Do-it-yourself camera and music phone projects

Record your own ring tones

Challenging

What you'll need:
• In this project, you need a voice recorder application on the phone.

Record an audio clip
Symbian OS/S60 phone: Go to the main Menu and open the Media folder (or Office folder). Launch the Recorder application.

Just in case you want to transfer the recorded clips to your computer for further mixing, define the default storage device in the Recorder application. Open the Options menu and select Settings. If Memory Card is not selected as the Memory In Use, push the selection key to change the value to Memory Card.

Back in the main screen, highlight the red Record button. Push the selection key, and the recording will start. Hit the Stop key to end it.

Windows Mobile phone: Go to the Home screen and push the Start key. Locate the Voice Notes (Voice Recorder) application and open it. You may see an empty screen, but it means only that you haven't recorded anything yet.

When you are so close to the audio source that the phone microphone can pick up the sound, push the Record key. End the recording by hitting the Stop key.

Although you can record as long as there is memory space available, try to limit the recording to 10 to 60 seconds. Windows Mobile phones record audio in WAV format, which tends to result in large files. A long recording will take plenty of memory space, and your phone may not be able to play a lengthy tune anyway.

Other phones: Open the recorder application and record an audio clip.

Name the tune
Symbian OS/S60 phone: In the Recorder application, push the Options key and select Rename Sound Clip. Type a new name for the tune. You can change the name of the last recording only.

Windows Mobile phone: When you are in the main screen of the Recorder, highlight a recording in the list. Open the Menu and select Rename. Type a new name for the tune.

Set the recording as your new ring tone
Symbian OS/S60 phone: With the Voice Recorder on the screen, open Options. Select Go To Gallery. All the recordings you have saved can be accessed from the Gallery. You should see a list of recorded tunes. Highlight a recording, open Options and choose "Set as ringing tone."

Windows Mobile phone: When you are still in the Voice Recorder, highlight a recording in the list and open the Menu. Select Set As Ringtone.

If your phone menu doesn't show the Set As Ringtone choice at all, you have to set it manually. Go to the Home screen, push Start, and open File Manager. You have to move the recording from the folder /Storage/My Documents/Notes to the folder /Storage/Application Data/Sounds. Then, go to the Start menu and launch Settings. Select Sounds, open Ring Tone, and pick up the recorded ring tone.