How to make ringtones for iphone with garageband

Are you underwhelmed with the ringtone selection on your iPhone or iPad? We're going to show you how to use GarageBand to make your own customized ringtone.

There are two methods you can follow to do this. One is creating a sound from scratch—this will require some musical inclination. The second technique lets you make an existing track on your phone a ringtone.

Here, we'll show you how to do both using the mobile Garageband app.

Compose Your Own Ringtone With the Instruments in GarageBand

Before we get started, you'll need to download GarageBand for iOS.

Download: GarageBand (Free)

After you've done that, open the GarageBand app, and tap the Plus (+) icon at the top right.

This will open a window with a variety of instruments to choose from. Scroll through them to pick your first instrument—Drums are always a good start. It will then open the instrument in its editing window.

Per the example shown below, we've picked the Beat Sequencer. It's an easy way to make a simple beat to serve as the foundation of your track.

In the editing window of any instrument, you'll notice a seemingly overwhelming amount of icons. These are the features that the instrument has to offer, allowing you to manipulate how it sounds.

It will take some getting used to, as well as a bit of musical acuity, so keep messing around with it until you're confident you can produce something that sounds good to you. Some instruments also have presets for you to choose from. This is a convenient way to build up a track if you're not up for composing it all by yourself.

Whichever way you end up composing your track, the important thing is that it has a clean loop and doesn't have a playback longer than 40 seconds—this is the maximum ringtone length on iPhone.

The icons we're going to focus on are the same in every instruments' editing window, and they're located in the toolbar at the top. Here, you'll find the Play/Pause, Record, and Back buttons. There's also a Metronome, Undo, and Settings button.

To record a track, hit the Record icon (the red circle) and play the instrument. If it's a sequencer, it already would have embedded the composition—in that case, hit the Play button right after the recording countdown. Every recording is saved to the file.

At this point, you're probably wondering how to make a track with multiple instruments. Locate the icon that looks like a pile of bricks at the top left and tap it—this will open the Multitrack window where you'll see all of your recordings. To add more instruments, hit the Plus (+) icon at the bottom left.

Every time you add a new instrument and play or record it, you'll be able to hear all the other instruments that have already been added. This is why it's ideal to start with a drum so that you've got the beat laid out for the rest of the track. You can also mute an instrument in the multitrack view by dragging the sidebar to the right and hitting the Speaker icon of the respective instrument.

There are a few simple editing tools in the editing window such as Split and Trim, as well as Effects (FX). Utilize these to further customize your ringtone. You can also change the length of the tracks by tapping the Plus (+) at the far right of the time bar, above the tracks.

Once you're satisfied with how everything sounds, tap the Downwards Arrow at the top left corner and select My Songs. This will save your track to the GarageBand library and take you back to the home screen.

Use an Existing Song to Make a Ringtone in GarageBand

DRM protection is one of the biggest barriers when it comes to using music in an app on iPhone. Therefore, you won't be able to use any songs that you don't own. Any music that you've purchased on iTunes, or have otherwise obtained, is good to go.

If your song is already downloaded to your Apple Music app, you don't need to worry about making any transfers. However, if the audio is on your computer or a third-party app, you're going to want to transfer it to the Files app or the iCloud Drive first.

Whatever the case, here's how to turn an existing song into a ringtone:

1. Open the GarageBand app.
2. Tap the Plus (+) icon at the top right to create a new file.
3. Select any instrument (it doesn't matter which one you pick).
4. Open the instrument in the Multitrack view by tapping the icon that resembles a stack of bricks at the top left. You'll see that there isn't any audio to be played yet.
5. On the right of the toolbar at the top, you'll see a Loop icon, located between Settings and Undo. Select it.
6. To select a song from the Files app or iCloud Drive, tap on Files. To select one from Apple Music, hit Music.

7. Hold down on the file and drag it into the multitrack window.

From here, you can perform some edits to the track if you wish. You can also edit multiple songs together. Remember to trim the audio to 40 seconds by utilizing the editing tools in the multitrack window. Set it to the length you want by tapping the Plus (+) on the time bar.

Leaving the song untouched is perfectly fine too, as long as you save it to the GarageBand library by tapping the Arrow icon at the top left and selecting My Songs.

How to Set Your New Song as Your Ringtone

Ready to show off your new ringtone? Here's how to set your song as your ringtone on your iPhone.

1. Open the GarageBand app, and ensure that you're on the home screen where you can view your library.
2. Long press on the song you want to make into a ringtone, and several options will pop up. Select Share.

3. Choose the Ringtone format. It'll give you the option to rename your song. Then, tap on Export at the top right.

4. After waiting a few seconds for it to export, you can set it as your ringtone by selecting Use sound as, and picking what you want to use the sound for. Then, hit Done, and you're finished!

5. Alternatively, you can set it up on your iPhone by going to Settings and opening Sound & Haptics. Tap on Ringtone and select your song from the list.

Customize Your Ringtone With GarageBand

GarageBand is a very fun tool to play around with, allowing you to create a custom ringtone, and jam out to your own creations the next time your phone rings. It's also a great way to hear your favorite songs every time someone calls.