As SoundCloud community ambassadors in their cities, SoundCloud Heroes will be involved with organizing other activities so stay tuned. Want to be a SoundCloud Hero? We’re picking up our search so find out how you can get involved here.

Chicago
SoundCloud Hero and podcaster Jaime Black is working with Music Garage to host the meetup. Following a BBQ cookout, meetup attendees will get a chance to interact with each other and use SoundCloud apps at a dedicated station. Another room will be dedicated to a full-on jam session experience with instruments provided by Music Garage. You’re encouraged to bring your own acoustic instruments as well! Get creative with each other and upload sounds in real-time! RSVP here.

Los Angeles
Matt and Will have teamed up to organize the Los Angeles meetup at Biergarten. With Matt as a musician and Will as a podcaster, they encourage all sound enthusiasts of the Los Angeles SoundCloud community to come together. Whether you’re in Santa Monica or in the Greater LA area, stop by for some nosh and drinks. Listen to their spontaneous audio message live from Biergarten below for what to look forward to and make sure to RSVP here.

San Francisco
Nicole will host a meetup at a new local clothing and art space called Hangr 16 in the Mission. Enjoy music by local SoundClouders and meet other SoundClouders with a fun recording activity. Come and you’ll be entered into a drawing to receive a SoundCloud swag package! RSVP here.

Boston

Celebrate Boston’s sound makers. Everyone is a sound maker! SoundCloud Heroes Tea and Chas have collaborated to host the meetup at Indie Ambassador, a music tech startup in Boston. A sound recording experiment will be revealed. It’s a surprise, but you will want to take part. RSVP here and listen to Tea’s callout below.

Syracuse
Jared will introduce two upcoming projects for the Syracuse SoundCloud community to get involved with: a local musicians compilation and Syracuse Found Sound Collaborative–a project to capture ambient soundscapes from around the city. Learn more about this and get a free guided tour of the world-class studio, SubCat Music Studios next door. RSVP here.

Austin
Enjoy a laid-back night at the Cherrywood Coffeehouse where Austin SoundClouders will participate in a listening session. Drop Tim a track you’d like to play at the link here. RSVP to attend.

Portland
Zefora will help lead a discussion on the future of Portland SoundCloud Community events and activities. Portland SoundClouders, what are you interested in doing, hearing and sharing? Bring your ideas to share with others. RSVP here to join.

Seattle
Held at the historic Intiman Playhouse, Alison has organized a night to meet and greet with other SoundClouders in the Seattle area, share ideas for future sound networking opportunities, and connect with others via sound. RSVP here!

It’s been a busy week for us here at SoundCloud. As many of you may have heard, yesterday we announced the ‘Next’ SoundCloud! The newer, cleaner, stronger, faster version of SoundCloud is currently in private beta, but don’t worry ‘clouders…you’ll be able to get your hands on it soon!

SoundCloud is for sound creators and consumers alike, but there are a few awesome new features for those of you looking to find and share new sounds from within the community. To check out all those features and more, head on over to next.soundcloud.com for more.

To celebrate our ‘level-up’ a few favorite SoundClouders sent us some congratulatory messages!

Here’s Baratunde Thurston’s message to SoundCloud, complete with a custom intro theme-song!

Next, Glynn Washington of NPR’s Snap Judgment dropped us a line!

And finally, two of the SoundCloud Community Heroes took a second to tell us why they originally fell in love with SoundCloud.

If you are interested in trying out SoundCloud as a spoken word podcast platform, you can sign up for via this form. Successful candidates will be emailed with further details.

Today is a special day for us and we’re so thrilled to finally be able to share with you what we’ve been working on for a while:

Next SoundCloud, meet the Community. Community, meet Next SoundCloud, the next phase of our mission to unmute the web.

Since 2008, we’ve been focused on building the best social sound platform on the web. Today, SoundCloud has grown to over 15 million with more interests and needs of SoundCloud. With Next, we are taking a first step to reflect this. What you can expect from Next:

See more:

• A more interactive waveform player
• A simpler and more attractive profile

The Next SoundCloud will be available in a private beta immediately. Learn more and request access here:

http://next.soundcloud.com

We will be gradually rolling out access to Next and plan to use the beta to make updates and add additional features to Next based on your input. As always, we’re listening, so please use the feedback form in the About section. We can’t wait to hear what you say.

And finally, thank you to Snoop Dogg and The Bugle for the amazing congratulatory voice messages:

The crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, the sound of hot dog vendors and the “thwack” of a ball hitting a glove: baseball season has started once again!

In this weeks edition of Found Sounds we are going to take a listen to some different sounds that are heard at baseball games! First, listen to the “sound print” recorded at Haight & Ashbury after the San Francisco Giants won the World Series.

Next, we have the sounds of baseball from Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York (arguably one of the most baseball frenzied places in the world!)

Lastly we had not one, but two sounds from Fenway park in Boston! The first sound is after a Homerun was hit and the last is a sound recording during the conclusion of a game.

Thanks everyone for tuning into this weeks Found Sounds! For more Found Sounds, check out our archive here. If you have your own Found Sounds that you would like to contribute to the blog, please add them to our dedicated group here.

This week on Voices we take a look at the world of sport.  There are all kinds of podcasts and sports teams on the ‘cloud and here’s a few to get you going.  Namely Chelsea Football Club, James Allen Formula 1 podcast and Golden State Warriors basket ball team.

First up is James Allen on F1.  This podcast brings you the best features, interviews and analysis from leading F1 journalist and commentator James Allen, every month.  Check out James’s site which features all kinds of news and analysis and of course the podcast!  Here’s this months for you to enjoy.

Next up is the Golden State Warriors. Over the last couple of months they have been using the SoundCloud account to post post match interviews and even conference calls with general manager Bob Myers. They’ve even set up their SoundCloud drop box where you can either upload or record a question to the team. Take a listen to their latest “round table” podcast below and check out more on their site.

And finally we have Chelsea Football club who have been using SoundCloud to post commentary highlights from past games. For example their 6-1 over QPR.

If you are interested in trying out SoundCloud as a spoken word podcast platform, you can sign up for via this form. Successful candidates will be emailed with further details.

Hi there! Thanks for the interview- can you say “hi” to everyone in your native language?

Hi!

You are from the land down under, right? How did you end up in Berlin?

Pretty randomly. I hopped on a train a few years ago and haven’t looked back!

How did you get introduced to SoundCloud?

A couple of years ago a friend sent me the link to his track on the ‘Cloud, and it really struck a chord with me when I noticed I could find track IDs through the timed comments. It’s such a relief to bury those: “you know that song, it’s like ‘daaa baa baa’, with drums?” conversations.

What is your favorite sound?

The opening of a can. It’s audible refreshment.

and Jai Paul is always nice to listen to.

What sound do you hate?

Chewing. I even hate listening to myself chew, which is pretty inconvenient.

If you had 3 words to describe yourself, what would they be?

Where’s my phone?

What’s your favorite German word?

Begeistert. It means ‘excited’, but I think it sounds so much more exciting than ‘excited’.

How is it working at such an International and diverse office?

It’s great! Being surrounded by so many diverse skills sets is really inspiring, and a good reminder of how diverse SoundCloud’s users are. Plus it’s the perfect place to carry out some in-depth cultural studies, like whether or not the mint flavour of American Girl Scout Cookies is really that much better than the coconut…

Why do you think someone should apply to SoundCloud?

Because we get to eat excellent pizza and play ping pong in the basement! Not to mention the opportunity to help shape the future of sound… that’s pretty cool, right?

What do you like most about Berlin?

There’s a guy who often walks around my neighbourhood dressed as a medieval knight and no one bats an eyelid. I love that.

What are your favorite sounds on the cloud?

Damn, that’s like choosing my favourite jelly belly flavour. There are way. too. many. Right now I’m listening to a lot of Alle Farben mixes, but there will always be a special place in my heart for cringey Italo Disco. The kitchen table will hate me forever, but it was hands-down my musical highlight of 2011.

Thanks for the great interview Emma! You can find her on the web below:

Twitter: @ammerugg
Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/emmarugger

Happy Anniversary! Today, SoundCloud Voices turns 1. For the past year, we’ve featured Community members who create spoken word content…this week  we take a trip back to the good old fashioned podcast – of the entertainment variety. We’ve got two great comedy podcasts for you and a great new film review podcast. Allow us to introduce Super Ego, Penn Jillette’s Penn’s Sunday School and The Empire Film Podcast.

First up is Mr Penn Jillette’s comedy talk podcast entitled Penn’s Sunday School. Penn is an illusionist, comedian, musician and author. You might recognise him from Futurama, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, or Sabrina the Teenage Witch, too name only a few of his appearances. The podcast is part of Adam Carolla’s ACE Broadcasting network and also features co host Michael Goudeau. The concept of the show is discussing the news of the week but often drifts into anecdotes and stories such as, featured in the podcast below, Penn’s clash with magician David Copperfield.  It’s an excellent out and out talk podcast full of jokes and funny stories. Take a listen.

Next up is Empire Magazine’s Film Podcast. As the biggest film magazine expect the latest views, reviews, stories and news on the upcoming films. They even have great guests on the show such as actor Guy Pearce and director Mike Newell, features in the podcast below. Having just started just over 4 weeks ago, the podcast has already had great reception and lots of listens.  Take a listen too!

And last by no means least comedy podcast Super Ego. Described as such – Profiles In Self-Obsession. Improvised, analyzed and brought to you by Drs. Jeremy Carter, PhD and Matt Gourley, PyT with Resident Specialists Mark McConville and Jeff Crocker.  In short the show is an improvisational, character based sketch podcast.  Each episode takes a look at a a particular psychological disorder in the form of a case study.  It features brilliant guests such as Greg Proops, Patton Oswalt, Drew Carey and Paul F Tompkins to name a few.  Take a listen to March’s episode below!

If you are interested in trying out SoundCloud as a spoken word podcast platform, you can sign up for via this form. Successful candidates will be emailed with further details.

As many of you might already have heard, May 17th is our 4th annual Global Meetup Day! We want to see you there!

Sound brings people together. Sound forms connections and sound breaks down barriers. SoundClouders are spread all over the globe and that’s what makes this community of sound creators so amazing and unique. You’re the best and you should celebrate yourself on May 17th when it’s time for another SoundCloud Global Meetup Day. Save the date!

 Still wondering how to get involved? It is simple!

1. Find your #scmeetup in your city here: Meetup.com/SoundCloud - if you do not find one there, you can create one (here is some info on how to do that)!
2. Sign up for the meetup using Twitter, Facebook or creating a Meetup profile.
3. Help plan or promote your meetup! You can use Facebook, Twitter or your blog to promote the meetup in your city. Remember to use the hashtag #scmeetup when you can.

Some notable Meetups that are being planned so far:

 United States – hosted by SoundCloud Heroes:

San Francisco, Austin, Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles, Syracuse, Chicago

Worldwide:

Istanbul, Berlin, Salt Lake City, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Toronto, Madrid, Perth, Buenos Aires & so many more cities!!

So, will we see you on May 17th? Let us know in the comments or tweet us (@SoundCloud) using the hashtag #scmeetup & we will broadcast your Meetup!

If you have any questions or want to know more how you can get involved please feel free to email meetups [at] soundcloud [dot] com !

You’ve probably noticed that here at SoundCloud we’re all about building community. Not only is our amazing community growing every day, but we’re also thrilled to be a part of the larger global audio-community.

As avid listeners ourselves, it brings us a great amount of pride to be working with some of the biggest and most popular audio producers in the world. We’re very proud to be working with highly respected networks such as  The BBC, Radio France, NPR, PRI, and APM.

When it comes to working with our partners, we strive to be more than a simple audio-player. We’re constantly collaborating with them, working together to spread amazing listening-experiences across the web.

As much fun as we have working with these established networks, we also place a great deal of importance on supporting the next generation of audio producers. That’s why we get especially excited when working with folks like National Public Radio’s Intern Edition!

Not only do NPR’s interns play an important role in the production of the network’s major programs, but they also hone their skills by producing their own content. All that hard work gets published on their site, as well as presented to the NPR staff during a premier presentation at the end of each semester.

Listen to one of their recent pieces here:

These young producers are inheriting quite a different industry than the generation before them. The line between producer and listener is quickly disappearing, allowing anyone passionate about voice, sound, and storytelling to broadcast their experience to the entire world.

In fact, this week National Public Radio is encouraging audiophiles everywhere to submit the sounds of their cities using SoundCloud!

You can record your sounds using SoundCloud’s mobile app. Here’s some instructions: 

1. Go to a place where you can hear your favorite sound and start recording.

2. Say your full name slowly and clearly. Then: “The sound of (YOUR CITY NAME) is (NAME OF SOUND).”
For example: “My name is John Smith. The sound of Columbus, Ohio, is the lunch-time crowd at the deli on my street.”

If you stumble, just pause, take a take breath, and try again.

3. Record the sound for at least 60 seconds.

4. Give it a listen (with headphones if possible) and make sure it came out clearly. Feel free to try it out a few times and then choose your best take.

5. Upload the file to Soundcloud and put the tag #nprcities in the title!

Here an example of one sound that was just submitted yesterday!

If you are interested in trying out SoundCloud as a spoken word podcast platform, you can sign up for via this form. Successful candidates will be emailed with further details.

Will Coley is an activist who has lived in LA for six years and a transplant originally from North Carolina. He helps non-profits use audio and other social tools to promote social justice. He’s helped numerous folks get started with SoundCloud to do so. Come out to the Global Meetup Day in Los Angeles on May 17!

What do you do? How do you use SoundCloud in your life?
I help nonprofit organizations and foundations with their social media content strategies. As a consultant, I figure out how to use digital tools to promote social justice and progressive movements. I’m big on using audio for the projects I’m involved in. I use SoundCloud for podcasting like documenting live community events and for my own radio storytelling.

What are your aspirations for the SoundCloud community in your city?
I’m really interested in meeting other SoundClouders and helping them connect with each other at meetups, skill-shares or listening events. I know there are lots of good stories in this big city: folks making great music or podcasts and using audio to build community. I’d also like to help musicians and podcasters collaborate in creating even more SoundCloud content: from artist interviews to scoring radio stories or podcasts.

What is your favorite place in the city and why?
I love the outdoors near LA (the beach, mountains and desert) but since they’re mostly outside the city limits, I guess I have to choose something else. I also like what’s temporary in LA: unique street scenes that Angelenos create outside their cars: the CicLAvia bicycle festival, the West Hollywood Halloween carnival, massive marches and demonstrations for immigrant rights and other causes, and even the spaces that street vendors and taco trucks create.

What is your favorite sound and why?
Besides the sound of rain (which is rare in LA), I love the call of freight trains rumbling in the distance. It seems like such a “out West” sound to me. I also have to admit that when I’m at Costco, I like eavesdropping on conversations of my fellow shoppers. You can hear a dozen different languages in the refrigerated area alone.

Where else can we find you on the web?
My website/blog is Aquifer Media
Twitter: @willcoley
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/williamcoley
I’m also on the Public Radio Exchange: http://www.prx.org/users/137403-willcoley

Anything else?
Check out examples of organizations that I helped get started with SoundCloud:
Detention Watch Network http://soundcloud.com/detentionwatch
Eastside LA Netsquared http://soundcloud.com/n2la
Freedom from Fear Awards http://soundcloud.com/fffaward
Los Angeles Media Reform Group http://soundcloud.com/lamrg
NDLON’s podcasting http://soundcloud.com/ndlon-habla
Rights Working Group http://soundcloud.com/rightsworking

Interested in being part of this growing network of SoundCloud Heroes?
Read the program details here and apply at the link at the bottom of the post.