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

Regards,
Andrew D
Adelaide, Sth Aust
Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/SQE4btVvNVkLq74e9
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@andrewoftheantipodes