Lately, I’ve been recording sounds in all kinds of places for SFXVault.
Ambient sounds, little everyday noises, things you’d normally hear and completely ignore — once you point a microphone at them, they suddenly become pretty interesting.
And recently, I’ve been thinking:
Maybe it’s finally time to start adding some ASMR sounds to SFXVault.
Binaural Recording Is Harder Than I Expected
For ASMR, I’ve been experimenting with binaural recording — basically trying to capture that sense of space and direction you get when listening with headphones.
And yeah… it’s trickier than it looks.
Sometimes a recording sounds perfectly clean, but when I listen back on headphones, I’ll think:
“Hmm, the left-right movement isn’t as strong as I expected.”
Or:
“I wanted that to sound way closer to the ear.”
Then there are all the tiny noises you barely notice while recording.
Clothes rubbing.
Small vibrations.
Background noise from somewhere you didn’t even realize was there.
With ASMR, those little details can suddenly become really obvious, so the recording environment matters a lot more than with a regular sound effect.
Every Location Has Its Own Sound
I’ve been recording in a bunch of different places lately, and one thing that keeps surprising me is how much the location changes the character of the sound.
In a quiet space, you can capture really subtle details.
In a more reflective room, you get a completely different sense of space.
Outside, you might get wind, birds, distant traffic, or whatever else happens to be around.
Sometimes that stuff ruins a recording.
But sometimes it’s exactly what makes the recording interesting.
A perfectly silent room isn’t always the best place to record.
Sometimes the atmosphere of the location is part of the sound.
I Want to Experiment a Bit More First
If I’m going to label something as ASMR, I want it to actually feel like ASMR.
Not just a normal sound recorded in stereo.
I want that feeling of position, distance, and movement to come through properly when you listen on headphones.
So for now, I’m still experimenting.
Moving the microphones around.
Changing the distance from the sound source.
Trying different rooms and locations.
Recording the same sound in slightly different ways.
It’s kind of funny how one small change can completely change the result.
And honestly, that’s part of what makes it fun.
Hopefully Coming to SFXVault Soon
Right now, SFXVault is mainly focused on sound effects and BGM, but I’d like to start adding ASMR-style recordings too.
I’m not quite at the “huge ASMR library coming soon!” stage yet.
But I am recording and testing things little by little.
The goal is to make sounds where you put on headphones and think:
“Oh, wow. That actually feels like it’s right there.”
Binaural recording is difficult.
A little frustrating sometimes, too.
But it’s also really interesting.
So I’ll keep experimenting, and once I’m happy with the results, I’ll start adding some ASMR sounds to SFXVault.