Inside the Whispery, Wonderful Golden Age of ASMR | Hacker News Reader

Inside the Whispery, Wonderful Golden Age of ASMR

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49 pointslaurex42 comments

It's funny, I was thinking the exact opposite just yesterday, that the Golden Age of ASMR had passed and that we're in some sort of Dark Ages. Most content I see now in YouTube is unimaginative, low-quality attention whoring. Young people (usually women, but not always) just doing random shit on camera with a clickbait title and calling it ASMR.

Maybe I'm grumpy and crotchety, or maybe it's because I have very specific triggers, but I almost never enjoy 'intentional' ASMR and I especially dislike some of the more commercialized or sexualized content. It just feels like the opposite of what ASMR is supposed to be, which is simple and relaxing.

For new channels maybe, but for the “classic” channels (GentleWhispering, WhispersRed, etc) I think the content is better than ever.

I would suggest checking out some of the Korean ASMR out there. Yes, most of it is done by pretty women, but it's usually not sexualized, and very creative and relaxing. Now, Chinese ASMR, that is often sexualized. I honestly don't find a problem with it, and don't understand why others do.

I think the strong consonants of Korean speech help making the videos more ASMR triggering. I am also fond of them.

There's just as much good content out there as ever. And there was always attention seeking content. Even 5 years ago you could find bountiful cleavage, kissing, even porn stars doing asmr.

If you like the wholesome stuff, it's no hard to find

There's even ASMR comedy now if you want, see "ASMR Bank Robbery" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okqbL9ZZQaM

Also the "ASMR Kidnapping": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cv9KhAzStI

Now a search for "asmr kidnapping" on Youtube gives what looks like at least 100 plausible results.

Personally I find the "random shit on camera" is just fine, as long as the delivery is sufficiently appropriate. But my use case is usually to help me unwind and get to sleep so if the content is too interesting it's counter-productive.

I think the true effect you're probably referring to by the 'unintentional' ASMR is hard to achieve so I guess I don't hold most of the Youtube stuff to that standard as long as I get what I want out of it. I guess this is a long-winded way of saying YMMV.

That said if you or anyone wants to make some suggestions of high-quality ASMR videos I'd be interested.

You're free to like whatever you like, I didn't mean to imply otherwise. Just for reference though, here's some videos I enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71YTkxUNwmg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISamd1EilIQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM4S-ivm3rk

The first two are unintentional (the channels do not market themselves as ASMR) and the last one is intentional.

Sure, just offering an alternate opinion. Thanks for the links.

I somewhat agree, but there are still good ASMRtists out there. My favorite at the moment is ASMRMagic ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHrKd8ElaVdk7OBQAgx8JrQ ). She doesn't wear distracting skimpy clothing, she does lots of non-whisper/no-talking videos, and she is very creative in finding lots of nice sounds for her videos. One of my new favorites is where she puts an umbrella around a TASCAM and sprays it with water from a water bottle.

I wish it wasn't such a gendered space, but I just really can't find many dudes doing it well. The couple that are decent that I've found do mostly whisper videos.

When you're not even watching and the person isn't talking/whispering, that aspect of it kind of melts away anyway, and it just turns into pure prop-based soundscape crafting.

Interesting timing. I thought I'd check out ASMR recently and, wow, the videos I found were bad. Like, really bad. I completely gave up on it as a medium after giving a half dozen different videos a shot, and went back to rainymood (although I'd love to find some delightful newspaper crinkling or Scottish accents).

For reference, here's the videos that served as my introduction to ASMR:

* "ASMR: My Treasured Darling [Irish Accent] [Gaelic] [3D Sound][TLC]" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJiojl9ixRw

* "Zen ASMR | Typing & Soft/Whisper | Coding: Python | # 1" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWMYKfiNYts

* "ASMR Keyboard Sound 1H (No Talking)" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6noMxePbj6w

* "ASMR Paper sounds , Old book , Crinkling ( No Talking )" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgtbr5oQeQw

* "ASMR~ Fixing You {Keyboard Sounds}" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEpBdb-RGRM

* "ASMR Ear to Ear Whisper About C Programming for Relaxation (Layered Typing Sounds) Pt. 1" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrFegNHpHfc

To people who enjoy ASMR: are these videos just especially bad videos, or am I just not doing it right / appreciating it right? FWIW, I quit each video after a minute or two, after skipping around to see if they get any better. The thing that bothers me the most is when there's these ridiculously long spaces between words (maybe.. for emphasis?), but comes across as them just not knowing what to say, which is extremely offputting. OTOH, it's in every video i've watched so far so I don't know if it's intentional.

ASMR is a tingling sensation that can be triggered by reasons as varied as the people listening. For example, some people never get it from audio but only from interacting with others, like listening to someone tell a story or explain something in detail. Usually people's first experience is by accident and something they recall later rather than a purposeful attempt through youtube videos.

If you like rainymood then perhaps your trigger is rain and weather sounds, and these other videos (which admittedly look low quality) are just not your thing. There's also a lot of content out there so you'll have to put in some effort into finding what works for you.

A tingling feeling similar to my experience of AMSR (based on the whispering Youtube videos) happens when I inhale sharply and focus on the back of my head. Doing so also tilts my head back everso slightly.

If I concentrate more, I need not inhale sharply, just normal breathing will do. The tingling happens always at the in-breath.

A strong tingle persists over the out breath too.

If I keep (over) doing it, it vanishes for some time. All this led me to believe it is muscle related somehow, and the vanishing effect is because of muscle fatigue. What muscle/muscles - no clue, something on the scalp I guess.

I don't know of it's the same, but for me it feels like that.

> are these videos just especially bad videos, or am I just not doing it right

Of course, this sounds lame and mystical, but "it depends and it's different for everyone."

My favorite ASMR videos aren't the ones with the crazy high production value and the makeup and the desperation for subscribers.

My favorite are the videos by people who are just documenting their lives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwkfcG0oxEU

Thanks, "it depends and it's different for everyone" was the answer I was expecting, but I wasn't sure if there was something else to it that resulted in such a large population of ASMR videos springing up so quickly. I'd think if it were 100% varied, they'd all be super niche, but the fact that they're all labeled similarly and part of an overarching "ASMR" movement made me think there was some common thread that made them "work" for everyone.

I'm watching/listening to the video you linked and the metal clinking sounds (and the lady's voice/accent) are nice and pleasant, but they're not "doing" anything for me worth a 30 minute video quite yet -- will keep watching with an open mind and put some more effort into finding what's right for me. :)

One thing I'll mention is that if you don't already know what ASMR feels like, you probably don't get it at all.

I doubt anyone's first ASMR experience will be through an ASMR video. It's more like something you've experienced on and off since childhood, at the store, the library, the barber shop, the doctor's office, etc.

And when the ASMR videos started getting popular, everyone who experiences ASMR heard about them and thought to themselves "So that's what that sensation is called! I thought I was the only one!"

So don't treat it like a spiritual journey where you'll find some lost part of yourself. It's really just a tool for relaxation, and if you "get the tingles" that's just a plus.

It's pretty much just a cover fronting for a genre of soft core cheesecake pinup phone sex.

It targets from two angles, the models don't really understand the cheap thrills listeners get from this audio, and the listeners retain plausible deniability for the sexualization of their fantasies, such that they don't have to admit to hoarding pornography, as is the case with images and video.

Sadly this is more about Youtube views and has become a huge bummer for me. I started listening to some of these early videos around 9 or 10 years ago and they weren't referred to as ASMR videos at first but rather I'd search for "whisper videos", "soft spoken relaxation videos", and stuff like that.

These typically didn't even show the person who was speaking as you typically listened on headphones while laying down to relax. I found it soothing and they probably triggered some instinctive reaction to non-sexual intimacy and care.

Over the years it's become harder to find videos that soothe and relax me in this way because the "scene" that has developed around ASMR seems to focus on all sorts of weird sounds like tapping on stuff, loud crinkling, rubber gloves, and the absolute worst (for me)...touching the damn mic!

If I'm trying to relax with some soothing, soft voice talking me through some relaxation scenario or just something to zone out on while I fall asleep, the last thing I want to hear is some loud, unexpected sound or brushing on the mic. As someone who has done quite a bit of video and audio production, if someone bumps or touches the mic it's not a good thing and it just kicks me out of whatever relaxing, tingly zone I may have been sinking into.

I understand that a lot of people dig the foley art and sound effects but it seems like now (on youtube at least) it's 95% crinkly, crackly, brushy, tappy, chewing (ugghhh) sounds made right up into a mic by some pretty girl in front of a ring light and a DIY chromakey backdrop. None of this is relaxing or soothing to me and it certainly doesn't trigger any ASMR tingles in me...

...but I'm sure it helps boost those view counts and grab viewer attention when that sexy thumbnail shows up in the Youtube listing.

>the absolute worst (for me)...touching the damn mic!

It really is the worst.

Straight male here. My favorite ASMR video is of a dude wearing a fish person mask, eating fudge, and talking to a pineapple [1].

Can you explain to me how exactly this is "soft core phone sex"? Am I unconsciously gay for fish-men?

What you are talking about does happen, but I think you are painting with waay too broad a brush.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2v1-PQ2cmo&

Ha ha! That video is on another level entirely. The appeal of that particular channel has nothing to do with ASMR, and you know it.

Asmr videos are specific in the way books are. Few of the professional produced asmr works for me, only specific videos by specific asmr artists like Dr Latte's Cranial Nerve Exam. Just as with a book - you should be in a certain mood to enjoy them or it doesn't work so well. I think Sequoya always works if you listen long enough. Look at the unintentional asmr videos links in my other comment.

To many, whisper content in commercials and other A/V is the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard or someone clipping their finger nails.

Can think of few trends that are so anxiety and discomfort inducing as intentional loud whispering. I sincerely hope it disappears as quickly as it arrived.

Easy solution: don't watch it. Commercials may be hard to avoid but an asmr YouTube channel is very easy to avoid. If it's not your thing, move on. I enjoy it very much

Not always as easy as you make it sound, it's hard to avoid it when you live with (or share a bed with) someone who is really into ASMR.

I find the same thing about typically yelling-at-you advertisements, particularly when interspersed with ASMRey or otherwise non-bombastic content. Maybe we can do something about that (Google? You listening?).

Also those radio station hosts who are always yelling and speaking loudly throughout the whole show, as if loud noises and phony excited speaking will make a boring show entertaining.

Same, I demand my partner uses headphones whenever she listens to ASMR in bed (which is pretty often). It makes me very uncomfortable. It's almost an irrational reaction, but a real and uncontrollable one for me.

I wouldn't be able to live with someone who couldn't stand ASMR, much less someone who would get irritated by it.

Relationships are full of compromises like this. I put up with it occasionally but generally asking her to wear headphones when she listens to ASMR (which I believe youre supposed to anyway) is not a big ask.

You can even go the extra step and get them realistic noise-canceling ones for sleeping. They'll probably even thank you for it!

Whispering is only 1 of an infinite number of ASMR triggers. Everyone has their own thing. It's strange to wish for it to disappear without even seemingly understanding it in the first place.

Personally I enjoy the Cranial Nerve Exams and some of the unintentional asmr videos such as Sequoya by Lucas Paakh, the infamous T.M Lewin suit fitting video and that video on the Alexander Technique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAfBsrds4_g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_qc5Veo9p84

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXqIuvav5hY

I like those, and also the vietnam barber shop stuff for some weird reason https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jqwnv1eLfY4&t=836s

My trigger is hairdryers. This is the best channel by far: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ryuK4Fv1hvvIxMcXfcHsQ/vid...

ASMR is probably pretty well suited to ML. I had a sox one liner generating ~infinite content from [no talking] ASMR videos, which worked surprisingly well with some post processing in audacity. I would guess today some services could synthesize convincing speech too.

Would you mind sharing the said oneliner? I've never worked with sox, but it looks interesting.

Sorry, it seems I lost it.

It was nothing fancy at all though, I simply piped youtube-dl to sox, cut up the original audio on 'silence' (some tweaking the thresholds for what is considered silence was necessary) then concatenated the resulting segments in random order until it was long enough. Then some manual touches with audacity.

End result was something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO_Z3MLZrNQ

I've never had the experience with any videos online, but I do get it with certain music, and I got it a _lot_ more when I was younger.

I still get it a bit active listening to this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UviPosBdGAo

Could it be that you are referring to frisson and not ASMR?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisson

What if I told you ASMR is just a frisson brought into the future?

Oh. My. God! I'm having one now. No.. hang on. That's horripilation.

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