What is the garageband program on the iPhone? How to make a ringtone on iPhone from any song
When GarageBand and iMovie hit the app store, the press was full of rave reviews. Few people can try iMovie now (official sales outside the US have not begun, and prices for “gray” iPads are still very high), but owners of a first-generation tablet can also play with GarageBand. So I asked on Twitter: Are there any readers who are truly passionate about music, and what do they think of GarageBand for iPad?
I am very grateful and grateful for all the answers. But special thanks to Leonid Kirakosyan, who spoke in detail about the disadvantages of the application. Next are his impressions. Don't forget to follow Leonid on Twitter: @kirakosyan_l
The release of the iPad 2 was accompanied by praise for new applications for the iPad, which were Garage Band and iMovie. I must say that the first one immediately aroused skepticism in me: the developers promised that the program would sense pressure, it would feature instruments, amplifiers, a sampler and other joys for musicians and beginners. So for musicians or beginners? Let's find out in a short review.
To be honest, I can’t call myself a beginner, and my main instruments are electric guitar, classical guitar and bass guitar. Of course, like any musician, I have an interest in everything that can make sounds, and therefore I distinguish a hi-hat from a kick drum and can play the “Dog Waltz” on the piano. I have very little teaching experience and can imagine how beginners respond to sheet music, basic harmony, and “easy ways to remember.” In the first section, I will try to look at Garage Band through the eyes of a beginner, in the second, through the eyes of a musician, and in the third, I will summarize the above and describe the experience of creating an (un)finished composition.
Beginning
So, I opened the GarageBand I bought for $5 and immediately decided to try out Smart Guitar. By default, the “already clamped chords” mode is turned on - on each vertical there are steps of a single chord. The first thing that struck me was the major chord of the reduced VII degree of the major scale and the adjacent diminished chord of the VII degree. Minor scales generally offered something specific: major and minor “versions” of the fifth degree chord, some other reduced miracle. In Russian, Apple used unusual chords. Moreover, the chords are nothing more than tracings of open position fingerings. In Russian, the “lowest” note on the vertical is not always the main note (tonic) - the lack of logic is confusing. Fans of thieves' excesses and the repertoire of the Kino group are in shock, looking for their native C, getting Salt, shaking in nervous tension. And - go to the Autoplay function, somehow (no more than that) the guitar can play itself. I’ll say right away that a similar picture will appear before bass guitar and keyboard lovers, and what I described above are just examples of the lack of logic.
Thus, all sorts of simplified modes suffer from small flaws and features that will complicate life for beginners. The main steps are not highlighted everywhere, the chords are non-standard, and the average consumer lacks an understanding of the basics of harmony. For the first hour, you will dashingly click on Autoplay in all modes, record your hit, but then you will realize that you will not be able to realize at least some idea: Garage Band is something like one big “Create a random song” button, which at the same time It also gives the illusion of personal contribution with the help of mini-games in the spirit of 90s arcades (the screenshot shows one of the mini-games - Smart Drums)
So, my prediction: after two hours of entertainment, having really mastered the program, a beginner will be faced with the fact that something doesn’t sound, and it’s unclear how to make it sound. I want to change something so that it sounds like this, but it doesn’t work. The long-known truth – you can’t teach how to play a musical instrument – appeared in all its glory.
Musician
Guitar and bass. Being a musician after all, I switched the guitar to Notes mode. 8 positions, 4 types of guitars with virtually no sound settings (no tone knobs, no pickup switch). Of course, the first thing I tried was sensitivity: Apple promised that virtual instruments would be sensitive to pressure. Perhaps the accelerometer of the first iPad does not allow this function to be revealed, and the gyroscope will correct the situation, but then it was necessary to turn off “dynamics” by default. The sound has two stages (medium and loud), which seem to decide when to enter. Terrible.
The neck of the guitar is stuck in an open position; no one will ever let you play the “tops”. Bends and vibrato are passable, but for some reason only by a semitone, the response speed is below average, the default sound is turned up to be disgusting, it’s better not to turn on effects at all. The bass guitars sound terrible - my beloved Paul McCartney has never been a model of great sound, but his "Liverpool" style is present here.
Keyboards. In general, it seems that the developers were sincerely poring over the keyboards, and were finishing the guitar in a hurry. The variety of different organs and synthesizers and their sound, working with the interface and in general everything related to keyboards leaves a pleasant impression. Same problems with dynamics, otherwise great.
Drums. The program contains just a drum kit, automatic Smart Drums and already recorded grooves. Friends, the drums were done in one day. I could end here, but I’ll describe it anyway: in the drum kit mode, the snare drum (lead drum, right?) plays quietly and sometimes produces something tolerable depending on the mood. Hitting the cymbal makes the pedal twitch nervously, and my attempt to record a shuffle ended (attention!) with GarageBand itself (!) shifting all my weak beats to strong ones. The program has a decent number of already recorded drum tracks and my blues are not lost. I'm incredibly upset that I had to resort to samples, but it can't be helped. Smart Drums introduce the already described “Create a Random Song” with the illusion of creativity. No, thanks.
Guitar amp. Apple courageously included a function in their program that cannot be used without accessories from third-party companies. It’s bad luck, all third-party companies have written “their own Garage Band” for their own accessories. It is unlikely that anyone will use this function. But the developers didn’t even bother to license virtual amplifiers - what should be Orange says Garage Band.
The program also has a microphone and a sampler, but I don’t think these functions are of any interest to anyone. In general, you won’t be able to play around - except to record vocals for a song.
In general, I have a hard time imagining a musician who actually uses GarageBand. He won’t play with such an application; he won’t be able to work in it.
In the picture you can see that I was not able to record all the solos in one go, I was never able to play everything cleanly and without errors. I constantly forgot that the bends here were only half-tone, the fingers fell into adjacent notes and the phrases ended in nothing.
Summary – Garage Band Blues
Waking up the morning after the release of the program, I decided to record blues using Garage Band. To be honest, I was counting on at least 3 squares, but recording a solo exhausted me so much and required so much time and effort that I limited myself to one. I wasn’t able to do turnaround either, I just looped the transition.
You will listen to the blues later, but for now you can read the blues, fortunately the picture is really sad.
In general, the program sometimes glitches and freezes. For some reason you can't cut the tracks on the left - only on the right. Rewriting occurs according to an incomprehensible logic. But these are all small and not too scary bugs that, I’m sure, will disappear very soon.
For beginners, the program is a game. A game that, I suspect, will quickly get boring, and, despite its unusual nature, is unlikely to compete with some Angry Birds. I compare these two applications quite deliberately, and I don’t think that anyone will seriously exchange new compositions with friends, aspiring musicians, share noticed features and wait for updates. They'll play and forget.
It’s also difficult for me to come up with scenarios for using GarageBand for musicians. Apps with Guitar Amp functions have existed before, and everyone who needed them bought them. Recording a musical idea on the road will not be so easy due to the poor implementation of the instruments. Hardly anyone will write music, even electronic music, on an iPad.
Among the new features of GarageBand iOS is a feature that allows you to create iPhone ringtones from songs in your music library. This can be done on both iPhone and iPad. So, if you have GarageBand, then you don't need any other program to create ringtones on iPhone. Let's take a look at how this feature works.
Launch the program and click on the plus icon in the upper left corner, then “New song” by selecting the appropriate item from the drop-down menu.
In the “Tools” menu, select any one from the list; in the window that opens, go to the editor by clicking the corresponding icon at the top left.
Now you need to click on the loop icon at the top right and go to the “Music” tab.
You can select the desired song from a list of albums, artists, genres, etc. In the window that opens, you can listen to the song before adding it to GarageBand.
When you make your choice, just press and hold your finger on the composition, it will automatically be added to the program.
Select the desired passage using the frame around the song and move it left or right. To make it more comfortable to work with a segment, you can enlarge it by spreading it with your fingers on the screen.
After finishing work on your ringtone, you need to export it, to do this, save it. Saving occurs automatically as soon as you go to the “My Songs” menu. Give your ringtone a name, then press and hold your finger on it, a yellow frame will appear around it, and an export button will appear in the menu bar at the top left. Select “Export song as Ringtone” from the drop-down list and click “Export” in the next window.
Everything is ready, it is saved in the format of ringtones for iPhone with the m4r extension, you can install it from the settings menu > Sounds.
To create ringtones, you can use audio files in AIFF, WAV, CAF, AAC and MP3 formats. You can also create a ringtone using Apple Loops in GarageBand and then save it the same way.
What I’m about to tell you about is truly “power”! And I say this not only because it is true, but also because I anticipate how much effort will be required for the upcoming story. But let's get started.
I'll start with a word of caution. If anyone ever tells you that Garageband is not professional enough software, that it’s only for amateurs who don’t know how to play, and only for fun, then tell them: “Sasha says you’re lying.” With just this app and an iPhone, you can easily record an excellent audio album with instruments and vocals. At the same time, it will sound great. And if you also connect a guitar using an adapter, then... What the heck, .
Garageband is not a “one time” toy; in skillful hands it is a whole studio with great possibilities. At the end, I attach just one piece of work, which I “concocted” in 30 minutes while understanding the functionality of the software.
The main menu is a list of tracks that you started making on the device. In the future, from here you can import a track, duplicate, delete, or work with other projects (started on a computer, for example).
In the track editor you can see all the tracks. You can view an individual track, change it, and perform various actions. The downside of the application is that the number of added tracks is limited to 8 and you cannot open the music field to drag and drop individual notes. For example, if you made a mistake while recording, it will be impossible to correct it (if I’m wrong, correct me, I’ll be very happy!)
Each track contains an instrument that you choose. Tracks can be mutated, solo play enabled, and their balance adjusted.
The choice of instruments is quite large, there are categories: keyboards (there are pianos, organs, synths, and violins), guitars, bass guitars, drums, voice recording, sampler and amps.
Drums are available both in the form of kits and drum machines. I'm glad that all instruments take into account the force of pressing.
Playing the guitar is a pleasure. In reality, I’m a keyboard player and guitar is a distant concept for me, but here, I just choose the key of my track and all the chords are already there. You can jump, everything sounds right. By pressing the neck to the left you will get the expected dull effect.
There is also a mode for note playing, where you can even pull back the strings.
All guitars are presented as smart instruments (what they are is a little below). I don't use this, but you can enable automatic play by adjusting the game difficulty from 1 to 4.
In addition to regular tools, there are also Smart tools, indicated by gears. Among them are drums, guitars and keyboards. Their essence is to help play complex games. Here you really may not know how to play at all. However, you can use these modes for professional purposes, for example, for inspiration :) I’ll tell you using drums as an example.
Instead of the usual installation, a specific window opens in front of you with buttons, working area and drum elements. To make them play, drag the necessary elements (kick, snare, hat...) onto the working area. The further to the right you place an element, the more complex its part will be; the higher you place it, the louder it will sound. You can do a reset or a random set.
Vocals can be recorded in two ways: using an external microphone, if you have one, or the built-in one.
Everything is quite simple - click “record” and off you go. At the same time, it is better to write while wearing headphones, since the track itself must play (you must know what you are singing to), and without headphones, the sound of not only your voice, but also the other tracks will be picked up.
There will definitely not be enough built-in tools - you can create endlessly. But you can go further - use a sampler. With it, you can record any sound and then process it. For example, the sound of breaking glass, or a voice, or some kind of knocking - whatever you want. Then you can cut frequencies, echo, adjust the length and more. The sound adjusts to the notes, for example, if you sang “ah-ah-ah”, this sound is a note and it will be automatically detected so that you can then play with your voice using the keyboard. If the tonality adjustment was not entirely correct or you want to make a slight deviation from the template, the sound can be calibrated as you like.
You can connect an external guitar or bass. In this case, you will use one of the combos, there are many of them.
There is also a tuner for tuning the guitar, and you can also assemble a board with gadgets. There are a lot of them and it’s generally a “brain blower”, I think!
Of course, there is a menu for working with a separate track, sections and the song in general. You can control the track volume, left and right channel, and other effects.
You can create sections, choose how many bars each will have, and so on. Then you can work with each one separately.
Of course, there is a metronome with the ability to count while recording and select the sound, adjust the tempo, select the key (relevant for smart instruments), time signature and more.
For all this goodness (and I only briefly described the functionality of Garageband) they are asking only $4.99. This is extremely little, I think the cost of such software should be about 20 bucks for sure. At the same time, if you have a MIDI adapter, you will be able to control the application not from the screen, but from the keyboard of real keys.
For me, as a musician, Garageband is one of the main applications on the iPhone, I use it to compose, just play for relaxation after a working day, I have the ability to expand, for example, I have already ordered iRig for connecting keys via MIDI. Below I have given a small example of a recording, as I promised at the beginning. It took less than 30 minutes, I was just figuring out the program.
In the modern world, a telephone is an important part of every person. Many people use iPhone not only for communication, but also for entertainment. Apple offered users a large selection of ringtones to suit every taste. The truth is that the choice offered is not always enough. Often we want to use a track from the library as a ringtone. But, as you know, make a ringtone on iPhone not so easy.
Today we will tell you how, without resorting to third-party applications and paid services, make a ringtone on iPhone from any song stored in the smartphone's library. To do this, you need to download Apple's proprietary audio editor GarageBand from the App Store. Recently, the program has become available free of charge to all users.
How to make a ringtone on iPhone from any song
Step 1: Open the GarageBand app on iPhone.
Step 2: Scroll right to the Audio Recorder section and click on the card.
Step 3: Click on the layers icon in the top left corner (third from the left on the top panel).
Step 4: Turn off the metronome (icon next to the record button).
Step 5: Click the "+" button on the right corner of the screen.
Step 6: In the drop-down window, click “Section A”, then select Section Length – Automatic.
Step 7: Click the ring icon in the upper right corner to open a window with a library of tracks on your device.
Step 8: Tap on the song you are looking for with your finger and drag it to the main screen of the program.
Step 9: You have imported the entire track into the audio editor. But the song needs to be shortened, since a song lasting 30 seconds is suitable for a ringtone, and 4 seconds for short messages.
Step 10: You can reduce the length of the track in two ways: either by moving the edges of the audio line of the track (right or left), or by dividing the composition using the scissors tool. To use the scissors tool, double-click the audio strip, then click Split. Next, use scissors to cut off the desired fragment and remove unnecessary parts.
Step 14: Open the Settings section -> Sounds, tactile signals -> Ringtone and select our saved ringtone.
Yes it is possible.
iPhones are not uncommon today. As soon as a familiar melody is heard in a room where several people are present, all owners of an Apple smartphone grab their pockets. “No, it wasn’t mine”...
Let's figure out how to make a unique ringtone from any song you like without unnecessary dancing using the proprietary Apple GarageBand application and the standard iTunes player.
Note: Please note that you can only cut a track that does not have DRM protection installed. This means that songs purchased from the iTunes Store and downloaded from Apple Music will not work. To install, you need a track that is not tied to Apple services.
The entire operation of creating a ringtone will take no more than 3-4 minutes, and the created sound clip will be available in the “native” settings of the iOS device without additional applications.
Everyone needs good headphones. Choose yours:
- Quality and leather Bowers & Wilkins P5 S2
- Very pumped up and wireless JBL Everest Elite 700NC
- Well isolated from the outside world Bose SoundTrue Ultra in-ear
- Sports, running Jabra Sport Pulse Wireless
- Fashionable and stylish Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay H6
How to Create a Ringtone in GarageBand
The GarageBand application is the real pride of Apple. You can write music on the go, with only headphones and an iOS device. Presets, timelines, tracks, mixers, add-ons, virtual instruments, patterns - all this is available in one multifunctional application.
But you can also create ringtones in GarageBand.
1. Open GarageBand and create a track with any of the instruments (drums, keys, guitar).
2. Press the REC key and record a short excerpt, then press Stop.
3. Will appear on the toolbar multi-track mode. Open it.
4. Click on the tool A loop.
5. Select the desired composition in the section Music -> Playlists. Tap and hold a song for a second until the tracks mode opens.
6. Place the song on the new track and wait for the import to finish.
To view the instructional steps, scroll through the gallery.
7. Press "+" to increase the duration of the song.
8. Set the value to 15 bars(with standard settings this corresponds to a ringtone duration of 30 seconds) and press Ready. Trim the arrangement to the desired size. Don't forget to delete the recorded instrument fragment in step 2.
9. Press the navigation key to the menu of saved projects.
11. Give the ringtone a name and press Export.
12. The created ringtone will be available in the menu Settings – Sounds – Ringtone.
How to Create a Ringtone in iTunes
To view the instructional steps, scroll through the gallery.
1. Open the iTunes application and find the MP3 song you plan to set as a ringtone. Drag the song to your playlist. For requests related to storing songs, available on iCloud, select Delete and continue.
2. Listen to the song and select the exact place where you plan to start the sound of the future ringtone. Note the value in minutes and seconds.
Call the context menu of the track and tap on the item Intelligence(alternatively, highlight the composition and press CMD + I)
3. Open the tab Options and specify the exact start and end time of the ringtone.
Please indicate the exact timing using the following calculation: 4:36.532, where 4 is the value of minutes, 36 is the value of seconds. The value of milliseconds (numbers after the decimal point) can be neglected.
4. After specifying the start and end values, click OK. Call the context menu of the track (right-click) and tap on the item Create an ACC version.
Open the tab Music. A duplicate of the track will appear in the list of songs, trimmed at the times you specified.
To view the instructional steps, scroll through the gallery.
5. Call the context menu of the newly created (short version) composition and click Show Finder.
The Finder file manager will open with the exact directory of the song.
6. Call the context menu of the composition (short version) and open the item Properties. In line Name and extension change the value m4a on m4r, and at the same time give a new name to the file. The file will be available under this name in the iPhone settings menu.
After making changes, click Enter and in the dialog box that opens, select Use m4r. Move the renamed track to any other folder (you can Desktop).
7. Return to iTunes and remove the short song from the list by confirming Delete song – Move. Move the moved and renamed song to m4a format back to iTunes. Immediately after moving the file will disappear from the playlist.
8. In iTunes, open the tab Sounds, having previously enabled them on the panel (click on the three dots - check the box next to the item Sounds).
The created ringtone will be displayed in the category Sounds.
9. Connect your iPhone using a USB cable and sync Ringtones.
After the synchronization process is complete, disconnect your iPhone. Open Settings – Sounds – Sounds and vibration patterns. In the list you will find the ringtone you just created.
Please rate it.