What are the optinal settings/effects you pro’s use for making a current ringtone, for a current smartphone, that actually sounds good?
Talking about turning a normal song in MP3 format into a ringtone that comes out clear and reasonably loud.
I just cant remember what settings I used many months ago for getting a great sounding ringtone and its driving me nuts.
Does this tutorial in the Manual help you: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorial_making_ringtones.html
WC
Ah Ive already given that guide a good read, however its severly outdated and doesnt hold up for modern ringtones.
Any other input would be greatly appreciated!
Do you mean it doesn’t hold up for modern smartphones? What is the make and model number of the smartphone? How are you listening to the sound on that smartphone?
Describe what the problems with the file are when heard on the smartphone. What makes a “modern” ringtone?
If you have some specific input to update that page, please feel free to let us know.
Gale
Well Ive used that guide, fiddled around with its settings and it just doesnt give me a good result.
By ‘good’ result I mean it sounds distorted and just not properly optimized for a phones speaker, when it comes to playing actual music atleast. I dont know the correct terminology and couldnt tell you if the range, dB or something else wasnt right, it just doesnt sound as good as what Ive made before, and Im no expert! That guide may hold well when using mono or polyphonic, but not actual music(I havent heard a mono or poly ringtone in years). I use a Samsung Galaxy S4.
The settings I remember using were simply bass & treble, and afew simple other tweaks I cant recall, which gave a spectacular result.
I never touched any of the settings or effects stated in your guide(to the best of my knowledge!)
Sorry I can’t help you there as my phone is an old 2G Nokia (no programmable ring-tones) - I did have a 3G for a while but it got lost in the snow while skiing last year 
WC
I would have expected a Galaxy to have better speakers than something like an old GSM 'phone.
I don’t think the suggestions on the Manual page were explicitly designed for mono/polyphonic.
Exactly what format are you exporting to for your Galaxy? According to https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-5863 the S4 supports WAV (high quality lossless) as well as the lossy MP3, AAC/MP4 and WMA formats. If you are exporting to MP3, are you using a high enough bit rate? To check, click the Options… button when you export the MP3.
If you can upload an example file that sounds bad on your Galaxy and another that sounds good, we can analyze it (or you can check out the frequency content yourself at Analyze > Plot Spectrum… ). If you want to attach the files to the Forum, they must be no more than 1 MB in size. Please see here for how to attach files: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/how-to-attach-files-to-forum-posts/24026/1 .
Gale
Me too - Mrs Waxcylinder has a Galaxy and I’ve heard her listening to internet radio on it and it’s surprisingly good, albeit with limited freq. range, for the size of the device.
I’ll try and persuade her to test out the tutorial when she gets time. She wants the howl of one of our Bengal cats, but hasn’t got around to recording that yet 
WC
The problems not with the phones speaker, the problems with the audio. Just not properly optizmied/configured for that type of speaker(tiny phone speaker!).
All my files are at 320 kbps CBR MP3s.
What I produce using the guide doesnt come out completely horrid or werid or something, its just nowhere near as good as what Ive done before.
Theres just something simple that has to be adjusted to make it sound ideal, cant remember what it is though!
Ill upload some comparative files when I get a chance.
Please do. I don’t think we can help further 'till then.
Moreover, if you have the possibility, record the file while it is playing on your phone.
This enables us to compare the two frequency spectra.
It would be even better if you’d played a file that contains only white noise or a broad chirp.
Also, you can control if a mono file sounds better than the stereo version of it. The bass is usually the most sensitive point, not only with regard to the amplitude but also to the phase difference from a stereo sound.
Tiny devices try to widen the stereo field by adding a negative portion from the other channel. There are conditions where the effect is just the contrary.