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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Mar 2025
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Hi all!
Being a newbie at uploading my songs to Soundcloud, I've noticed that if an upload starts full and abruptly, Soundcloud will 'crop' the first few milliseconds as it buffers. Because I couldn't find a playback setting in SC, I asked Copilot, and this is what it's answer is, which is helpful, and how I have dealt with this in my recording and arranging (in green after the Copilot response). Is this a consideration for you? Are there other factors or approaches you have?
You're not imagining it—this is a known quirk with SoundCloud’s playback behavior. There isn’t currently a user-facing setting in SoundCloud to delay or buffer playback to ensure the very first milliseconds of a track are always heard. This issue often stems from how SoundCloud streams audio and how some tracks are exported or uploaded.
🎧 **Why it happens:**
- SoundCloud may **start playback slightly after the true 0:00 mark**, especially if the track begins abruptly.
- This can result in the **first transient (like a kick or vocal)** being clipped or faded in unintentionally.
- It’s more noticeable on tracks that start immediately with sound, without any lead-in silence.
🛠️ **What creators can do (and often do):**
- Many producers **intentionally add 100–250 milliseconds of silence** at the beginning of their tracks before uploading.
- This gives SoundCloud’s player a moment to buffer and ensures the full intro plays back cleanly.
📱 **As a listener:** Unfortunately, there’s no toggle or setting to fix this on your end. But if you’re hearing this consistently, you might try:
- Scrubbing the playhead back to the very start manually.
- Downloading the track (if available) and playing it locally, where this issue won’t occur.
It’s a small but frustrating detail—hopefully SoundCloud addresses it with a smoother playback buffer in the future. Want to dive into how other platforms handle this or explore some workarounds for creators?
When I export from BIAB into my DAW, I export the count-in which is useful for recording new tracks. Before completion, I mute this section, and that usually gives me about 5 seconds (depending on tempo) before the song starts - I maintain this gap when exporting to mp3.
The gap is also useful when I am preparing a video for the song - the front gap is usually enough to get my text intro in front of the song start.
Andrew D
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Andrew, I've noticed this as well, and agree it is frustrating. I've done what you are doing, but the 5 seconds (+/-) of silence sounds unnaturally long to me. David Snyder gave me the tip to use Reaper's trim function to leave 1 second of silence at the beginning, and that works fine. Just dislike the extra step. Have also moved the tracks to the left in Studio One DAW, but that has it's own issues with regard to syncing with BiaB plugin etc. Will be watching this thread...
FWIW, the colored fonts used in your post are not legible in dark mode on my computer. Have switched to light mode for this reply. Not a biggie...
DC Ron
BiaB Audiophile
Presonus Studio One
ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM
Presonus Faderport 16
Too many guitars (is that a thing?)
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So when I export my songs, one of the first things I do is open them in my WAV editor. In there, I do three things.
First, I normalize it. This puts the volume up to standards.
Second, I trim the count in to the start of the WAV and I trim the end to the exact millisecond of silence.
Third, I add 500 milliseconds off silence at the start. This gives a barely noticeable delay after the start is pushed.
Try adding a period of silence at the start and see if that solves the problem you mentioned
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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So when I export my songs, one of the first things I do is open them in my WAV editor. In there, I do three things.
First, I normalize it. This puts the volume up to standards.
Second, I trim the count in to the start of the WAV and I trim the end to the exact millisecond of silence.
Third, I add 500 milliseconds off silence at the start. This gives a barely noticeable delay after the start is pushed.
Try adding a period of silence at the start and see if that solves the problem you mentioned Other than working in Digital Performer, my process is similar.
BIAB 2025 Audiophile Mac
24Core/60CoreGPU M2 MacStudioUltra/8TB/192GB Sequoia, M1 MBAir, 2012 MBP
Digital Performer11, LogicPro, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScorePro64/Notion6 /Overture5
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FWIW, the colored fonts used in your post are not legible in dark mode on my computer. Have switched to light mode for this reply. Not a biggie... Hi Ron - geez that must be frustrating (meant seriously). I'm grateful - in that context - that you've continued to respond so favourably to my song posts. I'll provide emphasis in bold in future, rather than colour. Thanks for letting me know! Andrew
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Thank you Ron, Herb and Mike for the options you've given.
Andrew
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Just discovered that Studio One has a Marker Bar where one can flag the start and end of each song. The start flag can be defined to eliminate the pesky count-in, or just leave one second of silence, or whatever else you want. The end flag can be used to eliminate the long blank space at the end of a lot of BiaB songs. When exporting a song set up this way, the option to export between the start-end flags yields a very tidy file with no need to further trim. Only took me seven years to figure this out, and then only because I glanced at the tip links on the Studio One home screen. Ouch!
DC Ron
BiaB Audiophile
Presonus Studio One
ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM
Presonus Faderport 16
Too many guitars (is that a thing?)
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Just discovered that Studio One has a Marker Bar where one can flag the start and end of each song. The start flag can be defined to eliminate the pesky count-in, or just leave one second of silence, or whatever else you want. The end flag can be used to eliminate the long blank space at the end of a lot of BiaB songs. When exporting a song set up this way, the option to export between the start-end flags yields a very tidy file with no need to further trim. Only took me seven years to figure this out, and then only because I glanced at the tip links on the Studio One home screen. Ouch! Hi Ron, Do you know about the arranger track in Studio One? It can be very helpful for some songs.
The bumper sticker said "I'm a veterinarian, therefore I can drive like an animal".
Suddenly I realized how many proctologists are on the road.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Hey, Mario. Yes, I delineated the intro/verse/chorus/bridge/etc in the Arranger Track on all my songs for many years, but found myself not actually re-arranging anything, so haven't used it in a while. Since I almost never re-arrange the lyrics of a song, the music almost never gets re-arranged... Just rewatched Gregor's Arranger Track intro video to see if I've missed anything, and don't think I have. Don't use the scratch pad he demos either, though I sometimes activate it by accident, and panic (briefly). 
DC Ron
BiaB Audiophile
Presonus Studio One
ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM
Presonus Faderport 16
Too many guitars (is that a thing?)
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