UrbanUpdate

Like some kind of vocal Dirk Diggler, Mitchell Warren knows he has been genetically blessed with the perfect gift to become a star in the erotic arts. When puberty hit, his voice didn’t just drop—it downright plummeted, leaving him with a timbre so deep that even family members would tell him he should consider working for a 1-900 number. Now, Warren is a creator in the growing field of audio erotica.

“It just seems like something that I was meant to do,” he says with a laugh. “It felt kind of cathartic when I first released my first audio and it did exceptionally well; I was like, ‘okay, maybe everyone was right.’”

The concept of audio porn is nearly as old as the technology which enables it, from the aforementioned phone sex lines to shady corners of the internet. In the past few years, however, a crop of sleek-looking apps have popped up courting a primarily female audience. The audio format allows users on both ends to build a more intimate and immersive experience; the listener can easily imagine themselves in the scenarios. It also centers communication in the sexual experience.

“I had a breakthrough a while ago when I realized that many women want their partners to be vocal during sex,” says Naudio, an anonymous audio erotica creator. In the bulk of conventional filmed porn, he explains, the male actors are mostly silent in the aim of helping male viewers imagine themselves in what they’re watching. As a result, a generation raised on internet porn believes the norm is for men to remain quiet during the deed. When Naudio started getting positive responses to his dirty talk in the bedroom, he felt he was onto something bigger than just his own personal satisfaction.

“If someone naturally wants to be vocal during sex, I think they should let it out and not feel like they need to repress themselves because of what they saw in porn,” Naudio says. “Grunting and thrusting in silence is not what women want.”

A new company called Quinn is the audio erotica platform of choice for Warren and Naudio; maybe you’ve seen one of the brand’s videos in your TikTok feed or read a profile on founder Caroline Spiegel. The app’s subscriber base is approximately 81% female, with over half of all users falling between the ages of 18 and 30—it seems there are plenty of women in agreement with Naudio, in other words.

There are other similarly focused apps out there—Dipsea is another big name, which provides scripted scenarios played by hired voice actors (as opposed to Quinn’s creator-generated content), as is European-based Emjoy. But between a $3.2 million fundraising round and an original scripted series voiced by actor Thomas Doherty, Quinn is starting to emerge at the head of the pack.

Chris Yamez, another Quinn creator, was specifically courted by the app for his own unique voice. (“Like a Victorian vampire, apparently,” he says; I can attest that is very much the vibe.) As a budding actor, Yamez was initially nervous to take the offer when his manager presented it to him. Eventually, though, he saw it not only as an outlet for his own sexual desires, but as a way to remove the stigma around sexual desire in general.

“As it progressed, it became this thing of pride for making female sexuality, and open sexuality, a thing that's more accepted and more valued now,” he says. “Society has made it virtually impossible for women to be able to express themselves sexually without being called out on it. We've made strides collectively to make that better, but you know, there's still small things that people can do. I guess this is me doing my part: helping people orgasm.”

Even stars in the more traditional visual porn field are proving they’ve got the vocal chops to turn people on even when the camera is off. French Brutus, a top performer on OnlyFans, now offers steamy recordings on both Quinn and his OF page; big hits of his include one in which he teaches the listener his native French language and audios that meld manifestation and masturbation. The immediate appeal is obvious: He doesn’t have to be camera-ready to create audio-only content. But, more than that, he’s able to craft more elaborate and more intimate scenarios than he can with his videos.

“When I film, it's just me in my apartment or in hotel rooms, so the possibilities are not as endless as they can be in audio,” Brutus explains. “I just want to make people feel what I'm feeling through my voice; visually is way more difficult because there are so many things that are getting in the way of what you are trying to convey.”

And, of course, there’s the fact that you can do audio erotica completely anonymously, as is the case for Naudio, who has gained fans (the self-dubbed NaudiHos) for his long-form recordings in which he plays into his dominant side—whether as a toxic coworker or a brother’s off-limits BFF. Beyond keeping his side gig a complete secret from coworkers and family, the benefits of being anonymous for Naudio are twofold. First, “it’s pretty fun having a secret identity,” he told me. “How many people get to have that these days?”

Second, and more importantly to Naudio, staying anonymous adds an element of mystery to all of his recordings: “The allure of audio erotica for me is the fact that listeners get to imagine their ideal scenario. Who I am, what I look like, listeners get to play with that and have fun.”

“A really cool characteristic of audio erotica is that because it’s usually just one person talking, there is space in the dialog for the listener to react and respond, giving the effect that you are part of the conversation and overall experience,” he says. “The listener gets to fill the space with their own desires, wants, and needs.”

Audio erotica creators play out scenarios ranging from intimate sex with a boyfriend to being seduced by the literal devil. (That would be Yamez; again, that voice.) These guys sketch out an outline of a script ahead of time, generally getting an idea of the scene, but most of what they say is improvised once they’re in the moment. And while the possibilities are technically endless, most occupy a specific niche determined both by what their followers want and by their own sexual interests. Unsurprisingly, content won’t work as well if the creator isn’t feeling it.

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“I only record audios where the idea is something that turns me on personally,” Naudio says. “I think listeners can tell if you aren’t into something or if it feels out of your comfort zone.”

Most are putting out new recordings at least once a week, which means they have to stay on top of what they’re creating with a content calendar. Creators try to space out the types of stories they’re creating so they aren’t releasing similar scenarios back to back to keep things fresh for repeat listeners. Warren’s recordings featuring guided masturbation or even just him moaning while getting himself off are some of his most popular works, but he wants to make sure he offers variation. (“I can't make that many audios of me just moaning,” he points out, laughing.)

“The feedback I've gotten is that people will listen to it over and over for about a week or two straight, and then it'll become stale to them—unless it's one of those really, really special ones where someone goes back and will just replay it forever,” Warren says. “There's different levels; there's fans of mine who listen to my content every single day, maybe multiple times a day, and then there are those that might log on once a month.”

Doing audio porn successfully takes market research, and everyone I spoke to confessed to being very active in the DMs. They monitor the comments left on Quinn or across social platforms; Warren has taken content polls on Instagram, Brutus spends a few hours in the mornings responding to messages and Naudio even has an anonymous form set up where fans can leave requests.

In other words, those thirst comments fans leave aren’t just ego-boosting; they’re providing a virtual wellspring of ideas. “I let them know, ‘Let's keep it cordial, thank you for your support,’ but at the same time, in the background, I've got my notepad out, and I'm just like, ‘Yes, step on my neck, brilliant, I can do that for you—but in audio form only,’” Yamez says.

“The connection is pretty dope,” Brutus says. “It motivates you to make good content and to offer good customer experience, but also humanizes you for them so they don't just treat you like a sex object because you just treat them like a number.”

Before you get any ideas, though, none of them are using their inboxes as a personal online dating service. Being so available—especially for those who aren’t anonymous—can lead to some serious parasocial bonds from fans (mostly women, for this crew; Warren estimates his following is 80 or 90% female). And they can be a little too thirsty: “I do have to tread lightly with who I interact with and how I interact with them, because they do assume that they can come in there and chat back to you, and you'll be all for it,” Yamez says. “I'm still a person at the end of the day, and I'm not just trying to get my rocks off or something.”

“If they are crossing the lines, I'm here to tell them, ‘Hey, don't send that without consent,’” says Brutus. “‘Don't tell me that. I'm not here for you to do this or that, or to talk to you that way—I'm still human.’”

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