So I work doing the copywriting for new products and content management of about 5000 other products at an internet retailer called Sewell Direct. A couple years ago we decided that since our inbound call volume (mostly people needing tech support or customer service) was getting pretty high, we needed some hold music. We’ve been through about 3 sets of hold music, learning what makes good hold music.

I’ve learned that the best hold music is the kind that gets your heart rate down. Anyone calling us up is probably stressed out because maybe Fed Ex didn’t deliver on time, or maybe they just found out the USB to DVI isn’t Mac compatible yet. So the best music to listen to when in this state of mind is something to relax your muscles; like an audio ambien if you will.

Below is the latest version of our hold music. My co-worker Lewis is doing the talking in between the hold songs. I recorded the music part at home just with the usual 4 channel Alesis USB mixer, hooked up to GarageBand, using the same Audio Technica microphones as usual, and also hooking my bass and electric guitar straight into the mixer on occasion. The tracks below are in order of how they play when you are on hold, on like an 8 and a half minute loop. Hopefully no one is ever on hold that long. I think hold time around here averages around 30 seconds or so.

Hopefully these tunes will calm your aggitated nerves, and make you forget all about that ExpressCard to PCMCIA adapter that wasn’t as compliant with your data card as you thought.

1. Hold Music #1

2. Hold Talking #1

3. Hold Music #2

4. Hold Talking #2
5. Hold Music #3