Forum Archive Home -> User guides -> Creating .mp3 ringtones using Audacity
Creating .mp3 ringtones using Audacity | ||
| Hittz posted 2009 Oct 19 05:52 | ||
| For some time I used to get tired of the default ringtones that came with various phones that I had. I used to pay for custom ringers until I learned how to create them myself. I also downloaded other peoples ringtones to my phone online but at times it just wasnt the part of the song I wanted, so I started reading up on how to create my own. Through some trial and error I figured out that the ringtones properties had to comply with the phones requirements to work. Most phones today will play .mp3 ringtones and can be uploaded directly to your phone via USB cable or bluetooth device. I usually create them using Adobe Audition but will show how it can also be done in Audacity.
What you need: Audacity I am using the portable version 1.2.6rev2 but you can use the full installer version of Audacity as well. (just be sure to also download the LAME MP3 encoder for Audacity) Audio files that you want to create ringtones from. Here we go. Open Audacity. click on Project, Import Audio, or File, Open. 
Then locate the file you want to import. 
It will appear imported like this: 
Find the part where you want your ringtone to begin by listening to the file, by clicking the green triangular play button at the top. You may magnify your audio view and its timescale by clicking the magnify button (red arrows on the right) The part I chose for the beginning of my ringtone starts at 2:53 (minutes:seconds). 
Now, let your file play and listen to it for upto about 30 seconds (doesnt have to be exact) This will be the duration of the ringtone. After this time your phone will be answered by the voicemail feature, although if your ringtone is longer you will here it but your call will have already been sent to voicemail. Click and hold the left mouse button dragging it toward the right to the end of where your ringtone will be. Mine goes until 3:27. That is a total of 34 seconds. Although its more than 30 seconds it will still work. My selection is shown here highlighted. 
At the top click the Edit tab and select Trim. This will cut out the rest of the file we dont want. 
See? The highlighted area represents 2:53 to 3:27 of the file (34 seconds) This is the part of the file I want as a ringtone. 
Now click the little triangle beside the name of your file, and select Split Stereo Track. 
This has split the stereo file into 2 separate channels. 
Click the little triangle again and now choose Mono, this will convert the single stereo channel to a mono file. Do this to BOTH channels. 
The channels should appear as 2 mono files, like this: 
Go to the top and click the Edit tab and choose Preferences. 
Under the File Formats tab go down to Mp3 Export Set Up, and set the Bit rate to 64. This will reduce the audio file size while keeping good quality sound for your phones speaker. When done click ok. 
At the top Click File and choose Export as Mp3. You will then be prompted to choose a location to save your ringtone. 
The warning dialogue box will appear letting you know that the two mono files will be mixed down into one mono file. This is good because the two separate mono files may have different sounds of different volumes so merging them will keep all the sounds together on the single merged mono file. Earlier I overlooked this fact. Thanks goes out to AlanHK for his enlightenment. When ready click OK. 
Should you get this its a feature which allows you to edit the info of your file, such as title, artist, album etc. and store it into the file. Fill it in, and/or just choose OK. Your file will then be saved as a ringtone. 
Now you can upload it to your phone via USB cord or Bluetooth, and set it as a ringtone. ;D Here is a sample http://s202.photobucket.com/albums/aa140/Hittz/tutorials/ringtone ... ringer.flv Hittz | ||
| AlanHK posted 2009 Oct 19 08:42 | ||
It does make a difference; you might find you have a lot of percussion and little voice, for instance, if you randomly delete a channel. So preferable, I think, to mix both channels down to mono. Tracks menu: "Stereo Track to mono". This is in the 1.3.9 version anyway, possibly on another menu in earlier versions. Otherwise, you can split, select both tracks and "Mix and Render" to combine them to one mono track. | ||
| Hittz posted 2009 Oct 19 17:33 | ||
So true, I stand corrected. I will update that part in a little while. Thanks AlanHK. Edit> Guide has been updated. | ||
| siluet posted 2009 Nov 03 16:17 | ||
| Some note: should we change 'Project rate' to 8000 Hz before exporting file to mp3? (Project Rate button at bottom left of the screen). Default project rate is 44100. Many phones requires MP3 files with characteristics
Bit Rate: 32 kbps; Sample Rate: 8 000 Hz; Channels: 1 (mono). | ||
| Hittz posted 2009 Nov 03 22:04 | ||
| Again the requirements of YOUR particular phone would dictate the properties of the ringtones you create. My Motorola Razr can handle 44100Hz and/or 22050Hz at 56 or 64kbps, and still sound fine, anything below that would not sound good in the mp3 format on my phone. | ||
| siluet posted 2009 Nov 04 06:30 | ||
| is there some better programs than Audacity for ringtone creation? | ||
| AlanHK posted 2009 Nov 04 06:46 | ||
"Better" in what way? Did you have a problem with Audacity? | ||
| jagabo posted 2009 Nov 04 07:14 | ||
| You may also want to do a quick (even just a handful of samples) fade in at the start and fade out at the end. This will remove the clicks/pops caused by starting and ending at a non-zero sample. Here's an example of a simple sine wave cutting in and out at the peaks. Note the clicks:
sine.mp3 And after fading in/out the first three bursts: fade.mp3 | ||
| siluet posted 2009 Nov 04 07:20 | ||
| more flexible specifically for the ringtone creation purpose. I use Audacity v1.26
For example, for some reason, Quick Mix not works for me (when selecting two mono tracks Ctrl+A then join it with Quick Mix). After exporting file as MP3 I got file that have no sound at all, something wrong. I repeated this few times and got same result. Help file isn't too detailed, also. Normalizing volume of channels with gain sliders also not very handy. It is not easy to select the required place where to start ringtone fragment. For example, I need select exact place whe start vocal. That is not very clear even if Zoom in audio track. | ||
| jman98 posted 2009 Nov 04 07:32 | ||
I've had some pretty crappy phones provided to me by employers that I put customized ring tones on and none of them required that kind of bit rate or sampling rate. Any decent modern phone should be capable of playing MP3 files and as such has no requirements like this for ringtones. There may be something to be said for using mono and lower bit rates simply to keep the file size low as phones have limited storage space, but even some of the bad phones I've had in the past would accept CD compatible WAV files to use as ringtones. | ||
| siluet posted 2009 Nov 04 07:42 | ||
| I have non branded model, and it's not possible to get technical specification about its MP3 requirements. |
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