VC Radio
Voice Coaches Radio #499 – Focus on Your Flaws
Voice Coaches Radio. Everything voiceover. And welcome to this week's edition of Voice Coaches Radio. I am Josh Teller, she is Marissa Lanczak. We are delighted to have you joining us here today. Um, coming to you live from the White Lake Music and Post Studios, the mothership. You're so into it right now.
This is fun. I'm pretty awake right now. I was at the gym this morning, so I'm a little awake. It's not going to last. I'm going to crash. Very soon, but until then, might as well, uh, might as well go for it. How we doing? I hurt everywhere right now. Cool, cool. That's good. It's a good start to the day. Yeah. No, I've, I've realized.
So, I had a concussion back in January, and because of the scenario... Explains so much. Explains so, so much. Yeah, it probably does. Uh, but I've always been like this, to be honest. Uh, but I also, I had a, a 50 pound grate. like on my head and it stayed there for a minute so my neck had to like hold it up and now I'm realizing as the seasons are changing I'd be a little bit of arthritis in my neck just like a smidge.
You're old. I am old. You're old. Yeah. My back. Everything hurts. Um, wait, a 50 pound grate on your head? Oh, because you know this pandemic's been fun and I worked at Lowe's for like 2. 3 seconds. Oh, okay. Uh, okay. Happy concussion! Um, I still have questions. I still have questions. this is exactly why, okay? Like, when you take a voice professional, and you try to make them do anything else, Things are gonna happen, and it's not gonna be pretty, alright?
Like, I am, I am your poster child of it. I, I, um, when I was in college, after my freshman year of college, that summer I spent, uh, about two months working the overnight shift at Home Depot. Uh, in the garden department. See, that was me! I was overnights at Lowe's. Throwing bags of, of, of manure. Bags of poop. I was tossing bags of poop.
In the middle of the night. Um, at Home Depot. And I was like, this is dumb, I don't want to do this anymore. And so then I stopped, and uh, then I got a job as a mailman. See, I was doing a store reset project, but I thought I was hired for seasonal stocking, like holiday stocking. And so then I was not stocking shelves.
I was literally breaking down steel shelves, lifting steel, moving steel. Like having to be up in a harness and all these things. Yeah, little me. It was quite the workout. I had some serious ab action happening that I'm trying to get back, but, uh, it's taking its sweet time, you know? Hey, that's alright. I mean, listen, the concussion's worth it if the abs look good.
Well, you know. That's what they say. That's what they say. Hey. Abs are made in the, uh... In the Lumber Department. In the Lumber Department of Lowe's. Hey, so you want to work in radio, do ya? Yes, I do. These are the fun stories. Well, I'm sorry that you're... Dying. Um, yeah. It's all right. I mean, well, we're all broken.
We're all so very broken. Um, but it is Friday and that's good. Yeah. Right? I love Friday. There you go. That's exciting. I mean, could be worse. Could be Monday. Exactly. Well, you know what? I got Monday off. Hey, woo! Could be Tuesday. You know, it's funny. So the way that our schedules work here, for the most part, is, uh, we work every other Saturday.
Right, uh, any, any one employee here. I'm not talking to you, Marissa. I'm talking to the listeners now. No, I figured, yeah. No, I'm not listening anymore. Marissa, I don't know if you know how things work here. I don't know if you know your schedule, Marissa, but... So basically, we work every other Saturday, so that there's always one person on Saturdays for the most part.
And so the way that we do this is that, you know, one week we're working from Monday through Friday. The next week we're working Tuesday through Saturday. So, what this means is that every other week you have a three day weekend. And also every other week you have a one day weekend. And I remember talking to somebody about this and I was like, Uh, yeah, I mean, the three day weekend's great, don't get me wrong, I love it.
Um, I don't have that, I have a one day weekend this weekend, I it. Yeah, sorry. But, what I realized was, on that Monday, all I could think about was the fact that I have to work 10 out of the next 11 days, and it made me very sad. You know what? I've never thought about that out. And now you will, and now you will.
Good, good. We're all learning new things, and we're all having our, our, our innocence shattered here today. We're having our innocence shattered here today. Well, you didn't bring up the other thing that I brought up earlier. No, I did not, on that chance. This is a family program. This is a family program here.
Um, I've seen things and I know things now that I didn't want to see or know. I am so glad, though, that I could bring that to your attention today. So enjoy your Monday off, as you have to work 10 of the next 11 days. That's fine. I don't even care. Because everything that happened this morning is just so glorious.
Everything's terrible. Everything's terrible. So, uh, this morning, before I came in, I went to the, uh, I went to the gym. Got super swole. Yeah. I can tell. All the gains. Gains. Big gains. Big gains. And, uh, and I work out at, uh, at Albany CrossFit. I'm actually a, a part time coach there. And I, I, I thought of this, you know, one of the things I've, now I've been doing this on and off for about, oh God, five years maybe?
I don't even know. But, um, When I first started, I remember, I mean, they teach you a bunch of things that, that you need to know, different types of lifts and things like that, so that, you know, when you start actually going into, you know, the, the gym and taking part in the classes, you don't kill yourself, ideally, um, or drop things on your head that weigh 50 pounds, because apparently that's a bad thing.
Well, I didn't drop That landed on my head. Somebody else dropped it. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Um, and uh, and I remember that, you know, we, we, we learned it's kind of a crash course in things, no pun intended. And, uh, I remember when we finished, so we have what's called OnRamp, which is just kind of a, for us it was a month, now I think it's only a couple weeks, but it's basically learning the basics before you get into the actual classes.
Um, again, so you Stay safe and, you know, get the most out of it and don't hurt yourself or other people by dropping 50 pound things on their heads. Exactly. There we go. Um, and I remember one of the things that they told us when we finished and it was this. Embrace the suck. Oh yeah. Yeah. Embrace the suck.
Essentially it's there are going to be things that you are not good at. Uh, in my, you know, particular instance. That would be most of them. And, um, basically it's don't be afraid of that. Don't run away from that. You know, embrace that fact. You know, there, there are people, so I can tell what the workout's going to be a day beforehand.
8pm the night before is when they announce what the workouts are going to be the following day. And there are people who absolutely cherry pick. They'll see what the workout is and be like, I don't do that and not come. And I think that's an absolute waste because we should be working on things that we're not good at so we can, you know, get better at them, right?
Yeah, that's the point. Embrace that. Yeah, you're bad at it. Good. Good. You know, understand that and work to improve that. Embrace that fact, right? Know that you're not good at it, but also know that you're gonna work at it and, hypothetically, you're going to get better at it. Well, you know what I say to students too is like, you know, they come in and they just automatically assume, a lot of them, that They're gonna do awesome at this, you know, hopefully they're right and hopefully they're right, but they don't realize the skill that's Needed to be built up, you know question and you know It could very well just be and this is for all of us, you know in this just like just like in CrossFit It's like in anything else There are probably things in this that you're gonna be really good at really quickly There are also things that you're probably not Going to be really good at really quickly that doesn't mean you can't and shouldn't do them or stay away from them when we Put together demos for people and we've talked about this before Right.
We want someone's demo to be comprised of their voice personality, which is what they do with their absolute 100% best and Strength range strength range is what they do Really really really well not their best but not far from it. And that's all we want Right? If it's something that you're just okay at, don't put it on your demo.
Right? That's a waste. Right. Especially with how short demos are nowadays. Right? A minute, minute 15, minute 20. You don't have time for mediocre. It needs to be all hits. Right? Everything needs to hit. But that doesn't mean that... If we don't put something on your demo, it doesn't mean you're not good at it or ever going to be good at it.
It just means it's not where it needs to be right now. And a lot of people, you know, come in and really want to do characters, right? Really want to do animation, video games, really want to do big swings of character. And, you know, certainly I would never tell someone they can't or shouldn't, but there are a lot of people who just aren't at that point yet.
Doesn't mean don't do it. Doesn't mean don't work on it. It just means. The opposite, work on it, continue to improve upon it, and then you can add that to your demo, you can put that on a second demo, don't run away from the things you're not that great at, I'm not great at character voices, I'm not, I don't particularly enjoy doing them, to be totally honest with you, I'm a little uncomfortable with it, but knowing that I might have to do it for an audiobook, and have done it for an audiobook, I work on it, right, I mess around with it just to, to try to get better at it, Because it is something that I'm not great at, and something I'm not comfortable with, and I want to be great at it, and to be comfortable with it, and the only way to do that is...
Do it. Doing it, yeah, absolutely. You know, that's, that's what I was getting at, is like, I'll tell students like... You want to play an amazing guitar solo? Cool. You can't just pick up the guitar and make it happen. Like, you know, and you have to literally take some lessons, keep working on it, practice, take some more lessons, you know, keep practicing, and then eventually, sure, you can play a guitar solo.
Are you going to sound like Jimi Hendrix? Hell no. Nobody is. Nobody's Jimmy. Uh, but you're gonna sound like you're doing a guitar solo and you're going to work on that and you're going to keep getting better at it the more you do it. Just like anything else. Yeah. A hundred percent. And, and that's, and that's the important thing, right?
You know, make sure that you're continuing to work on those things. Embracing the fact that you're not good at everything. Nobody is. Nobody is. Especially at the beginning. Figure out the things you're good at. Great. Try to perfect them. Figure out the things you're not good at. Great. Work on them, right?
That's what it's all about. Embrace that fact. Don't run away from those things. Don't cherry pick just because you don't like something quite as much. I'm not saying do things you don't like to do, but if it is something you want to do, you know, if you want to do character voices, if you want to do, you know, whatever it might be, you know, animation, things like that, things that are, you know, a lot of times out of people's, you know, strength ranges, to start, work on it.
You know, continue to, to, to grow, continue to improve. We should be constantly trying to do that. We should always be self evaluating, right, and, and realizing where we're at and how we get to where we want to be. Right? Don't be satisfied. You know, I, I, I read something somewhere once where it was like, the moment you stop learning Is the moment you stop growing, you know, and it's it's true because it's something like, you know I think a lot of us we we hit adulthood and we have our careers established and whatnot and we get comfortable And we just get into this funk of a routine, and we just do the same thing day in and day out.
And reading stops, and, you know, learning stops, and along with that is, we get stuck in one place. We're running in place. You can't grow, ever, from that. You know, unless you keep putting work in. So, I mean, And, and, and, you know, it's, it's, that's absolutely true. You know, that, that reminds me of a quote, because now I want to out quote you.
Um, you know, good is the enemy of great. Good is the enemy, how are you, well, how are you at this? I'm good at it. Okay, but get better, right? Don't be satisfied. Work on the things that you're not good at, right? Embrace that suck, but also, make sure that you're not just good at things, that you're great at them, right?
Continue to, to, even the things you think you're really good at, Continue to work on those things as well. Right? Continue to, to try to improve yourself there. We are constantly improving and constantly evolving and if we're not... We're sinking. We're on a treadmill and we're not going anywhere. Yeah. We're on a little hamster wheel is what's happening.
We're like sharks. And I have no other quotes by the way. That's okay. You win. You win. We're like sharks. Right? If a shark doesn't swim, it sinks. Right. We gotta keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. I love Nemo. Just keep swimming. I saw that in theaters. So did I. It's like one of my favorite movies ever.
Yeah. I saw it on a date. Okay. Well, that's going a little far. Many, many, many, many years ago. Man, I was still in high school. I think. I don't know. Yeah, I was still in high school. That was like the end of my high school career. It was like 2000, early 2000s. Don't worry about how old I am. I'm old. It's fine.
I think I'm older. It's fine. Class of 03, baby! Yep, I'm older. 03 for the win! Um, so yeah, so again, you know, Find what you're not good at. Be okay with that. You're not going to be great at everything, especially right away. But don't run away from it. Don't run away from it if it's something you want to do.
Now if you're like, you know what, listen, I can't do character voices. I don't want to. I hate it. It's not something I'm interested in doing or ever going to look at. Okay, fine. That's okay. I mean, okay, cool. But, you know, if it is something you do want to do, if you're not there just yet, that's okay.
Understand that, be aware of that, and take advantage of that. It's an opportunity. It's an opportunity to, to grow as a voice actor, and as a person, and as a citizen of this planet. Wow, it just got so real. Yeah, right? It's heavy on a Friday. I'm starting to drink coffee now, so. So things are getting hyped up.
The synapses are firing right now. We're doing good, we're doing good. Hyped with gains! Woo! Woo, all them endorphins, plus the caffeine, man, things are happening here. So much testosterone in this studio right now. On your side. On my side, yeah. Well, you're in the little booth where there's more estrogen. Yes, it's very feminine in here.
Is it? It's very delightful. It is. It is. You know, there is a very, uh, a feminine side to it. feminine to feel. Well, the room is, what color would you say this room is that we're in? Burnt orange? Burnt sienna? I was gonna say like salmon? No, salmon's more pink. No, no, salmon's pink. Salmon's more pink. This is definitely like a, it's like a burnt umber.
Ooh. Yeah. I like that. Sorry, this is the fine arts major coming out right now. Yeah, no, I like that. I'm glad that that, you know, that definitely worked out for you. Yeah. Um, and was definitely worth, uh, worth the money. Um, yeah, it is, yeah, it's an orangey, it's an orangey color. It's all orange ish. Orange, orange y.
Um, so it is, it is, yeah. And uh, you know, it's uh, I mean, I don't know. As opposed to the other room, the other room next door used to be black. The walls were painted black. Oh. And it was, it was dark. It was dark all the time. It was always dark in that studio and I never knew why. Like, why we'd paint the walls Matt Black.
Um. Just trying to get a certain feeling across. And that, that feeling is depression. Um, that's what that feeling is. That is, that is the studio where I got my appendicitis. See, nothing good happens in a black room. And, and I recall, uh, now it was set up a little differently than it is now, I recall, um, teaching my last class of the day, like I left during lunch, got like, Ginger ale, and Tums, and Pepto, because my stomach hurt, and that clearly didn't help.
And I recall, it was a Thursday, and I recall my last class was a, uh, was a, uh, a C2, was a second class. And in the second class, I don't really need the computer, uh, you know, it's all just kind of, kind of teaching. Yeah. And there were headsets in there, so I had the the headset on because we didn't we didn't use Zoom at the time.
Um, in fact, I did not know what Zoom was at the time. Nobody did. Yeah, this is very true. I'm not sure if it was around. And I taught the class lying on the floor. I've done that. That's the only place I could be semi comfortable was lying on the floor, and that's what I did. I know exactly what that feels like because I had kidney stone surgery.
Yeah. And I went back to work, because I was like, I feel fine, like, I'm just in a little bit of pain, I can deal with it. And because I sat up the first day, by the time I went to do my show in the afternoon, I was like, every word I said, you know, everything in my body hurt. Like, I was just... Like, writhing in pain.
So the next day I said to my boss, I'm like, Would you mind if I worked in the studio laying on the floor with some, like, pillows? Is that okay? She's like, Are you sure that you want to even be here? I'm like, No, listen, I can work. I just need to be laying down. So, so I did. I'm fine. I'm fine. I just can't sit up.
I'm fine. I'm fine. I just need to lay down while I... Do all this music stuff. Everything's great. What's, what's, nothing? Everything's fine. It's good. It's fine. It's good. It's fine. Um, well, I, I don't know if you need to lay down for, uh, for your classes today. No, I'm good. Um, or just need to be in traction with your neck.
I don't know. No, the Tylenol's kicked in, so. Oh, that's good. Yeah. That's good. You know what I've used a couple times, uh, is, uh, uh, anti gravity boots. You ever use those? No, what does that even mean? Uh, so they're like, have you ever heard like the, the teeter hang ups? No. Okay. So basically they're these like, these things that you strap onto your ankles.
And they have little hooks on them, and you kind of hang them from, I do it from a pull up bar, and just hang upside down. Oh, yeah, I feel like that's probably incredibly dangerous for me as the accident prone person I am. That's true, yeah, no, but allow everything to kind of decompress, including your back and your neck.
For me, it's my back, because I have back issues, because I'm old, and that's what happens. Um, and, uh, you know, for you, it would be for your neck, but it might, I mean, yeah, again, you might. And then hurt my neck even more, so I'm gonna just like, you know, hang from my couch or something. So this is like inversion tables where you're actually strapped to a table that, that flips.
So I feel like you'd be more safe there. Yeah. Strapped down to a table. Strapped in. Um, but you know, I found that helpful for, for, for that. So you know. All right. Well, something to think about. There you go. Yeah. Um, you get really dizzy after a while though. I'm not gonna lie to you. And getting up is tough.
Cause I haven't been dizzy this entire year. Getting, getting up is definitely tough. Difficult. Um, and they say don't do it if no one's around because if you get stuck there you can't move and you would get stuck there for a while. I'm so glad that you brought this up for me so I should do it and get stuck.
That's awesome. I'll be around. I mean, I'm not going to have you do it by yourself and get stuck there forever. That would be hilarious. Um, then I would need another co host and I've already gone through like, I've burned through like four co hosts in this, uh, and I haven't even been here for four years and I've burned through like four co hosts.
I don't know what that says about me. Yeah, that's something. That does. I agree. I agree. It's not good. It's not good. Um, but, uh, sorry guys, you're stuck with me. And, um, we'll try to keep Marissa around as best we can. No promises. No promises. All right, Marissa. Well, um, yeah, good stuff. Uh, feel better. Thanks.
You too. With your back and stuff. I know it's, I didn't hurt my back. It's just continually. Yeah, it's just old. Um, but thank you. And um, enjoy your, your three day weekend. Don't, definitely don't think about the fact that you're going to have to work ten of the next eleven days after. No, I, that doesn't bother me.
Because I get a three day weekend eventually. Did you ever get the Sunday Scaries? Nah. Oh, you've never gotten the Sunday Scaries? Oh, I a couple jobs ago. Well, that's fair. That's fair. Because now I get the Monday Scaries. Or for me, you know, because, yeah, so anyway, um, all right, well, that is it for, uh, for today.
We've gone off the rails a little bit. It's okay. Shocking, shocking turn of events. Like, it never happens. I mean, come on. Um, but, uh, but yes, and, uh, so if you have anything you want us to talk about, um, any, any updates on you, we heard from Gale last week talking about, uh, about how she has, uh, her career has exploded and, uh, I'm not going to say I helped, but I heard it, so that's good.
Um, but, uh, we'd love to hear from you guys. Joshatvoicecoaches. com, that's the quickest and easiest way to do that. Joshatvoicecoaches. com, get in touch with me, get in touch with Marissa, um, and uh, and let us know what's going on. Or what do you want to talk about? Or what do you want to discuss? Or what do you want us to discuss?
Or if you also have arthritis. Or if you also have, uh, an arthritic neck. Um, love to hear that too, I guess. I would. Yeah, misery loves company. Um. Just want to know I'm not alone, that's all. I'm sure, I'm sure you're not. I'm sure there are plenty of elderly people who have that too. Wow. Wow. Wow. Alright everybody, well that's gonna about do it for us here today.
Thanks so much for tuning in this week, Marissa. Thank you so much for, uh, for, for rolling out of bed and getting your way over here today. And, uh, we will talk with you all next week. Until then, so long everyone. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
This is fun. I'm pretty awake right now. I was at the gym this morning, so I'm a little awake. It's not going to last. I'm going to crash. Very soon, but until then, might as well, uh, might as well go for it. How we doing? I hurt everywhere right now. Cool, cool. That's good. It's a good start to the day. Yeah. No, I've, I've realized.
So, I had a concussion back in January, and because of the scenario... Explains so much. Explains so, so much. Yeah, it probably does. Uh, but I've always been like this, to be honest. Uh, but I also, I had a, a 50 pound grate. like on my head and it stayed there for a minute so my neck had to like hold it up and now I'm realizing as the seasons are changing I'd be a little bit of arthritis in my neck just like a smidge.
You're old. I am old. You're old. Yeah. My back. Everything hurts. Um, wait, a 50 pound grate on your head? Oh, because you know this pandemic's been fun and I worked at Lowe's for like 2. 3 seconds. Oh, okay. Uh, okay. Happy concussion! Um, I still have questions. I still have questions. this is exactly why, okay? Like, when you take a voice professional, and you try to make them do anything else, Things are gonna happen, and it's not gonna be pretty, alright?
Like, I am, I am your poster child of it. I, I, um, when I was in college, after my freshman year of college, that summer I spent, uh, about two months working the overnight shift at Home Depot. Uh, in the garden department. See, that was me! I was overnights at Lowe's. Throwing bags of, of, of manure. Bags of poop. I was tossing bags of poop.
In the middle of the night. Um, at Home Depot. And I was like, this is dumb, I don't want to do this anymore. And so then I stopped, and uh, then I got a job as a mailman. See, I was doing a store reset project, but I thought I was hired for seasonal stocking, like holiday stocking. And so then I was not stocking shelves.
I was literally breaking down steel shelves, lifting steel, moving steel. Like having to be up in a harness and all these things. Yeah, little me. It was quite the workout. I had some serious ab action happening that I'm trying to get back, but, uh, it's taking its sweet time, you know? Hey, that's alright. I mean, listen, the concussion's worth it if the abs look good.
Well, you know. That's what they say. That's what they say. Hey. Abs are made in the, uh... In the Lumber Department. In the Lumber Department of Lowe's. Hey, so you want to work in radio, do ya? Yes, I do. These are the fun stories. Well, I'm sorry that you're... Dying. Um, yeah. It's all right. I mean, well, we're all broken.
We're all so very broken. Um, but it is Friday and that's good. Yeah. Right? I love Friday. There you go. That's exciting. I mean, could be worse. Could be Monday. Exactly. Well, you know what? I got Monday off. Hey, woo! Could be Tuesday. You know, it's funny. So the way that our schedules work here, for the most part, is, uh, we work every other Saturday.
Right, uh, any, any one employee here. I'm not talking to you, Marissa. I'm talking to the listeners now. No, I figured, yeah. No, I'm not listening anymore. Marissa, I don't know if you know how things work here. I don't know if you know your schedule, Marissa, but... So basically, we work every other Saturday, so that there's always one person on Saturdays for the most part.
And so the way that we do this is that, you know, one week we're working from Monday through Friday. The next week we're working Tuesday through Saturday. So, what this means is that every other week you have a three day weekend. And also every other week you have a one day weekend. And I remember talking to somebody about this and I was like, Uh, yeah, I mean, the three day weekend's great, don't get me wrong, I love it.
Um, I don't have that, I have a one day weekend this weekend, I it. Yeah, sorry. But, what I realized was, on that Monday, all I could think about was the fact that I have to work 10 out of the next 11 days, and it made me very sad. You know what? I've never thought about that out. And now you will, and now you will.
Good, good. We're all learning new things, and we're all having our, our, our innocence shattered here today. We're having our innocence shattered here today. Well, you didn't bring up the other thing that I brought up earlier. No, I did not, on that chance. This is a family program. This is a family program here.
Um, I've seen things and I know things now that I didn't want to see or know. I am so glad, though, that I could bring that to your attention today. So enjoy your Monday off, as you have to work 10 of the next 11 days. That's fine. I don't even care. Because everything that happened this morning is just so glorious.
Everything's terrible. Everything's terrible. So, uh, this morning, before I came in, I went to the, uh, I went to the gym. Got super swole. Yeah. I can tell. All the gains. Gains. Big gains. Big gains. And, uh, and I work out at, uh, at Albany CrossFit. I'm actually a, a part time coach there. And I, I, I thought of this, you know, one of the things I've, now I've been doing this on and off for about, oh God, five years maybe?
I don't even know. But, um, When I first started, I remember, I mean, they teach you a bunch of things that, that you need to know, different types of lifts and things like that, so that, you know, when you start actually going into, you know, the, the gym and taking part in the classes, you don't kill yourself, ideally, um, or drop things on your head that weigh 50 pounds, because apparently that's a bad thing.
Well, I didn't drop That landed on my head. Somebody else dropped it. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Um, and uh, and I remember that, you know, we, we, we learned it's kind of a crash course in things, no pun intended. And, uh, I remember when we finished, so we have what's called OnRamp, which is just kind of a, for us it was a month, now I think it's only a couple weeks, but it's basically learning the basics before you get into the actual classes.
Um, again, so you Stay safe and, you know, get the most out of it and don't hurt yourself or other people by dropping 50 pound things on their heads. Exactly. There we go. Um, and I remember one of the things that they told us when we finished and it was this. Embrace the suck. Oh yeah. Yeah. Embrace the suck.
Essentially it's there are going to be things that you are not good at. Uh, in my, you know, particular instance. That would be most of them. And, um, basically it's don't be afraid of that. Don't run away from that. You know, embrace that fact. You know, there, there are people, so I can tell what the workout's going to be a day beforehand.
8pm the night before is when they announce what the workouts are going to be the following day. And there are people who absolutely cherry pick. They'll see what the workout is and be like, I don't do that and not come. And I think that's an absolute waste because we should be working on things that we're not good at so we can, you know, get better at them, right?
Yeah, that's the point. Embrace that. Yeah, you're bad at it. Good. Good. You know, understand that and work to improve that. Embrace that fact, right? Know that you're not good at it, but also know that you're gonna work at it and, hypothetically, you're going to get better at it. Well, you know what I say to students too is like, you know, they come in and they just automatically assume, a lot of them, that They're gonna do awesome at this, you know, hopefully they're right and hopefully they're right, but they don't realize the skill that's Needed to be built up, you know question and you know It could very well just be and this is for all of us, you know in this just like just like in CrossFit It's like in anything else There are probably things in this that you're gonna be really good at really quickly There are also things that you're probably not Going to be really good at really quickly that doesn't mean you can't and shouldn't do them or stay away from them when we Put together demos for people and we've talked about this before Right.
We want someone's demo to be comprised of their voice personality, which is what they do with their absolute 100% best and Strength range strength range is what they do Really really really well not their best but not far from it. And that's all we want Right? If it's something that you're just okay at, don't put it on your demo.
Right? That's a waste. Right. Especially with how short demos are nowadays. Right? A minute, minute 15, minute 20. You don't have time for mediocre. It needs to be all hits. Right? Everything needs to hit. But that doesn't mean that... If we don't put something on your demo, it doesn't mean you're not good at it or ever going to be good at it.
It just means it's not where it needs to be right now. And a lot of people, you know, come in and really want to do characters, right? Really want to do animation, video games, really want to do big swings of character. And, you know, certainly I would never tell someone they can't or shouldn't, but there are a lot of people who just aren't at that point yet.
Doesn't mean don't do it. Doesn't mean don't work on it. It just means. The opposite, work on it, continue to improve upon it, and then you can add that to your demo, you can put that on a second demo, don't run away from the things you're not that great at, I'm not great at character voices, I'm not, I don't particularly enjoy doing them, to be totally honest with you, I'm a little uncomfortable with it, but knowing that I might have to do it for an audiobook, and have done it for an audiobook, I work on it, right, I mess around with it just to, to try to get better at it, Because it is something that I'm not great at, and something I'm not comfortable with, and I want to be great at it, and to be comfortable with it, and the only way to do that is...
Do it. Doing it, yeah, absolutely. You know, that's, that's what I was getting at, is like, I'll tell students like... You want to play an amazing guitar solo? Cool. You can't just pick up the guitar and make it happen. Like, you know, and you have to literally take some lessons, keep working on it, practice, take some more lessons, you know, keep practicing, and then eventually, sure, you can play a guitar solo.
Are you going to sound like Jimi Hendrix? Hell no. Nobody is. Nobody's Jimmy. Uh, but you're gonna sound like you're doing a guitar solo and you're going to work on that and you're going to keep getting better at it the more you do it. Just like anything else. Yeah. A hundred percent. And, and that's, and that's the important thing, right?
You know, make sure that you're continuing to work on those things. Embracing the fact that you're not good at everything. Nobody is. Nobody is. Especially at the beginning. Figure out the things you're good at. Great. Try to perfect them. Figure out the things you're not good at. Great. Work on them, right?
That's what it's all about. Embrace that fact. Don't run away from those things. Don't cherry pick just because you don't like something quite as much. I'm not saying do things you don't like to do, but if it is something you want to do, you know, if you want to do character voices, if you want to do, you know, whatever it might be, you know, animation, things like that, things that are, you know, a lot of times out of people's, you know, strength ranges, to start, work on it.
You know, continue to, to, to grow, continue to improve. We should be constantly trying to do that. We should always be self evaluating, right, and, and realizing where we're at and how we get to where we want to be. Right? Don't be satisfied. You know, I, I, I read something somewhere once where it was like, the moment you stop learning Is the moment you stop growing, you know, and it's it's true because it's something like, you know I think a lot of us we we hit adulthood and we have our careers established and whatnot and we get comfortable And we just get into this funk of a routine, and we just do the same thing day in and day out.
And reading stops, and, you know, learning stops, and along with that is, we get stuck in one place. We're running in place. You can't grow, ever, from that. You know, unless you keep putting work in. So, I mean, And, and, and, you know, it's, it's, that's absolutely true. You know, that, that reminds me of a quote, because now I want to out quote you.
Um, you know, good is the enemy of great. Good is the enemy, how are you, well, how are you at this? I'm good at it. Okay, but get better, right? Don't be satisfied. Work on the things that you're not good at, right? Embrace that suck, but also, make sure that you're not just good at things, that you're great at them, right?
Continue to, to, even the things you think you're really good at, Continue to work on those things as well. Right? Continue to, to try to improve yourself there. We are constantly improving and constantly evolving and if we're not... We're sinking. We're on a treadmill and we're not going anywhere. Yeah. We're on a little hamster wheel is what's happening.
We're like sharks. And I have no other quotes by the way. That's okay. You win. You win. We're like sharks. Right? If a shark doesn't swim, it sinks. Right. We gotta keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. I love Nemo. Just keep swimming. I saw that in theaters. So did I. It's like one of my favorite movies ever.
Yeah. I saw it on a date. Okay. Well, that's going a little far. Many, many, many, many years ago. Man, I was still in high school. I think. I don't know. Yeah, I was still in high school. That was like the end of my high school career. It was like 2000, early 2000s. Don't worry about how old I am. I'm old. It's fine.
I think I'm older. It's fine. Class of 03, baby! Yep, I'm older. 03 for the win! Um, so yeah, so again, you know, Find what you're not good at. Be okay with that. You're not going to be great at everything, especially right away. But don't run away from it. Don't run away from it if it's something you want to do.
Now if you're like, you know what, listen, I can't do character voices. I don't want to. I hate it. It's not something I'm interested in doing or ever going to look at. Okay, fine. That's okay. I mean, okay, cool. But, you know, if it is something you do want to do, if you're not there just yet, that's okay.
Understand that, be aware of that, and take advantage of that. It's an opportunity. It's an opportunity to, to grow as a voice actor, and as a person, and as a citizen of this planet. Wow, it just got so real. Yeah, right? It's heavy on a Friday. I'm starting to drink coffee now, so. So things are getting hyped up.
The synapses are firing right now. We're doing good, we're doing good. Hyped with gains! Woo! Woo, all them endorphins, plus the caffeine, man, things are happening here. So much testosterone in this studio right now. On your side. On my side, yeah. Well, you're in the little booth where there's more estrogen. Yes, it's very feminine in here.
Is it? It's very delightful. It is. It is. You know, there is a very, uh, a feminine side to it. feminine to feel. Well, the room is, what color would you say this room is that we're in? Burnt orange? Burnt sienna? I was gonna say like salmon? No, salmon's more pink. No, no, salmon's pink. Salmon's more pink. This is definitely like a, it's like a burnt umber.
Ooh. Yeah. I like that. Sorry, this is the fine arts major coming out right now. Yeah, no, I like that. I'm glad that that, you know, that definitely worked out for you. Yeah. Um, and was definitely worth, uh, worth the money. Um, yeah, it is, yeah, it's an orangey, it's an orangey color. It's all orange ish. Orange, orange y.
Um, so it is, it is, yeah. And uh, you know, it's uh, I mean, I don't know. As opposed to the other room, the other room next door used to be black. The walls were painted black. Oh. And it was, it was dark. It was dark all the time. It was always dark in that studio and I never knew why. Like, why we'd paint the walls Matt Black.
Um. Just trying to get a certain feeling across. And that, that feeling is depression. Um, that's what that feeling is. That is, that is the studio where I got my appendicitis. See, nothing good happens in a black room. And, and I recall, uh, now it was set up a little differently than it is now, I recall, um, teaching my last class of the day, like I left during lunch, got like, Ginger ale, and Tums, and Pepto, because my stomach hurt, and that clearly didn't help.
And I recall, it was a Thursday, and I recall my last class was a, uh, was a, uh, a C2, was a second class. And in the second class, I don't really need the computer, uh, you know, it's all just kind of, kind of teaching. Yeah. And there were headsets in there, so I had the the headset on because we didn't we didn't use Zoom at the time.
Um, in fact, I did not know what Zoom was at the time. Nobody did. Yeah, this is very true. I'm not sure if it was around. And I taught the class lying on the floor. I've done that. That's the only place I could be semi comfortable was lying on the floor, and that's what I did. I know exactly what that feels like because I had kidney stone surgery.
Yeah. And I went back to work, because I was like, I feel fine, like, I'm just in a little bit of pain, I can deal with it. And because I sat up the first day, by the time I went to do my show in the afternoon, I was like, every word I said, you know, everything in my body hurt. Like, I was just... Like, writhing in pain.
So the next day I said to my boss, I'm like, Would you mind if I worked in the studio laying on the floor with some, like, pillows? Is that okay? She's like, Are you sure that you want to even be here? I'm like, No, listen, I can work. I just need to be laying down. So, so I did. I'm fine. I'm fine. I just can't sit up.
I'm fine. I'm fine. I just need to lay down while I... Do all this music stuff. Everything's great. What's, what's, nothing? Everything's fine. It's good. It's fine. It's good. It's fine. Um, well, I, I don't know if you need to lay down for, uh, for your classes today. No, I'm good. Um, or just need to be in traction with your neck.
I don't know. No, the Tylenol's kicked in, so. Oh, that's good. Yeah. That's good. You know what I've used a couple times, uh, is, uh, uh, anti gravity boots. You ever use those? No, what does that even mean? Uh, so they're like, have you ever heard like the, the teeter hang ups? No. Okay. So basically they're these like, these things that you strap onto your ankles.
And they have little hooks on them, and you kind of hang them from, I do it from a pull up bar, and just hang upside down. Oh, yeah, I feel like that's probably incredibly dangerous for me as the accident prone person I am. That's true, yeah, no, but allow everything to kind of decompress, including your back and your neck.
For me, it's my back, because I have back issues, because I'm old, and that's what happens. Um, and, uh, you know, for you, it would be for your neck, but it might, I mean, yeah, again, you might. And then hurt my neck even more, so I'm gonna just like, you know, hang from my couch or something. So this is like inversion tables where you're actually strapped to a table that, that flips.
So I feel like you'd be more safe there. Yeah. Strapped down to a table. Strapped in. Um, but you know, I found that helpful for, for, for that. So you know. All right. Well, something to think about. There you go. Yeah. Um, you get really dizzy after a while though. I'm not gonna lie to you. And getting up is tough.
Cause I haven't been dizzy this entire year. Getting, getting up is definitely tough. Difficult. Um, and they say don't do it if no one's around because if you get stuck there you can't move and you would get stuck there for a while. I'm so glad that you brought this up for me so I should do it and get stuck.
That's awesome. I'll be around. I mean, I'm not going to have you do it by yourself and get stuck there forever. That would be hilarious. Um, then I would need another co host and I've already gone through like, I've burned through like four co hosts in this, uh, and I haven't even been here for four years and I've burned through like four co hosts.
I don't know what that says about me. Yeah, that's something. That does. I agree. I agree. It's not good. It's not good. Um, but, uh, sorry guys, you're stuck with me. And, um, we'll try to keep Marissa around as best we can. No promises. No promises. All right, Marissa. Well, um, yeah, good stuff. Uh, feel better. Thanks.
You too. With your back and stuff. I know it's, I didn't hurt my back. It's just continually. Yeah, it's just old. Um, but thank you. And um, enjoy your, your three day weekend. Don't, definitely don't think about the fact that you're going to have to work ten of the next eleven days after. No, I, that doesn't bother me.
Because I get a three day weekend eventually. Did you ever get the Sunday Scaries? Nah. Oh, you've never gotten the Sunday Scaries? Oh, I a couple jobs ago. Well, that's fair. That's fair. Because now I get the Monday Scaries. Or for me, you know, because, yeah, so anyway, um, all right, well, that is it for, uh, for today.
We've gone off the rails a little bit. It's okay. Shocking, shocking turn of events. Like, it never happens. I mean, come on. Um, but, uh, but yes, and, uh, so if you have anything you want us to talk about, um, any, any updates on you, we heard from Gale last week talking about, uh, about how she has, uh, her career has exploded and, uh, I'm not going to say I helped, but I heard it, so that's good.
Um, but, uh, we'd love to hear from you guys. Joshatvoicecoaches. com, that's the quickest and easiest way to do that. Joshatvoicecoaches. com, get in touch with me, get in touch with Marissa, um, and uh, and let us know what's going on. Or what do you want to talk about? Or what do you want to discuss? Or what do you want us to discuss?
Or if you also have arthritis. Or if you also have, uh, an arthritic neck. Um, love to hear that too, I guess. I would. Yeah, misery loves company. Um. Just want to know I'm not alone, that's all. I'm sure, I'm sure you're not. I'm sure there are plenty of elderly people who have that too. Wow. Wow. Wow. Alright everybody, well that's gonna about do it for us here today.
Thanks so much for tuning in this week, Marissa. Thank you so much for, uh, for, for rolling out of bed and getting your way over here today. And, uh, we will talk with you all next week. Until then, so long everyone. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
This week, Josh and Marissa discuss the idea of embracing your shortcomings. Being able to identify your flaws, and working to improve them. This can separate a good voice actor from a great one.
