Mac|Life

Create a ringtone in GarageBand, part 1

Use the new Beat Sequencer to get some rhythm

- Craig Grannell

REQUIRES

iOS 11, GarageBand 2.3 or later

You will learn

How to use the Beat Sequencer to create a custom rhythm

IT WILL TAKE

15 minutes

GarageBand for iPad is a versatile app — approachab­le enough for beginners, yet plenty powerful enough for pros. You can use it to record an entire album, but let’s kick off here with a more modest ambition: composing a ringtone.

Making a ringtone is a useful exercise because it provides insight into various aspects of GarageBand, giving you skills you can expand on and later use to write and record full tracks. Plus, you’ll also have produced your own personal ringtone, so you won’t end up feeling foolish for franticall­y digging out your iPhone and yelling “Hello?” several times before realizing someone nearby is already deep in conversati­on while simultaneo­usly edging away from you.

Here, we’ll start with drums, rhythm being the foundation of every good music loop. GarageBand offers acoustic drums (manual tapping), Smart Drums (drag icons to a grid), and Drummer (dynamic loops), but we’ll use the Beat Sequencer, introduced with GarageBand 2.3. In future issues, we’ll take our project further and build up a full multi-instrument custom ringtone.

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