11
SoundCloud and Audio Software
BY NOW YOU HAVE A GOOD IDEA OF HOW VALUABLE SOUNDCLOUD IS AS A TOOL TO DRIVE YOUR MUSIC FOLLOWING. You can direct audiences to your SoundCloud account to listen to your music, and then build up interactions between you and your listeners through the time-tagged comments. In this chapter, we’ll go over audio software that integrates SoundCloud functions into it, so that you can more easily upload your music to SoundCloud.
SoundCloud Export Options from Audio Software
Most of you are using some form of digital audio workstation (DAW) to record your music ideas and build up your songs. You record your song through your choice of audio software; go through the tracking, editing, and mixing process; and then export your finished song. You then go to your SoundCloud profile and choose to upload the song.
But some audio software companies have made this process slightly easier. They allow you to export your song straight to SoundCloud from their software, cutting down the number of steps required to get your songs on SoundCloud. More companies will likely go this route in the future. We’d like to go over three DAWs that have added this feature into their software: Apple Logic Pro, Ableton Live, and PreSonus Studio One. Let’s take a look at how it is done in each of these.
Exporting from Apple Logic Pro
On the Mac side, there is the popular Apple Logic Pro. Uploading your song to SoundCloud from Logic is quite easy. When you’ve finished your song, go to File > Share > SoundCloud, as shown in Figure 11.1.
Figure 11.1 Sharing to SoundCloud from Apple Logic Pro.
Source: Apple®.
This will open up the SoundCloud Login box in Logic Pro (see Figure 11.2). Fill in your SoundCloud username and password so that it can upload your song to your profile.
Figure 11.2 The SoundCloud Login box in Logic Pro.
Source: Apple®.
Then Logic Pro will open a dialog box where you can input the song details you want to add to SoundCloud. You can fill in the title, artist, and composer. You can also choose the audio format under Quality, plus you can add whether you want the song to be private or public under Visibility. Then, under Permissions, you can choose whether you want listeners to be able to stream and/or download the track. When you’ve filled in all the necessary details, click the Share button, and Logic Pro will bounce down the track (see Figure 11.3). After that, it will upload the track directly to SoundCloud.
Figure 11.3 Sharing your song from Logic Pro.
Source: Apple®.
Exporting from Ableton Live
The process is pretty similar with Ableton Live (which is PC and Mac compatible). When you’re ready to export your song, go to the File > Export Audio/Video. When the Export Audio/Video dialog box comes up, make sure you turn on the Upload Audio to SoundCloud box, as shown in Figure 11.4.
Figure 11.4 Enable SoundCloud uploading in Ableton Live.
Source: Ableton™.
Give your song a name and choose the audio file type, sample rate, and bit type. (We won’t cover this here, but you’ll find the details in the Ableton Live manual.) When you click OK, Live will first export your song, and then the SoundCloud Upload dialog box will come up. There you’ll sign into your SoundCloud account, which will grant Live the access to upload the song to your profile (see Figure 11.5).
Figure 11.5 Granting Live access to your SoundCloud account.
Source: Ableton™.
After you’ve granted access, the next dialog box will allow you to enter data for the song title (see Figure 11.6). You can add metatags for your song, add an image for the song, and choose whether your song will be public or private. Click Upload when you’ve filled in all the relevant data.
Figure 11.6 Filling in your song details for SoundCloud.
Source: Ableton™.
When the song has finished uploading to SoundCloud, Ableton will give you a link to it on SoundCloud, plus you can click on Copy Link to copy the link path, and then you can send this link to others so that they can check out your new uploaded song (see Figure 11.7). Maybe you want to email a couple of your friends and share the link with them.
Figure 11.7 SoundCloud song link in Live.
Source: Ableton™.
Exporting from PreSonus Studio One
Studio One has probably integrated SoundCloud features the best into its application. It has added SoundCloud as an extension to its application. You’ll need to set up this extension to get it to work. To do this, first go to the Studio One Extensions menu under the Studio One menu on the Mac or the File menu on the PC (see Figure 11.8). Click on SoundCloud Support and then click on Install. Then, you’ll be able to view the SoundCloud Client under the Studio One menu (Mac) or under the File menu (PC), as shown in Figure 11.9.
Figure 11.8 SoundCloud in Studio One.
Source: PreSonus®.
Figure 11.9 Opening the SoundCloud client in Studio One.
Source: PreSonus®.
You’ll need to first authorize your SoundCloud profile in this client. Click on Connect with SoundCloud to connect your SoundCloud profile with Studio One’s SoundCloud client (see Figure 11.10). This will take you through to the SoundCloud webpage, where you can allow Studio One to access your account, as shown in Figure 11.11.
Figure 11.10 Connecting to your SoundCloud Profile.
Source: PreSonus®.
Figure 11.11 Giving Studio One access to your SoundCloud profile.
Source: PreSonus®.
Click on the Connect button, which will bring up a verification code that you’ll need to type into the Studio One SoundCloud Client dialog box. Now the SoundCloud client will be authorized with Studio One, as shown in Figure 11.12.
Figure 11.12 The SoundCloud client is authorized with Studio One.
Source: PreSonus®.
Once authorized, you’ll see your SoundCloud profile name in the SoundCloud client. Now we’ll show you how you can upload a song straight from Studio One to SoundCloud. Go to the Song menu and choose Export Mixdown. Under the Publishing box, choose Upload to SoundCloud, as shown in Figure 11.13.
Figure 11.13 Uploading your song to SoundCloud.
Source: PreSonus®.
Click OK, and Studio One will export the track as the audio format you chose; then the SoundCloud Client dialog box will pop up, as shown in Figure 11.14. Here you can input quite a few details about the track. You have many more options here than in Ableton and Logic. You can pick a title, give it a description, define the genre of the song, and even add in artwork for the song. You can even add more than one track at a time, if you click on Add Tracks. Maybe you want to upload your whole album onto SoundCloud.
Figure 11.14 Adding details to your track.
Source: PreSonus®.
If you click on the More Info tab, you have more options, such as making the song downloadable and modifying the streaming speed (see Figure 11.15). Plus, if you’re on a record label you can add in the release details on your song or album. When you’ve added in all the necessary details, click on the Upload button. That’s why I like Studio One’s integration with SoundCloud—you have the opportunity to add in quite a bit of detail before you upload the song.
Figure 11.15 The More Info tab.
Source: PreSonus®.
On the mobile-app side, there is WaveLab’s Auria for the iPad (www.auriaapp.com). With this app you can record and mix your songs, and from there you can export straight to SoundCloud. But SoundCloud for mobile use will be covered in more detail in the next chapter.
As you can see, SoundCloud is becoming a big focus for audio companies. They are realizing the potential of SoundCloud and how important it is for them to streamline the process from song creation to availability on SoundCloud.