Tech Tips: Recording SoundCloud Audio
SoundCloud offers up to 3 hours of free audio recording, and you can then embed your audio in a blog post or a webpage. You can use SoundCloud to create the audio recording, or you can use another program or app to create the audio and then upload the file to SoundCloud. For this tip, I will walk you through using SoundCloud to record your audio; if you want to complete this tip using a different audio app, that also works — just skip the part below about recording at SoundCloud and upload your audio file directly.
October 27 UPDATE: SoundCloud has discontinued its built-in Flash recorder, so that means you need to use some other app to create your recording, which you can then upload to SoundCloud. I'll update this Tech Tip with some recommendations, although Audacity is a stand-by that has been around for a long time, and for something quick and easy, try Online Voice Recorder.
Flash Audio: The SoundCloud recorder is Flash-based, which means it is very quirky. You may need to install/update the Flash plug-in on your computer, and you will need to authorize SoundCloud to access your microphone. If you are having trouble, there are other audio recording apps and programs you can use, saving the audio file and then just uploading it to SoundCloud. Audacity is a great free audio program, for example. You can record the audio with Audacity (or some other app), and then upload the file to SoundCloud as a hosting/embedding service.
Here's how to get an audio recording ready for to use online in a blog post or website:
1. Create a SoundCloud account. Go to SoundCloud.com and sign up for free. You can log in with Facebook, Google, or an email address. You can record/upload up to 3 hours of audio with a free account.
2. Create recording. To record, click the Upload link in the top right navigation (next to your user name). You can choose a file to upload, or you can start recording with SoundCloud. You will need to authorize Flash to access your microphone:
3. Upload recording. After you have finished recording, click upload to upload the audio file you just created.
4. Save file. After you upload a recording (either a recording made with SoundCloud, or a file you created with another audio recording app), you will then see a screen where you can put a title on your recording, along with other settings, such as licensing, etc.
That's all you need to do for this tip! To finish up, write a blog post with the title "Tech Tip Audio Recording" (and "Tech Tip" for the label), and say something about your experience: did you use SoundCloud or a different program? did you run into any problems? have you done any online audio recording before?
If you want to do an additional Tech Tip now, you can embed your recording in the blog post! Here's how: Embed SoundCloud in a blog post.
It's even easier to embed SoundCloud in a Google Site page: just go to your page in edit mode, click on "embed" in the right-hand menu, and paste in your SoundCloud URL. Google Sites will do the rest!