Creating Ringtone Files

First, we need to choose the songs you want to make into ring tones. If you’ve bought protected songs from iTunes, you’ll need to convert them to unprotected AAC or MP3 files. (I’ll be writing a post on how to do this later) So once you’ve got your song file chosen, you need to edit it.

Using GarageBand to Make the File

GarageBand is an audio editing/music creation tool that is included with all new Macs as part of iLife. It allows your to mix, clip, create, and otherwise edit sound and music. This is a very powerful tool that can do a whole lot, but we’re just going to use a very small, simple bit of it.

Once you’ve opened GarageBand (in your Applications folder) you’ll want to choose the option to “Create New Music Project”, save it where ever you’d like. You will be present with a blank music project with a Grand Piano track. Click on that track and press Command-Delete to delete the track. Now drag you music file from Finder or iTunes into the GarageBand window.
From there you can scrub through the song to find the area you want as your ringtone. Once you have found it, place the playhead at the beginning of the clip you want, making sure the clip is selected, and press Command-T to split the clip at the playhead. Then, while holding shift, click the part of the clip you want to keep to deselect it. Your window should look something like this:

With the part of the clip you don’t want selected, press Delete to delete that section. You can then click and drag the remaining part of the song to the beginning of the track. Repeat with the end of the clip you want as your ringtone. You should end up with something that looks like this:

Now that you have your clip done, we can export it to the format to be used on your phone. The easiest way to set the output selection is to go to Share, Send Ringtone to iTunes. A window will pop up asking to adjust the cycle length of the clip. Click adjust on this window to automatically set the selection length. From here there are going to be different instructions based on your device.

Exporting for iPhone

iPhones are by far the easiest to add ringtones to. Once you have the cycle length set, just choose Share, Send Ringtone to iTunes again (You may need to go into GarageBand’s preferences to set up your info before it will let you export it that way) and you’ll have it in iTunes in your list of Ringtones.

Exporting for .mp3 Compatible Phones

Most phones that allow custom ringtones use .mp3 files as the ringtones. So we have to create a .mp3 file from GarageBand. This is relatively easy. Go to Share, Export Song to Disk… On the window that pops up, check the box to Compress, select MP3 Encoder. Under Audio Settings, choose Custom… Since this is going to a ringtone and, as such, doesn’t need to be stereo, we can choose mono sound to reduce the file size. Select 64kbps as the bitrate with VBR on and set to highest. Your settings should look exactly like those on the right.
Once those settings are set, you can click OK and then Export. Save the file where ever you will remember it. Now there is a file ready to be put on your phone.

Loading Ringtones on pre-2008 Alltel Motorola Phones (RAZR, ROKR, etc.) or US Cellular Motorola Phones

These phones are among the easiest to add ringtones to as they are not locked down in any way. To load the ringtones, you will have to first set up the bluetooth connection to you phone. To do this, turn your phone’s bluetooth on and set to “Find Me” (Settings, Connections, Bluetooth). Then, on your computer, click on the bluetooth icon in your menu bar and select “Set Up Bluetooth Device.” You will be taken through a step-by-step setup of the bluetooth connection.
Once this setup is complete, you can transfer your ringtones to the phone. Go to the bluetooth icon again and find your phone then select “Browse Device…” A window will then pop up with a list of folders, open the “audio” folder. Once you’re here, you can just drag the ringtone files into that window and they will be available as ringtones.

Loading Ringtones on 2008 and later Alltel Motorola Phones (Advanced)

Because of the software on the latest Alltel Motorola Phones, adding audio files to the phone will not automatically make then available as ringtones. However, there is a way to activate them for use as ringtones. For these steps, you will need a few things:

• PC running Windows XP
• USB connection cable for your phone
• A nerdy ambition

Follow the steps for loading on other Motorola phones to get the files on your phone. Then on the PC, you’ll need to download and install Motorola Software Update and P2KCommander. Once these are installed, open MSU.  Once MSU is open, plug your phone in via the USB cable.  Wait a bit until MSU shows your phone’s MEID number on the left side of the window.  Then open P2KCommander.  On the right drop-down menu, select “/a Phone System” or something to that effect.  Wait a minute for the file system to load, and then delete the MyTonesDB.db file.  Restart your phone and the ringtones should be available.

Other Phones

I will be posting instructions for Alltel and US Cellular LG phones in the next few days. If you have another type of phone you would like instructions for, leave the phone model and carrier in the comments and I’ll look into adding instructions for those.