At this point, most people out there have phone with the capability to let you create, download, and use custom ringtones. The problem is that unless your phone lets you make and upload ringtones via a computer or another phone, your only option is to buy ringtones from a company such as your carrier. What sucks about that is ringtones are often pricey considering the fact you’re only getting a 30-second clip of a song. On average, ringtones will run you about $2-$3 which doesn’t sound like a whole lot until it starts adding up. Well, here’s a quick and easy how-to guide on how to make your own custom ringtones. All you need is a computer, a music editing program (the one used here is free), the ability to receive texts messages, and a data package on your mobile account.

The music editing software we will be using is called Audacity. It is completely free and works on Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows. You can download the software here. Once downloaded, install the software and run the program. It should look like this:

You also need a file named “lame_enc.dll” which is the encoder that lets you make mp3s in Audacity. You can find it here. Follow the steps the website gives to place the encoder in the proper folder; it goes on your hard drive in a folder called “Plug-Ins” in the “Audacity” folder.

In Audacity, go to File, Open, and find an mp3 on your computer you would like to use. Click Open. Audacity will take a couple of seconds to import it. You screen should now look like this:

If you know what part of the song you want to use then this process is a lot easier. If not, use a program such as iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc to play the song and write down when the section of the song you want to use begins and ends. Keep it below 30 seconds. More than that would be pointless since people only let phones ring for a few seconds before giving up or being sent to voicemail.

In Audacity, left click on the point where your ringtone will start and drag the cursor to the point where the ringtone will end. It will look like this (it is the slightly greyed out area):

In my example, I selected the part of the song around 1:32 up until about 2:01.  Just click on the green play button to double check if you selected the right part of the song, and it will play what you selected. If you want to cut or add more to the selection, go to the beginning, or end, of what you picked and a little hand with an index finger pointed will pop up. It is telling you that you are at the beginning, or end, of your selection. If you left click you will be able to extend or contract your selection. Keep messing around with this until you have the correct part picked.

When you are done, go to Edit and click on Trim. Your screen should not look like this:

You have several options at this point. You can add a fade-in and fade-out to the clip or stop here, in which case just skip this paragraph. To do that, highlight about a second of the beginning of the song (the same process as above, go to Effect and Fade In. Select a portion at the end of the clip, go to Effect, and Fade Out. You can press play to here how the ringtone will sound. You’re basically home free at this point.

Go to File, Export as MP3, name the file, and save it somewhere you can easily find it. I saved mine on my Desktop. If it asks you about the MP3 encoder we mentioned above just go to the File where you saved it and double click on it. At this point, you have a nice little clip of a song just begging to be sent to your phone.

Most songs clips are relatively small but if size is an issue for you go to Edit, Preferences, click on the File Formats tab, look down to where it says MP3 Export Setup, press the down arrow next to Bit Rate and select a lower bit rate. We don’t recommend using anything less than 96 because the audio quality is degraded the lower the bit rate is. If you’re unsure what to pick, we think leaving it at 128 is best. Click OK once you have selected your bit rate. Now follow the steps we gave in the previous paragraph.

**Disclaimer: This is the final step in the process and probably the most important. Also, this is where we give the disclaimer. In order for this to work, you NEED to have a Data Package on your phone and be able to receive texts messages. If your plan does not include texts, you will be charged for the one (1) message you are sent. If you do not have a Data Package on your mobile account, you WILL be charged by your mobile company for downloading on your phone. If you are unsure of whether you have a data or text package on your phone, please call your carrier and confirm it. ITR is in no way responsible for any fees you incur through your carrier because of this. I have personally been able to convince customer service to give me a month’s trial of data on my phone “just to see” if I like it, make ringtones, download them to my phone, and cancel before the trial ends so if you do not have a data package you could look into trying that. Other than that, there are no fees incurred by this process so if you’re a person with texts and data on your plan then this will be cost free to you.**

Go this website. It should take you to a website that looks like this:

Select your Carrier, enter your mobile phone number, click on Choose where it says Audio File and select the song clip you made in Audacity, and name the song. Keep the name as simple as you can. Finally, click on upload. You will shortly receive a text message with a link to the song you uploaded. It will tell you to click on the link to download your new ringtone. Click on it and a download status should pop up. Once it is done, you should be able to find the ringtone in the Ringtones folder on your phone. You can do whatever you want with it at this point.

Now, we know most people will probably feel unsure about entering your phone number and downloading files to your phone but we at ITR have been using this process for about two (2) years without any problems whatsoever. The purpose of the website is to basically trick your phone into letting you use a song clip that you picked as a ringtone. Also, in terms of sharing your phone number, we have never had problems with random people or companies calling our phones so there is no need to worry about that happening to you. Other websites out there offer this exact same service but oftentimes either charge you for doing so or they degrade the quality of the ringtone you uploaded. This website does not do either which is why it’s great. One thing to note, you don’t necessarily need to upload an MP3. In fact, some phones support MP4 but since MP3 support is oftentimes standard on phones it is your safest bet. Also worth noting on the site,

*MP3 format is supported primarily by the latest versions of Motorola Phones, Nokia Phones, Smart Phones, and Verizon MMS Phones. Some Verizon MMS phones have a size limitation of 30k.
*AAC (MP4 Audio) format is supported primarily by Multimedia Phones.

Well that’s it. Hopefully this works for everyone and it saves you some money. Let us know how it works out for you. FYI, something we forgot to mention before. If you happen to have an iPhone, do not bother doing this because it will NOT work. Sadly, Apple has control of all ringtones for the iPhone so unless your willing to pay or have a jailbroken iPhone, there is no need to listen to any of this.

[Audacity audio editing software]
[MP3 LAME encoder]
[Website to send ringtones to your phone]

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