by Thom Yarbrough

iPhone ringtones are a fun way to customize your iPhone. Instead of paying 99 cents for each ringtone you want, there are two ways to get ringtones. A 16-step process with GarageBand to create your own and using one of the simpler programs to do the same thing.

Lets get into what, exactly, can be used as a ringtone. Music files, of course, are mostly used by people for ringtones, especially if you are a professional person who uses their phone for work and play. You can make your own sound bites, such as the birds chirping outside of your window, your child saying, Daddy, your phone is ringing, or something like a sound bite from your early days in the high school band. You can also use the sound from movie files. The choices are limitless.

It seems that everyone wants an iPhone. They have so many great features and among those features, ringtones seem at the top of the list. iPhone users want to set ringtones for each of their contacts; this means that when a specific contact, a ringtone matched to him will ring.

iPhone ringtones are easier to match than you’d think. If your brother-in-law lives, sweats and breaths football, set the NFL theme song as his ringtone. If your Dad is crazy for country, make Brooks and Dunn his ringtone. If your sister’s family is dysfunctional, use “Married With Children” as their ringtone. It’s so much fun.

Create iPhone ringtones 1 of 2 ways. This first way has 16 steps and it involves Apple’s GarageBand.

1) Launch both iTunes and GarageBand.

2) Click on the song in iTunes you want to make a ringtone of.

3) In your GarageBand window, select “New Music Project.”

4) Within GarageBand, it shows a timeline of a single track. Delete that track. (To do this, click the track and select “Delete Track” from “Track” menu.

5) Click the music file you want within iTunes and drag it into GarageBand. You’ll see it’s quickly imported.

6) Listen to the song and pick out a short segment to be your ringtone.

7) You’ll need to delete the music ahead of the start of your ringtone. To do this, click on the track to select it, then choose Split from the Edit menu to split the track at the playhead. Click the blank GarageBand work area to deselect the track and click on the portion you want to delete and press the Delete key on your keyboard. Do the same for the end of your ringtone.

9) Drag the beginning of the ringtone all the way to the left side of the track timeline.

10) Next, we’re going to create an end point on our file. Drag the volume a half-second before the end all the way down.

11) Do the same thing for the end part of the ringtone.

12) Listen to the ringtone to make sure that the fade-in and fade-out sound good. If its good, you can save the project.

13) To make sure that the song repeats as your phone rings, click on the button to turn the cycle region on and off (at the bottom of the GarageBand window). It is the button on the far right that looks like a set of arrows.

14) Once the button is pressed, a yellow line will show above the track. With your mouse, pull the right side of the line so that it goes all through your ringtone. Press Save.

15) Now send the file to iTunes. To do this, click “Share”, then “Send Ringtone to iTunes.” Instantly it’s converted and sent to iTunes.

16) To move the ringtone to your iPhone, connect the iPhone while iTunes is open. Select the iPhone in the Devices list on the left side of iTunes, then click on the Ringtones tab. Make sure that Sync Ringtones is checked. Click Sync, and your ringtone is copied to the iPhone.

I know this seems hard. If you’d like something easier, check out PocketMac RingtoneStudio for iPhone. It handles everything for you.

About the Author:
Thom writes articles for mac synchronization software leader, PocketMac. They specialize in unique Macintosh tools, including their tool to make ringtones for your iPhone, RingtoneStudio for iPhone

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Filed under: Communications

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