Phone hold music/speach questions

Paolo_M

Hi,

I've to record a short message for a company (the company I work for) to use as their phone hold music.
I've never done anything like this before and haven't the first clue.
They want a voice explaining what the company do played over some background music.

What's the deal with copyright on the music here? Something is telling that it could be seen as being used to promote the companies business and so royalties should be paid. Is that right?
Should I stick with good 'oul non-protected "Pan-pipe moods" type stuff?

The phone company want a WAV file, no problem, but how hot should the file be?
Any suggestions for mixing, it's playing on the phone so the rules are different I presume?
What things should I be avoiding?
A lot of times phone hold music sounds all washy, what causes that, how do I avoid it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

madtheory

You're right, the music is being used as promo, so there will be a royalty. Phone IMRO, they would be happy to advise.

There are a few very good Voice Over folk in Ireland, PM me for info.

Paolo_M wrote: »

I've never done anything like this before and haven't the first clue.

Eek. I would also recommend getting a pro sound engineer to record it. It doesn't make sense to skimp, if phone is going to be the first impression a customer has of your company. This is not a straightforward job.

Paolo_M

madtheory wrote: »

You're right, the music is being used as promo, so there will be a royalty. Phone IMRO, they would be happy to advise.

There are a few very good Voice Over folk in Ireland, PM me for info.

Eek. I would also recommend getting a pro sound engineer to record it. It doesn't make sense to skimp, if phone is going to be the first impression a customer has of your company. This is not a straightforward job.

Dang, thought as much.

So what exactly can be used?
Anything more than 30 years old?

When I say I haven't a clue what I'm doing, I have done some sound engineering courses, recorded a few rock band demos and I've a good ear.
I've got good gear (decent mics, ProTools etc.) and know how to use it reasonably well.
I just have never done anything like this before.
None of my books or course material covers this kind of stuff either.

Any pointers from people that have would be great.

madtheory

madtheory wrote: »

Phone IMRO, they would be happy to advise.

AS I said...

Paolo_M

madtheory wrote: »

AS I said...

Ok, ok, I've phoned IMRO and gotten the prices for using proper music.

Does anyone have any advise on mixing it?
Should I cut it to just the midband used on phones?
How do I avoid that wishy washy phasey sound?
Any other advise?

Paolo_M

Ok, went ahead with it myself and it sounds great.
Voice is clear and message gets across clearly and the music is uplifting but not in the way. Result.

However when the piece is played back on the phone system there is this washy interferance over it making it difficult to hear properly.
This is the same washy sound that comes over Vodafones hold music, I'm sure you've all heard it. :rolleyes:
That's what I was refering to in my earlier post above.

Contacted the phone company hosting the playback but they said "that's the way they all sound".
I'm pretty sure I've heard other hold messages sans the washiness but can't think of any at the moment.

Do they ball sound like that?
I'd find that hard to believe as it does not come through on voice.

Any way to reduce the effect on my side?

Would using a passband filter from 500Hz - 2KHz help? I'm pretty sure a phone system only using a very narrow part in the middle of the audible spectrum.

studiorat

Paolo_M wrote: »

Contacted the phone company hosting the playback but they said "that's the way they all sound".

Well tell 'em they all sound ****e then... Sorry lads your demo sounds crap, but that's they way they all sound. :rolleyes:

Chancers...

Paolo_M

Anyone any ideas?

While this one sounds sh*t on their playback system, I've heard similar "effects" on many other companies hold music Leading me to think that it is not specific to this companies system.

I'm pretty sure that I've heard others that don't have it and so I suspect there is a trick in it that I'm missing.

Does anyone know anything about this?

My level is @ -0.1dB and I sent the file with the complete audioband intact.
Would dropping to -3dB and reducing the audioband to just mid band help?

I can't find anything on the web and thought someone must have done one of these before.

fitz

Some useful info here:

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/post-production-forum/135358-mixing-telephone-music.html

Paolo_M

In case it's of help to anyone else:

Most hold music companies systems use 8-bit PCM wav as their format, mono obviously.
Bandwidth typically is around 300Hz-3.5kHz.
Setting a hard limiter to -1dB help with distortion, though with 8-bit PCM noise and distortion seem to be part and parcel of what you get.

The washy noise I was describing is due to these companies used non-dedicated lines and results from interference from adjacent lines.
Nothing you can do about it only really emphasis the important parts of the music, within the available band-width, so that they don't become lost in the noise.

Reading back through the gearslutz thread a lot of this information was already there.
I can confirm that scooping a female voice at 500Hz while boosting 300Hz slightly and another slight boost around 3.3kHz = sexy!!

QuadLeo

I've had to do this a few times. To improve clarity try inserting an EQ across your master fader before you bounce to mono .wav

Cut at 400Hz by about -8dB to -12dB (experiment). With a narrow Q.
Then boost at 2kHz by about +6dB (or there abouts). With a wide Q.

Have a high pass at 250Hz with a sharp dB/octave and a low pass at 6kHz, again with a sharp dB/octave.

This will make your music sound terrible through speakers but it does improve the clarity on the phone.

Remove all peaks using a fast compressor (inserted before the EQ) and finally normalize to around -3dB to allow a bit of headroom. I know normalizing isn't the best but it works well in this situation.

Don't bounce as dual mono in case they just add the file to the system as is and the sum of L and R is over 0dB.

Hope some of this helps