SoundCloud 101

Now it's easier than ever to set up and record a podcast. You can even use SoundCloud's "Rec" button and share your content straight away. The following 101 is a guide to making the most of SoundCloud for podcasting, including advice from some of our current podcasters.

Please note: We are currently running a podcast beta program for SPOKEN WORD PODCASTERS ONLY - if you would be interested in being involved in this, please fill in this form.

Podcast Settings

If you have the podcast functionality set up for your account you'll find the RSS feed symbol on your public profile.

If you click on this symbol, you'll be provided with two options, the RSS URL or the option "iTunes for Podcast". The RSS can be used to submit to the iTunes directory or other podcasting directories and subscription services. The "iTunes for Podcast" allows followers of your content to simply add your show into their iTunes account if you haven't submitted it to the iTunes podcast directory yourself.

If you do have your podcast show in the iTunes directory, you may also replace this link with a direct link to your show on iTunes. This can be done if you go to edit profile and select "Extras" option. Here you can add the iTunes link into the "iTunes Directory Link" section.

You can also decide whether your audio is added to the RSS feed by default. Simply select or deselect the box beside "Enable podcasting for all my sounds as default".

And finally, during the upload process you can also determine whether this sound should be in your RSS feed. When uploading, under the “Settings” in the “Apps & Podcasts enabled” section, select the “click to change” link.

In the following option box you can then determine whether this audio should be made available in your feed.

Some other things to do

1. The feeds link to the original profile image you upload. Best results are reached if your picture is square with at least 600 x 600 pixels.

2. Your URL and user name can be different! Make your user name as nice as possible - for example if you are using your name, put a space between your name and surname!

Submit your Podcast to iTunes

Submitting to iTunes can be slightly tricky. We highly recommend you use Google Feedburner before submission. Feedburner will allow you to sound the amount of subscriptions to your podcast and you can customise the meta data of your podcast.

Copy the RSS url from SoundCloud, sign yourself up for a Google Feedburner account and follow the steps. Try to enter as many details as possible and follow Feedburner's steps. It's really simple and will help a lot! Make sure you activate the "Smartcast" setting which will help tell iTunes how to list the podcast in the directory.

Once you have set up your RSS in Feedburner, it's time to submit this new RSS URL to iTunes. You'll need an iTunes store account for this! The submission form can be found in the store in the podcast section under the quick links box.

Then simply enter your RSS feed and wait for iTunes to accept it, which usually takes a day or two. Good luck!

Your podcast image in iTunes

To make sure your image shows up in iTunes, there's a little bit of work to be done. You need to make sure your podcast is uploaded to SoundCloud in the mp3 or m4a format and the image needs to be contained in the orginal file when you upload. How is this done? Well the best way is to drag and drop your podcast into iTunes, then drag and drop an image into the art work window in iTunes. Then take that file and upload it to SoundCloud. This process should look a little like this:

Podcast Recording and Editing

There’s a whole world of microphones, compressors and various recording software and tools out there. The easiest way to start podcasting is to use the SoundCloud record functionality! Either via the site, our SoundCloud desktop client or our iPhone and Android apps. Take a look at this guide on "Audio Tweeting" which can also give you an insight into how to use the the record apps for quick and easy recording for podcasts.

Real Life Examples

We also asked some of our current podcasters what software and hardware they use, these range from the simple to the very technical!

“We currently record our content using Edirol audio recorders and edit using free software Audacity which is okay but fairly limited in it’s features”.

Mark Dorey from Leeds Metropolitan University - http://soundcloud.com/leedsmet

“I use an Apogee Duet front-end plugged into a MacBook Pro running Adobe Soundbooth. That allows me to record two channels, which is great for two-way interviews. For more than three people I have to either split one of the channels, which is annoying, or use an omni-directional mic, which is an easier option but not as close a sound. For capturing audio from news and phone calls, I use Audio Hijack Pro, a great piece of software that allows you to record full quality audio from anything you can play out of your computer speakers.”

Mike Freedman from Critical Mass Documentary- http://soundcloud.com/criticalmasspodcasts

“We've experimented with a multitude of applications from Pro Tools, to Cubase, to Reaper... and finally Sony Acid. Acid allows us to loop our audio beds a little easier, so we've stuck with that for some time now. As for hardware, I use a vintage AKG studio mic going into an M-Audio USB interface.”

Dennis Mollan from Pro Tone Pedals - http://www.soundcloud.com/protonepedals

“Guests will join a conference call via Skype. I have a 56-channel Fireface 800 that I use to route the audio into an Allen and Heath Xone 464 mixer. One output of the mixer goes to another input on the Fireface for recording the podcast, and another output goes to another computer for our live stream of the recording that we do over Ustream. I record and edit in Reaper, then use custom software to process and downsample the audio. This helps to eliminate the horrible peaks that you get when you have 4 people calling in over one channel, and generally makes the whole thing sound more full after processing.”

Brad from The Next Web - http://www.soundcloud.com/thenextweb

More Info

• Read about the SoundCloud Podcast feature (business centered) at our SoundCloud for Podcasts .