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Apple Shares New Series of 'Shot on iPhone' ASMR Videos

adamjackson said:
Such a weird genre of videos and even weirder to have Apple making them. These sounds being so pronounced is making more anxious...it's supposed to be relaxing?
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Never really listned to ASMR (have listened to pink and other noise before) - the sounds on videos 2,3,4 are ok but WTF with the whispering in video 1?

I would consider it about as relaxing as nails on a chalkboard! And talk about sibilance!

Now I'm just going to put on Tubular Bells (
to get rid of that first video and put me back in a calm, relaxed state right before bed... :p
 
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laz232 said:
Never really listned to ASMR (have listened to pink and other noise before) - the sounds on videos 2,3,4 are ok but WTF with the whispering in video 1?

I would consider it about as relaxing as nails on a chalkboard! And talk about sibilance!

Now I'm just going to put on Tubular Bells (
to get rid of that first video and put me back in a calm, relaxed state right before bed... :p
Click to expand...
The fact Apple has catered to this is ridiculous. They usually do things best but this is painful. I think there shot on iPhone stuff where they are super creative with tech and light is leaps and bounds better than this crap. If anything, these are far too long! 20s clips maybe!
 
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huge_apple_fangirl said:
Why did Apple make this? The one with the lady whispering was super cringe, I couldn’t listen to it. The other three were ok but still weird... you need special mics to do this anyway so how is this an ad for iPhones?
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I don't think this is an ad for iPhones as much as it is a publicity stunt for Apple in general. It seems to be working great, getting people to talk about a popular yet polarizing video genre within the broader context of their brand and products, which are likewise popular yet polarizing.
 
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laz232 said:
Never really listned to ASMR (have listened to pink and other noise before) - the sounds on videos 2,3,4 are ok but WTF with the whispering in video 1?

I would consider it about as relaxing as nails on a chalkboard! And talk about sibilance!

Now I'm just going to put on Tubular Bells (
to get rid of that first video and put me back in a calm, relaxed state right before bed... :p
Click to expand...

Anyone that listens to TB deserves a Like! (Deluxe edition is on Apple Music!)
 
coolfactor said:
You don't think there's equipment that supports the Lightning port? Or even Bluetooth? (although I'm not sure how much bandwidth is required for this immersive audio)

I'm extremely impressed by the sound quality of video recorded on iPhone XR, without any extra hardware. It's superb!
[doublepost=1565201032][/doublepost]

Whomever the narrator was, she likely does this type of creative work outside of Apple's circles. This has nothing to do with Apple's business goals, other than demonstrating what people are using iPhone for, at least is capable of, in the real world. Nothing wrong with that at all.
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Well, except that you need specialized audio recording equipment for ASMR, and ASMR is the whole point of the video.
 
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CreeptoLoser said:
Comedy stuff.

Men who like to suck their thumbs and wear nappies are the audience for ASMR though. Uh...the soft speaking version.
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You don’t know anyone with mental illness, do you?
ASMR is not my thing. But I do know that it is remarkably comforting to people with a variety of conditions, like anxiety disorders.
Just because something doesn’t speak to us doesn’t mean we have to mock it.
[doublepost=1565206097][/doublepost]
macduke said:
So like WTF did I just watch. Some lady whispering about a cataclysm that killed a bunch of people in Japan.

I had to turn it off. It was too weird. And people think Apple has lost focus—can't imagine why?
Click to expand...

Like I said above, why do you need to mock something unfamiliar?
And why do you imagine that, when you encounter something unfamiliar, it is APPLE that has lost focus and not you? The world is big and getting bigger every day. Are you aware of every trend out there?

Perhaps next time you encounter something unfamiliar your response ought to be “Huh, let’s learn about that” rather “Never heard of it. Must be unimportant and irrelevant”?
 
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In all seriousness, no snark or anything, the sound of that person's voice makes my hair stand on end. Not just her, but whispering in general. Something about it is actively off-putting to me in a visceral way. I didn't make it 10 seconds into that video. It's squarely in fingernails on a chalkboard territory. I can't for the life of me figure out how anyone finds it tolerable, let alone enjoyable.
 
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What do any of these videos have to do specifically with the iPhone, especially as they used "additional hardware and equipment for the sound?"
 
huge_apple_fangirl said:
Why did Apple make this? The one with the lady whispering was super cringe, I couldn’t listen to it. The other three were ok but still weird... you need special mics to do this anyway so how is this an ad for iPhones?
Click to expand...
Not to mention these also feature professional Steadicams, dollys, possibly drones and lighting. Yes, "shot on iPhone" but it's a bit misleading: average people can't make videos exactly like this.
 
coolfactor said:
I'm extremely impressed by the sound quality of video recorded on iPhone XR, without any extra hardware. It's superb!
[doublepost=1565201032][/doublepost]
Click to expand...

We extensively had to test iPhone microphones with professional binaural gear that ranges in the hundreds and thousands, and with two matching devices the audio can really be superb, it's incredible how far it's come even compared to an iPhone 6S, the 7 does match quiet well too, rarely do we hear mics compared on regular reviews.
 
Less and less things Apple releases appeal to me. The fact that I am getting more annoyed and detached by more trends (like ASMR) by the day reminds me that I am phasing out of my "young adult" life stage. Or maybe it's just a reminder that I'm not a hipster. Thankfully, both things I'm completely fine with.
 
ASMR/binaural audio is just as goofy/incredible technology as 3D glasses and VR headsets. It's for when people crave an immersive audio experience, not for when someone is happily bouncing around in a pickup listening to Buck Owens. Ignore their content and focus on Apple's technical demonstration. It's not easy coming up with content that exemplifies the use of binaural audio especially when it needs to be synchronized spatially to the 2D video accompanying it. To be immersive, other sounds, reflections, and harmonics must also be heard 360 degrees around the listener as well as from where the listener is looking. You should also perceive the relative distance to the source of each sound, hence the importance of spatially synchronizing the video. If the binaural recording is successful, you should hear dimensional audio from a simple pair of stereo headphones. That's the significance. Almost all home surround sound entertainment centres must use multiple speakers to accomplish the dimensional effect for audio. People pay even more for ATMOS speakers to get even more spatial sound. However, for these videos, you must simply use headphones to properly hear the binaural audio effect, just like you need 3D glasses to see a 3D visual effect. Search YouTube for "Virtual Barber Shop Hair Cut" if you want a better audio only example of binaural audio. Binaural audio can be integrated into AR Kit for creating immersive audio for apps. It's amazing how much we "see" with our ears!
 
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macduke said:
So like WTF did I just watch. Some lady whispering about a cataclysm that killed a bunch of people in Japan.

I had to turn it off. It was too weird. And people think Apple has lost focus—can't imagine why?
Click to expand...

The new era of advertising. In-house corporate agencies with no clue of how advertising works. Where are the good old days of Lee Clow and TWBA/CHIAT Day? But back in those days Steve Jobs was hands-on too. Just very sad to see how mainstream this company has gone.
 
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As evidenced by these posts, the response to ASMR videos is very personal. Someone whispering in your ear may be sexy to one person, but extremely irritating to another. I leave it to psychology experts to figure out what causes good goosebumps (ASMR) using audio. However, I find the technology interesting. Binaural audio, like 3D, has a limited effective range. That's why Hollywood "throws" stuff at you in 3D movies because visually, beyond say 100 feet, you don't care much about 3D since the scene essentially appears as two dimensional. Same with binaural audio. If the audio source is too distant, you might not care about that either. However, the sound of someone whispering in your ear is closer, and you are more likely to attend to the sound intimately.

I personally didn't find these videos very effective as ASMR goes, but that's just me. Too me, the whispering was too close and consequently it sounded like someone merely applied a stereo ping-pong filter to the audio. It didn't help that whispering didn't match with the distance to the visuals or with the actual content of the message. The woodworking video again mismatched the distance and location of the sound. At times the rasping was in the "middle" of your head and not 6 feet away and off to one side. The crunching and tapping videos could have been done without binaural audio since the source location was unimportant. I can be such a critic, but I have to acknowledge that it is really hard to exploit binaural audio especially if you are trying for ASMR.

Regardless, if these video are used to sell iPhones, I think Apple put the cart before the horse on the marketing side of things. These videos would really only be significant if Apple was selling an iPhone with left and right microphones that could process and enhance the production of binaural audio. What you would record with your ASMR compatible iPhone to tickle your eardrums would then be up to you. But then again, it would be an iPhone feature that very few people would fully utilize.

There is one application which might prove interesting and that is if movie theatres would implement binaural audio.
I was just looking at AmpMe technology and thought this would be a perfect fit for re-energizing a portion of the movie theatre industry.

I know a lot of people that avoid going to the movies because they find the sound way too loud to enjoy comfortably. What if there were a way to individualize this experience?

I was thinking that you could equip theatres with a modified version of AmpMe. The AmpMe system would broadcast/stream holophonic 3D audio of the movie to an app on the patrons' own iPhone in order to hear the movie’s soundtrack! BYOH(headphones), sort of an audiophile’s version of theatre.

The result would be a quiet theatre with an audience enjoying immersive 3D audio of the movie at a level they could enjoy without affecting others.
 
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