Press Release: 31-06-04 The Fresh Voice of Mobile Ringtones

Fresh Air Studios and voiceover Lisa Hartwell are the new providers of IVR voice prompts to text MEdia for their range of mobile phone ringtone and logo services.

The global ringtone industry is growing year by year, with forecasts of billions being spent annually to satisfy a mainly teenage obsession with having the latest songs and logos downloaded to mobile phones.

text MEdia are a UK company at the forefront of this technology, creating the applications that enable companies such as Lycos, EMAP and Intelliplus to provide compelling and exciting ways for their customers to personalise their mobile phone experience.

One of the methods text MEdia employ to make the services more accessible is an IVR phone system, enabling users to dial a number and follow a system of prompts to choose the latest ringtones and other downloads.

After auditioning a range of voiceover artists, text MEdia chose Lisa Hartwell and the recording expertise of Fresh Air Studios to front the project and create the sound they wanted to brand their phone system.

Adam Ward, Managing Director of text MEdia said:

“We outsourced our IVR voiceover requirements to Fresh Air Studios and have been extremely pleased with the service they have provided to us. Working with Fresh Air Studios means we can concentrate our time and efforts on building the IVR applications knowing that the voiceover recordings have been taken care of.”

Paul Philpott, Managing Director of Fresh Air Studios Ltd added:

“We are delighted to be working with text MEdia on this innovative project. Many companies forget that building their brand also includes the way they sound to their customers and we specialise in creating IVR audio that ‘speaks’ to the target audience and makes the interactive experience a positive one. That’s why Lisa Hartwell’s voice is ideal for text MEdia as she appeals to the young demographic who want the latest ringtones for their mobile phones.”

In technical terms, the audio prompts are supplied in ‘system ready’ files in a specially encoded 8khz format. This is different to many standard audio recordings because it needs to be optimised for use over the telephone.

text MEdia produce the ringtone service provided by ChartShow.tv, which is also voiced by Lisa Hartwell