Shortening audio file in GarageBand on macOS 10.9.5

MacOs 10.9.5 (I can't update it so please don't ask) Garage Band v3.0.5 (104.10). iMac 2.4GHz Intel core2 Duo (20" mid 2007). I've never used Garage Band. I imported an audio file into GB. It's a sound file that will eventually be converted to a ring tone. I have previously made a ring tone of this file with GB. It works but when I get a phone call the sound repeatedly plays and its not what I want. In GB i get the file into a new basic project. It plays fine but the play head continues way past the end of the clip. I am trying to get it to play just the clip and no longer. I can't even figure out how to tell how long this clip is, but it's short. If I scroll all the way to the right there is a triangle i can drag to the left, but it stops at 0:8 i assume that's 8 Seconds but it doesn't say what those numbers represent anywhere! My clip is shorter than that but with end point set at 8 seconds the play back now stops there but i want it shorter so the playback exactly matches the audio file length, which i now think is less than 2 seconds). This should be easy to do but after hours and hours and many You Tube videos I can't figure out how to do this. It looks like the audio is less than 2 seconds. If i could get it to be 2 seconds when i play it that would be great. The red triangle in the top "ruler" is now stopping at 14, while before i could move down to 8. I have no idea what changed to make that happen. The red triangle I am dragging to the left says "shows beats and measures" when i hover over it. I am willing to explore paid support.


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: shortening audio file

Earlier Mac models

Posted on Jul 4, 2025 11:24 AM

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1 reply

Jul 4, 2025 02:18 PM in response to George Spiese

I was able to solve my problem. In GB on my iphone I dragged the audio to the right, creating time (space) before the audio played. I then changed the "Bars" to 2. this shortened the total range. Now when I play it, there is a pause at the beginning so that when it loops it's got some space (time) before it plays it again. Used GB to create the ringtone by closing the session then holding my mouse on the project at the window that opens select Share. There you have an option to create a ringtone. The next problem had was to test it with an incoming call. I used the google voice app to create a phone number. Then in a web browser went to voice.google.com to call my cell phone. It worked! Sheesh what an ordeal.

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Shortening audio file in GarageBand on macOS 10.9.5

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