Splice Explores ASMR with Vivian Ludford WAV

Note: Make sure you use headphones to listen to these samples for the best results.

This pack explores sounds that can induce Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, better known as ASMR. To achieve this, we recorded our ASMRtist, renowned NYC experimental cellist Vivian Ludford using everyday objects like scissors, candy, and aluminum foil to make sounds into a binaural head. In this pack, you’ll find sounds with the potential to incite spine-tingling goodness with whispers, crackling pop rocks, honing steel, fire, and fruit.

In a binaural recording setup, microphones are placed inside a dummy head and strategically positioned to mimic the listening position of a normal human eardrum. This way, it sounds like the samples are coming from inside your head. For many listeners, the cognitive dissonance that comes with hearing samples from inside your head can cause the tingly or dissociative feeling that we call ASMR.

About the creator: Vivian Ludford is a classically-trained cellist, writer, and artist based in Brooklyn. She plays cello in the four-piece Shintofuturist pop band tïna-hanäé. She has also played with Sabine Holler, the MisterWives, the Songwriter’s Orchestra, the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, the Polyphonic Spree, the Morningsiders, and more.

About the producer: Max Rewak is a Senior Content Producer at Splice. Prior to joining Splice, Max completed an Artist-in-Residency at Maya Angelou HS in Washington DC, taught audio engineering and production at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, and ran a studio for at-risk orphaned youth in Rwanda. Max is also the Director, Sonic of the Sonic | Haptic Lab at the Atlanta Institute for Social Research, which hosts open lab sessions, conducts research, supports community-building efforts, and fundraises for creators in underserved communities in Atlanta and across the country. Max’s musical work can be found on Knightwerk Records.