"More energy" is the worst direction you can give a voice over artist. I've heard it approximately 10,000 times in 20+ years, and it has never once produced a better take. The direction is useless because it tells the talent nothing about what you actually want. It's like telling a chef the food needs "more flavor" — technically true, completely unhelpful, and guaranteed to send them in the wrong direction.
When a client says "more energy," what they usually mean is one of about fifteen different things. Maybe the read sounds flat. Maybe it sounds too corporate. Maybe it's missing enthusiasm, or warmth, or urgency, or brightness. Maybe the pacing is wrong. Maybe the emphasis is landing on the wrong words. But "more energy" communicates none of that. The voice over artist hears the direction, tries to sound more energetic, and you end up with something louder and faster — which is almost never what you wanted.
The translation problem nobody talks about
Here's what actually happens when you give that direction. The talent has two options: increase volume or increase speed. That's how humans interpret "energy" when they have no other guidance. So they push harder, speak faster, and the read sounds exactly like what you told them not to sound like in the first place — a voice over. A 1950s announcer trying to sell you floor wax.
A study by the Audio Engineering Society found that listeners perceive faster speech as more energetic but less trustworthy. And louder speech triggers a slight stress response in the listener — the opposite of what most brands want. So "more energy" often produces a read that alienates rather than engages, and nobody understands why the spot isn't working.
The voice over artist, by the way, is not confused. They've heard this direction a thousand times. They know it's vague. But they also know the client is the client, so they give you what you asked for and hope you'll figure out what you actually want on take 47.
What you probably mean instead
When clients tell me "more energy," I ask follow-up questions. Nine times out of ten, what they actually want falls into one of these categories:
They want more variation. The read sounds monotone, and they're hearing the same pitch on every line. The solution isn't more energy — it's melodic range. Up and down. Light and shade.
They want more connection. The talent sounds like they're reading, not talking. What they need is for the artist to speak to someone specific, not to an abstract audience of millions. I sometimes ask: "Who is this person? Are they your friend, your neighbor, someone at a party?" That changes everything.
They want more urgency. There's a call to action that needs to land harder. The solution is emphasis and pacing on specific phrases, not a general increase in intensity across the whole read.
They want more warmth. The read sounds clinical or distant. What helps here is a smile — literally. When a voice over artist smiles while reading, you hear it. The resonance changes. The tone opens up. (This is one of those things that sounds like superstition until you hear the before and after.)
Have you ever directed a session where you said "more energy" three times in a row and the talent kept giving you something you didn't want? That's because the direction wasn't working. The talent wasn't the problem.
The specificity principle
Better voice direction in a Spanish session — or any session — comes down to one thing: specificity. Tell the artist what you're hearing that you don't like. Tell them what you want to feel. Give them an image, a scenario, a person to speak to.
"Can you try it like you're excited to share a secret?" is useful. "Can you land harder on 'hoy' and lift the pitch on 'descubre'?" is useful. "Imagine you're talking to someone who just woke up and needs convincing to get out of bed" is useful.
"More energy" is noise.
The research backs this up. According to a 2019 study published in the Journal of Voice, performers given specific emotional targets delivered more consistent and audience-aligned reads than those given abstract intensity directions. The study was about actors, not voice over specifically, but the principle transfers directly. Humans respond to concrete targets. Abstract ones produce chaos.
Why the first take is often right
Here's something I've observed across hundreds of sessions: when a client asks for "more energy" repeatedly, they usually end up choosing the first take anyway. The first take was the artist's natural interpretation of the script before anyone started second-guessing. It had the pacing and emphasis that made intuitive sense to a professional who does this for a living.
Then the direction starts. More energy. More energy. More. And by take 30, everyone is exhausted, the read sounds artificial, and someone says "you know what, let's go back and listen to take one." I've seen this happen with Ford, with Google, with brands that have incredibly experienced creative teams. The pattern is universal.
The lesson: if the first take doesn't work, identify specifically why. If it does work, stop directing. The voice over artist's instinct is usually right. They've read thousands of scripts. They know where the emphasis goes. They know what sounds natural. Trust them or tell them something specific — there's no middle ground where "more energy" lives.
Better direction takes thirty seconds
I'm not saying direction is bad. Direction is necessary. But good direction sounds like this:
"The energy is fine, but I'm losing you on the last line. Can you lift the pitch on 'llámanos' so it doesn't feel like an afterthought?"
"This sounds informational. I want it to sound like a recommendation — like you've tried it and you're telling a friend."
"You're landing on every word equally. Can you throw away 'para toda la familia' and punch 'nuevo'?"
These directions take thirty seconds to formulate. They save an hour of bad takes. And they treat the artist like the professional they are — someone who can execute a precise adjustment if you tell them what adjustment you need.
The more energy direction, by contrast, tells them nothing. It's a symptom of not knowing what you want. And that's fine — discovering what you want is part of the process. But admit that's what's happening and figure it out together, rather than repeating a useless phrase and hoping the talent will guess correctly.
The Spanish session difference
In a Spanish session, this problem gets worse if the client doesn't speak Spanish. You're hearing sounds you can't fully evaluate, so you fall back on impressionistic directions like "more energy" because you don't have the vocabulary for what's actually wrong. I get it. But it still doesn't work.
What works is bringing in a native Spanish speaker to direct, or trusting the artist to flag when something sounds off. When I record for non-Spanish-speaking clients, I'll often say: "That emphasis sounds unnatural in Spanish — let me try an alternative." The good clients say yes. The difficult clients say "more energy."
Give me something I can act on
The client is always the client. I'll do fifty takes if that's what you need. But if you want better results faster, give direction I can act on. Tell me what's wrong. Tell me what you want to feel. Tell me who I'm talking to. Give me a visual, a scenario, a single word to emphasize differently.
And if you find yourself saying "more energy" for the third time, pause. Ask yourself what you actually mean. The answer will be there — you just have to find it. When you do, the session will take fifteen minutes instead of two hours, and you'll have a read that actually works.
Need a Spanish voice over for your next project? Get in touch and I'll get back to you within the hour.
