Listener Mail

Oh my god, you've got mail. Message from the Dark Side to Bail is here and welcome one and all. Welcome to another enchanting episode of Wife's Thoughts and yes, judging by the music you're listening to right now, it is time for another episode on Wife's Thoughts of listener Mail. Hip Hip hooray. Many of you out there have requested another episode of listener Mail. We haven't had one in quite a while, so I said, you know what, Yes, it's definitely about time we have one of the favorite episodes of you listening out there. Everyone loves the listener mail and that's where I reach deep into the grab bag of emails that have been sent to me over the past few months and answer your questions. Right, you can't ask for any better than that. Hey, So basically you are running the show today. I am just your humble servant. But as always, like we say, if you love the program, would you do as a favor and give us a positive rating and review? Visit the website weissthoughts dot com Wife's Thoughts dot com. Just make sure you spell my name right, Wycee, and we appreciate your feedback. So what do you say let's go grab our virtual email box here and let's get ready for some listener mail, this time on Wi's Thoughts. Right after this a little aggressive music, mister Producer extraordinaire. Huh hey, everybody, welcome, Welcome to White Thoughts, the Listener Male Edition, special edition of the podcast today. I guess so, mister producer's telling me. Ye, that's to get your pumped and moving. Okay, I'm ready to go, So are you ready to go? Well, let's get into it. Welcome, Welcome, one and all, Welcome to Wife's Thoughts. I am Terry Weisse, your humbled host, and I am so glad you've decided to spend some of your valuable time with us today and with me today. I should say now like there's you know, a lot of people wandering around here. That being said, though, however, thank you. I do appreciate you stopping by for the program today and we're going to get right into it now. For those of you that do not know, listener mail is where I reach into the grab bag and pull out your emails and answer them obviously, honestly and openly, and if you ever want to be part of the listener Mail, extravaganzas I like to say, just send me an email. You can send it to mail at weissthoughts dot com. Ask your question. I will respond in kind, you know, and I do respond to all the emails that I am send, good, bad, or indifferent. Keep it clean, keep it constructive. You know, some some knuckleheads out there like to just send stupid stuff and say stupid things, you know, like you know you're fat, you're ugly when a little coffee. Yes, I'm breaking one of the cardinal rules of broadcasting dunk and cloves make your mouth going anyway. Welcome to the program, Welcome to the voice thoughts. Let's let's get in, shall we. Let's get into our our grab bag of listener mail here and here we go. All right, the first one comes from Cindy. Cindy is and what I'm gonna do, just so, for those of you have not listened to a listener mail podcast episode, how the format works is I'll say only the first name and the state that they reside in for animemity, animen, oh boy, just to keep your privacy and private, okay, And that's fair to you and us, because, let's face it, the internet while it is a wonderful place. There are some people out there that are not nice, so we just do it that way. So Cindy is from the great state of Montana. Cindy from Antana writes in Hey, Terry, enjoy listening to the podcast. And the question I had for you is I'm thinking about becoming a voice over artist or actor, whatever the correct term is. I was wondering what do I do to get started? What are the basics, et cetera. What would you recommend? All right, well, Cindy, thank you for the question. Great question. Here we'll start there. If you want to be a voice actor, voiceover artist, you know, a voiceover I've heard it called. There's so many names in the industry. What I would recommend first, first, and foremost is be prepared to hear a lot of no. I know, why be prepared to hear a lot of note. What are you talking about, Terry? Well, what I mean by to say is this industry is the arts industry. It's you know, a lot of people have the misconception it's just getting in front of a microphone and speaking. No. The voiceover industry is so so much more than that, and it's very competitive. And it's it's it's a it's almost like a lifestyle. Okay, it's almost like a lifestyle in that you are going to be in competition with many, many, many, many thousands, if tens of thousands of people out there. Now, I'm not trying to discourage you, Cindy, not in the least, but you have to have a pretty thick skin. You have to be able to navigate the tumultuous waters that are the voiceover industry. Now, to directly answer your inquiry, I would start with a decent microphone. And you don't have to go out and spend thousands of dollars on a microphone. You can get away with spending a couple three hundred dollars. Road NT one is a highly, highly coveted microphone and it is very affordable, I mean for around three hundred dollars or so. Another one which I have they have in what I like to call my stable of microphones is the Senheiser MK four. That is a phenomenal, phenomenal microphone. Now, both of those microphones I just mentioned, the road NT one and the Senheiser MK four are what are known as large diaphragm condenser microphones. Now I'm speaking right now on the podcast on a short SM seven P seven P seven B, which is a dynamic microphone. The difference being, in case you don't know, is a dynamic microphone does not require phantom power. Phantom power is forty eight volts that a system has to put through to bring that microphone up so it can be heard by others. So condenser mics typically are requiring phantom power, just so you know. Okay, So the road nt one road NT one A and the Sendheiser MK four I can't recommend highly enough. I have a road nt one and I also have the Senheiser MK four. Now, if you want to really, you know, go over the moon and your budget can afford it and you want to do it, another great microphone is the Neiman TLM one oh three, which is a very very very coveted microphone in the industry. The TLM one oh three, it's going to set you back between eight hundred and one thousand dollars or more, but it is very articulate in that it's sensitive. It will pick up every nuance, every dynamic of your voice, every little intimate thing you do and say things like that. But it's a great microphone. I own one of those and I use that a lot. I use that a lot with my audiobook, narration and e learning videos. Another popular microphone if you're you know, if budget is not a concern, is the Senhi for sixteen. Sorry, a little more coffee there to get me going here today. The Sennheiser fourteen four sixteen is another microphone that requires phantom power. It is a shotgun mic very popular in the television industry, movie industry. Just you know and look up on Google and even YouTube and check out the ones that I'm mentioning here. You'll get a lot of reviews, you'll get to hear little samples with people's voices and things of that nature. But very coveted, very coveted microphones. All in all, you can't go wrong with any of those. The key is is to find the microphone that fits your voice, emphasizes your voice, suits your voice the best. That is the key, and it's going to take some experimentation and tweaking. Now that being said, any microphone you get, more than likely is going to require some post processing. And what post processing is is after your record, it's applying things like compression, equalization, compression, you know, maybe a DS or things like that, a limiter, you know, it's that's but that's after your record. Now you got the microsphone. Let's say you got you went out and you got the microphone. But you're gonna need some type of interface to get it into a computer or a recorder. Now there's two ways you can go. If you have a computer, whether it be a laptop or a desktop, what you can do is get yourself a interface, an audio interface. Okay, and there's many out there. A lot of people start out with the Scarlet two I two, Series three I three. You can go with them. There's there's many out there that are affordable. The thing I would say is with regards to that, by what you can afford the best that you can afford it, you know now, because the sad thing is is you don't want to be chasing what they call good money after bad You buy let's say a Scarlet two I two, but you know, down the roads you're gonna want to get into something better. Now you can, and this is where the rabbit hole comes, because you can really get down a rabbit hole purchasing and buying things and really get yourself into a financial peril and mental peril because you'll be like, oh, this sounds a little better to me. They call it gas in the music industry when like, if you're a guitarist or bass and gas not gas, like oh my god, I had too much you know, spicy food or what have you, or too much broccoli. GAS is an acronym that stands for gear acquisition syndrome, which means you're constantly chasing new gear. You think the newest toy is going to make you better. You need the basics to start if you want the highest end audio interface, one of the highest ends that you can get right now. The Universe Audio Apollo Twin is a phenomenal interface. I can't speak highly enough on it. No, I don't work for them or nor am I an affiliate. However, I started out on a Scarlet two I two. Then I went to a Scarlet eighteen ninet twenty, which was more inputs I thought I needed because I do music. I found out I really didn't, and then lo and behold. About a couple of years back, I graduated to the to the Universal Audio Apollo Twin series for my Mac and have not looked back. They are expensive. They're about eight hundred to one thousand dollars depending on where you might be able to find them on sale for seven ninety nine or six ninety nine here and there when they run a sale. However, the reason I say, if you want a high end audio interface, the Scarlet has, from what I've come across so far, the cleanest, most powerful pre ams that I've ever encountered thus far. Now some made argue with me and say, well, this interface or that one. There's a lot of new stuff coming out too. I think it's Moto or Moto makes one that's really high end as well, which is about fourteen hundred dollars, because it has all the effects built in really and initially, but the advantage you get with the Universal Audio is that it has a microprocessing like a mini computer built into it. It'll allow you to do real time processing of your voice, so you can hear what your voice will sound like with your EQ compression, you know, dsing things of that nature. You'll get that sound right up front. You won't have to do a lot of that in post. So basically, a really the best microphone you can afford. Try to find one that suits your voice. If friends have one and that you know, go play with those. And I know this is a long answer to the question, folks, but you know we got to do Cindi Justice out there in Montana. So that and a good audio interface and then your computer or you can record directly into a recorder. However you're still going to have to put that into a computer. So that's where I would get started. Now. The other thing is is if you've never done anything like that or like this before, I would say, grab a book, a magazine and just start reading and recording yourself and listening back. That way, you'll develop your pacing, your timing, what have you. If you have organizations in your area that allow you to volunteer to read for people kids, what have you, take advantage of that when you're starting out as well. Definitely, because those are opportunities for self improvement. And then after that as you go, if you can afford it once you get going, if you're totally new to the industry and have never done anything like that, or even if you've been around and done a few things here and there, you know, I would say, if you can afford it, look around and find yourself a good voiceover coach. There are plenty out there, but be careful because there's a lot of charlatans out there that just want to take your money. I would offer you this if anybody or any organization or individual claiming to be a coach states, hey, you know, pay three thousand dollars and in ninety days we'll do a demo and you'll be setting off. No, the voiceover industry has its share of charlatans that just want to grab your money. And you know, yeah, they'll give you some type of training, but they'll throw you out there and you won't be ready for anything, and you won't you won't have the confidence instilled and the tools, all the tools you may need to competitively compete. Okay, but again basics microphone interface, computer, or recording device. I would start with just lots of reading of a book or books magazines. Record yourself, listen back, listen to how you sound. If you can afford it, Also, get yourself a good coach. A good coach should run you anywhere from one hundred dollars an hour to one hundred and fifty dollars an hour. You know, some of them do it in like a package where they'll do it, or they'll just do it on a per DM basis every time you schedule with them. I know that may sound like a lot of money to some people, but remember you're taking up these individuals times time, and you're gaining your plucking from their knowledge and their years of experience vet a coach. Just you know Paul Schmidt, who if you look him up on YouTube, has a lot of great information about vetting a voiceover coach and the type of coach you should look for in the beginning. If you're new, or if you want to specialize in certain things, there's lots of information out there. You can get information overload. Just take your time and go for it. You know, if you really want to do this and you have a passion, again, don't let the obstacles thrown in front of you discourage you. Be prepared to hear a lot of no. There'll be a lot of times. I have it all the time. I audition for things, never hear back. Sometimes I hear back and say, hey, thanks, but we're moving in another direction, or hey, yes, we've short what's called shortlisting, you know. Between and you know the eight hundred people that applied, you're down to the four hundred cut and then BOWM, I hear nothing, and then there's those times you hear back so and there's a whole world out there you can do for voiceover. You can do commercial, you can do narration, which is like audiobooks or short form e learning for companies, long form video narration, short form video narration. Video game industry has a lot for that. There's just so much, you know, they have what you'll hear the term voice of God, which means you're an announcer. You know, like if you're at an event, you know, all people get ready to board the train. It leaves in ten minutes, and remember, you know, stuff like that. They call it the voice of God. And I was just making a funny voice for that. So there you go, Sindy from Montana. I hope that answers some of your questions. If you have further questions or want for their clarification, I think, please feel free to email me at mail at voice thoughts dot com. And speaking of voiceover, I do have a voiceover website. It's Terrywiss dot com. You can see my website, I see my mug, check out some of my samples there as well, so all right, onward and upward. We go on to the next question. Boy, that one took about what fifteen minutes or so? Right, Wow, long winded question or long winded answer. I'm sorry to What would you think would be a relatively simple question, But it's just not that simple, especially in the voiceover industry. It's rewarding. Believe me, this industry is very rewarding, but it's feast or famine, and you have to be prepared, be prepared, like I said, to work. It's a business. You have to work at it. You are self employed, you're what's called a freelancer, and there'll be times where you'll be so busy you'll be like, oh my god, there's not enough hours in the day. And then there'll be weeks and even months where you go, does anyone you know you couldn't get arrested for stealing your own name, But good luck to you on that. All right, So the next question comes to us from Darren. Darren is in Tennessee, and Darren writes in and says, hey, Terry, listen to the podcast, love it. I know you talk a lot about your health and about mental health and things of that nature. What do you think of the new idea of telemedicine in the past few years and how it relates to mental health. Do you think there's a fundamental difference between that or seeing a professional counselor or a psychologist psychiatrist in person. Just curious about your thoughts. Thanks, love the show, keep it up all right. Well, here's an answer that just popped into my head immediately after reading that any help, any help for your mental health is considered I think a good step in the right direction. And what I mean to say by that is this the fact that you realize, hey, I want to talk to somebody that is a professional. That is a positive step in the right direction. And I'll preface my remarks by saying I am not medically certified in anything, so just take this is my own personal opinion. You got to give that disclaimer nowadays because unfortunately sometimes it is a litigious society we live in. So in regards to that, I believe that the telemedicine industry that has been born over the past four plus years, four or five years, I mean, it is just an extension of when you used to be able to get a hold of your doctor and actually speak to them. I mean, how many people call their doctors now and they get the nurse's assistant or the clerk at the front desk and says, well, we'll ask the doctor and we'll get back to you. Stuff like that. So I believe it is definitely more has made the mental health end of it especially more accessible to a lot of us. I believe it has broken down barriers in that some people feel shy and awkward about going into an office and talking to someone about their you know, their feelings or a situation they're having difficulty with. And so I believe it gives the the person seeking the treatment and the help more comfortability in that they're in the comfort of their own home and they're just looking at someone on a screen. So that's good. You want to make sure that the person, obviously you are communicating with is someone you feel comfortable with, that you've looked a little bit at their credentials again, because there's people out there that are you know, there's there's they're good and bad mechanics, good and bad electricians, good and bad salespeople, good and bad food service workers. And there's good and bad doctors, good and bad counselors. Absolutely, So you want to make sure you're they call it, you know, you're vetting properly, you're you're investigating a little bit, and then I'd say go for it. Are there distinct advantages between in person and being on camera with someone in a type situation? Honestly, I don't know. I would you know, I would say probably if you're going to seek something like that, the you know, the telemedicine thing might be the best option at this point. It certainly can be more affordable because you're not wasting gas and things of that nature to drive there. Some people like the closeness of another human being being in the vicinity of another human being. But honestly, I think if you get a good counselor you know, to see therapist, what have you. I don't think it makes a difference if they're physically in the room with you or you're looking at them in a video conference call, because I think the the communication between you back and forth and their input and insight, I don't believe it'll be affected in any way because they're going to see your reaction, see how you react, see what you know you react to, and what have you. So I would say fundamentally, I don't believe there is a difference. An answer to your question. I hope that helps. But I think the telemedicine thing is a good thing, and it opens it up to a lot more people, breaks down barriers and allows I believe, for more easy access, especially because some of the telemedicine things I have seen, especially for counselors, and that some of them are available twenty four to seven. So that's a good thing. Try to get into your doctor twenty four to seven. Yeah, right, that's not going to happen. So thank you very much for the question, and moving right along here, man, time is just flying by on this episode here, all right, Next we're going to go to Rick from Pennsylvania. Rick from PA writes in and he says, Hey, Terry, enjoy the show. I get a chuckle sometimes out of your comments. I wanted to ask you that in all the years that you've been doing the podcast, what is one of the more difficult topics that you've had to talk about on your show or what is one of the more difficult things that you discussed and got some feedback on. All right, Rick, thank you very much for the question. So, man, I've been doing this for a while. You know, I've been doing this for about well since the pandemic began, and then some way back in the year, remember twenty twenty. Hard to believe we're four years out from twenty twenty. Huh. Sorry, a little more coffee there for me I needed. So what is the what of the man? I can't pick just one. There's been a handful, and I would probably say the most difficult episodes I've had to tackle and deal with is in my Again, my humble opinion, is how people are acting in society, the overall way the general public behaves. And the reason I say that is because I grew up in a different era. Okay, I'm I'm on the down side of fifty heading towards sixty, and I grew up in a whole different era where you were taught respect for your parents, you were taught respect for your elders, you were taught respect for authority. Now, I know some of you out there like, oh yeah, but I get it. I get it. I understand. The point I'm making is this, as a child, these things were instilled into my character, and you know, my sibling as well, and the children around me. For the most part, ninety nine ninety five percent of us were taught respect and self worth, and everyone didn't get a trophy, and if you messed up, there were consequences. It wasn't shuffled under the rug. I was brought up in a time too that everyone deserves opportunity and should be treated with respect, regardless of any race or ethnic background, et cetera. We were also a lot freer society in our I think in our interactions with each other. You know, we told jokes on each other, we we told things, and no one got easily offended. Okay, I mean I had friends of all races and nationalities, et cetera, and we always busted on each other with the things that you would think nowadays would be like, oh my god, I can't believe you said that to him or her, and the things that were said to me, and we just took it as all ribbing and fun. There was no intended hurt behind it. It was all just busting, busting each other's onions as they say, I would say onions instead of the other word. But we were, you know, we were just ribbing on each other, reefin on each other, and we all went back and forth, and it was good nature, just fun, and we hung out together, we did things together. There was no at least in my circle and in my universe, there was no you know, you didn't think about things like race or color of skin. Nothing. It was just like, hey, I'm going down with, you know, with Joe. I'm going down with Damien, or I'm going down with Chakwan and we're gonna hang out at his house. I'm gonna have dinner at their house, or they're gonna come here and have dinner at our house, et cetera. There was none of that predetermined format that you have to act a certain way and can't say certain things. You had the freedom to do that. The other thing, you know, respect for authority and elders. Like I said, a lot of us were taught that. We were taught these things that you have respect for these people, you have a certain amount, you gave them a certain amount of life credits as it were, because they were in a position authority. Now again, I know, I know some of you out there probably right now as you're listening to this, wringing your hands and saying, yeah, but there's crappy cops, crappy doctors, crappy salespeople, crappy adults, crappy parents. I get it. It's not like they, you know, didn't make them in my era growing up. It's just that it was a different mindset, and we weeded out those crappy people and they were held accountable. Okay, it wasn't the instant accountability. In other words, in the first ten seconds, weren't boom. We came to it from a different standpoint. We walked into the situation with a different set of circumstances, and a lot of times, a lot of times had positive outcomes. And I have done many an episode on how disheartened I am at times with our society, especially American society, at the entitlement, the narcissism, the downright disrespect that we all have for each other across the board. A lot of us do at times just downright disrespect where a lot of folks out there walk around it's all about me and the hell with you. As long as I get mine, I don't care about you and yours. It's okay to be ambitious, it's okay to be engaged, and you know, wanting the best for you and your family. I understand that, but if you've got to step over everyone and crush other people and hurt them both physically and mentally to get there, then something's wrong. Something is very wrong, and I don't believe that makes for a very good, harmonious and productive society. I mean, look at the world we live in today. It seems like the pendulum is swinging back with this whole cancel culture wokeness stuff, which is good. I am not, and I'll say it. I'm not a woke person. I'm a decent person. I don't believe in the idea the cultism being in the cult of being woke, that I've got to walk around and prove to everybody how nice I I just let my action speak and you judge for yourself. I'm not going to give you a resume of how wonderful I am, nor should you be a decent person show others respect. Be kind to yourself. I say it at the end of every episode of this podcast, don't I be good to yourself. Remember the change you want to see in the world starts with the person looking back at you in the mirror every morning. It starts with you. Be kind to yourself, be kind to others, be kind to animals. If you can live by that credo, I think that's there you go. You got a great starting point and a great launching pad, right why not? I think you got a long way to go for greatness. Why not? I don't see any problem with that. So those are the hardest shows I've had to do because a lot of times I see things, I experience things, I observe things, and at some point I got to speak up and say something. Now do I always have the correct opinion? That's up to you to decide. I believe based on the information that I have gathered, the experiences I have had, and what I've gone through, and what I go through and what I see observed, feel it is. But again, interpretation is purely subjective in most cases, not all, but most so. I hope that answers your question. And you know, those are the toughest ones. Those are the toughest ones for me to do. So, Hey, thanks for stopping by today, everybody, and thanks for joining me for this episode of Listener Mail. Hey, thanks for listening to the program today. I truly appreciate each and every one of you out there, and remember to see a change in the world. You have to the change in the world you want to see. It all starts with you, the person looking back at you in the mirror every morning. Remember to be kind to yourself, be kind to others. If you want to tweet at me on Twitter, it's at Terry Weiss. Stop by the website Wis's thoughts dot com just to make sure you spell my name right, Wye Wiys's thoughts dot com, and hey, leave us a positive rating and review on your favorite podcast provider. Won't you tell your friends, tell your family, tell your pets about wife's thoughts? And I look forward to gathering yet again around the virtual campfire with you real soon. Take care the past, prest Preston