We all know that SoundCloud is full of great music, but how do you listen to it together with your friends?
Last month we launched our SoundCloud playlist feature which makes it a breeze.
Mixlr makes it easy to queue up music from SoundCloud, listen together with your friends and chat together while you listen. It’s also a great way for podcasters and DJs to play their SoundCloud content to a live audience.
Here’s a fun, step-by-step tutorial which shows you how to get started in minutes.
1. Get a free Mixlr account
Firstly, if you’re not already on Mixlr then sign up now. It’s totally free.
You can sign up with one click using your Facebook account, or if you prefer then use your email address and choose your own username and password.
Once you’re signed up, you should find you’re logged into Mixlr and all set to go.
2. Create a playlist with tracks from SoundCloud
First, visit your playlist page. We’re going to use the search bar, near the top of the page, to find music on SoundCloud and add it to our playlist.
You can type a genre, artist or track name. Mixlr will find music which matches what you’re looking for. As an example, I’ve searched for minimal techno.
By clicking on the play icon in the left-most column, a SoundCloud player will pop up which you can use to preview the track.
Give it a listen, and decide if you want to add it to your playlist. If you do, click on the Add to playlist button.
Keep on searching for tracks, and find a few good grooves for your playlist.
If you’re feeling adventurous, it’s also possible to paste a link to a SoundCloud artist, track or playlist page into the box labelled Paste SoundCloud link. Or, if you’ve got tracks on your own SoundCloud account, just click on My tracks to make them available on Mixlr.
3. Re-arrange your sounds
Once you’ve added a few tracks to your playlist, it’s time to re-arrange and preview them. You can switch from your search results back to your playlist at any time by clicking the playlist button at the bottom of the page. Go there now – it’s time to re-order your sounds and get ready to go live.
You should now see the tracks you’ve selected displayed in the list. If you feel like it, you can drag them around to change the order in which they’re played. It’s also easy to remove a track from the playlist – just click on the button on the right-hand side of the list.
4. Start your live broadcast!
You’re all set to go. To start your broadcast, click on the Broadcast now link in the bar at the bottom of the screen.
You’ll see the broadcast box pop up where you can enter a title for your broadcast, and select a category. Doing this helps listeners find your broadcast and others they like to listen to on Mixlr. If you want, you can also add a more detailed description too.
When you’re ready, hit Start new broadcast and you’ll go live on air. You should hear your first track start to play. If you don’t, check the volume setting is at a good level (it’s near the top-left corner of the page.)
5. Invite your friends to listen too
Now you’re live on Mixlr, it’s time to invite your friends to join you. We make it super-easy to share your page on Facebook and Twitter. Just click on the share icons on the left-hand side of your live page.
You can also use the other four buttons on the left-hand side to navigate around your live page. Make sure you check out the Chat view and the Crowd view - they’re the spaces where you can see who’s listening, and chat with them while you listen together.
You’re done!
That’s the end of this tutorial. We hope it’s shown that whipping together a live SoundCloud is easy and fun to do.
If you need more help, then you can drop us a line at support@mixlr.com.