This is a neat little tool I’ve been using for a while. You can essentially turn any song in your iTunes library into a ringtone for your iPhone.
First, you’ll want to pick out the song you’d like to use, and find a good 15-30 second duration that you would like to specifically use for your ringtone. If it’s not the beginning or end of the song, you’ll want to make a note of the start and stop time of the part.
Next, click on the song and press Command + I on your keyboard. Click on the “Options” tab and plug those recorded times in the Start and Stop Time fields (i.e. if you would like to use the first 30 seconds of the song, you would leave the start time at 0:00, and input 0:30 for the stop time). Make sure both check boxes are checked next to “Start Time” and “Stop Time”, and hit “OK”.
With the song still selected in iTunes, click on Advanced > Create AAC Version in the menu bar. You should now see a duplicate of that song in your library, one of which has a 30 second duration. Click the newly made AAC version of the song and drag it onto your desktop. Click the file once, then press enter. Now, you’ll need to change the .aac file extension to .m4r (the standard iTunes ringtone file). You should receive a prompt asking if you would like to use the .m4r extension (yes). Your ringtone should now look like: “[song title].m4r”. Drag the file back into iTunes, and it should populate under the “Ringtones” section of your library.
Now, when you plug in your iPhone, you’ll want to check the box next to “Sync Ringtones” (if it’s not already checked) under the “Ringtones” tab. The next time you sync your phone with your iTunes, this ringtone will be uploaded to your device. Lastly, you need to select the song in your iPhone as your ringtone. You can do this under Settings > Sounds > Ringtone.
Turn up the volume and enjoy your new ringtone!