A ringtone for someone who hates ringtones

November 27, 2007 6:41 PM

A need a ringtones, but I hate ringtones: My iPhone's built-in ringtones aren't very good, so I'll have to buy one off iTunes. The problem is that I want something I can use in a business setting, and that is discrete, pleasant, and loud enough to hear. Can you suggest a song I should buy as a ringtone?
posted by blahblahblah to Technology (34 answers total)

Response by poster: I should mention that iTunes lets you take any part of the song to use as a ringtone, up to 30 seconds, if that helps.
posted by blahblahblah at 6:43 PM on November 27, 2007

I used to have the opening 10 or 20 seconds of the Joanna Newsom song `sprout and the bean', where it's just harp music. Pleasant, I found it easy to hear, no vocals.
posted by tomble at 6:49 PM on November 27, 2007

My friend Adam says you don't have to actually buy anything from itunes if you already have the song you want. If your on a Mac take the song you want into Garage Band then cut the song into 30 second clip and export it as an .aff file then just change the extension to .m4r and then use that. I don't if its exactly legal, but if you own the music already then I guess you should be able to use it.
posted by lilkeith07 at 6:58 PM on November 27, 2007 [2 favorites]

Plasticities by Andrew Bird has a great first 20 seconds for a ringtone. I've been using it as my "at work" ringtone for about six months with great success. Sometimes I mix it up and have the opening 20 seconds of On and On and On by Wilco. Oh, if you're feeling a little literal, the song "Phone Booth" from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was my old at-work ringtone for about two years.
posted by banannafish at 6:59 PM on November 27, 2007

There is no song which is an appropriate ringtone in a business setting.
posted by pompomtom at 7:00 PM on November 27, 2007 [7 favorites]

If you don't have to purchase the ringtones from iTunes, I would suggest looking here for work appropriate ringtones. Don't forget to click 'more..'
posted by B(oYo)BIES at 7:06 PM on November 27, 2007 [4 favorites]

A recording of yourself saying "Ring" in a deadpan voice.

A recording of an old-fashioned telephone ring (the type with an actual bell that would actually ring).
posted by winston at 7:14 PM on November 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: There is no song which is an appropriate ringtone in a business setting.

Yes, which is why I don't want the actual music and lyrics of a song by Nickelback or whatever blaring from my phone. But the iPhone has few serious ringtones anyway, and they are all too quiet. The only easy way to add new ringtones is through iTunes (though thank Adam for the tip), and, since you can select any segment of a song to turn into a ringtone, I should be able to find some segment of some song that would work in most settings. Assume my phone is on vibrate during important meetings, if that makes it less objectionable.
posted by blahblahblah at 7:17 PM on November 27, 2007

The only ringtone that doesn't make me want to start taking hostages is the sound of a phone ringing.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:20 PM on November 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

Seconding the phone ring ringtone. I still have the cheapest boxlike generic phone, and the "phone ring" ringtone has served me well for as long as I've had it.
posted by pravit at 7:23 PM on November 27, 2007

winston writes "A recording of an old-fashioned telephone ring (the type with an actual bell that would actually ring)."

This is actually included with the iPhone, and it's my favorite.

lilkeith07 writes "My friend Adam says you don't have to actually buy anything from itunes if you already have the song you want."

This is completely true, there's a writeup at ars.

It's actually a bit immoral to pay for ringtones right now. The labels won a lawsuit that allows them to charge for ringtones, and they don't have to give a red cent back to the artists. So they don't. Let's not encourage this.

Now that we're back from our tangent, I'd like to recommend 'Moonlight Sonata' as your ringtone. Also, the silent/vibrate mode is great, that's what I generally roll with.
posted by mullingitover at 7:23 PM on November 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

If you can record your own ringtones, as people mention above, you might record yourself clearing your throat a few times. This is the one I've used before when vibration wouldn't work. It's a sound people generally tune out / don't notice, but you'll recognize right away as your ring.
posted by chocolate_butch at 7:25 PM on November 27, 2007 [8 favorites]

The problem you're going to encounter is hardly any songs in the iTunes store that might be ringtone worthy for a business situation.

If you have a Mac, use MakeiPhoneRingtone to take any AAC file [you can use iTunes to convert an MP3 to AAC] and make it a ringtone. Like the webpage says, a future iPhone update might make the ringtone go away, though.

After playing with half dozen tones that sound like old cellphones, I went back to the pre-loaded "old phone" ringtone.
posted by birdherder at 7:35 PM on November 27, 2007

What about a piece of classical music? I actually have a piece of the Aphex Twin song Nannou on my iPhone and it is just a beautiful piece of instrumental music.

I would suggest either something classical or something from a soundtrack that is instrumental.
posted by hazyspring at 7:42 PM on November 27, 2007

A friend of mine has crickets chirping as his ringtone. I think it's beautiful. Perhaps something from nature, then?
posted by TheGoldenOne at 8:27 PM on November 27, 2007

My favorite ringtone ever was a direct import of the "kerplunk" error sound from Windows 95. Distinct, discreet, got attention without being obtrusive. If my cell phone wasn't ~4 years old, I'd do something similar. Not sure where you'd get it, though; just slingin' ideas here.
posted by ZakDaddy at 9:06 PM on November 27, 2007

I use the Meow Mix song. When it rings in public, people tend to smile or giggle rather than get ticked off that another cell phone is ringing.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 9:10 PM on November 27, 2007 [3 favorites]

I like the submarine sonar ping.
posted by Freen at 9:16 PM on November 27, 2007

I don't know about "appropriate", but this is ideal for "the boss wants you".
posted by aeschenkarnos at 9:17 PM on November 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

I've been thinking of getting something from The Freesound Project - perhaps this pack of chime sounds or nightingale songs might have something, or these Briefcase sound effects
posted by Orb2069 at 9:26 PM on November 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

How old are you? Can you hear the mosquito?

Might be a bad idea, though, now that I think about it.

Also, check out this for constructing your own ringtone (if Garageband is not the answer).
posted by oflinkey at 9:38 PM on November 27, 2007

I disagree about classical: Classical pieces are long and structured, and chopping out a chunk of the structure to play and truncate repeatedly has ill effects on nearby fans of the music. Ditto for just about any music that wasn't designed to be thirty seconds long.

Of course, I would take this further and say that the only appropriate phone setting is vibrate, but I fear I'd be far in the minority there.
posted by eritain at 10:31 PM on November 27, 2007

On re-read, the throat-clearing, the kerplunk, and the ping don't sound too bad. If your work situation permits, a recording of a Morse Code station with a sweet old tone might be OK. Well, it'll drive hams nuts, but everyone else will just go, "Oh, telegraph, neat."
posted by eritain at 10:50 PM on November 27, 2007

Maybe something form this CD - a collection of artist made ringtones commissioned by Touch Records a few years back.
posted by tallus at 3:54 AM on November 28, 2007

Philip Glass piano pieces have nice tone, and their repeativity makes it more ok to cut them to pieces. Mad Rush has probably some nice parts you can use.
posted by Free word order! at 6:18 AM on November 28, 2007

I use the CTU ringtone. It's brief, just 4 notes, and yet still distinct.
posted by mysterious1der at 6:52 AM on November 28, 2007

I use the sonar ringtones from Mbuzzy.com and find them unobtrusive yet clearly audible. That site has quite a few free ringtones in its collection, including old phones ringing. It will also allow you to upload any mp3, sample it and export a ringtone to send to your phone.
posted by itstheclamsname at 7:27 AM on November 28, 2007

Seconding pompomtom. If it's a "song" it's already out of question for a business setting. The sound of a telephone ringing or some other artificial ringing sound (not too loud, not too aggressive) is acceptable. Any decent phone should have at least one of them.
Anything else will be at least smiled at (not in a good way) or openly frowned upon, at least here in europe. It usually marks you as childish or at least inconsiderate. Someone will always be annoyed by your choice of music, and if they wanted to hear some music, they would have brought a radio.
posted by Nightwind at 7:33 AM on November 28, 2007

30 seconds is too long a sample to use if you want it to sound like a ringtone and not a song. Try sampling just a few notes of something that isn't a recognizable riff.

I would suggest something very synthesizery and electronic, like the first few notes of Trio's "Da Da Da". Or go with the sound of the phones in The Prisoner. Or maybe a short chunk of the theme song.
posted by cardboard at 8:22 AM on November 28, 2007

There is no song which is an appropriate ringtone in a business setting.

Seconded. During work hours, keep it on vibrate at all times. Outside of work, go nuts, have whatever tone you want; unless you actually need to hear your personal phone during business hours, though, it should be kept on vibrate.
posted by pdb at 8:48 AM on November 28, 2007

The "dunk dunk" of the gavel from Law & Order? Or the theme song? I second the CTU ring -- I used it for two years (even though I've never seen 24), until I switched phones and couldn't get the stupid bitpim crap to work.
posted by parilous at 9:12 AM on November 28, 2007

A recording of an old-fashioned telephone ring (the type with an actual bell that would actually ring).

Or an electronic version. Or a simple pinging sound. No melodies: extremely unprofessional.
posted by lalochezia at 9:42 AM on November 28, 2007

On my home phone, I use the beginning of one of the tracks from Tangerine Dream's "Miracle Mile" soundtrack. Can't remember which exact track at the moment, but a lot of TD's music is minimalist and repetitive, without a lot of chord changes or even a notable melody, and works well for ringtones.
posted by kindall at 10:15 AM on November 28, 2007

I use "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)", by Talking Heads and set the ring volume for escalating. Pleasant and instumental and if I catch the call early it doesn't even get loud enough for others to hear.
posted by mgrimm at 12:35 PM on November 28, 2007