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Vintage Telephony and Telecomms Vintage Telephones, Telephony and Telecomms Equipment |
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9th Mar 2020, 9:10 am | #1 |
Tetrode
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, UK.
Posts: 63
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Music On Hold
Having maintained a variety of PABX's in the past, I'm aware that many of them used a tape loop to provide MOH. My question is: in this digital age, why does a lot of MOH still sound like it's coming from a worn out tape machine with massive wow and flutter and scratchy reproduction?
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9th Mar 2020, 9:33 am | #2 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Glossop, Derbyshire, UK.
Posts: 487
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Re: Music On Hold
When I worked for BT we had MOH units that we loaded from a tape ( the kit was digital but the tape was not ) I still have the Philips tape deck . Much later we used wav files for MOH with adverts in the middle
Dave L
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9th Mar 2020, 10:54 am | #3 |
Pentode
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 163
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Re: Music On Hold
I used to maintain a MOH system as part of the small PABX at my old work, 6 years ago. This was all digital and ran from a Windows server in conjunction with dedicated PABX hardware.
This suffered from the same problem even though everything was up to spec and I was told it was due to the compression / bandwidth used over the lines. It was understandably even worse when listening to it on a mobile. Remember, phone lines were designed to transmit voice with a limited range of frequencies, not music. But still, I wonder why they don't 'optimise' MOH tracks to be low-bandwidth friendly. The ones we used were paid for royalty-free tracks specially for telephone use (I still have a copy somewhere!!) so I am surprised they did not make them more fit for purpose. |
9th Mar 2020, 4:27 pm | #4 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,725
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Re: Music On Hold
Quote:
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9th Mar 2020, 4:48 pm | #5 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,725
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Re: Music On Hold
Quote:
As Vivaldi is so commonly used for MOH, my test track was "Largo e pianissimo sempre (in C♯ minor)" I particularly trying to reduce the annoying "VOX" effect you get with quiet passages, as you hit the lowest bit defining the dynamic range.
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9th Mar 2020, 7:59 pm | #6 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,010
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Re: Music On Hold
Even the first-generation Cisco Call Manager software I deployed 20 years ago had smart-support that differentiated between analog legacy-landline and digital/mobile callers, so we could deliver MOH audibly optimised to their individual listening-experience.
Back then my clients were mainly financial-institutions, and my licensed MOH was in lter years "Intro" by The XX - https://youtu.be/NHMAx7AmK70 or earlier, "The Sun always Shines (on TV)" by A-Ha - https://youtu.be/a3ir9HC9vYg with the inevitable every-couple-of-minutes "We are a company licensed by the Financial Services Authority" interjection. |
10th Mar 2020, 1:39 am | #7 |
Nonode
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 2,181
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Re: Music On Hold
Most of the Panasonic variants I installed came with a music port. I had one subsidiary of a German company look at WW2 CD's for on hold. The KXTD series came with a built in music chip. Most oft job was to take it out and fit a CD player.
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10th Mar 2020, 9:35 am | #8 |
Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,903
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Re: Music On Hold
Ah, Vivaldi's four seasons..... now there was MOH perfect for implying to captive listeners that they could he holding the phone to their ear for a significant part of a year
The amazing thing about music is that no matter what you play, it's sure to offend someone. There are worse things than MOH. "............press one hundred and thirty six, for all other enquiries, press one hundred and thirty seven." David
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10th Mar 2020, 9:40 am | #9 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: West Cumbria (CA13), UK
Posts: 6,130
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Re: Music On Hold
The trouble with having decent music when on hold is that it is ruined by frequent interruptions to reassure that the call is important and will be dealt with as soon as an operative becomes available.
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10th Mar 2020, 10:48 am | #10 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 17,866
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Re: Music On Hold
Also, any music is "ruined" in that when you hear it again, it immediately reminds you of a frustrating wait to speak to a call centre.
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10th Mar 2020, 9:06 pm | #11 |
Heptode
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Edinburgh, UK.
Posts: 805
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Re: Music On Hold
I remember spending ages on the phone to a small firm of solicitors with a stylophone version of Thine Be The Glory (first two lines only).
I added MOS to a phone with one of the Maplin three-wire music generator chips (I'd like to teach the world to sing) wired into the microphone connections. |
10th Mar 2020, 9:43 pm | #12 |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Invercargill, New Zealand
Posts: 3,458
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Re: Music On Hold
The accounting firm I used to be with had a Denon 5 disc CD player with Mantovani CDs as MOH, until it was damaged in a break-in (apparently accountants have lots of money on-premises - not - all they got was the social club booze and less than $100 of petty cash, but caused a lot of other damage). I sourced a Teac replacement, but told them the discs might be damaged too so substituted some of my own, swapping them out regularly. Almost got caught out when a rather colourful one-liner on a live Crowded House CD was picked up by a caller!
Most systems I see at client sites now either have stock royalty-free music built in, or a cheap MP3 player or radio plugged in. The royalty-free option is good, fees from APRA are per line and can get up there, although I can virtually guarantee the phone guys never bother to advise customers of that. |
10th Mar 2020, 11:00 pm | #13 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: East Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 3,990
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Re: Music On Hold
Quote:
Not with this. John.
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10th Mar 2020, 11:02 pm | #14 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 17,866
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Re: Music On Hold
Ah
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10th Mar 2020, 11:14 pm | #15 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: East Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 3,990
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Re: Music On Hold
It's a music box, I doubt you would hear this anywhere else.
John.
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11th Mar 2020, 7:15 am | #16 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 17,866
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Re: Music On Hold
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11th Mar 2020, 7:36 pm | #17 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Spalding, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK.
Posts: 2,859
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Re: Music On Hold
Plusnet did (DO, Probably) use MOH but only from local bands, they tell me. Sheffield. Unfortunately, it is very loud and compressed in my opinion and it repeats fairly often. After a while it becomes very annoying. No doubt to the lack of "decent music" available? I think "ABC" were a local band, "The look of love", but I have never heard it played.
Rob
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11th Mar 2020, 10:22 pm | #18 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: East Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 3,990
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Re: Music On Hold
Quote:
That's the one, well spotted / remembered. Just wind it up and placing the handpiece on the rest presses the on button and there is music, if you can call it that. I had not seen another until you pointed it out. (I had music taking the last picture) John.
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11th Mar 2020, 10:52 pm | #19 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: West Cumbria (CA13), UK
Posts: 6,130
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Re: Music On Hold
I want one - just the job for those annoying people who 'phone up trying to sell you something or scam you.
"Please hold the line..."
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Mending is better than Ending (cf Brave New World by Aldous Huxley) |
11th Mar 2020, 11:10 pm | #20 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: East Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 3,990
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Re: Music On Hold
Quote:
John.
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My favourite text message "I'll be there in five minutes, if not read again" |
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