a Creed concert tee?
Oh, you better believe I do. Is it extra, extra large and forest green? Yes, it is. It is both of those things. Uh, is it heavy, heavy, heavy 100% cotton? Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh, and, um, is it ridiculous? It is. It is absolutely ridiculous. It's hilarious. It's amazing. I wear it now just to embarrass my family. Uh, specifically my wife.
Specifically my wife. It is tremendous. It was, uh, it was Creed and they were opened up by three doors down. Oh my god. Good show. Good show. That's a redneck fest if I've ever heard it. That's a good show. Um, but this was before anyone knew who they were. Right. Like they, they, Surprised Nickelback wasn't involved in some kind of West End.
I'd say Nickelback wasn't really a thing there. They were still up and, you know, doing their whole Canadian bit. Uh, so they were not, uh, they were not there. This is when, this is, it was right after, if this helps, right after Scream 3 came out, cause Creed basically did the entire Scream 3 soundtrack. Oh, jeez.
Uh, and it was, uh, it was that. So it was, uh, it was, Creed was a good, they had some good songs, alright? Occasionally. There was an occasional good one. To be honest, and I hate to say this, Nickelback had some good songs too. They're actually really, really good live. I bet they are. You know who I saw live who was really good, who is ridiculous all the other times, is Limp Bizkit.
I want to see them. So I went to, uh, Summer Sanitarium 2, uh, at Gillette Stadium, and it was Mudvayne. Okay, they were fine. It was, uh, um, uh, oh, the Deftones. They were terrible. Um, it was Linkin Park. They were awesome. Limp Bizkit. They were entertaining as anything. Yeah. And then it was Metallica. So it was a good good show.
That's a, that's a good top three right there. It was a decent, decent lineup. Gotta say. To be able to say that you saw Linkin Park, I'm actually really jealous. That was, they were, they were really good. They were unsurprisingly, they were really good. And again, Limp Bizkit, were they good? No. Were they entertaining?
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Very much so. Very much so. Um, so, um. Should we talk about voice? We should probably do that. We're just catching up. It's been a while. I know, it's been a while. It's been a couple of weeks. So, um, so yeah, so that's life. So anyway, yes, we got an email. Email! and uh, da da da da, check email. Da da da da, did you ever, do you do strong bad email?
No. Do you do, uh, Homestar Runner? You don't know Homestar Runner? No. Oh my god, okay, now. No, I'm dating myself. Alright, nevermind. Uh, that's like, before YouTube became like a thing, like Homestar Runner with this drama, anyway. I remember, you've got mail, like, you know, AOL, no? No, this was, this was ridiculous.
Stupid cartoon stuff. Um, awesome. It's my childhood. Anyway, uh, anyway. Uh, I got an email from Margaret. From Margaret. Hey, Margaret. Margaret is a student at Voice Coaches. Who is a listener to the pod. Hey, Margaret, how you doing? First time emailer, long time listener. And by the way, if you want, uh, want to shoot us an email, you can.
JoshAtVoiceCoaches. com. That's the way to do it. That's what Margaret did. She listens. Uh, and you can do it too. And maybe we'll talk about you. If you want us to, or if you don't, that's fine too. Uh, but, Margaret had a question, because Margaret has her demo coming up soon. And listen, I know who this is, and I can't wait, I'm so excited for this demo.
And this is what it says, I am going to be doing my demo on, uh,
And poor Marissa is stuck being my producer. No, this is not a poor Marissa thing. I am so excited. So, um, uh, So, she had a question, and it's a legitimate question. She said, um, Is it normal to be thinking, at this point, what the heck did I get myself into? I haven't told anyone, except for her fiancé, about what I'm doing.
I'm terrified that I'll do this and not get any work, and will be yet another investment in myself that goes nowhere. Alright, and then she says, um, Uh, do do do do do do, uh, if anything, blah blah blah, uh, but I wonder, will I get even one gig so I can post it on Facebook and say, hey, your friend has done a fill in gig here, yay, right?
She said, my feet are turning into lead, I'm practicing and feeling like I'm getting worse, not better, my stomach, and then said, oy, which is hilarious, uh, and then said, is this normal before demo day? Interesting. Thanks for reading. Love your podcast. Who doesn't? Um, Margaret. So, Margaret. There's probably many.
It's very true. It's very true. But they're not listening now. Fine. It's fine. It's fine. It's alright. Margaret, hopefully you've made it through this, this far of the pod, uh, where we can address this. Um, so the answer is, yeah, that's normal. That's normal. I mean, the question that I have is, is, you know, have you recorded a demo before?
Have you done this before? I can tell you a little bit about Margaret. Margaret has done a lot of acting. She's done a lot of theater. And because of that, just the practice that we've done together, I mean, She just pulls characters out, you know, like, like it's nothing. I mean, she's just, she's really, really good.
She's very talented. But, this is what I find. I feel like the more talented that you are, the more you question yourself. You know, like the, the more, the more lack of confidence tends to be there. Um, especially if, if this is something new. You know, because that's, I think the big thing, if this is something new, when we all do new things, we all get nervous.
We're all afraid of the unknown. And we all care about what we're doing, right? And that's the big thing. When you care about what you're doing, you're probably going to question yourself a little bit more because you want to be successful. You want to do well. Yeah, and, and I, you know, I, I will, will tell this to people when they come in for their demo.
I always ask, like, are you nervous? And most people are like, yeah, a little bit. And I'm like, that's okay. I expect that because the fact of the matter is, nerves mean what? It means this. Is important. Yeah. Right. It means this is something you care about. And, and, and I will tell this to people, and I truly mean this.
If you show up for a demo, if you're a seasoned vet, okay, fine. But if you've never done this before and you show up for your demo and you're not nervous, that makes me nervous. Yeah. Because what are we doing? Mm-hmm. like, do you care to be, do you wanna be here? That's gonna be brutal. There's one thing to have confidence in your product.
Absolutely. But there's another to be overly confident in what you're doing when you're brand spanking new. Yeah. Because if you feel like you already know it all, then. I don't know what we're doing, because chances are you don't. You don't, you don't, none of us do. You should have a little bit of that.
Anxious, in your belly butterflies kind of feeling, and I, I always say this to students class one when they come in that way, I'm like, that should kind of always be there in some kind of way, you know, because it shows that you care, it shows that you are passionate about what you're doing, and it shows that you want to do well, and that you like what you're doing too, and that you're having fun with it.
Um, you know, if you're not having any kind of feeling going in, you're like, I'm just gonna go and I'm gonna, you know, record this and I'm gonna go have a burger afterwards or whatever. Like, then. I mean, then it's just like, it's just a job, you know, but I feel like this is a field that you, you should really, if you're in it, you should care about it.
Yep. No, I think that's, that's a hundred percent true. And, and, and the fact of the matter is, you know, you're never going to get to a point where you are not nervous at all. I still get nervous in the booth. I do. Even when I'm recording by myself in my home studio, I still get a little like, uh, like, it's, it's stupid.
And I literally will stop and be like, what, what are you doing? Like, do you know what you're doing? Like, get over it. Like sometimes I just need to like, take the headphones off, take a breath, walk away and come back because I, I feel like I'm getting in my own way at times, you know, because of those nerves, because of that want to succeed.
Yeah. No, absolutely. Um, you know, and that's, you know. That's important and should always be there to a degree. Now, obviously it should not, you know, um, Prevent you from doing this. It shouldn't affect your performance and on. We'll make sure it doesn't. But, you know, it's always going to be there and that's okay.
That's a good thing. That's a good thing. Heck yeah it is. I know you're nervous, Margaret. That's normal. And again, and we talked about this a few weeks ago, you know, this imposter syndrome. That's what you have right now. Heck yeah it is. Am I ever going to get a job? Am I ever going to be good enough for this?
Well, the answer is you don't know. But yeah, probably. Right? And so we, we have a tendency to diminish our skills. We have a tendency to knock ourselves down. And to be honest, it's a little bit of a defense mechanism. Right? If you say like, I'm never gonna get a job for this, and you never get a job for it, then you already knew that.
It's not a big deal. But it, all it's doing is hindering you. So, be aware of it. Understand that it's there. And I also want to say, like, I did tell her how good she was in class three, and I tried to, you know, help build that confidence, but I also want to point out that I don't blow smoke, like, ever. I refuse to.
Like, if I'm giving you that compliment, I refuse to. I truly, 100, 000% mean it. Is that why you've never given me a compliment? Margaret, I give you a thousand percent I am not blowing smoke up your butt. I would like some smoke, frankly. Oh, Josh, I love you. I thank you. And I love you as well. Um, and uh, and Margaret, you're gonna be just fine.
You're gonna be just fine. First of all, Marissa's gonna take care of you. Heck yes I am! Second of all, you know, what's happening right now is normal. And by the way, after your demo is over... And you get your final demo, you're still going to be nervous. You're going to be nervous about sending it out.
You're going to be nervous about I This is so dumb. When I I mean, we've already talked about how I will hesitate to audition for things because I, you know, panic about it. I will hesitate to send things to people, to send things to companies. Because I'm like, well, you know, I don't know, I probably should It's just a waste, I don't want to, you know, blah blah blah.
No. We gotta, we gotta show some confidence in ourselves. We're good enough, we're smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like us. Right? But I mean, you have to have confidence in yourself. You do not want to be overly confident. You want to stay humble. But you have to know that you're good enough to do this.
I mean, you signed up for this course, Margaret, because you believed that you're good enough to do this. At some point, she did. Yeah. And I don't know what happened. But I know that we can overthink it, right? Especially as we're learning and we're growing, we overthink. Yeah. And that's where we start to get in our own way.
So the moment that you can just like, stop, take a breath, you know, look at everything that you've accomplished already and how far you've come, just know that you're gonna keep growing. You know, the more and more you do it, um, and, and, I mean, and she has, like, she's, like I said, like, I mean, the, the stuff that she brought to the table in class three was so, so good.
Well, and, and I'm, so I'm looking at the email, she did mention, so, uh, uh, I have a background in theater and music. Years ago, she was a singer in a band, and does get a rush out of being around the creative element, and has been told she has a good voice. But the difference being is that you have experience singing in front of people.
Right. So it's not that big a deal, but I bet it was. At some point it probably was. And we gloss over that. We forget about that. We forget the hurdles that we've already overcome. Exactly. It's like, it's like with pregnancy, right? Like, people forget, like, it was terrible. And they're like, yeah, that'll be fine the next time.
Yeah, there's some people that don't forget that though, Josh. Yeah, I know. It's very true. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we, we forget about that because why focus on that when we can focus on the, on the fun we've been having, right? On the, on the success we've had. And so that's what we have to think about this.
Margaret, I promise you, in a year from now, you're not even going to remember this. You're not even, I mean, you'll remember this podcast that we talked about you because it's a big deal, but, uh, it's not, but not, but no, you're gonna, you're, you're not even gonna remember how you felt about that, right?
You're not even gonna remember that, that, that feeling or you will, and you're gonna laugh at yourself. Yeah. Why did I ever feel that way? That was so dumb. I was so overreacting. Yeah, that happens. And that's great. And I look forward to when that happens, but know that that is exactly how this works for pretty much everybody.
Marissa. Yeah, even me. Even Marissa. And when she does her demo, and I'm her poor producer, she's gonna be nervous. But she'll be fine. But she'll be fine. And so will you, right? So, again, don't worry about it. Try to enjoy it. And the other thing I would say about the demo experience is, you know, Don't just think of it as a means to an end.
It's not just an activity to get a demo. It is an experience. Get as much out of it as you can. Ask questions. Get used to being in the booth. See what happens here, right? You know, the next time you step into a booth after your demo, ideally, it's for a job. And for a job, I mean, that's a little bit more serious.
And so, for this, you have, I mean, there's, there's You know, not that this is serious, but I mean, you know, take the time to ask questions, right? Get used to things so that the next time you're in the booth, it'll be a little bit easier. It'll be a little bit better. What he said. Yeah. All those things. Every last one of them.
Yes. And so that way you will have a great demo. You will get a job and you will be able to post on Facebook, Hey, your friend has done a fill in the gig here. Yay. So don't worry about your lead feet. Okay. That's normal. Don't worry about your stomach unless you know why I had appendicitis a couple years ago So it's that check it out.
It's just nerves. Don't worry about that. Okay, and know that yes, this is normal This is a part of the whole thing. It's anything that we're doing that. We don't know don't understand. It's going to get better It's going to get easier All right, and it and you're gonna enjoy the process along the way Even if you are working with Arisa.
Hey! I mean, because you'll be working with Arisa. There we go. So that's all I have to say. So, Margaret, thank you for reaching out. And, good luck on your demo. And I cannot wait to take a listen to it. Cannot wait to take a listen to it. I bet it's gonna be amazing. It's gonna. And, uh, when you get that first job, which you will, you gotta let us know.
We gotta update the masses. Update the masses. Speaking of updating the masses, uh, next week we're going to be doing just that. Updating the masses on a, uh, a friend of the pod. Okay. That we have not heard from in quite some time. Um, but, uh, but she has reached back out and is a, uh, and we're really excited to, uh, to hear from her and hear her progress.
So, um, we'll, uh, That's exciting. Yeah. A little, uh, And, uh, yeah, no, like I said, you know, if you want to be like Margaret. And who doesn't? Uh, reach out now. JoshAtVoiceCoaches. com is the easiest way to do that. Get in touch with me, get in touch with Marissa, or anyone here at Voice Coaches. It's JoshAtVoiceCoaches.
com. Questions, comments, concerns, topics you'd like us to discuss. Whatever that may be. Uh, let us know. We're more than happy to do so. Heck yes. Let's do it. Yeah, that's really it. And so, uh, so Marissa, hang in there. I know you're sleepy, but, uh... I'm not sleepy. Oh, you're not sleepy? I'm okay now. Okay, good.
Well, glad we got the best of you. Um... Well, you forgot your coffee. I mean, what do I know? Well, it's out there now. It's fair. It's fair. I've already drank it. I've already drank it. Thanks. Um, but, uh, yeah. So, uh, so thanks again for tuning in each and every one of you, Marissa, as always, thank you so much and until next time, so long everyone.
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Who am I? Well, no, it's one of those things, like, I feel like most vacations nowadays, at least for me, like, I need a vacation from my vacation, uh, because it's usually more work than... Well, you know what happened for me? This is what I noticed. Okay. So I got back late Sunday night and Monday and Tuesday, I went hard.
Like I, I like... Scraped my deck, re stained it, did a whole lot of things at the house, in between work, and next thing you know, like, Wednesday and Thursday got here and I'm like, Mortal Kombat, finish her. Like, it was awful. And you have to work on Saturday, don't you? I do, yeah. Yeah, that's, uh, unfortunate.
Sorry for me. That is unfortunate. Where did you go? I know you were traveling. Yeah, so I flew to Chicago and met a friend and then we took a 10 hour drive to Tulsa, Oklahoma. And I know that seems completely random, but it's not when you're a Hanson fan. Which is also completely random, but sure. It's not random, though.
It's not. Not if you know me, it's not random. You're, uh, you're a Hanson fan? Yeah. Oh. Okay, first of all, you say that because you clearly have not heard anything since 1997. But they have six studio albums with the seventh one on the way. I also didn't want to. Huh? I also didn't want to. Well, you might change your mind if you know they're just a complete rock band.
Uh, no, I'm good. I'm good. Fine. Fine. Be all judgy. It's fine. I will. I will. And honestly, part of it is just I don't want to. Be known as a Hanson fan. Well, that's just rude. Yeah a little bit. Yeah, I'm not gonna deny that I'm sure they have some good stuff. Mmm. Pop is a terrible song. Well, it's not it's one of the biggest pop songs ever But that does not the negate.
It's terrible
It's a popular we're gonna fight it's a pie here's the main thing issue I have with it is that it is an absolute Earworm. Oh, yeah. And if I hear it, even today, it is now, it's currently in my head, and I hate you, a little bit, uh, for that. And our listeners for bringing it up now? Yeah. Is this gonna be in your head the rest of the day?
Uh, yeah. I'm so excited about that. That's, uh, that's, that's definitely, definitely possible. Definitely possible. Um, so But here's the thing. For anybody who hasn't heard them since 1997, I'm just gonna say this. Look up the songs, Against the World and Stronger. Those are the brand new songs that just came out in the last two months, and they are awesome.
So good. You don't have to, Josh. But anybody else that actually wants to take two seconds to care about something. I think we're both well aware of the fact I'm probably not going to. That's okay. But it's alright. It's alright. I will, uh, I will try not to judge you too much. You shouldn't. But anyway, it was like 100 degrees there the entire time.
And then I came back to New York and it's like 70 or lower. And I'm just like, why did I leave? Yeah, it's nice. It's fall. Love the fall. One of my favorite seasons. Football's back, and hockey's not Halloween's around the corner. I don't mind hoody weather, but I also just miss when the sun is not out as much.
Sweater weather. Sweater weather. Sweater weather. Sweater weather. Sweater weather. Sweater weather. Although I gotta be honest, I don't like pumpkin things. Like pumpkin chai and like pumpkin lattes. I don't really eat many pumpkin or drink pumpkin things. Pumpkin bread? Pumpkin cookies. My mom makes some bomb pumpkin cookies.
My wife makes pumpkin bread? Oh, yeah. That is, that's the thing. And pumpkin pie, I, I, you know. Oh yeah, pumpkin pie. How did I forget about that? I have no problem with pumpkin pie. No, I could eat that all the time. But, uh, but yeah, I don't like the pumpkin flavored things, that, that weirds me out a little bit.
Like, there's like this, like, Cheerios that are pumpkin spice or something, I'm like, you're going too far, alright? Can we stop? Ice cream? Like, no, just stop it. Yeah, I've actually had pumpkin ice cream, it's okay. Pumpkin beer, not my thing. Mmm. Not my, then again, a lot of that has to do with, um, with, uh, uh, memories it brings back of unpleasantness.
I was gonna say, there's vom involved. Oh my god, yeah, it is conceivable that we ran out of, cheap beer and used, uh, pumpkin flavored beer for beer pong, and it was a horrific idea. I just won't go near beer in general just because I don't like the smell. Oh, that's fair. That's fair. Well, I'll be honest.
Vodka all day, man. Smells even worse afterward. Oh, I'm sure. Unfortunately, the vodka that we drank in college had a smell. Well, that was probably because it was the cheap stuff. It smelled like rubbing alcohol. Now, here's a good question, and I implore those listening in, if you're still listening and haven't, uh, you know, turned us off because of mmbop.
Oh, stop it! But, um, for those who are still listening, did you guys have a cheap college vodka? Because, like, every region has one. Uh, so ours was Rubinoff. It was the stuff called Fleischmann's, but mostly Rubinoff. I can't even tell you because I didn't start drinking until I was in radio. For the obvious of reasons, because I was in radio.
That's fair. That's fair. Yes, we'll drive you to drink. Yes. No, I, I, I grant you that. I grant you that. Well, um, we're glad you're back. Please. So you went to Tulsa. Any, any other? Uh, we, we drove like, I mean, obviously there was a long drive from Chicago to there and back. And, um, You know, I just, I got to see, I mean, this is just gonna make me, uh, you, you judge me even more, but like, I got to go to different places around Tulsa, like, that they filmed videos and stuff, which was cool, uh, but then on the way back, you know, I didn't realize that Route 66 kinda like, goes right through the route that we were, so I got to see a bunch of like, little touristy attractions, like, I went to, um, I went to Uranus.
Uh. It's Missouri. I'm beggin I'm beggin I'm beggin your pardon. Uh, that's, I didn't know there was a, a, a, Uranus, Missouri. Yeah, you know, this is what the hilarious part was, so we stopped, cause this is even worse. It's the Uranus fudge factory. But, um, you know, so we're there, and we're walking through like the little shops and whatever.
World's largest belt buckle. Right, got to see that. But we go into this one, uh, shop and the woman is just like so overly enthusiastic with her job and I said something because she, she like greeted us in whatever way and I'm like, something tells me you enjoy saying that every single time and she's like, sure do.
And, um, she was telling me that that specific strip literally used to be a strip club and she used to go there all the time because her friend would dance. Oh, fair enough. I was like, I got so many stories here. This is great. So when I was. Um, when I was looking at colleges, we, I was looking in Pennsylvania, and we went to Philly and went out to Pittsburgh, and on the way back, we stopped off in Amish country, and we stopped off in, in Lancaster, and right next to Lancaster is...
Intercourse, that's right. Uh, and blue ball, Pennsylvania. Of course. Um, and, did I buy signs that said that? Yes, of course I did. Of course. Yes, of course I did. Did I buy a sticker that said Uranus? Of course I did. I'm 12, like, come on. No, I, listen, I'm 100% on board with that. Finally, finally we agree on something.
It was an mbop and Uranus weekend. Yeah. God, I love all of it. I love everything about it. It's gonna let that one lie. So, uh, speaking of which, on a more wholesome note, uh, big day, big day in the Heller household. Yeah. Uh, yesterday, my son had his first day of kindergarten. How old do you feel? How, oh my god, so, well, here's the thing, like, when he turned five, I, whatever, I don't really remember five, but I remember kindergarten, like, not a ton, but, like, I remember my teacher, I remember my classroom, um, I remember, you know, walking to school with my sister, um, so I remember things from that, and that freaked me out.
I very much remember the big giant crayons and the smell that they brought. Oof. Waxed. Love it. Love it. But yeah, and so that was, uh, that was awesome and, uh, he held it together well, I held it together pretty well. At least while he was still there. Um, and, uh, yeah, so, uh, so that was, uh, that was, uh, it's big, big, big, big things happening.
Big things happening. You'll make it through. Yeah. I promise. He'll be fine. I mean. Oh, he will. I didn't say anything about him. I said you'll be okay. It's, it's, it's still up in the air on me. It's, it's definitely still up. It depends if I think about it too much or not. I'm trying not to. I'm trying not to, to think about it too, too much.
Um, but no, he had, he had a great day yesterday, apparently. Um, Or so he said. And uh, and so that was good. So hopefully that, uh, that continues. And he, and he rocks the kindergarten. The kindergarten. They read a book yesterday called Miss Begar Gets Ready for Kindergarten. Wow. Um, so that's awesome. Um, yeah.
So there you go. Speaking of Earworms, um, my son is also a big fan of the movie called Vivo. Have you heard of this movie? It is on Netflix. What is it called? It's called Vivo, V I V O. And it's Lin Manuel Miranda. It's a cartoon, or it's a, yeah, it's a cartoon. It's Lin Manuel Miranda, um, who plays, uh, Kinkajou.
Um, which is a type of monkey? Okay. Something like that? Uh, not really. It's a type of, like, looks like a, kind of like a lemur, or something like that. But anyway, uh, really good music in it, and it sticks in my head a lot, and you should check it out. It's good. I, I like how that sticks in your head a lot, so you're, you know, pushing that.
But Mbop, on the other hand, is like, nah, never mind. That gets stuck in my head, but I hate it. Uh, yeah. Dude, this is terrible. You know, it'd be different if I said, I love Aqua and Barbie Girl. Like, that'd be much different. Unless you're saying it in, like, tongue in cheek. Like, I traveled, like, thousands of miles to go see Aqua.
Like, then I would expect you to judge me. Well, okay. So, uh, one of my first concerts I ever went to was at, uh, Great Woods. In Mansfield, Massachusetts, which became the Tweeter Center, which became... Is that the Xfinity Center? Is that? Sure. Yeah. It's the outdoor amphitheater? Yeah. It's like SPAC. Uh, but yes.
And one of the first The first concert I ever saw there was The first concert I ever went to, while my dad took myself and my sister, it was to, uh, The Beach Boys. With America. And, uh, it was really good. Um, however, I went to a The first concert I went to by myself there was... Creed. And do I have a Creed concert tee?
Oh, you better believe I do. Is it extra, extra large and forest green? Yes, it is. It is both of those things. Uh, is it heavy, heavy, heavy 100% cotton? Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh, and, um, is it ridiculous? It is. It is absolutely ridiculous. It's hilarious. It's amazing. I wear it now just to embarrass my family. Uh, specifically my wife.
Specifically my wife. It is tremendous. It was, uh, it was Creed and they were opened up by three doors down. Oh my god. Good show. Good show. That's a redneck fest if I've ever heard it. That's a good show. Um, but this was before anyone knew who they were. Right. Like they, they, Surprised Nickelback wasn't involved in some kind of West End.
I'd say Nickelback wasn't really a thing there. They were still up and, you know, doing their whole Canadian bit. Uh, so they were not, uh, they were not there. This is when, this is, it was right after, if this helps, right after Scream 3 came out, cause Creed basically did the entire Scream 3 soundtrack. Oh, jeez.
Uh, and it was, uh, it was that. So it was, uh, it was, Creed was a good, they had some good songs, alright? Occasionally. There was an occasional good one. To be honest, and I hate to say this, Nickelback had some good songs too. They're actually really, really good live. I bet they are. You know who I saw live who was really good, who is ridiculous all the other times, is Limp Bizkit.
I want to see them. So I went to, uh, Summer Sanitarium 2, uh, at Gillette Stadium, and it was Mudvayne. Okay, they were fine. It was, uh, um, uh, oh, the Deftones. They were terrible. Um, it was Linkin Park. They were awesome. Limp Bizkit. They were entertaining as anything. Yeah. And then it was Metallica. So it was a good good show.
That's a, that's a good top three right there. It was a decent, decent lineup. Gotta say. To be able to say that you saw Linkin Park, I'm actually really jealous. That was, they were, they were really good. They were unsurprisingly, they were really good. And again, Limp Bizkit, were they good? No. Were they entertaining?
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Very much so. Very much so. Um, so, um. Should we talk about voice? We should probably do that. We're just catching up. It's been a while. I know, it's been a while. It's been a couple of weeks. So, um, so yeah, so that's life. So anyway, yes, we got an email. Email! and uh, da da da da, check email. Da da da da, did you ever, do you do strong bad email?
No. Do you do, uh, Homestar Runner? You don't know Homestar Runner? No. Oh my god, okay, now. No, I'm dating myself. Alright, nevermind. Uh, that's like, before YouTube became like a thing, like Homestar Runner with this drama, anyway. I remember, you've got mail, like, you know, AOL, no? No, this was, this was ridiculous.
Stupid cartoon stuff. Um, awesome. It's my childhood. Anyway, uh, anyway. Uh, I got an email from Margaret. From Margaret. Hey, Margaret. Margaret is a student at Voice Coaches. Who is a listener to the pod. Hey, Margaret, how you doing? First time emailer, long time listener. And by the way, if you want, uh, want to shoot us an email, you can.
JoshAtVoiceCoaches. com. That's the way to do it. That's what Margaret did. She listens. Uh, and you can do it too. And maybe we'll talk about you. If you want us to, or if you don't, that's fine too. Uh, but, Margaret had a question, because Margaret has her demo coming up soon. And listen, I know who this is, and I can't wait, I'm so excited for this demo.
And this is what it says, I am going to be doing my demo on, uh,
And poor Marissa is stuck being my producer. No, this is not a poor Marissa thing. I am so excited. So, um, uh, So, she had a question, and it's a legitimate question. She said, um, Is it normal to be thinking, at this point, what the heck did I get myself into? I haven't told anyone, except for her fiancé, about what I'm doing.
I'm terrified that I'll do this and not get any work, and will be yet another investment in myself that goes nowhere. Alright, and then she says, um, Uh, do do do do do do, uh, if anything, blah blah blah, uh, but I wonder, will I get even one gig so I can post it on Facebook and say, hey, your friend has done a fill in gig here, yay, right?
She said, my feet are turning into lead, I'm practicing and feeling like I'm getting worse, not better, my stomach, and then said, oy, which is hilarious, uh, and then said, is this normal before demo day? Interesting. Thanks for reading. Love your podcast. Who doesn't? Um, Margaret. So, Margaret. There's probably many.
It's very true. It's very true. But they're not listening now. Fine. It's fine. It's fine. It's alright. Margaret, hopefully you've made it through this, this far of the pod, uh, where we can address this. Um, so the answer is, yeah, that's normal. That's normal. I mean, the question that I have is, is, you know, have you recorded a demo before?
Have you done this before? I can tell you a little bit about Margaret. Margaret has done a lot of acting. She's done a lot of theater. And because of that, just the practice that we've done together, I mean, She just pulls characters out, you know, like, like it's nothing. I mean, she's just, she's really, really good.
She's very talented. But, this is what I find. I feel like the more talented that you are, the more you question yourself. You know, like the, the more, the more lack of confidence tends to be there. Um, especially if, if this is something new. You know, because that's, I think the big thing, if this is something new, when we all do new things, we all get nervous.
We're all afraid of the unknown. And we all care about what we're doing, right? And that's the big thing. When you care about what you're doing, you're probably going to question yourself a little bit more because you want to be successful. You want to do well. Yeah, and, and I, you know, I, I will, will tell this to people when they come in for their demo.
I always ask, like, are you nervous? And most people are like, yeah, a little bit. And I'm like, that's okay. I expect that because the fact of the matter is, nerves mean what? It means this. Is important. Yeah. Right. It means this is something you care about. And, and, and I will tell this to people, and I truly mean this.
If you show up for a demo, if you're a seasoned vet, okay, fine. But if you've never done this before and you show up for your demo and you're not nervous, that makes me nervous. Yeah. Because what are we doing? Mm-hmm. like, do you care to be, do you wanna be here? That's gonna be brutal. There's one thing to have confidence in your product.
Absolutely. But there's another to be overly confident in what you're doing when you're brand spanking new. Yeah. Because if you feel like you already know it all, then. I don't know what we're doing, because chances are you don't. You don't, you don't, none of us do. You should have a little bit of that.
Anxious, in your belly butterflies kind of feeling, and I, I always say this to students class one when they come in that way, I'm like, that should kind of always be there in some kind of way, you know, because it shows that you care, it shows that you are passionate about what you're doing, and it shows that you want to do well, and that you like what you're doing too, and that you're having fun with it.
Um, you know, if you're not having any kind of feeling going in, you're like, I'm just gonna go and I'm gonna, you know, record this and I'm gonna go have a burger afterwards or whatever. Like, then. I mean, then it's just like, it's just a job, you know, but I feel like this is a field that you, you should really, if you're in it, you should care about it.
Yep. No, I think that's, that's a hundred percent true. And, and, and the fact of the matter is, you know, you're never going to get to a point where you are not nervous at all. I still get nervous in the booth. I do. Even when I'm recording by myself in my home studio, I still get a little like, uh, like, it's, it's stupid.
And I literally will stop and be like, what, what are you doing? Like, do you know what you're doing? Like, get over it. Like sometimes I just need to like, take the headphones off, take a breath, walk away and come back because I, I feel like I'm getting in my own way at times, you know, because of those nerves, because of that want to succeed.
Yeah. No, absolutely. Um, you know, and that's, you know. That's important and should always be there to a degree. Now, obviously it should not, you know, um, Prevent you from doing this. It shouldn't affect your performance and on. We'll make sure it doesn't. But, you know, it's always going to be there and that's okay.
That's a good thing. That's a good thing. Heck yeah it is. I know you're nervous, Margaret. That's normal. And again, and we talked about this a few weeks ago, you know, this imposter syndrome. That's what you have right now. Heck yeah it is. Am I ever going to get a job? Am I ever going to be good enough for this?
Well, the answer is you don't know. But yeah, probably. Right? And so we, we have a tendency to diminish our skills. We have a tendency to knock ourselves down. And to be honest, it's a little bit of a defense mechanism. Right? If you say like, I'm never gonna get a job for this, and you never get a job for it, then you already knew that.
It's not a big deal. But it, all it's doing is hindering you. So, be aware of it. Understand that it's there. And I also want to say, like, I did tell her how good she was in class three, and I tried to, you know, help build that confidence, but I also want to point out that I don't blow smoke, like, ever. I refuse to.
Like, if I'm giving you that compliment, I refuse to. I truly, 100, 000% mean it. Is that why you've never given me a compliment? Margaret, I give you a thousand percent I am not blowing smoke up your butt. I would like some smoke, frankly. Oh, Josh, I love you. I thank you. And I love you as well. Um, and uh, and Margaret, you're gonna be just fine.
You're gonna be just fine. First of all, Marissa's gonna take care of you. Heck yes I am! Second of all, you know, what's happening right now is normal. And by the way, after your demo is over... And you get your final demo, you're still going to be nervous. You're going to be nervous about sending it out.
You're going to be nervous about I This is so dumb. When I I mean, we've already talked about how I will hesitate to audition for things because I, you know, panic about it. I will hesitate to send things to people, to send things to companies. Because I'm like, well, you know, I don't know, I probably should It's just a waste, I don't want to, you know, blah blah blah.
No. We gotta, we gotta show some confidence in ourselves. We're good enough, we're smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like us. Right? But I mean, you have to have confidence in yourself. You do not want to be overly confident. You want to stay humble. But you have to know that you're good enough to do this.
I mean, you signed up for this course, Margaret, because you believed that you're good enough to do this. At some point, she did. Yeah. And I don't know what happened. But I know that we can overthink it, right? Especially as we're learning and we're growing, we overthink. Yeah. And that's where we start to get in our own way.
So the moment that you can just like, stop, take a breath, you know, look at everything that you've accomplished already and how far you've come, just know that you're gonna keep growing. You know, the more and more you do it, um, and, and, I mean, and she has, like, she's, like I said, like, I mean, the, the stuff that she brought to the table in class three was so, so good.
Well, and, and I'm, so I'm looking at the email, she did mention, so, uh, uh, I have a background in theater and music. Years ago, she was a singer in a band, and does get a rush out of being around the creative element, and has been told she has a good voice. But the difference being is that you have experience singing in front of people.
Right. So it's not that big a deal, but I bet it was. At some point it probably was. And we gloss over that. We forget about that. We forget the hurdles that we've already overcome. Exactly. It's like, it's like with pregnancy, right? Like, people forget, like, it was terrible. And they're like, yeah, that'll be fine the next time.
Yeah, there's some people that don't forget that though, Josh. Yeah, I know. It's very true. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we, we forget about that because why focus on that when we can focus on the, on the fun we've been having, right? On the, on the success we've had. And so that's what we have to think about this.
Margaret, I promise you, in a year from now, you're not even going to remember this. You're not even, I mean, you'll remember this podcast that we talked about you because it's a big deal, but, uh, it's not, but not, but no, you're gonna, you're, you're not even gonna remember how you felt about that, right?
You're not even gonna remember that, that, that feeling or you will, and you're gonna laugh at yourself. Yeah. Why did I ever feel that way? That was so dumb. I was so overreacting. Yeah, that happens. And that's great. And I look forward to when that happens, but know that that is exactly how this works for pretty much everybody.
Marissa. Yeah, even me. Even Marissa. And when she does her demo, and I'm her poor producer, she's gonna be nervous. But she'll be fine. But she'll be fine. And so will you, right? So, again, don't worry about it. Try to enjoy it. And the other thing I would say about the demo experience is, you know, Don't just think of it as a means to an end.
It's not just an activity to get a demo. It is an experience. Get as much out of it as you can. Ask questions. Get used to being in the booth. See what happens here, right? You know, the next time you step into a booth after your demo, ideally, it's for a job. And for a job, I mean, that's a little bit more serious.
And so, for this, you have, I mean, there's, there's You know, not that this is serious, but I mean, you know, take the time to ask questions, right? Get used to things so that the next time you're in the booth, it'll be a little bit easier. It'll be a little bit better. What he said. Yeah. All those things. Every last one of them.
Yes. And so that way you will have a great demo. You will get a job and you will be able to post on Facebook, Hey, your friend has done a fill in the gig here. Yay. So don't worry about your lead feet. Okay. That's normal. Don't worry about your stomach unless you know why I had appendicitis a couple years ago So it's that check it out.
It's just nerves. Don't worry about that. Okay, and know that yes, this is normal This is a part of the whole thing. It's anything that we're doing that. We don't know don't understand. It's going to get better It's going to get easier All right, and it and you're gonna enjoy the process along the way Even if you are working with Arisa.
Hey! I mean, because you'll be working with Arisa. There we go. So that's all I have to say. So, Margaret, thank you for reaching out. And, good luck on your demo. And I cannot wait to take a listen to it. Cannot wait to take a listen to it. I bet it's gonna be amazing. It's gonna. And, uh, when you get that first job, which you will, you gotta let us know.
We gotta update the masses. Update the masses. Speaking of updating the masses, uh, next week we're going to be doing just that. Updating the masses on a, uh, a friend of the pod. Okay. That we have not heard from in quite some time. Um, but, uh, but she has reached back out and is a, uh, and we're really excited to, uh, to hear from her and hear her progress.
So, um, we'll, uh, That's exciting. Yeah. A little, uh, And, uh, yeah, no, like I said, you know, if you want to be like Margaret. And who doesn't? Uh, reach out now. JoshAtVoiceCoaches. com is the easiest way to do that. Get in touch with me, get in touch with Marissa, or anyone here at Voice Coaches. It's JoshAtVoiceCoaches.
com. Questions, comments, concerns, topics you'd like us to discuss. Whatever that may be. Uh, let us know. We're more than happy to do so. Heck yes. Let's do it. Yeah, that's really it. And so, uh, so Marissa, hang in there. I know you're sleepy, but, uh... I'm not sleepy. Oh, you're not sleepy? I'm okay now. Okay, good.
Well, glad we got the best of you. Um... Well, you forgot your coffee. I mean, what do I know? Well, it's out there now. It's fair. It's fair. I've already drank it. I've already drank it. Thanks. Um, but, uh, yeah. So, uh, so thanks again for tuning in each and every one of you, Marissa, as always, thank you so much and until next time, so long everyone.
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In this week’s episode, Josh and Marissa discuss a recent email they received from Margaret; a listener and Voice Coaches student who is preparing for her demo recording.
