Tutorial: Using Garageband to create custom iPhone ringtones

This is a start-to-finish guide for creating iPhone ringtones using GarageBand on your Mac. To prepare for this tutorial, find a couple of songs you enjoy from your iTunes Library. You will be pulling your favorite 30 seconds from them to create your ringtone. These steps were created using a MacBook Pro running Mac OS X 10.5.6, iTunes 8.1, iLife '09, and an original iPhone running iPhone OS 2.2.1.

To create your ringtone:

1. Open GarageBand and create a new iPhone Ringtone "Example Ringtone" project from the template chooser window. Name and save your ringtone project.
2. Delete the preset "Jingles" track. Highlight the track by clicking on the track name and press Command-Delete.
3. Open iTunes and select the song you would like to make into a ringtone.
4. Drag the song from the iTunes window into the GarageBand window. (Note: When the command is executable, you should see a green and white ( ) icon appear.) After the track imports, you can begin editing your ringtone.
5. Using the timeline indicator, select where you would like your ringtone to begin. With your track highlighted, press Command-T to make an edit on the track. You can then select the part of the song before your edit point and press Delete to remove it.
6. Next, find where you would like to end your ringtone. Make your edit point and delete the remainder of the song.
7. The default yellow bar at the top of the GarageBand editing window indicates a 18-second loop. To extend or retract your loop, click and drag the end of the yellow bar. This bar should match the length of your selection.
8. Once you have your portion of the song selected, from the GarageBand menu bar, click Share, "Send Ringtone to iTunes." Your ringtone will automatically import into the Ringtones playlist in iTunes.
9. Close GarageBand (you may save the file to edit later).
10. Connect your iPhone to your computer. Under the Ringtones tab from your iPhone Device settings, be sure to select your new ringtone (or All ringtones) to sync. Click the Sync button and your new, custom ringtone will be available on your iPhone.

Watch this video tutorial from Apple about creating a ringtone in GarageBand.

Experiencing problems? Have feedback? Let us know!

Resources