Steven Smith is the founder of the website, ezASMR.com.
He created the website to help creators of ASMR videos to better understand ASMR, select appropriate equipment, produce better videos, and do it all in an “ez” way.
Steven has put together several tips for recording ASMR videos. These tips should be helpful to all creators of ASMR videos and especially to those who are just starting out.
Below are his Seven Tips to record ASMR videos along with a link to his website.
J.F. is a marketing consultant with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design from Boston University. She currently lives in the Northeast of the U.S.
Since 2015, J.F. has created over 100 ASMR videos as the artist STYASMR, an acronym for her channel name, “Sucks To Your ASMR!”
I initially thought that an ASMR video channel with that name would have parody videos, abrupt videos, or some other type of negative or non-ASMR content. I was pleasantly surprised to find a bunch of gentle, relaxing, softly-voiced, and delightful ASMR videos.
In my interview with J.F., she shares her reason for calling her video channel, “Sucks To Your ASMR!”, her inspiration for making ASMR videos, her tips for new artists, and how her videos are helping others.
Below are my questions in bold, her replies in italics, and a link to her curiously named channel, “Sucks To Your ASMR!”
The ASMR artist, Deni ASMRCZ, recently asked me if whispering is bad for the throat or vocal cords.
A 2006 research article stated, “For years, otolaryngologists and voice therapists have warned voice patients that whispering causes more trauma to the larynx than normal speech. However, no large series of patients has ever been examined fiberoptically during whispering to test this hypothesis.”
In 2011, The New York Times asked Dr. Robert T. Sataloff, chairman of the otolaryngology department at Drexel University College of Medicine why clinicians recommend that patients avoid whispering. He said this recommendation was based on “years of pronouncement and almost no research, like so much in medicine.”
Even when searching for more recent research publications, there doesn’t seem to be any research studies which clearly answer this question yet, but there are personal experiences, clinical opinions, and physiological studies.
I’ll cover all three of these types of sources, and then I conclude this article with links to resources about tips, remedies, and clinical procedures for treating vocal strain.
Let’s begin in 2009 with the first ASMR artist, WhisperingLife. She mentioned in some of her videos that whispering sometimes hurt her voice. This may have been one of the reasons her videos were relatively short and averaged about 10 minutes long.
Jump forward to 2019. I’ve created over 200 podcast episodes for the Sleep Whispers podcast of pure whispering, with an average length of 40 minutes each and a max length of 90 minutes. I’ve never felt any discomfort in my throat or voice, but I do often feel like I am running out of breath.
So these two simple and personal examples highlight that whispering may create different types of discomfort for different individuals.
Let’s see what further evidence I can uncover for the effect of whispering on the throat and vocals.
Would you be interested in an ASMR spa?
Amanda Rose Doherty is currently an Account Manager at a software company in Barcelona, Spain. She received her Business Studies Degree in Marketing at Dublin City University.
Amanda was considering the idea of opening an ASMR spa. She created a survey in 2016 to assess interest in this idea and I wrote an article about her with a link to her survey.
The bad news is that Amanda has shifted her focus away from creating an ASMR spa, but the good news is that she has shared the results of her survey with me – and the data shows that there is a strong interest in ASMR spas.
She had over 600 responses and has given me permission to share her interesting data below. Below are results from her survey, followed by a link if you would like to learn more about her.
Abby Lee Hood is a Nashville-based freelance writer who recently wrote a terrific article for MTV news titled, “ASMR IS NORMALIZING CONSENT, ONE WHISPER AT A TIME.”
Her article highlights how consent not only applies to romantic and non-romantic relationships, but also to ASMR. Consent is an important part of ASMR role-play videos and real world ASMR sessions because feeling safe and at ease is probably critical to the relaxing feeling of ASMR.
Abby Lee cites data in the article about consent and ASMR which was collected by MTV from over 100 participants. She has shared the data with me and given me permission to share it here. Most of the responses focus on ASMR videos, but the incorporation of consent would also be very relevant to live or person-to-person ASMR sessions.
Below are the data from the MTV survey, followed by links to her article and her website.
Elena Jdanova was born in Moscow, Russia (USSR back then), graduated from Moscow State University with a B.S. Degree in paleontology, and now resides in California, USA.
Her resume already includes experiences as an Indian dance instructor, ceramicist, massage therapist, and an author of two books.
Now, at the age of 62 years and as a loving grandmother to a couple of grandchildren, Elena has decided to start a new journey – she is creating ASMR videos on her new YouTube channel called Grandmother’s Tales.
So what do you get when you combine a Russian grandmother and an ASMR content creator? Someone who has a lifelong understanding of positive personal attention (also called “doting” in grandmother-speak) and communicates it with a delightful Russian accent.
In my interview with Elena she explains her inspiration to create ASMR videos, how being a grandmother influences her content, her challenges encountered so far with creating ASMR videos, and reactions to her videos from family, friends, and strangers.
Below are my questions in bold, her replies in italics, and links to her ASMR video channel, gardening video channel, and published books.
Whisperlodge is a live, in-person, theatrical, and totally immersive experience for ASMR lovers.
They only have a few events in specific locations throughout the year, and one of those is upcoming.
Whisperlodge will be at Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California from March 13 – 17, 2019.
Here is more information they shared with me so you can learn more about their ASMR experience.
In 2015, Dove chocolate probably created the first ASMR-inspired commercial.
In 2016, more companies followed, including Pepsi, KFC, and Ritz Crackers.
And since then, the list has been growing steadily to include Ikea, Applebee’s, McDonalds, Renault, Toyota, Sony, Zippo lighters, MTV, Behr paint, and more.
I won’t say they all succeeded in making ideal ASMR-triggering videos – some definitely understood ASMR better than others.
But I think they all did succeed in highlighting their products or message in a relaxing way. ASMR has inspired a new wave of commercials that don’t yell at you, push their products on you, demand you buy right now, and add to your daily stress.
Interested in viewing these low-key, relaxing commercials?
I’ve just created a new page on this website dedicated solely to ASMR-inspired commercials. I will keep adding to the page as more are produced, so feel free to revisit it occasionally to see the list grow.
Some of the commercials that I think have the best ASMR triggers include Dove chocolate, Ritz crackers, Michelob Ultra, Renault, and Ikea.
Visit the new page: ASMR Commercials
Jimmy Kimmel explored the curious world of ASMR videos – with the help of kids.
This week, his late night show on ABC featured a 5 minute segment of him talking to kids about ASMR. The kids explained ASMR and they watched ASMR videos together.
I thought the kids did a great job of explaining ASMR, with enjoyable moments of amusement between the host and the kids.
I’ve added Jimmy Kimmel to my growing list below of almost 50 actors, musicians, and other well know individuals who have discussed ASMR or attempted to create ASMR triggers.
Scroll down the list below and tap on Jimmy Kimmel’s name to watch his funny ASMR round table with the kids, and tap any of the other famous names to see how they are exploring ASMR.
Renee Frances is a children’s book author who has written the first children’s picture book to incorporate ASMR, titled “Avery Sleeps More Readily: A whispered Good Night Fairy book.”
Incorporating ASMR triggers into the content and process of reading a child a bedtime story is a fantastic idea. Common ASMR triggers like personal attention, whispering, soft voices, light touch, picture tracing, gentle hand movements, page turning, and caring behaviors are typical stimuli that can occur when a parent or caretaker reads a child a bedtime story.
It is even possible that the origins of ASMR are rooted in most caring behaviors that happen between children and their caretakers. Renee’s book not only reminds readers about incorporating these soothing behaviors at bedtime, but provides optimal techniques and content to help readers lull a child to sleep with a bedtime story.
The illustrations are beautifully done by Romaine Tacey and I was provided the great honor of writing the foreword. The book will be available on Amazon on August 8, 2018, but in the meantime you can access a digital copy via the link at the end of this article.
