Ringtone Producer

At long last the second tutorial in the AMR ringtone production series.

First of all, you’re going to need the following software. You need some kind of audio editor, in order to tweak volume and loop your ringtones properly. I’m using Sound Forge 7. Then you will need software to convert your tones to AMR format and I’m using Nokia Multimedia Converter 2 for that.

I have prepared some wav samples I made and loaded them into Sound Forge. It’s important to remember that your cell phone can’t play the whole range of frequencies, especially the low bass of electronic music. That’s why the first step is to load up the equaliser and tweak your ringtone for maximum playability on your phone.

In my case I have two dance loops that I want to make sound good on Nokia phones. I first save them as copies to avoid messing up the original WAV files.

I first cut the loops exactly on the beat, in order to create a continuous looping ringtone. SIDENOTE: When creating MP3 ringtones it depends on the cell phone‘s capabilities to quickly loop them to make it sound right. On my LG KG800 I have found that they don’t loop properly. I guess this is a general problem with MP3 and other realtones, but I’d like feedback to hear how the AMR ringtones are playing on your phone.

Now with the graphic EQ open I remove the low band sounds and increase the mid and high ranges which cell phones play well. Remember not to have the file clip (clipping occurs when the file is too loud and it starts distorting). A good level is around -3db to -2db.

After completing the graphic EQ on your new ringtones, it’s time to open up the files in Nokia Multimedia Converter. You can get the software for free on the Nokia Developers Forum website (just google it). You will have to register in order to request a serial number.

I have opted for the highest quality AMR-WB at 23.85 kbps. With the Nokia Multimedia Converter software it’s not necessary to convert your WAV files to a specified kbps / bitrate setting since it’s all automated.

I have made two versions. One is EQ’d and the other standard for each ringtone. See what works best on your phone.

You can download the tones on the downloads page.

Final note: AMR-WB files are saved in .awb format. If your phone can’t handle them, just rename them to .amr.

For further discussion, visit the AMR production thread in the forum.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 10th, 2006 at 11:16 am and is filed under Ringtone Production. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.