If you're getting older, you'll remember the beginning days of cell phones, what they were like and all of their limitations that seem almost impossible to comprehend in today's world.
Among the limitations of the cell phone hardware, including the inability to surf the internet and listen to your music at the same time, a lot of the cell phone companies were actually charging people for their pre-made ring-tones.
Around that time, 2008 or 2009, I actually had downloaded the song from Protest The Hero – who was my favorite band at the time – 'Sequoia Throne.'
How to Share a GarageBand Project. Part of the series: GarageBand Tips. Sharing a GarageBand project is something you can do via e-mail or even via your favorite social network. Share a GarageBand project with help from an audio engineer, musician, video editor and Mac savvy tech with a degree in Digital Media in this free video clip. To share this with GarageBand iOS, drop down the File menu and click Share / Project to GarageBand for iOS (Screen 1). From the pop-up dialogue, choose your iCloud GarageBand iOS folder as the location and then save your project.
However, these days, that market is isn't quite what it used to be, simply because there's just no reason for that when you can create your own ring-tones in a matter of seconds.
- GarageBand includes a complete set of studio-quality effects that you can use on individual tracks or the overall project to shape the sound of your music. Types of Effects GarageBand includes the following types of effects: Compressor: A compressor adjusts the volume of the music to smooth out sudden level changes.
- Step 2: Share the podcast. After saving the audio file, click on the Share button, and select the ‘Export Song to Disk' option. On selecting this option, you will be able to edit the name, location, as well as select the file format. Choose the option to ‘Export GarageBand as Mp3'. Step 3: Converting an audio file to MP3.
In this tutorial, I'll show you how to make ring-tones using your iPhone.
A lot of people think that you have to make the song in Garageband on your iPhone in order to make it work, however, you can actually use Garageband to create the track on your computer like normal, export it to your iTunes, sync your iTunes library with your phone, and then drop your file from iTunes directly into Garageband and then turn it into a thirty-second ring-tone from there.
For the best quality, you want proper gear as well. I've suggested some solid and cheap equipment for beginners in this article here.
In the section beneath the very first step-by-step process, I'll also run through how you can post ring-tones to your phone without using iTunes.
I've included pictures for nearly every step, simply because a lot of these buttons and so on need illustration to show what I'm really talking about.
Without further ado…
How to Make a Ringtone With Garageband (Mac and iOS)
For this tutorial, you'll need a couple of things:
1) iPhone
2) Computer with Garageband
3) Garageband downloaded on your iPhone
4) Your iTunes library synced with your computer.
5) A song created with Garageband exported into your iTunes library.
For this tutorial, you need to know how to do a couple of different things. You'll need to know how to export songs from Garageband into iTunes, which is actually quite simple.
I wrote an article about it which you can read here.
If you don't want to run through that article, I'll briefly explain how to export music into iTunes.
You basically just have to go into the toolbar settings under the tab, 'Share,' and click on the button, 'Song to iTunes,' and then fill out all of the information so you can later find and access it easily.
Choose the name of the track, the artist, and so on and so forth.
Once you're done, sync your iPhone with your iTunes library.
If you don't want to use iTunes, just hit the option, 'Project to iOS Garageband' from the 'Share' menu and that'll export the track to your desktop in a Garageband file.
From there, you can Airdrop it into your phone.
Now that you have your music in your iTunes library when you go to turn a song into a Garageband Ringtone, the music will be readily available.
Here's the step-by-step process for converting a song, either your own, or from someone else, into a ringtone:
1) Open up Garageband in your applications on your iPhone.
The first thing that happens is Garageband brings you to your most recent files.
2) Hit the '+' button in the top right-hand-corner of Garageband and select the 'Keyboard' option.
3) Once you're looking at the keys of the piano, hit the button in the top left-hand corner, it's the third one from the left, and it looks like a bunch of white rectangles. It's beside the Arrow pointing downward.
You can see the button I'm talking about in the image below:
This will bring you to the workspace, where you can see what all of the recordings look like in audio/MIDI format.
4) From here, hit the 'Loops' button on the top right-hand side of Garageband. It looks like a hose.
5) Then, go into the sub-category, 'Music,' beside 'Apple Loops' and 'Files.'
6) Assuming you've uploaded your music into your iTunes library and that library is synced with your phone, hit the 'Artist' or 'Songs' button and then go into the files and choose the song you want to make as your ring-tone.
7) Once you've selected the song, tap the screen, hold it, and then drag it (just drag it around even the slightest bit. It should bring up the workspace for you to drag and drop the file almost immediately) and then it'll give you the option to drag the file into the workspace.
You'll notice that it's a blue-file, which shows that it's an audio recording, rather than a MIDI File.
8) Select the portion of the song that you want to turn into a ring-tone using the selectors on the left and right-hand side of the file.
It has to be less than thirty-seconds for it to be a ring-tone and no more than that.
If you don't select how long the file is, or which part is the ring-tone, it'll do it for you, and obviously we don't want that, so make sure to specify which part you want.
9) Click on the drop-down menu on the top left-hand side of Garageband, and exit it out of the file.
10) Click on My Songs.
11) Tap the file and hold the tap, until the available options show up that say, Copy, Duplicate, Rename, Move, Delete, Share, Tags, and Info.
12) Hit the 'Share' button.
9) Click on the drop-down menu on the top left-hand side of Garageband, and exit it out of the file.
10) Click on My Songs.
11) Tap the file and hold the tap, until the available options show up that say, Copy, Duplicate, Rename, Move, Delete, Share, Tags, and Info.
12) Hit the 'Share' button.
13) Then, you'll have three options to choose from, Song, Ringtone, and Project. Obviously, you want to hit the 'Ringtone' option, because that's what this tutorial is about.
14) Choose the name of your ringtone.
15) Then hit the 'Export' button, and voila! You've just created an official ring-tone.
16) Assign it to a contact or a specific ringtone, or whatever you want to use it for.
Additionally, you'll have the ring-tone among your other options when you go into your iPhone's settings.
And voila! It's as simple as that.
Another Option
Now, let's say for whatever reason you don't have iTunes or you don't want to use it. There has to be a way for doing that, and yes there is.
How To Make A Ringtone Using Garageband Without Using iTunes
If you want to make a song using Garageband and then make it as your ring-tone, you can basically do the exact same thing as I outlined above.
Except, rather than syncing your iTunes library with your phone, you can just Airdrop a file from your computer into your Garageband application on your phone.
This is a good way of going about it too, and it'll work fine. It may even be superior just because there aren't as many steps involved.
Here's a step by step process in case you're confused.
1)After you've created your song using Garageband, export it to your desktop in a Garageband file.
Use the 'Project to Garageband for iOS' option and put it on your desktop so it's easy to find.
2) From here, you can just right click on the file, and then Air Drop it directly into your iPhone's Garageband application, and then voila! It's right there in your phone.
After that step, you can just follow the same steps that I outlined above.
For the sake of clarification, I'll briefly run through it again.
3) Once the file has been AirDropped into iOS Garageband, you can just do the long-tap click on the file, and then it'll bring up all of the options.
4) Click on the button, 'Share,' and then it'll allow you to turn that file into a ring-tone on your phone.
That's all for now, I hope this managed to help you out.
Cool Things to Mention
The great thing about this is that you can literally turn any audio file into a ring-tone, no matter what it is. Get creative and see what sort of things you can come up with.
Maybe you could even come up with some kind of business model where you make cool and unique ring-tones for people using interesting songs, recordings, and so on and so forth.
Edit: And after doing some research on the topic, the result of which I was quite shocked about, I discovered the ring-tone industry is surprisingly alive and well.
According to a report from Gartner.com, the ring-tone industry is still worth approximately $2.1 billion. There are clearly people out there that are making bank from ring-tones, still.
I discovered sites that will make ringtones for you, but they also will take a cut of your profits, which is something you don't want.
With this tutorial, you can just make yourself, so there's no need to associate with such companies.
Conclusion
As you can see, it's all a pretty straight-forward process, and like most things, it gets easier and easier the more times you do it.
It's an interesting way of marketing your music as well because people can hear your tracks just by hearing your ringer.
So, you've recorded and mixed a song in GarageBand. Now it's time to share your song with the world.
In its current state, your tune can only be played within GarageBand, so you need to export it — or 'bounce it down' — to a single audio file that can be played in common audio applications.
Here's how to share GarageBand files with someone on your holiday list.
You'll find all your Sharing options, not surprisingly, under the Share menu. Let's walk through them.
Exporting to iTunesThe first option is Song to iTunes. Choose this option to export your song to your iTunes library. This opens a window where you can add the data for the song that will show up in your iTunes Library, your iPod, or any other device that can play this file.
By default, GarageBand names the song with the name of the file followed by the date and time, but you can change the Title to anything you like, and add any other information you want.
From the Quality menu, choose the quality you want the file to be in. The first four options all export the song in the compressed AAC format for iTunes. The higher the quality, the larger the file size will be.
You can also choose uncompressed to generate an AIF file, but that will also increase the file size significantly. Just decide how you want to balance the quality and file size of your recording.
Once the song is in iTunes, you can listen to it from there, sync it to your iPod, or do anything else you can do with other songs in your iTunes Library.
Creating a ringtoneThe next option under the Share menu is Ringtone to iTunes. This option is only for when you're specifically creating a ringtone for your phone. Ringtones have to be 40 seconds or less, and will be exported in the .mr4 format, which is used for iPhone ringtones.
If you're creating a song as a gift, you probably don't want to choose this option. However, if your song turns out to be a hit with the recipient, you could create a 40-second snippet of it and then share it as a ringtone.
Sharing with other appsThe next Sharing option is Song to Media Browser. Choosing this option immediately bounces down your song, meaning it generates a single audio file version of the song, just like when you export to iTunes. But this version of the song will appear in the Media Browsers of other Apple apps like iMovie and Final Cut Pro.
Once there, you'll be able to use your song in any projects you create in those apps.
Sharing online with SoundCloudNext is the SoundCloud sharing option. Soundcloud is a free online service for sharing audio files. Just go to soundcloud.com to create an account, and then you'll be able to login to your account from GarageBand when you choose this option and upload your project directly from here to share it with others.
This is probably the most convenient option for quickly sharing your project with other people, as opposed to burning CDs or trying to email a large audio file to someone.
With a soundcloud account you can upload your file right from here and then send your friends a link so they can listen to your song online from any computer or mobile device with an internet connection.
AirDropThe next sharing option, AirDrop, is for sending your song to another Mac on your network. So if the person you want to share your song with happens to be in your home with his or her MacBook, you can choose this option to export a version of the song directly to their computer. You might also choose the AirDrop option to send the song to another Mac on your network to continue working on the project.
MailThe Mail sharing option lets you export your song from GarageBand and attach it to an email message. This requires that you use the Mail application in OS X as your email client. In the Mail window that opens, check Song and then select the quality of the project.
Click Share. Once GarageBand finishes processing the song, a new Mail message will open with your song file attached. Enter your recipient's email address, type a subject line, and add any message you want to the body of the message.
Note that most email providers still limit the size of attachments, so if your file is too large, your email provider—or your recipient's provider—might reject it. However, if you're using Mac OS X Yosemite and you have an iCloud account, sending a large attachment will automatically give you the option to take advantage of a new feature called Mail Drop, which uploads large attachments up to 5GB in size to your iCloud account; the recipient will receive a link in the email you send, and can just click to download your song file. For more information on Mail Drop, see Mac OSX Yosemite Essential Training, here on LinkedIn Learning.
Burn an old-fashioned CDNext in the Share menu is Burn to CD. This option is only available if you have a recordable CD already inserted into your Mac's optical drive. If you do, you can choose this option to burn a CD containing your song that can then be played in a standard CD player.
How To Send Garageband Files
Fewer and fewer people are using this ability these days though, in favor of sharing songs over the Internet. But it's good to know the option is here if you want it.
Export to FileNext we have Export song to disk. This is like exporting to iTunes, except you're just saving the file somewhere else on your computer. This is a convenient option to use when you want to export your song, but don't want to add it to your iTunes library or the Media Browser.
You get the same quality options here as you do when exporting to iTunes, but you aren't offered the ability to add metadata such as artist, album, and composer information.
Just title your file, pick a place to save it, choose a quality level, and click Export to generate the file. Once the file is saved, you can share it any way you like.
How To Share A Song On Garageband On Iphone
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