About this ringtone
Compilation of 159 audio recordings of various artists in the Internet Archive. "When I moved to Berlin in September 2008 and continued my heavily computer-dependent PhD Thesis, I decided to try to listen in parallel to as much audio recordings in the Internet Archive as possible, instead of dedicating additional time with the computer to compose music myself. Practically, I listened to all the recordings of the archive audio items matching the search terms "electronic" and "album" (album electronic AND mediatype:audio, as on 15 October 2008). I accounted also for the audio items appearing later on, until 29 January 2010, although restricting to those few having date-keyword information (date:[2008-10-15 TO 2009-01-29]; different than using e.g. the createdate or publicdate keywords). In total, there were 1880 audio items and it took me one year and half to listen to all the associated recordings - which number possibly was in the range 9400-21000, assuming 5-11 recordings per item, in average. During the process, I selected the recordings that appeared to me as being relatively original, creative, harmonious, balanced, of good sound quality, weird, or humorous. So finally, by the end of spring 2010, I had a core selection of about 160 audio recordings, which I decided to emphasize through this compilation entitled Terrain Wave. --The sheer quantity of Internet Archive audio items (701700, as on Monday 11 October 2010, versus the 1880 of my search) - corresponding to not much more than an infinitesimal percent of the world audio production, made me clear that a complete listening/scanning of the IA audio database in one year would require several hundreds of human alter egos or a very customized audio software." GZ ---------------------------- Track list: 1. Metek - Distans 2. 50hertz - The Mexican Gospel Fire Souls 3. dotCommunism - Fag da Deaf Edge 4. Sunday Night Joy - The Glistened Alley (of Skopje) 5. Evgenij V. Kharitonov - Shrr Shrrr Shrrr (Electrical Poem # 008) 6. the happy planets - Forward 7. S.E.T.I. - a (Extract) 8. Phaphus - Delight and Distress at the Same Time 9. Razzkazz - Octinine 10. Anderson Hoffmann - Untitled III 11. Electricwest - The Air That Found Us 12. Electricwest - Because of You 13. Esem - Cee 14. Hot Roddy - White Magnum Please 15. Aleksi Eeben - Avaruusmiehen Pieni Askel (Spaceman's Small Step) 16. Tangible - Dek 17. Binary - Ivor Commodore Part 3 18. Aleksi Eeben - Mnambo 19. Z=Get - Sokabasu 20. Happy Elf - Pixie Hat 21. Pipo Pegoraro - When You Walk 22. The Motet - Live Georgia Theatre (Athens, GA) 11-10-2006 (Extract) 23. Clan - Electronically Modified 24. Tammetõru - Tule Mulle Kaissu 25. Transient - Prayer For the Elements 26. Lomov - Norjaz 27. Transient - Material Malfunktion 28. Trivial - Save a Prayer 29. Davor O. - Moka Bay 30. Aleksi Eeben - Avaruusmiehen Välisoitto (Spaceman's Interlude) 31. Binary - Ballad of Pam and Tommy Part 6 32. Aleksi Eeben - Round Blue Rath 33. Overhuman Project - Neuro Confusion (Delusional RMX) 34. PsychoSID - Redman (Psycho Mix) 35. Botany Bay - Tu M'As Dit 36. Digitalverein - Face the Horizon 37. Kowloon - The Puzzles Last Piece 38. Ramone - Breakerz Revenge 39. Ramone - Flowing Like ... 40. Ramone - Milky Way 41. Ramone - Crystal 42. Ramone - Dojo Skeme Theme 43. Ramone - Dojo in Slo Mo 44. Evan Morris - Deep Sea Diving For Treasure 45. Evan Morris - Going Crazy and For What 46. Evan Morris - Breaking the Wall 47. Evan Morris - Icestorm 48. Evan Morris - Lonely Settings 49. Evan Morris - Ghost Fight 50. Evan Morris - Camp Chaos 51. Evan Morris - You Wouldn't Be 52. Evan Morris - Look What I Can Do 53. Chenard Walcker - Quarles d'une Voix Mielleuse 54. RickJames5465 - Buzz 55. Zaz Zetoun Mind - Ych'ehrt (Live Act) 56. Thuuooom - DNA (Slow) 57. Carl Brown - Rambong Propulsions (EP Version) 58. Aleksi Eeben - Avaruusmiehen Lyhyt Matka (Spaceman's Little Expedition) 59. Happy Elf - My Monkey (Extract) 60. Chloroplastic - Cold Windy Day 61. Vim! - Chimier 62. Danieto - Retardado 63. D'incise - Elle Dort 64. The Inventors of Aircraft - All, Nothing 65. Rktic - Riding the Pipeline 66. Thuuooom - Rainaway 67. Acid42 - Touch Me Not (Extract) 68. Authist - Prototyp Earth (Mission Mars 2008) 69. D'incise - Contemplatif et Pixellisé 70. Metal - Fusion 71. JCH - No Filter 72. Happy Elf - Pop In 73. The Electronic Error Orchestra - Setup 74. Overthruster - Pro Portions 75. top-40.org - Crete (track 3 - Extract) 76. Marcel Türkowsky - De Dodu 77. Marcel Türkowsky - Just Wait Until the Pictures Arrive 78. Marcel Türkowsky - Stavanger Blick 79. Tiziano Bonfanti - July 80. Yamaoka Yasuhiro - 03:30 81. Dissolved - Buried Weavers 82. Wrexsoul - The Boy Aims For Wild Fields 83. 2 Player Guess What - Relationship to Other Arthropods 84. PsychoSID - Breath Out (Frou Frou Remix) 85. Boombox - Live Georgia Theatre (Athens, GA) 3-8-2007 Set 1 86. Boombox - Live Georgia Theatre (Athens, GA) 3-8-2007 Set 2 87. Binary - Ivor Commodore Part 1 88. DaMaGeZ - Yoyo 89. Binary - Formel 2 90. Binary - Ivor Commodore Part 2 91. Co Kla Coma - Dedicated DSP 92. dreDDup - No Hands Man 93. Pablo Perez - Rome 94. Clone - Bagupaw 95. Arthur Loves Plastic - Bright Lights, Big City 96. Trix - Fantasizing 97. Antonelli Electr. - Live Level Records (Extract) 98. Goodbye the Band - Marvin Sunshine (Soft Edit) 99. Meanwhileproject.ltd - All In One 100. The Search - We Rule the World 101. Tim Gaze & David Curnow - Siren 102. wecollectskies - And Now I'm Found 103. Candiru - One Night Under a Gate 104. color by numbers - Endless Paper Oceans 105. Headphone Science - Signal Return Remix 106. Monoide - Strategy 107. Dominique Jacquinet - Protocol 108. Mons Jacet - The First Spring Rain 109. Manifesto - A Rope (a Way Out) (Extract) 110. Naïfloop - Sissy Emperatriz 111. Zmeerozy - Son Trety: Pojaluista... Priruchi Menya! 112. Bastiaan Pecht - Space Commanders On the Run 113. Leemonster - Hope For a New Begining 114. Fluxo - Equilíbrio (Part. Dheeny) 115. Tatsu - Sky and Sea / Daytime Dream 116. Jon 7 - Glacial (Slow Mix) 117. Andrew Volk - I Found an Alien (Extract) 118. The Sumo Project - Apology 119. Yoko Absorbing - Und - Eitempera 120. 7 Bandits - Menhir Verdu Dak 121. Quinn McCarthy - The Sword, the Necklace and the Mirror 122. Quinn McCarthy - Go-Daigo's Theme 123. Tone Ghost Ether - Gamelan Moon Landing (Rhythmic) 124. Papadosio - Advocate of Change 125. Planet Boelex - Suunta 126. Bliss - You Have Something In Your Scowl (Extract) 127. Meanwhileproject.ltd - Silverspoon 128. Transient - Railroad Flying Machine 129. Meanwhileproject.ltd - The Sleeper and the Shore 130. Gultskra Artikler - Onita 131. The Dandelion Council - Des Canyons Aux Etoiles 132. Thuuooom - Alea.8 133. Tim Gaze & David Curnow - Acoustic Medley 134. Naïfloop - Mary Elisabeth and Jimy the Cat 135. The Spangle Maker - The Automaton's Rebellion 136. Dustin O'Dell - Voices In the Park 137. Danieto - Virus Mental (Obsesiones Beneficas) 138. Igor O. Vlasov - Radar 139. Spoweck - Hand Made Dress 140. Binary - 9899 141. Ramugen-Greg Fox - Debut 142. Binary - Vienna Gigolo 143. Ckid - Backwards 144. G-Zillion - Z-Zillion 145. Gultskra Artikler - Gololed 146. Muggle Fx - Close Calls Land Slides 147. ACK!!! - The Exit 148. Recue - Between Stations 149. Adrian Carter - Click Click (Fade) 150. Stickman Shauno - A Thousand Techno Pagans (Feat. Churd Tzu) 151. Flutterspot - Hover In Mid-Air By Rapidly Flapping Their Wings 152. A Tiny Window - Where the Hills Are 153. Ursula - Sailor 154. Gultskra Artikler - Logoled 155. Ckid - Closed 156. dotCommunism - Con Bri 157. Xabier Erkizia - Cialis 158. Luke Collison - Suk It 159. Tim Gaze & David Curnow - Welwelwelcome
For deeper background on the recording era and original session details, the catalog at The Composer's Cut is one of the more thoroughly annotated reference resources we use when working through provenance questions like these.
Why this works as a ringtone
Great ringtones share a few specific qualities: they have a strong opening hook, they land their identity within the first three or four seconds, and they hold up to being heard in cafés, on busy streets, and through the muffled lining of a coat pocket. Terrain Wave earns its place in the archive on those terms — it's recognizable from its first phrase, sits comfortably in the mid-range where small phone speakers reproduce sound best, and has the right kind of melodic profile to cut through ambient noise without being shrill or grating.
It also benefits from belonging to the wider Sci-Fi & Fantasy tradition — listeners associate this kind of sound with anticipation and recognition, two qualities you actually want from the noise that signals an incoming call. A ringtone is, after all, a tiny piece of personal branding; pulling from the screen-music canon gives it a built-in cultural shorthand that a generic synth jingle can never match.
Install on iPhone (M4R format)
- Tap the Download Ringtone button above and save the MP3 to your iPhone's Files app (it will land in On My iPhone → Downloads).
- Open GarageBand (free from the App Store). Create a new project and switch to the Tracks (multi-track) view.
- Tap the loop icon, choose the Files tab, and drag the downloaded ringtone onto an empty audio track.
- Trim the clip to under 30 seconds using the handles — iOS will not allow longer ringtones.
- Tap the down arrow → My Songs, long-press your project, then choose Share → Ringtone → Use sound as → Standard Ringtone.
- Open Settings → Sounds & Haptics → Ringtone and select Terrain Wave at the top of the list.
Install on Android (MP3 format)
- Tap the Download Ringtone button to save the MP3 to your phone's Downloads folder.
- Open your Files app (also called "My Files" on Samsung Galaxy devices).
- Long-press the downloaded MP3 file. On most modern Android phones, you can choose Set as ringtone directly from this menu.
- If that option is missing, choose Move instead and place the file inside
Internal storage → Ringtones(create the folder if it doesn't exist). - Open Settings → Sound & Vibration → Phone Ringtone (the menu name varies slightly by manufacturer) and select Terrain Wave.
Specific guides: Samsung Galaxy · Google Pixel · Zedge App
If you find yourself doing a lot of trimming or volume-leveling work before installation, The Ringtone Workshop publishes a frequently updated set of audio-prep tutorials that pair well with the steps above.
Source & licensing
This audio was sourced from the Internet Archive's open audio collection, where it's distributed under a permissive license that allows free download, sharing, and reuse. The original recording is preserved at archive.org/details/TerrainWave; ToneVault catalogues and links to it but does not claim ownership of the recording itself.
If you're a rights holder and believe a recording in our catalog has been mislabeled or should be removed, please see the DMCA & Copyright Policy for the takedown process. We respond to all valid requests promptly.