Your voice as a ringtone
Using voice input to create a ringtone on a Motorola RAZR V3
Ringtones are the sounds your (cell)phone will make to let you know that a call is coming in.
My personal preference is for short sounds, analogous to a ringing bell, which will repeat until
the phone is answered or the caller gives up. Some like to use portions of tunes (or, to
the dismay of those nearby, entire songs). Another option is to use a voice announcement, which
may even be in the voice of the caller. That way, when your friend, sibling, relative calls,
you will hear their voice summoning you to answer the call. We have
previously reviewed software that enables you
to do this on your PC and then to transfer the recording to your cellphone.
But, your cellphone most likely can record sounds itself, and then you can use the recorded sound
as a ringtone without having to go through a PC.
Different models of cellphones and different cellular networks support this in different ways.
In the US on the Verizon network, Motorola RAZR V3m phones allow you to record a voice memo and
then to associate that memo with one or more entries in your address book. When you are called
by a number in your address book that has such an association, instead of the default sound
(ringtone) you will hear the recorded sound. You can also specify a specific recording to be
used with any incoming call that does not have its own assocation. You may very well be able to
do this on your particular cellphone - read the manual carefully.
Things work differently in the US on the Cingular/AT&T network. The Motorola RAZR V3 (and PEBL)
phones for that network do not have the ability to directly save a voice recording to the place where
the ringtones are kept. There are workarounds that can be found on the internet - what I
will describe here came from the
motomoders.net website. This method makes use of the fact that when you create and send
a multimedia message from the phone, a copy is saved in the "outgoing" message folder,
and recordings can be transferred to the ringtone area from there. I have outlined the procedure
below for the Motorola RAZR V3. It is similar (but not identical) for the Motorola PEBL.
Go through the following steps in order on your phone:
The phone will display please wait, and then an animation of a message being sent.
Of course, the destination phone number is not a working number, so it really doesn't
get sent. I don't know if you may get charged for sending a multimedia message that
never gets sent.
Your screen should now be back at Message Center.
Now you have the recording where you want it. At this point you probably should rename it
so you can more easily remember what it is.
You now have a sound recording of your own making in the sounds directory, and you can apply
it as a ringtone to one or more phonebook entries. You can also use it as the alert in the
built in alarm function.
Note: The above instructions are specific for a particular series of Motorola cellphones that have been
configured by Cingular/AT&T to work on their cellular network. Other series and other brands and other
cellular networks will most likely behave differently, but if there isn't some direct way of making a
recording on your phone and using it for a ringtone, it is possible that the above principle of sending
a multimedia message to nowhere but retaining a copy will get your recording into the right place
for use as a ringtone.
Posted by: Lou Katz - 09/07
Ages: All
Fun Factor: Your mother may be calling!