Ben SoundCloud Voices

This American Life has been at the forefront of great American public radio broadcasting since its debut in 1995, and this week we’re celebrating its debut on SoundCloud.

Presented by Ira Glass, the show’s free weekly podcast tells real-life stories — they call their genre ‘journalistic non-fiction’. Each week This American Life chooses a theme, and presents several stories on that theme: over nearly 500 episodes, they’ve covered everything from the challenges of babysitting to the challenges of living in a warzone; from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to the aftermath of a bad romance; from the joys of attending summer camp to the joys of winning a national election.

If you’re new to This American Life, there’s no better place to start than with this two-part episode on the effects of gun violence in one American high school. Harper High School Part One & Part Two showcase This American Life’s reporting at its most remarkable.

Follow soundcloud.com/this-american-life for more stories from This American Life!

SoundCloud Voices is a weekly Community feature focusing on new spoken word creators found on SoundCloud. It might be a podcast, radio show, audio book, interview, audio messages, a poem, anything! Keep an eye out every Thursday for a new post. 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.

Jane Hello Heroes: Audiobiography Round-Up #2: Poetry, interviews, voice mail messages and more

This is a guest post by SoundCloud Hero and musician Dave McKeown based in Exmouth, Britain. Follow and connect with the SoundCloud Heroes to find out more about community projects, collaborations and more.

We launched the Audiobiography project earlier this month to get to know you better. Hundreds of minutes of audio and music have been uploaded, reflecting the community’s creative personalities, passions and interests.

Listen to this second set of audiobiographies, received up to Monday, February 25. A new set of the latest Audiobiographies will be shared every week so post yours to be featured. All languages are welcome to participate. You can find translations of how to get involved in more than 8 languages here.

For the second week, we have been blown away by the creative response to the challenge. Among some of our favorites are:

Mlucas‘s wonderful evocation of the Midwest and his creative process in poetry and sound.

We really enjoyed Lee Rosevere‘s unique audiobio in the form of a telephone auto-response. Lee was among 54 other Disquiet Junto members who participated in this weekly challenge centered on Audiobio.

Tourmaline Hum told us a lot about himself without saying anything at all in the most entertaining way.

Saif Ali bared his soul with his hiphop-inspired Audiobio. Give it a whirl:

Missed last week’s Audiobiography round-up? Revist the recap here.

If you have uploaded one and it’s not here, we’d love to hear it. Message us at @SoundCloudHeroes. We still want to hear more so share your Audiobiography and have your voice heard too. Get involved at http://blog.soundcloud.com/2013/02/06/audiobiography/

Jane Hello Heroes: Audiobiography Round-Up #1: Composers, thinkers, hip hop artists and more

This is a guest post by SoundCloud Hero and composer Oliver Sadie based in London. Follow and connect with the SoundCloud Heroes to find out more about community projects, collaborations and more.

We launched the Audiobiography project earlier this month to get to know you better, to find out who you are and what’s important to you in a punchy 90 second upload.

What you’ve come back with has been truly astonishing. The range of audiobios has reflected an inspiring diversity of SoundClouders worldwide: hip hop and dance artists, podcasters, journalists, indie musicians, professional composers, listeners, critics and bloggers.

Here’s the first round of your audiobios shared up to Friday, February 15. We will feature a set of audiobios every week. Listen to the first one hundred minutes of you:

We’ll also be highlighting a handful of Audiobios in every featured post so this week, meet:

Sean Beeson, composer from Ohio, has been making waves in the games and film music world for many years and reveals a surprising personal fact in his audiobio.

Clif Johnston offers a poetic and philosophical view of identity. Reflect for a moment in his mirror.

Miranda Shvangiradze is a pianist from the country Georgia. Hear a little more about what she values in her life.

Deltaparadise, electronic producer from Tenerife, shares his audiobio in Spanish. Share yours in your own language too.

Ray McGinnis, programmer and composer, is mad as a bucket of salmon. Hear another highly original audiobio.

If you have uploaded one and it’s not here, we’d love to hear it. Message us at @soundcloudheroes.

SoundCloud is a hub of creative personalities, and these audiobiographies have brought your personalities right to the fore. We want to hear more so please take the opportunity now to have your voice heard too.

Read more about the Audiobiography project and how you can get involved here.