Composer & sound designer Robin Rimbaud, aka Scanner, let us know about a collection of ringtones that he’s released as a free download.
Here’s what he has to say about the Scanner ringtone collection:
I was recently commissioned to compose a series of ringtones for a new mobile phone.
Having spent months back and forth with the company the entire commission was cancelled in March, leaving a wealth of unused and unheard ringtones sitting on my hard drive. My sound work was rejected for being ‘too Scanner’.
Rather than let these rot on a hard drive, here they are all in mono, low resolution for your own delight. Playful, fun little tunes to brighten up your smart phone 🙂
We’ve embedded the Scanner ringtone collection below or your can download it via his SoundCloud page:
https://soundcloud.com/scanner/sets/ringtones
These are stunning! Great idea! Thankyou Scanner! Love your work.
I’ll be figuring out how to get Pumped and Aalto2 onto my iPhone now…
Brilliant!
Beautiful.
Morons.
Reminds me of that audio clip from the Howard Stern show where somebody hired William Shatner to do a voiceover and then the producer proceeded to try to advise Mr. Shatner on how to speak…
They’re very nice, but clearly he should have gone for something more ‘Nokia’ or ‘Crazy Frog’. You know, irritating. Or that bloody annoying whistling sound.
Great stuff – thanks for sharing!
The client remark about these sounding ‘too Scanner’ cracked me up.
What were they expecting? I imagine you had to bite your tongue on that one!
Hello! I used Harmony as a ringtones for ages. I love it and the others as well. They are an alternative which I prefer! Though lately I cannot find Scanner’s ringtones in SoundCloud. Is there any other platform where they are available! Thx
I fucking hate that whistle. I guess only evil labcoat guys could come up with it (after serious study in “Irritating Sounds”)
Maybe they were rejected for being “too scanner”, but for myself I don’t want to use them because they do not look at all like Scanner. Maybe that’s the reason why they were rejected, no? Really common sounds you can find everywhere… Sorry for disturbing….. Peace daniël
Thanks guys for all your kind words. The commercial world certainly is rather bizarre isn’t it? I’m sure many of us have some tales to tell indeed. As ever, it pays for more exploratory adventures (and gear), but of course only if they go ahead that is! Please feel free to use them on your phone, to annoy your flat mate, to unsettle your cat or surprise people on the bus into work. Enjoy sharing this 😀
Bought a couple of your songs on iTunes since I can’t pay for the ringtones. I’d like to see more artists do this, why be anonymous behind a company when you are the top sound designers in the world?
How very sweet of you to do that, thank you! It is curious that this kind of work is experienced by so many people, yet rarely ever acknowledged actually in a grander sense. I mean I wonder how many people in the USA have experienced the Sprint ‘Phone Dream’ ad at the cinema, allegedly now seen by close to 2 billion viewers, that I sound designed? There’s a joy about being anonymous and invisible most of the time, but we all ache for a little bit of ego massage don’t we? 🙂
Sharing creative stuff for free that I can’t use otherwise though is also a real pleasure. I can’t wait for the moment I’m somewhere and hear a smartphone ring with one of my ringtones on it!
I know where my next ringtone is coming from! debating between bright and chime 2.
aah ringtones, finally – one of my favorite music genres. here’s another page: http://www.luigimono.de
Hah, Reminds me of the SImpsons episode where they add the dog to Itchy & Scratchy. The suits have “notes”:
EXECUTIVE
(pause) We at the network want a dog with attitude. He’s edgy, he’s “in your face.” You’ve heard the expression “let’s get busy”? Well, this is a dog who gets “biz-zay!” Consistently and thoroughly.
KRUSTY
So he’s proactive, huh?
EXECUTIVE
Oh, God, yes. We’re talking about a totally outrageous paradigm.
EXECUTIVE
Can we put him in more of a “hip-hop” context?
KRUSTY
Forget context, he’s gotta be a surfer. Give me a nice shmear of surfer.
EXECUTIVE
I feel we should rastafy him by … ten percent or so.
The heck with ringtones. These are going in an iTunes playlist