Station announcements

[weave]

Hi all,

Was looking at the 'sound or no sound thread' and didn't want to hijack it but I'm not too bothered about real train noises as can't afford.

However do like the thought of station announcements and was wondering how to do it. Have googled and there are things you can download on MP3. I don't have one and am about as technical as my dog's non technical area. I do have an i pod and a thing with a speaker that you can plug the i pod into.

Model french/spanish and wan't to 'tape' a few things like this


Annonce Complète Intercités de Nuit 4848 et 4348

Any help always appreciated,

Thanks weave

[Railwaygun]

Look on YouTube for station recordings and record /copy to the iPod

Then play them!

A cheap mp3 play woul able a cheap alternative

[Jerry Howlett]

Station Announcements !
Westbury sometime in mid 1990's

Train standing at platform 2 is the Taunton service.
Standard class accomodation is at the rear of the train, First class is at the front... Not at the VERY FRONT cause thats where the driver sits and that would be silly.....

A real Railwayman Stan who had done nearly 50 years service, also a Railway modeller.

Witnessed by yours truly whilst working there.

[longbridge]

I like the idea of having station announcements Weave, have you thought of doing your own?, most operating systems have a voice recorder so recording should be easy.

Here is a link to a free software program that I use in Linux but also for Windows.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Funny really when I get in front of a microphone at some of the gigs we do I pinch my nose and introduce my train songs with an Italian accent which is typical of Australian railway stations.

[Pengi]

Great idea Weave. I've found this  - announcement for ICE from Berlin Hauptbanhof

http://www.freesfx.co.uk/sfx/central%20station

only thing is that I don't have a platform 13 on my layout!

[trainsdownunder]

Simple ideas like this are great. Easy enough to do with an MP3 player. I'll have a think about something that has just given me an idea.   

[scotsoft]

If you can't get hold of a cheap MP3 player you could always use a cheap CD player feeding speakers hidden in the station buildings.  Just burn your MP3 announcements to a CD and off you go.

cheers John.

[longbridge]

If you can't get hold of a cheap MP3 player you could always use a cheap CD player feeding speakers hidden in the station buildings.  Just burn your MP3 announcements to a CD and off you go.

cheers John.

That is what I have done with my layout John, I have 2 sets of Multimedia Speakers under the layout with a CD  Walkman for each, I downloaded Steam Sounds for one from Steamsounds UK and Diesel Sounds from BR Diesel Web for the other, they are just ambient sounds but they do add a bit of atmosphere, would be simple to add station announcements.

[Pengi]

Thinking about this more  , would the station announcements need to be speeded up to be in N scale?  (Can't get my head around this, as I don't have Einstein's brain capacity )

Also they would need to be quite soft so that they can only be heard in the environs of the station?

[scotsoft]

Thinking about this more  , would the station announcements need to be speeded up to be in N scale?  (Can't get my head around this, as I don't have Einstein's brain capacity )

Do you mean so they sound like the chipmonks 

Also they would need to be quite soft so that they can only be heard in the environs of the station?

That is why I suggested fitting small speakers inside the station buildings e.g. roof spaces or under the platform, they would give a natural muffled sound.

[Greybeema]

Would you add the sound of slam doors and blowing whistles to the sound track as well?  I often wonder with layout sound - what would you hear from our viewing distances anyway - do you really hear the train or just the ambient noise..

Would you take this further and have muffled ambient sounds around (traffic, birds, people talking etc) and just build up the sound layers?

[longbridge]

I get all my non railway related sounds from sounddogs.com, barking dogs. level crossings, traffic, ambulances and police cars, kids playing in the street, birds tweeting, church bells and a few other odds and sods, some people think I am nuts for having sounds like that on my layout    but hey its my layout 

Also plenty of station announcements and assorted station sounds on sounddogs.com

[edwin_m]

Thinking about this more  , would the station announcements need to be speeded up to be in N scale?  (Can't get my head around this, as I don't have Einstein's brain capacity )

Possibly so for strict scale modelling, like if you scaled down all the molecules in the air...

But in the real world it would just sound daft, and in fact if you reduced the wavelength of the sound by a factor of 148 then even dogs probably couldn't hear it.  Even if you run the timetable to a fast clock, things like that don't scale and they should be played at normal speed. 

[Pengi]

Thinking about this more  , would the station announcements need to be speeded up to be in N scale?  (Can't get my head around this, as I don't have Einstein's brain capacity )

Possibly so for strict scale modelling, like if you scaled down all the molecules in the air...

But in the real world it would just sound daft, and in fact if you reduced the wavelength of the sound by a factor of 148 then even dogs probably couldn't hear it.  Even if you run the timetable to a fast clock, things like that don't scale and they should be played at normal speed.

So would this make me a molecule counter (instead of a rivet counter) 

[trainsdownunder]

Following on from my earlier post

Have just found ordered some of these from eBay, will take about a week to arrive http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10-Sec-Talking-Button-Sound-Voice-Music-Recordable-Module-for-Greeting-Card-New-/140926861469?pt=AU_Gadgets&hash=item20cfe5409d&_uhb=1#ht_3352wt_979

I know they will probably sound a bit squawky but it's got to worth a go to try and build a push button announcement unit.
Cheap enough for most of us to hack around with

Watch this space and I'll post some results shortly

Alternatively here's another possible option if you can find a card http://www.instructables.com/id/Recycle-christmas-card-as-digital-recorder-module/