KidKobun
04-28-2008, 08:45 PM
I'm am going to try to keep it simple...I tried to keep it brief, but that was close to two hours ago. =)
I am creating this complete "how to" thread for two reasons: to teach those who want to know how to create their own ringtones and to alleviate the demand and pressure on those who upload full OST's, Scores, songs, etc. and are then asked to make ringtones out of them. Hopefully, after you read this tutorial you will have a full understanding and comprehension on how to create your own ringtones.
With that said, let's begin:
Creating a ringtone for your cell phone is a heck of a lot easier than most people think. I will walk you through the process in 7 detailed steps.
I currently use a Sony Ericsson S710a in which I can transfer files to and from my phone remotely using a bluetooth connection between my phone and my computer. So this tutorial assumes that you either have a wireless connection or a wired connection that can communicate between your cell phone and your computer.
A while back I inherited a Motorola RAZR after my Ericsson T616 bit the dust after 3+ years of useage. At the time I was using the Motorola software and data cable that came with the phone to edit and transfer pictures and ringtones, but the results were anything but satisfactory. So after some online research I discovered a wonderful program called Audacity. "Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems."
STEP 1: Download and Install Audacity
You can find Audacity here:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Upon downloading and installing Audacity you will need to make one more small step before you can use the program to attain expected results (editing and exporting mp3 files). You will need to download and install an encoder called LAME. Due to software patents, Audacity cannot distribute MP3 encoding software themselves. Essentially you will need this if you want to export the edited file into an MP3.
It is a nice little freeware loophole if you ask me. =)
STEP 2: Download and Install LAME Encoder
You can find LAME here:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/lame
The above link will also guide you through the steps on how and where to install the encoder. It is pretty straight forward.
Once the first two steps are done you are ready to import some MP3s and start editing.
STEP 3: Starting up Audacity and Opening an Audio File
Locate and run Audacity. Next go to File>Open (like you would in most other programs) and then locate the audio file you wish to edit and select. Wah-la'!
You should be seeing something similar to this:
From here you can move on to selecting a portion of the audio file that you wish to turn into your ringtone.
STEP 4: Selecting Your Ringtone
The best thing to do first is to determine the length of your ringtone. To do this simply call your cellphone or have someone else do it if you only have one phone and let your cell phone ring until it goes to voice mail or cuts the incoming call off.
Generally cellphones ring for about 20 seconds. So for the sake of this tutorial I will set our ringtone at 20 seconds.
If you look up to the top left portion of the Audacity screen you will notice a cluster of 6 buttons. By default the Selection Tool will already be highlighted and ready for use.
After you have determined the twenty second clip in which you wish to use as your ringtone you are going to highlight it using the Selection Tool. To do this simply click on your desired starting point and drag to your ending point. You should have something similar to this on your screen:
From here we will move on to the next step which will involve trimming and then editing.
STEP 5: Trimming Your Selection
After you have made your selection and highlighted a portion of the audio file you can now trim the excess audio off using the Trim Outside Selection option which you will see highlighted here:
Now, go ahead and click on the Trim Outside Selection button. By doing so all audio outside of your highlighted selection will be erased.
*Don't be afraid if you make a mistake you can always undo it by going to Edit>Undo Trim or press Ctrl+Z.
You should now have a rough, unedited version of your ringtone in which you can begin to fine tune. Or, if it sounds ok to you "as-is" then you can stop here and export your file as an MP3 (more on that below), otherwise please read on.
STEP 6: Fine Tuning Your Ringtone
In effort to keep this tutorial fairly simple I will only make one minor change to our selected 20 second clip: Fade Out. Since every ringtone doesn't always end on a "good note" (pun intended) I like to use a tool under the Effect pull-down menu called Fade Out. If you do not have anything highlighted every option under the Effect menu will be grayed out, and not available to use. To enable Effects you must highlight a portion of your audio clip like we did above. Use the Selection Tool and highlight an area to fade out (usually the last few seconds of an audio clip, but feel free to play around with it).
You will see here that I have already trimmed the outside audio and have made an additional step in which I have used the Zoom Tool (located directly under the Selection Tool) in order to better visualize and playback my highlighted portion of audio before choosing to Fade Out. If I do not like my result I will simply undo it and highlight another wider or smaller area to Fade Out:
In the next step we will wrap things up and export our clip as an MP3.
STEP 7: Exporting Your Ringtone
Once you have made any and or all edits to your ringtone and are satisfied with the results you can begin the Exporting process. To export your new ringtone go to File and select Export as MP3 (this is where the LAME encoder comes in - without it you would not be able to export to an MP3 file):
After you make this selection a new window will open allowing you to pick the location in which you wish to save your new MP3 file to. I would recommend creating a new folder specifically for Ringtones and keep them outside any music folders that may be synced up with an MP3 player so as not to have a bunch of ringtones on your MP3 player the next time you sync it with your specified music folder(s).
You should see this final screen before you file is sucessfully saved as an MP3:
A new window
You are now ready to give it a new home on your phone where you can proudly let it ring loud and clear and declare to others that "Yeah, that's right, that's the Mega Man 2 Stage Select theme and its-a' playing on my cell phone."
Now you can locate the saved MP3 file on your computer and transfer it to your phone by whatever means you choose.=)
Have fun, and don't be afraid to be creative and experiment with all of the cool features that Audacity has to offer.
I hope this tutorial helps.
If you have any questions please feel free to reply to this thread or PM me.
I am creating this complete "how to" thread for two reasons: to teach those who want to know how to create their own ringtones and to alleviate the demand and pressure on those who upload full OST's, Scores, songs, etc. and are then asked to make ringtones out of them. Hopefully, after you read this tutorial you will have a full understanding and comprehension on how to create your own ringtones.
With that said, let's begin:
Creating a ringtone for your cell phone is a heck of a lot easier than most people think. I will walk you through the process in 7 detailed steps.
I currently use a Sony Ericsson S710a in which I can transfer files to and from my phone remotely using a bluetooth connection between my phone and my computer. So this tutorial assumes that you either have a wireless connection or a wired connection that can communicate between your cell phone and your computer.
A while back I inherited a Motorola RAZR after my Ericsson T616 bit the dust after 3+ years of useage. At the time I was using the Motorola software and data cable that came with the phone to edit and transfer pictures and ringtones, but the results were anything but satisfactory. So after some online research I discovered a wonderful program called Audacity. "Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems."
STEP 1: Download and Install Audacity
You can find Audacity here:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Upon downloading and installing Audacity you will need to make one more small step before you can use the program to attain expected results (editing and exporting mp3 files). You will need to download and install an encoder called LAME. Due to software patents, Audacity cannot distribute MP3 encoding software themselves. Essentially you will need this if you want to export the edited file into an MP3.
It is a nice little freeware loophole if you ask me. =)
STEP 2: Download and Install LAME Encoder
You can find LAME here:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/lame
The above link will also guide you through the steps on how and where to install the encoder. It is pretty straight forward.
Once the first two steps are done you are ready to import some MP3s and start editing.
STEP 3: Starting up Audacity and Opening an Audio File
Locate and run Audacity. Next go to File>Open (like you would in most other programs) and then locate the audio file you wish to edit and select. Wah-la'!
You should be seeing something similar to this:
From here you can move on to selecting a portion of the audio file that you wish to turn into your ringtone.
STEP 4: Selecting Your Ringtone
The best thing to do first is to determine the length of your ringtone. To do this simply call your cellphone or have someone else do it if you only have one phone and let your cell phone ring until it goes to voice mail or cuts the incoming call off.
Generally cellphones ring for about 20 seconds. So for the sake of this tutorial I will set our ringtone at 20 seconds.
If you look up to the top left portion of the Audacity screen you will notice a cluster of 6 buttons. By default the Selection Tool will already be highlighted and ready for use.
After you have determined the twenty second clip in which you wish to use as your ringtone you are going to highlight it using the Selection Tool. To do this simply click on your desired starting point and drag to your ending point. You should have something similar to this on your screen:
From here we will move on to the next step which will involve trimming and then editing.
STEP 5: Trimming Your Selection
After you have made your selection and highlighted a portion of the audio file you can now trim the excess audio off using the Trim Outside Selection option which you will see highlighted here:
Now, go ahead and click on the Trim Outside Selection button. By doing so all audio outside of your highlighted selection will be erased.
*Don't be afraid if you make a mistake you can always undo it by going to Edit>Undo Trim or press Ctrl+Z.
You should now have a rough, unedited version of your ringtone in which you can begin to fine tune. Or, if it sounds ok to you "as-is" then you can stop here and export your file as an MP3 (more on that below), otherwise please read on.
STEP 6: Fine Tuning Your Ringtone
In effort to keep this tutorial fairly simple I will only make one minor change to our selected 20 second clip: Fade Out. Since every ringtone doesn't always end on a "good note" (pun intended) I like to use a tool under the Effect pull-down menu called Fade Out. If you do not have anything highlighted every option under the Effect menu will be grayed out, and not available to use. To enable Effects you must highlight a portion of your audio clip like we did above. Use the Selection Tool and highlight an area to fade out (usually the last few seconds of an audio clip, but feel free to play around with it).
You will see here that I have already trimmed the outside audio and have made an additional step in which I have used the Zoom Tool (located directly under the Selection Tool) in order to better visualize and playback my highlighted portion of audio before choosing to Fade Out. If I do not like my result I will simply undo it and highlight another wider or smaller area to Fade Out:
In the next step we will wrap things up and export our clip as an MP3.
STEP 7: Exporting Your Ringtone
Once you have made any and or all edits to your ringtone and are satisfied with the results you can begin the Exporting process. To export your new ringtone go to File and select Export as MP3 (this is where the LAME encoder comes in - without it you would not be able to export to an MP3 file):
After you make this selection a new window will open allowing you to pick the location in which you wish to save your new MP3 file to. I would recommend creating a new folder specifically for Ringtones and keep them outside any music folders that may be synced up with an MP3 player so as not to have a bunch of ringtones on your MP3 player the next time you sync it with your specified music folder(s).
You should see this final screen before you file is sucessfully saved as an MP3:
A new window
You are now ready to give it a new home on your phone where you can proudly let it ring loud and clear and declare to others that "Yeah, that's right, that's the Mega Man 2 Stage Select theme and its-a' playing on my cell phone."
Now you can locate the saved MP3 file on your computer and transfer it to your phone by whatever means you choose.=)
Have fun, and don't be afraid to be creative and experiment with all of the cool features that Audacity has to offer.
I hope this tutorial helps.
If you have any questions please feel free to reply to this thread or PM me.