VC Radio
Voice Coaches Radio #594 – Mark It Up!
Voice coaches, radio, everything voiceover, welcome to a brand new episode of voice coaches radio. Oh my goodness. It's August already. That's insane. Like, I just feel like I turn around and all this time is gone. Um, I had an eye appointment. It's the other day and for those who don't know, I mean, I did a podcast episode about this.
Oh God. Maybe a year ago. Um, you know, I have an injury that is from the COVID vaccination and, uh, you know, I'm not over here being an anti vaxxer by any means, but I do, you know, uh, say, go into it with caution. And just because, uh, you know, when we first got that, like we were kind of, kind of guinea pigs obviously, cause it was the first of its kind and whatever.
And, uh, I'm kind of. Uh, paying my, my civic duty, if you will, I guess, uh, cause I, I do have this injury that is, um, it's caused like this blood clot that's closed up a vein behind my left eye. And they're so delicate, those veins, like once, once it happens, like they really can't do much other than like treat it.
Um, and That's what's been happening since April of 2021. I've been dealing with this issue. Um, April 2022, I started these shots in my eye and I know you just cringed a little bit because I cringe every time I think about it too. Uh, but basically, I mean, it's the only way, uh, right now. I mean, potentially laser surgery down the line, but this has been proving its best.
Um, it's been working. It's saving my vision. It's protecting me from blindness. And, you know, it's had its downfalls. You know, there's a very long stretch. Students like coming into class and I'm like, yeah, just so you know, you have done nothing to offend me. I just, I can't control the tears coming down my eyes, uh, , so it's like insane dry eye that can be a side effect.
And then I've got allergies on top of it. So, you know, it's, it's just, uh, it's been a mess, but it's been a lot of trial and error. Thankfully the shot is working, but I'm over here like looking at this monitor right now as my wave file is going as I'm talking and it's a little blurry, uh, and it's really just because my eyes were dilated and, uh, I did, I got the shot in the left eye, um, and it's still, like, it takes like a day for, you know, the feeling to go kind of back to normal, cause like, let's say, Let's face it, my eye just had some trauma, um, you know, and it consistently has trauma.
Thankfully, you know, I went from every month to having to get these shots done to, uh, as of back the last time I got it, it was a 10 week span in between and now he's saying let's move it to 12 weeks. So obviously everything is going in a really positive way and, you know, that's, that's the best thing I can say.
Um, you know, everybody that follows me on social media, they're like, you always find the positive. And it's like, listen, if I focus on the negative, you know, I. I could basically buy a brand new car outright right now with the money that I have spent medically in the last couple years trying to get all this, uh, situated.
And, uh, in reality, it probably should be being paid by somebody else because it's an injury. I'm just still waiting to hear on that. So, you know, fingers crossed. Uh, but, yeah, uh, that, that's life for me. Hopefully, you know, you are, uh, dealing with, uh, This summertime and in the best of ways. Um, and yeah, like time is flying by, you know, as you are Navigating your life navigating new new copy new Scripts new auditions.
There's something that I find I, I don't even really pay attention to it anymore, right? Because I've been doing this so long that I can pick up a piece of copy and truly make it my own where it has, you know, my speech pattern and like whatever. Like it just, it, it's me. It is such a struggle bus at first to be looking at copy and understanding how to make it your own, uh, you know, what are the, the tricks to the pausings and, and whatnot.
And. Something that's very helpful. I know Simone has been doing this on the voice coach's website. There are blogs up there that. As well as, you know, this podcast, I'm sure can, can help with just like little tips, little things that maybe you wouldn't be thinking about, uh, when it, when it comes to how to handle certain things.
And one of the biggest things is, oddly enough, it's punctuation. Punctuation is so important. You know, there's that famous meme, and it's actually the cover of the blog that she wrote about all this, uh, and it's like, Let's eat grandma, except that it's like, let's eat grandma, you know, and, and that, that comma makes such a big difference after the word eat.
It really does, uh, because it goes from, hey, we should have dinner together, grandma, then, you know, all of a sudden it's like, grandma is the meal, uh, you know, and the, the punctuation. It is important for that kind of thing, right? But it's also just important because I find that when you're starting, you know, it might not be grammatically correct as to where you can put punctuation for a visual cue, but it's helping you, you know, so.
You look at a piece of copy, and this happens all the time, you know, when I'm doing demo sessions with students, it's, it almost feels like a gigantic run on sentence, and they just don't know how to handle it. And, and I know, like, what ends up happening nine times out of ten is they, they lose their breath.
You know, you get done with that sentence, you almost feel like you're gasping, and it's because, you know, there's a lot of things happening. It's getting the words out right. It's trying to be as conversational with this sentence as possible without understanding where to pause. It's, um, just, you know, trying to be comfortable and confident in delivery all around because it's still new, and, and these things are definitely a challenge, but The best thing that I can suggest, and, you know, we were just talking about this the other day, is, you know, you tend to have more time with copy than you're believing you're going to.
In a lot of cases, you do have, you have a good chunk of time to kind of look over what you're about to do, and you have the ability to mark it up. And, we, we kind of go over, How to mark things up in part of our classes together if you want to be a part of the voice coaches program and you haven't been yet you can you know look into that by going to voicecoaches.
com but You know that that's just an example within class of some of the things that you can do to to help you Understand and recognize as you're performing to make it for a more relaxed read, but like what do you do when it comes to The, the punctuation that might not be there that can help for that natural pausing, that natural breath.
The biggest thing that I have found that's helpful for students, and it goes back to something that when I was starting, because I don't, I mean, when I started I didn't really have any education on how to speak, it was just like, more technical than anything on how to use equipment, because, you know, I went to a radio school.
Um, but, using the same elements, The, the big thing for me is I knew that I had to be just me talking to someone that I knew. That was always the, the deal. So I used to look at copy and know, alright, cool, I can't change this, right? But like, how would I say this? How would I say this? You know, and I think for me, I was able to wrap my brain around that a little bit more.
The best thing that I always did for myself, and this is what I would always suggest, we have abilities. Like in our pocket to record ourselves. Smartphones are such a beautiful tool in that way that you can go ahead. If you don't have a recording app right now, like a voice memos app, um, they're free to download, do it.
Don't hesitate on that. Don't wait on that because the best tool you have is to listen back and. What I would suggest is like if you're unsure how to mark copy, take a piece, don't overthink this process at all. I want you to go into it. I want you to just be you. You're talking to your friend. That's the only thing I want you to think of.
How would I say this to somebody? And do it. Don't think of any other way of bringing that piece to life other than that. Record it. Listen back. Did you pause in a place? That, potentially, there isn't punctuation that you didn't think to pau like, pause before. Those are vital moments, because those are where your gut is guiding you in really good, natural ways.
Don't disbelieve that. Like, chances are, your gut is making a good choice. We have a really, really high... Uh, you know, a percentage of ignoring those kind of things or, or not trusting ourselves because it's new. And then we, we tend to ignore maybe what feels good and we make another choice. And nine times out of 10, that choice sucks.
I'm just throwing that. To the wind right now, because we, we just, we overthink it. So, I challenge you, you're new at this, I want you to find a piece of copy, I want it to be a piece that maybe is challenging for you right now, and I want you to go into it, press that record button, and do nothing but think to yourself like, alright, these are my words, I can't change them, how would I say this to my best friend?
And just record it, listen back. You might surprise yourself. You know, the listening back is the best tool that you have. It is exactly what has allowed me in the beginnings of my career and throughout the entire thing to continue to grow, to continue to nitpick myself and change things and tweak things and have somebody else listen to it and critique and give feedback and, you know, allow me to take some of what they've said and make those, those necessary changes to keep going in the right direction.
You have it in your pocket. That's the beauty of the technology that we own today. Uh, so utilize that smartphone to its highest ability and. Hey, the, the world is your oyster, my friend. Uh, go ahead and start utilizing that punctuation, even if it is maybe a little grammatically incorrect. It's okay.
Whatever's going to help you at the end of the day. So another, uh, topic is going to be coming your way when it comes to Voice Coaches Radio. Next week, if you've got something for us to tackle, info at voicecoaches. com. Again, that is info at voicecoaches. com. And don't forget, you can always find additional resources.
at voicecoaches. com itself and, uh, yeah, we'll get to a brand new episode next week. Stay safe, everybody. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news.
Oh God. Maybe a year ago. Um, you know, I have an injury that is from the COVID vaccination and, uh, you know, I'm not over here being an anti vaxxer by any means, but I do, you know, uh, say, go into it with caution. And just because, uh, you know, when we first got that, like we were kind of, kind of guinea pigs obviously, cause it was the first of its kind and whatever.
And, uh, I'm kind of. Uh, paying my, my civic duty, if you will, I guess, uh, cause I, I do have this injury that is, um, it's caused like this blood clot that's closed up a vein behind my left eye. And they're so delicate, those veins, like once, once it happens, like they really can't do much other than like treat it.
Um, and That's what's been happening since April of 2021. I've been dealing with this issue. Um, April 2022, I started these shots in my eye and I know you just cringed a little bit because I cringe every time I think about it too. Uh, but basically, I mean, it's the only way, uh, right now. I mean, potentially laser surgery down the line, but this has been proving its best.
Um, it's been working. It's saving my vision. It's protecting me from blindness. And, you know, it's had its downfalls. You know, there's a very long stretch. Students like coming into class and I'm like, yeah, just so you know, you have done nothing to offend me. I just, I can't control the tears coming down my eyes, uh, , so it's like insane dry eye that can be a side effect.
And then I've got allergies on top of it. So, you know, it's, it's just, uh, it's been a mess, but it's been a lot of trial and error. Thankfully the shot is working, but I'm over here like looking at this monitor right now as my wave file is going as I'm talking and it's a little blurry, uh, and it's really just because my eyes were dilated and, uh, I did, I got the shot in the left eye, um, and it's still, like, it takes like a day for, you know, the feeling to go kind of back to normal, cause like, let's say, Let's face it, my eye just had some trauma, um, you know, and it consistently has trauma.
Thankfully, you know, I went from every month to having to get these shots done to, uh, as of back the last time I got it, it was a 10 week span in between and now he's saying let's move it to 12 weeks. So obviously everything is going in a really positive way and, you know, that's, that's the best thing I can say.
Um, you know, everybody that follows me on social media, they're like, you always find the positive. And it's like, listen, if I focus on the negative, you know, I. I could basically buy a brand new car outright right now with the money that I have spent medically in the last couple years trying to get all this, uh, situated.
And, uh, in reality, it probably should be being paid by somebody else because it's an injury. I'm just still waiting to hear on that. So, you know, fingers crossed. Uh, but, yeah, uh, that, that's life for me. Hopefully, you know, you are, uh, dealing with, uh, This summertime and in the best of ways. Um, and yeah, like time is flying by, you know, as you are Navigating your life navigating new new copy new Scripts new auditions.
There's something that I find I, I don't even really pay attention to it anymore, right? Because I've been doing this so long that I can pick up a piece of copy and truly make it my own where it has, you know, my speech pattern and like whatever. Like it just, it, it's me. It is such a struggle bus at first to be looking at copy and understanding how to make it your own, uh, you know, what are the, the tricks to the pausings and, and whatnot.
And. Something that's very helpful. I know Simone has been doing this on the voice coach's website. There are blogs up there that. As well as, you know, this podcast, I'm sure can, can help with just like little tips, little things that maybe you wouldn't be thinking about, uh, when it, when it comes to how to handle certain things.
And one of the biggest things is, oddly enough, it's punctuation. Punctuation is so important. You know, there's that famous meme, and it's actually the cover of the blog that she wrote about all this, uh, and it's like, Let's eat grandma, except that it's like, let's eat grandma, you know, and, and that, that comma makes such a big difference after the word eat.
It really does, uh, because it goes from, hey, we should have dinner together, grandma, then, you know, all of a sudden it's like, grandma is the meal, uh, you know, and the, the punctuation. It is important for that kind of thing, right? But it's also just important because I find that when you're starting, you know, it might not be grammatically correct as to where you can put punctuation for a visual cue, but it's helping you, you know, so.
You look at a piece of copy, and this happens all the time, you know, when I'm doing demo sessions with students, it's, it almost feels like a gigantic run on sentence, and they just don't know how to handle it. And, and I know, like, what ends up happening nine times out of ten is they, they lose their breath.
You know, you get done with that sentence, you almost feel like you're gasping, and it's because, you know, there's a lot of things happening. It's getting the words out right. It's trying to be as conversational with this sentence as possible without understanding where to pause. It's, um, just, you know, trying to be comfortable and confident in delivery all around because it's still new, and, and these things are definitely a challenge, but The best thing that I can suggest, and, you know, we were just talking about this the other day, is, you know, you tend to have more time with copy than you're believing you're going to.
In a lot of cases, you do have, you have a good chunk of time to kind of look over what you're about to do, and you have the ability to mark it up. And, we, we kind of go over, How to mark things up in part of our classes together if you want to be a part of the voice coaches program and you haven't been yet you can you know look into that by going to voicecoaches.
com but You know that that's just an example within class of some of the things that you can do to to help you Understand and recognize as you're performing to make it for a more relaxed read, but like what do you do when it comes to The, the punctuation that might not be there that can help for that natural pausing, that natural breath.
The biggest thing that I have found that's helpful for students, and it goes back to something that when I was starting, because I don't, I mean, when I started I didn't really have any education on how to speak, it was just like, more technical than anything on how to use equipment, because, you know, I went to a radio school.
Um, but, using the same elements, The, the big thing for me is I knew that I had to be just me talking to someone that I knew. That was always the, the deal. So I used to look at copy and know, alright, cool, I can't change this, right? But like, how would I say this? How would I say this? You know, and I think for me, I was able to wrap my brain around that a little bit more.
The best thing that I always did for myself, and this is what I would always suggest, we have abilities. Like in our pocket to record ourselves. Smartphones are such a beautiful tool in that way that you can go ahead. If you don't have a recording app right now, like a voice memos app, um, they're free to download, do it.
Don't hesitate on that. Don't wait on that because the best tool you have is to listen back and. What I would suggest is like if you're unsure how to mark copy, take a piece, don't overthink this process at all. I want you to go into it. I want you to just be you. You're talking to your friend. That's the only thing I want you to think of.
How would I say this to somebody? And do it. Don't think of any other way of bringing that piece to life other than that. Record it. Listen back. Did you pause in a place? That, potentially, there isn't punctuation that you didn't think to pau like, pause before. Those are vital moments, because those are where your gut is guiding you in really good, natural ways.
Don't disbelieve that. Like, chances are, your gut is making a good choice. We have a really, really high... Uh, you know, a percentage of ignoring those kind of things or, or not trusting ourselves because it's new. And then we, we tend to ignore maybe what feels good and we make another choice. And nine times out of 10, that choice sucks.
I'm just throwing that. To the wind right now, because we, we just, we overthink it. So, I challenge you, you're new at this, I want you to find a piece of copy, I want it to be a piece that maybe is challenging for you right now, and I want you to go into it, press that record button, and do nothing but think to yourself like, alright, these are my words, I can't change them, how would I say this to my best friend?
And just record it, listen back. You might surprise yourself. You know, the listening back is the best tool that you have. It is exactly what has allowed me in the beginnings of my career and throughout the entire thing to continue to grow, to continue to nitpick myself and change things and tweak things and have somebody else listen to it and critique and give feedback and, you know, allow me to take some of what they've said and make those, those necessary changes to keep going in the right direction.
You have it in your pocket. That's the beauty of the technology that we own today. Uh, so utilize that smartphone to its highest ability and. Hey, the, the world is your oyster, my friend. Uh, go ahead and start utilizing that punctuation, even if it is maybe a little grammatically incorrect. It's okay.
Whatever's going to help you at the end of the day. So another, uh, topic is going to be coming your way when it comes to Voice Coaches Radio. Next week, if you've got something for us to tackle, info at voicecoaches. com. Again, that is info at voicecoaches. com. And don't forget, you can always find additional resources.
at voicecoaches. com itself and, uh, yeah, we'll get to a brand new episode next week. Stay safe, everybody. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news.
This week on Voice Coaches Radio, Marissa dives into the importance of script mark up, especially in the beginnings as you’re still learning your own voice.
