Pittsburgh Getting “Locally Tuned”

Pittsburgh local ringtones

Ringtones have long been a staple of mobile media, with transitions from monotone to polytone to true tone creating quite a stir in how consumers can individualize their phones and content. Whether using midi-type sequences of tones or full-quality audio clips of songs, ringtones have formed a notable segment of mobile content commerce. Music trade publication Billboard even tracks US ringtone choices on a chart much in the same way as it follows hit songs. This year, however, ringtones are becoming a local fixture more than ever – in Pittsburgh.

Locally Toned (www.locallytoned.org) is a website pioneered by California-native and Pittsburgh-based artist Teresa “T” Foley, who was inspired by the Billboard chart-topping NYSE bell ringtone, an audio clip of the bell signaling time at the New York Stock Exchange. Taking the opportunity to set up a venue where ringtones could be customized outside the music industry, Foley set up Locally Tones as a non-profit venture encouraging Pittsburghers to create and distribute original artwork and ringtones via the Internet and via Multimedia Message Service through cell phone providers. The website is at once a source for free downloadable tones that bring the sound and feel of Pittsburgh and a quirky experimental venue for the collaborative creation of public art.

Starting out as an attempt to answer the question “What does Pittsburgh sound like?”, Locally Toned has blossomed into a strong and popular web attraction with the support of the Old and New Media Residency program [courtesy of Pittsburgh-based software design company Deeplocal and Encyclopedia Destructica. Its straightforward interface is functional but easy to understand, incorporating such elements as multimedia features and a blog that keeps readers abreast of updates and developments.

More than 80 freely-downloadable tones – simple ones heard about town, like a bicycle bell or a Chihuahua bark – are featured on the site after barely a month running. Readers and followers are invited to become empowered to post more (one way for locals to do so is by calling 412-837-4028 and recording the sound of choice by following prompts), contributing to the media that personifies Pittsburgh. Copyrighted material is the only taboo, but users have thus far been able to provide enough fresh material of their own that proves popular and characteristic of their stomping grounds that this isn’t an issue. The aforementioned bicycle bell has been a hit with the local cycling community, garnering over 300 downloads on the site.

The site currently has such esoteric offerings as a tone from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood character, Daniel Striped Tiger, the sound of fireworks recorded at the Point, and even a very personal accordion-and-clarinet duo from neighbors recorded on a front porch. It’s pretty clear that there’s been no real difficulty for Pittsburghers to contribute by tapping into their memories of their hometown, which can also be accessed by readers at the site’s blog. The entries there give each tone – a public art entry that eschews visual representation in favor of a unique sonic identity – even more background and depth. Foley says that the work “performs itself” whenever it sounds in public – taking the project even further and sharing it with everyone within earshot – and hopes to continue working to enrich the Pittsburgh soundscape in her own way.

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