Jodi Krangle

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Jodi@VoiceoversAndVocals.com

ASMR

Interview with ASMR Performance Artist and Co-Founder of Whisperlodge, Melinda Lauw – Part 2

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In the second part of my interview with Melinda Lauw, we continue our conversation about ASMR. In the first part, we really had a chance to dive into what ASMR is and what it looks like to create ASMR experiences – both in person and online. Now, we’re talking more about the commercial side of ASMR and where ASMR is starting to show up in more mainstream media.

We discuss:

  • What it looks like to do this work with advertisers
  • How Melinda partnered with a hotel and doing events with the hotel
  • Creating videos with Moxie hotels – Melinda gives her expertise and creates scripts for the hotels
  • Most of her gigs have been in conjunction with in person events
  • Melinda has been hired as the consultant for different companies when they’re looking to create ASMR content
  • The different parameters she has to work within when doing consulting work
  • The balance between the purpose of the ad or gig and being true to ASMR
  • Melinda shares some of her experiences with different advertising companies
  • ASMR forces people to pay attention to the little details
  • The growth of the ASMR community online
  • The continued waves of ASMR
  • How ASMR is becoming much more accessible to everyone
  • How ASMR is free and so accessible because of its online presence
  • The possibility of making money in ASMR, especially with YouTube
  • The pushback when people do try to monetize ASMR
  • The selective nature in finding the right brand sponsorship – they want to find sponsorships that are in alignment with ASMR
  • Melinda doesn’t like watching ASMR videos with ads in the middle because it ruins the experience (I don’t blame her at all!)
  • Tastefully adding in ads and how to make them in the same vein as ASMR
  • Melinda’s currently working on a live stream and the exhibit in Europe doing a live exhibit on ASMR
  • Melinda’s work creating videos for her YouTube channel
  • How she’ll be experimenting with different types and ways to make videos

 

If you want to find out more about Melinda, you can find her through the following:

Find out more about Whisperlodge: http://whisperlodge.nyc

See a video of an immersive live ASMR performance either on Netflix’s Follow This, Part 1, Episode 1 https://www.netflix.com/title/80217889

Or on Mashable https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKdW5k-7FcA&t=1s

Check out our ASMR videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/whisperlodge

 

This episode was very skillfully made to sound beautiful by the talented Humberto Franco (http://www.humbertofranco.com/).

 

Would you consider reviewing the Audio Branding Podcast?  If so, here’s the Apple Podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/audio-branding/id1489042453  And if you like what you hear (and read!) – please do share it with anyone you think might be interested. Thanks so much!

 

And if you’re interested in crafting an audio brand for your business, why not check out my FREE download – 5 Tips For Implementing An Intentional Audio Strategy at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Interview with ASMR Performance Artist and Co-Founder of Whisperlodge, Melinda Lauw – Part 1

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In this interview, I’m talking with Melinda Lauw. She’s the cofounder of Whisperlodge – a company working to create in person ASMR experiences. Whisperlodge has toured San Francisco, L.A., and New York and even been featured in a Netflix documentary. ASMR is one of the more recent additions to audio entertainment (it stands for “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response”) and it was fascinating to hear from someone who’s been on the forefront of this growing industry. In this first part of our interview, we’re discussing what ASMR is, and where you may have seen it in your own life!

We discuss the following in this interview:

  • COVID in the United States and Canada
  • How life looks for Melinda right now with COVID
  • Her first take on ASMR
  • 2008 was the first experience with ASMR
  • 2010 – the term ASMR officially becomes coined
  • The huge community of ASMR on YouTube
  • The most frequently asked topic within ASMR – ASMR erotica 
  • The myth behind ASMR needing to be erotic, when in reality, it’s not
  • The people who have made themselves up to enhance their ASMR pieces
  • A woman in Japan who builds in her own sound design
  • The time commitment it takes to create a YouTube video with ASMR
  • Melinda’s now shifting from ASMR in real life into ASMR on YouTube
  • Melinda’s process for creating her videos
  • ASMR sub genres – eating, sex, no speaking, miniatures, etc.
  • Melinda’s likes when it comes to what she produces and what she likes to watch herself
  • The Netflix production of Whisperlodge
  • Melinda walks us through how she was found for the Netflix production
  • How different in person ASMR is compared to watching something on YouTube
  • The intense immersion of ASMR
  • ASMR in person, is not for everyone and requires you to be vulnerable
  • Considerations that have to happen for in person ASMR
  • The need for consent with each different element of ASMR
  • The pros and cons of making an ASMR video – you don’t have any feedback
  • Melinda’s preference to work with people she doesn’t know

If you want to find out more about Melinda, you can find her through the following:

Find out more about Whisperlodge: http://whisperlodge.nyc

See a video of an immersive live ASMR performance either on Netflix’s Follow This, Part 1, Episode 1 https://www.netflix.com/title/80217889

Or on Mashable https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKdW5k-7FcA&t=1s

Check out our ASMR videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/whisperlodge

 

This episode was very skillfully made to sound beautiful by the talented Humberto Franco (http://www.humbertofranco.com/).

Would you consider reviewing the Audio Branding Podcast?  If so, here’s the Apple Podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/audio-branding/id1489042453  And if you like what you hear (and read!) – please do share it with anyone you think might be interested. Thanks so much!

And if you’re interested in crafting an audio brand for your business, why not check out my FREE download – 5 Tips For Implementing An Intentional Audio Strategy at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

This Might Make You Uncomfortable

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ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. It has to do with certain triggers, usually having to do with sound or sight, giving you “tingles in your brain”.  It may seem like a strange reaction to have while hearing unintelligible whispers, someone using a marker on a pad of paper or seeing someone use a makeup brush to caress your “face” (when the face is the camera). But it’s very real!

And interestingly, music in this particular context, seems to take away from the experience, rather than add to it.  In Duncan Geere’s article about this phenomenon in Science Focus: https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/asmr-more-than-a-feeling/ – one of the scientists he questions has this to say:

“We’re interested in things like whether particular settings might be helpful, or particular object interactions,” explains Davis.

“[The results] were actually a bit of a mix. But the one thing that was really clear and surprising is that people didn’t like background music. That to me is really odd, because we use music all of the time to enhance a mood that you’re trying to experience. That doesn’t seem to work for ASMR. It seems to distract from the sound of an object being interacted with.”

Huh.  So the two types of sound, don’t seem to go together. Our brains are strange.

In my own deep dive into this topic however, I actually did experience these “brain tingles”.  I first heard about ASMR when IKEA used it in one of their commercials.  It’s included below.

When I first saw and heard this video, I have to admit, it kind of creeped me out.  I didn’t understand why the woman’s voice was so whispery-soft, and I truly didn’t understand what the attraction was to all those sounds of sheets being stroked, pillows being squished and desk lamps being tapped with fingernails.  I didn’t get it.  And at the time, I didn’t particular want to explore what it was all about.

In my research into sound and the science of sound, ASMR kept coming up – again and again.  And now that I’ve experienced what it actually IS, I’m impressed by what they put together.  (And if you watch the video, read the comments below.  They’re hilarious!)  While I didn’t mind the voice they used, she was a bit louder than I was expecting for this particular genre.  Of course, I get that she had to talk above a whisper so that she could be understood.  She was, after all, there to sell a product. And that meant you had to hear what she was saying.

I’m not sure it works as true ASMR as a result, because you have to concentrate too much for it to really be as relaxing as it should be.  But as an example of how this could be used for a different kind of advertising experience, it’s not half bad.  If you get it.  Seeing as they’re trying to appeal to college students, I don’t think that’s a bad bet.

I’ll also point out that the pops and crackles of lips smacks and tongue movements from a voice being that close to a mic, would be a nightmare for most voice over.  But for ASMR?  The intimacy of it is supposed to be relaxing. That’s the point.

One of the best “performers” of this that I’ve seen while going down the rabbit hole of YouTube, is Gibi.  I’ll link to one of her videos in my blog & show notes so you can have a look and a listen. But I’ll admit, I’ve subscribed to her channel.  In this video (the link is below), she collaborates with a couple of other performers so you get a good overview of a bunch of potential triggers from different performers with slightly different styles:

ASMR | Tingle Immunity Treatment Test | Ft. Goodnight Moon & Marno ASMR – YouTube

For those of you that have been following my blog here, you know I’m a gamer.  Gibi even did a video where she interacted (the video was about wood tapping and scratching) with a product from Wyrmwood! (They were a sponsor for this video. And she promoted them perfectly for her audience.)

And if you’d like to know more about this from Gibi herself (and, coincidentally, actually hear her real speaking voice – which I admit, I was curious about), have a look at the video I’ve linked to from a YouTube channel called Rooster Teeth. They had her on the show as a guest and asked her a bunch of questions that she very intelligently answered.

It’s a very interesting conversation, on a whole bunch of levels, and I highly recommend you watch it.

Ultimately, you have to decide if this works for you.  If not, it might make you very uncomfortable.  If it does work for you, watching these videos might well be the most relaxed you feel all day.  You’re welcome.

December 02, 2020 Edit: Gibi just added a video called “New to ASMR?” – that I think those of you who haven’t really experienced this before, will find SUPER helpful.  Check it out here:

Would you consider reviewing the Audio Branding Podcast?  If so, here’s the Apple Podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/audio-branding/id1489042453  And if you like what you hear (and read!) – please do share it with anyone you think might be interested. Thanks so much!