5
Using SoundCloud as a Sketchpad

NOT ONLY IS SOUNDCLOUD AN AUDIO PLAYER, a platform for hosting and sharing music, and a great interactive online community, it can also be used as a songwriter’s tool. Use it as a place to put down rough song-sketch ideas, as a place to store different versions of your song for reference, and as a place for your bandmates to comment on new songs and add in constructive criticism. Let’s take a look at how you can use SoundCloud as a platform for your songwriting creativity.

Tracking Your Song Progression

I find that the most interesting thing about songwriting is how a song can progress over time, especially in the whole computer-music-production age. Most musicians have access to a music-production package they use for their songwriting, and SoundCloud is a great tool for tracking your song progression. Try this out the next time you’re in a songwriting phase: Record your idea, and once you’ve finished, upload what you’ve done to SoundCloud, as shown in Figure 5.1. (You can upload it as a private track if you want to set limited access on the song; we’ll talk more about private and public tracks in Chapter 8, “Download and Private Access.”) Then, when you have your next songwriting session, upload the new results to SoundCloud, too (see Figure 5.2).

Figure 5.1 First version of a song on SoundCloud.

Source: SoundCloud^®.

Figure 5.2 Revised version of the song on SoundCloud.

Source: SoundCloud^®.

Sometimes you can work on a song for months, and using SoundCloud to store your progress is a neat way of noting the changes and maybe your inspirations, too—noticing how they’ve crept in or how you’ve been influenced by something new or had a great brainstorming idea. Take note of the song arrangement changes, your vocal melody ideas, and how the chord progressions changed. You can actually learn quite a bit about yourself as songwriter by going through this review and evaluation process.

What’s even better is that you can get your bandmates, other musicians, and even your friends to make comments to the song edits as you upload them. (More about time-tagged comments in Chapter 10, “Building Up Time-Tagged Comments.”) Maybe you find that your friends prefer your vocal melody on your second version, as opposed to your third version. These insights can help you sculpt away at your songs and use the bits that really stand out. So try this out and use SoundCloud as a songwriting tool, and as a sounding board that your closest critics can use to help you improve your songs.

Next up, we’ll check out how you can add artwork images and tags to your SoundCloud songs to add interest to your songs and your SoundCloud profile.