You really only need “minutes” and “seconds” when you announce the 2 minutes, and 90 and 60 seconds marks, respectively.
Otherwise, I could even edit the file myself using the ol’ Creative Labs wav editor. You just need to shift most things and cut out the “seconds” that are in the wrong spots. BTDT.
But I’ll let you go for that.
TomoHawk,
That’s why I posted the “How to” 
Everyone has an opinion and a preferred way of doing things. With the “how to” you are free to make your own starting tape.
Hi,
First attempt for you guys.
Funnily enough male voice …possibly called Mark? The female computer voices sounded awful, I’ll try to fiddle a bit.
Voices on the timings ( 3 or 4 pre-empt by a smidge to facilitate the pips coming through)
All voice IDs included. easy to add/remove/ make different lengths.
Accents in pips every 5 sec so you can realise you actually lost count.
5 fast pips before final 10" count and announcement that final count about to begin.
Shortened horn on the end with reverb.
Let me know if the voices are too loud or soft. Depending on the speakers it may be all out of whack. Obviously we need to find a medium in the end. (I think this should be good though)
OK,
If this audio sequence is the kind those of us here would like to use for sailing, how would you get all the others to use it too? I mean all those who think the old one with the knocking and such is the “correct” thing.
Um, not sure if that means it has achieved the aim of giving anyone a clear and accurate way of starting or not?
In terms of using click/thunks/any other sounds it’s a non issue - I can rip the sounds from the AMYA one no hassles and give it accents etc.
Scott’s version had VERY fast transients so it might have been difficult in certain circumstances to hear the clicks, only reason I tried the pip option
With regards to this specific way of doing it… if it works and fulfills its objective more so than the older versions in existence (which I do not claim that it does, I have no experience with regatta starts ) then people will surely adopt it because it works better. If people find that they prefer any existing version, that’s fine.
Apparently engineers do overcomplicate things lol…makes me happy.
I think the overall thing here is to get the starting audio sequence to be more in-line with the RRS. There’s no requirement for the knocking sound, and it’s not prohibited either, so all the older people seem to like the constant clunking. the same people also think the boom decides what tack you’re on, so so you get a picture of that old-guy, over-simplified mentality. If these guys are “real racers” and “sail to WIN” then why don’t they go for the start audio as required by the rules?
I grew up with the real rules, including “mast abeam” so I’d like to go with the latest audio example.
The male voice is good, but you still have all the “until mark” stuff, and “initiating countdown” isn’t needed. If you add any extra calls, just use the form of “one-forty-five” so it lasts less than a second, so you can put it right on the mark.
Just to add to the confusion here are links to the start sequence I use which was recorded by a “professional voice” some years ago.
It originally had music in the background but that was quickly edited out as it was driving everyone nuts.
Recently the dings and ticks were added as we found that when we used this sequence for match racing it made it much easier to keep track of the one minute thirty second count to allow entry into the start box.
You will note that there is also a count at fifteen seconds which I feel is useful.
You have both mp3 & wma files here.
Please feel free to use this version if you like it.
Your comments are welcome
http://www.radioyachting.com/files/2min%20NZ%20start%20-%20MP3%20Copy.mp3
http://www.radioyachting.com/files/2min%20NZ%20start.wma
That seems like the best yet. The dings take a short time to get used to, but it’s not a problem. the verbal calls are all perfect. Maybe you can get a new one recorded without the music.
Glad you’ve got something you like 
Let me know if you want the extra calls removed in that version. We can also delete it to avoid the confusion of yet another option floating around. I can see if a Voice artist comes in if I can get him to quickly lay out the words, but I’m worried that the accent might throw you off. I’ll give it a bash if the opportunity arrises.
Ian,
The timing at the 20 second mark is just a little off; it sounds like there’s a double-ding there. Can you fix that? I’m wondering why the pips started at 1:10, and the dings for the last 10 seconds?
Is it just me, or does Her Majesty’s accent stand out better than a dull American one? thx
I am sorry my friend but I do not have the skills to modify the sound track.
It was of course originally made for use with a cassette tape which is why the music track was incorporated.
It assures listeners that the tape is still running.
As I explained the music drove everyone bananas and so was edited out (well sort of ) The file you hear now was ripped off the tape and the dings & ticks added so there are a few amplitude variations and timing issues as well. I am afraid what you hear is what you get at the moment. It has been my intention to have a new file made with all the faults corrected and I have a friend who is a "voice" who would do the voicing for me but like so many other projects these days it wont happen overnight.
IMHO the queen`s english properly spoken will always be more intelligible than any dialect from anywhere in the world.
I’ll download that one and see what I can do for you. If you manage to get a voice tracked, I can put it together no problem.
Cheers
Andrew
Ian,
Maybe you can get your ‘voice’ friend to record individual recordings of the time hacks. This would be that same as requesting the “text to speech” WAV files from the AT&T site. Then Andrew and others could overlay them onto other tracks (dings an ticks) as desired. Just a thougt.
Scott
Hey there Andrew & Scott, good ideas lads.
Andrew would it be OK to have the time calls just done as individual clips which could be inserted into a time track sequence?
What would be the most ideal file format for transfer and usage?
No promises mind, but I will see what I can do.
It would be most excellent to have a start sequence that could be posted here for all to download at no charge.
Cheers, guys.
If they could be posted as .WAV files for me and either uploaded or mailed to our studio address (there’s a cool site we use called yousendit - like an ftp but less issues with firewalls etc.), I can then cut/ put them together and send them back as mp3’s in pretty much any quality you all want them. Easy for me 
I’m also happy to do a whole load of options as standard ones as well. Supply the tick/click/bell or whatever and I’ll load it in. Takes me about 5 minutes per version if that, so if there’s say 6 options with different types of clicks that can be default versions - and then the cold voice on the exact timings for people to play with if they want? Please check with the voices that they are okay with use in a public place for no money - some guys can be ridiculous about things like that.
Let me know if you need the email address.
Cheers
Andrew
Here you go Tomohawk.
Unfortunately there are some double clicks under the last 10" counts that are impossible to remove as I don’t have those numbers spoken elsewhere.
Fixed the 20" double click for you and they are all pretty much bang on the money in terms of timing now.
It has gone down another generation unfortunaley.
Cheers
Andrew
Ian,
WAV files would be perfect. You could probably zip them all up into one file, or two three, and post here.
Cheers,
Scott
Wav would probably be a bit big, best case is 10Mb for a 2 min piece @ 44.1khz, 16 bit (cd quality, mono)
That is unzipped but I’ve found you don’t gain too much after zipping. If it’s an archive for people who want to fiddle it makes sense, but for guys just wanting to download start sequences it might be a bit hectic (bandwidth is pretty horrible out here, so it may not be an issue at all)