Oktoberfest ringtones will be available September 5 through October 5, Halloween from October 1 to November 1, and Diwali from October 7 through October 28. They will be available in the Google Home app for you to choose for your Doorbell starting on those dates.
Google takes us behind the scenes on these festive ringtones
Google is also taking us behind the scenes on how they fine-tune these ringtones for the Nest Doorbell (Battery). Originally, Google looked at how they could make ringtones add a bit more magic around the house when someone is at the door. So they started with seasonal ringtones in the Google Home app with the Nest Hello in 2018. Now, Google is adding even more to their seasonal collection. Previously, it was limited to just Halloween. Now, Google has Oktoberfest, Halloween, Diwali, and even did some seasonal ringtones for the Lunar New Year earlier this year. So how do they do it? Benjamin Decker, an Audio Designer on the Nest team, talks about how they fine tune the ringtones in a new blog post. Here’s how they designed the Oktoberfest ringtone: “Once we’ve landed on a moment and overall design, we’re ready to create our ringtone. Let’s take a look at how we made the new one for Oktoberfest. The first step? Research. I listened to and analyzed the musical arrangements and styles of a variety of traditional polka songs. Then, I composed a simple, original melody on the piano (at a rather slow tempo), along with separate harmony and bass lines. Using audio production software, I replaced each of the piano tracks with a digital sample of a traditional German accordion, and sped up the tempo so it was doorbell-friendly. In some cases, like the Oktoberfest ringtone, I can use traditional instruments. Other ringtones require some more… creative solutions. Take the Thanksgiving ringtone. Because many recordings of turkey gobbles aren’t very clear (real turkey sounds are pretty muddy and outdoor sounds mixed in can make them even harder to hear), I recorded them using my own voice. I now know way too much about the intricacies of a turkey gobble. Once I compose, edit (and edit some more), I share the ringtone with different teams for feedback and test how it sounds on the Nest doorbell speaker. After making any final changes, we name the ringtone and post it so people can easily download it from the Google Home app.” It’s a pretty neat process, and you can read more about it on Google’s blog post linked here.
