You may have noticed some changes on Clyp over the past few days. Before diving into what exactly those changes are, I want to be upfront with you about why we made the changes.

When we launched Clyp a little over 3 years ago, our goal was to build a community where anyone could easily share audio. A simple concept, but quite complex in execution. What started as a way to upload audio and get a short URL to share has blossomed into a community where musicians, producers, podcasts, radio shows and more come to share their audio creations. It’s truly inspiring to see everything that is shared on Clyp each day.

We’re super excited how much the community has grown in the past year. But one thing about growth is as it continues, the cost of running the site also continues to increases. In fact, you may not know this, but Clyp only consists of 2 people - Jordan and myself (Tyson). We’ve had some help here and there with various development tasks, but for the most part it’s Jordan and myself. We don’t have a 24-7 support team or a room full of developers building new features. It’s just two dudes who have a big vision for what a creator-friendly audio sharing community should look like. But we can’t do this alone, and that’s where you come in.

The good news is that each and every one of you in the community have direct access to us. We try and respond to every tweet, Facebook message and support email we receive. The downside of us being a small company is that we don’t have deep pockets or millions of dollars in investment. This also means we have no help in offsetting the cost of maintaining the site.

All of the above bring me to the following site changes. Some of these are already live and some of these are on our to-do list.

Premium Accounts

Clyp has for its entire life been completely free to use, whether you want to create an account or not. And believe it or not, this actually hasn’t changed - Clyp is still free to use 🙌

One thing that has changed is the addition of Premium accounts. We introduced a paid tier so we can offer awesome features like lossless WAV streaming. However the downside of these new features is they require much more bandwidth and cost a lot more money 😔

Our solution to this was to introduce Premium to give you all these awesome features in exchange for a small fee of $6 per month.

6-Hour Upload Quota

I’ll be honest, this one was tough. We made a name for ourselves early on by not having a cap on the number of files you can upload, but only on the file itself (a generous 100mb for Basic accounts). Unfortunately, some styles of content tend to eat up much more bandwidth than others, unintentionally abusing the unlimited upload system and making it harder for us to offer these features for free. Basically, our server bill was increasing a little too quickly…

So starting today, all new Basic accounts will have an upload quota of 6-hours (360 minutes). In addition, many older accounts may also see the limit applied to their account. This is entirely based on bandwidth consumption. Keep in mind Premium accounts have unlimited uploads. 

Tipping (coming soon)

We’re honestly pretty excited about this one. Seeing as how Clyp is a community of creators sharing their work, something we’ve been thinking about recently is: 

how can we help make our creators money? 

We don’t have the exact answer yet, but we think tipping could be part of it. Since this idea is still in the early stages, we welcome any and all feedback.

Additional Ads (coming soon)

Let’s be honest, we all hate ads. In our case though it’s an unfortunate result of our increasing costs. Right now the only ads we have are on the player page. They’re pretty subtle and don’t get in the way or ruin the Clyp experience. This will be our standard moving forward as we introduce other ads into the mix. Again, keep in mind that Premium accounts are 100% ad-free.

Some of these changes will be tough on everyone, us included. We want Clyp to be around for the long haul, and in order to make sure we hold up our end of the deal these changes had to be made. We hope you understand where we’re coming from. 

If you have any feedback on any of the recent or planned changes, don’t hesitate to reach out directly: hello@clyp.it

Thanks,

Tyson and Jordan

Our goal with Clyp is to build the best platform for creators to share audio. In order to do that, we often send out surveys and ask for direct feedback to figure out what to build next. Well after 4 months of feedback and development, we’re excited to share a handful of highly-requested new features with you guys.

Starting today, all Clyp users will have the option of upgrading to a Premium account. 

When you upgrade you’ll unlock the following new features:

Larger upload limits

The current max upload size per file for Basic accounts is 100mb. We’ve raised this limit to 250mb for Premium users. This means you can upload higher quality, larger files to Clyp without having to compress them to fit inside the 100mb limit.

Lossless streaming (WAV)

We believe quality matters when listening to audio, which is why we’re super excited about this one. With a Basic account when you upload a WAV file, we will compress it to 128kbps mp3. Not anymore! Now when you upload a WAV file as a Premium user, you can stream it back in all of its lossless glory.

High-quality downloads (WAV)

Similar to how you can stream the full quality of WAV files, the same applies to downloading too. Right now when you enable downloads, you can only download the compressed file. But with Premium, you’ll be able to download the exact same WAV file that was uploaded.

Custom Clyp links

Give some personal flair to each and every one of your Clyps by customizing the URL. You can customize both public and unlisted Clyp links. 

Custom profile links

Change your profile URL to match your username. 

Premium badge

Situated next to your username on your profile, the Premium badge lets everyone know you’re a Premium member. 

Support Clyp and upgrade to Premium

As always if you have any feedback or suggestions for other features, don’t hesitate to give us a shout.

Many of you have been asking about these features for quite a while, so we’re stoked to finally be able to offer them to you.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

My name is Spencer (aka Fourge), I’m 20 and I live in Baltimore, Maryland. I’ve been producing just over 4 years at this point and I genuinely don’t do anything else! I played piano for about 13 years and even though I don’t actually play that much anymore, I certainly have an obsession with it in my songs.

What inspired you to start making music?

This is always a bit of a weird question. When I was in high school, my best friend at the time really, really wanted to show me this program called FL Studio. He knew I had a bit of a musical background, so he kept bugging me to try it out. He wouldn’t stop bugging me day after day, week after week, even month after month. I kept using it (not really enjoying it at all) for about 3 months. It deeply annoyed me how I had no idea what I was doing. None of the knobs made sense in the synthesizers, I didn’t understand what any of the effects did and it really just lead to never ending frustration… 

Then one day, something just clicked. I was in the car staring out the window, and it’s like my interests completely changed. I stopped playing video games, stopped hanging out with friends as often, and I really just dove in head first and tried to learn (and understand) as much as I possibly could. I can’t explain why that happened or why I suddenly wanted to do something I didn’t enjoy at all from the start, but here I am doing the same thing 4+ years later.

Tell us about your approach to writing and production.

I tend to write a bunch of different styles of music, so it drastically changes depending on what I’m “feeling” in the moment. Not so much emotionally, but more how my mind is working in terms of musical ideas. Sometimes I’ll only want to make ridiculous experimental tracks that are completely sound design and rhythm driven, and other times I’ll want to make something that evokes emotion and has an immersive atmosphere. Usually, those more emotional songs involve little sound design (in comparison to the other style) and mostly work with the chords, harmonies, melodies, etc. I’ll always start with a chord progression and develop the mood from the very beginning, and then try to create the main idea of the song. With any style, I tend to create the most active part of the song first and then build around it.

What programs, equipment and other tools do you use when producing?

I use Image-Line’s FL Studio, though I also know how to use Ableton Live as well but I much prefer working in FL for its workflow. As for listening gear, I use Adam A77X studio monitors for speakers and I use Audeze’s LCD-2 for headphones. Those are both really premium items, but I’m a bit obsessed with high end audio gear… RIP wallet. 

I also have a fair amount of external equipment that I like to use in my songs or just to experiment with. I spend a lot of time just working sound design and experimenting, so these are really invaluable for that. I have a big analog/digital hybrid synthesizer called the Roland JD-XA, a very mini digital synth which is a Korg Microkorg XL, and a vintage piano synth (it was my dads) which is a Roland MKS-20. For pure sound design purposes, I have a Sherman Filterbank 2 which is a really nice distortion unit, as well as a modular synthesizer rig that I’m currently building. None of these things are necessary perhaps, but I greatly enjoy them and they are great tools when I’m in need of inspiration.

How has Clyp played a role in your production process?

Whenever I want to show a sound, a new song, or anything audio related to a friend, I use Clyp. Also, sometimes Clyp helps show what a song will sound like once played through a more compressed format. Oddly enough it’s just the right amount of a difference to hear new things. A lot of the time when I upload songs to Clyp, I’ll hear issues that I didn’t hear while working on it in the project.

How does the feedback you get on Clyp influence your editing and creation process?

It certainly lets me know if I should be confident with my own ideas or not, especially if I’m doing something extra weird. A lot of the time I’ll just experiment for my own curiosity’s sake but it’s always nice to get the approval of others too.

Who/what are your influences at the moment?

Surprisingly, I don’t listen to music all that often! However, I really enjoy the ridiculous experimental tracks from Audeka, the retro and almost mourning tone of Lorn, and the ridiculous rhythms and sound design from the likes of Noisia, Emperor, Mefjus, and a bunch of other Drum & Bass artists. Even though I mostly listen to a bunch of intense songs, somehow mostly ambient and chill music comes out of my head… emphasis on mostly.

Can you share a Clyp you’re currently working on?

This is a song I made in a day with a local producer, it was actually our first time meeting in person! I think it needs some cleaning up but it’s done for the most part. 

Any tips or advice for other creators/producers/musicians?

Don’t be afraid to experiment! Learn the basics of your craft and then veer off from what you’ve learned. At least for me, this lead to me creating my own ways of doing things and making a bunch of sounds I literally haven’t heard before. Even if you don’t get a good result every time, you get more experience out of it and might learn what to do (or avoid) next time.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

We are Audyssey, an Austin-based electronic trio. James Bobal handles the guitar and is the mad scientist in the studio. Steven Sullivan slaps the bass, works the turntables during our shows, handles the routing and most of the technical setup, and also splits a lot of the production work with James. And Jose Gutierrez is our magician of percussion.

What inspired you to start making music?

JB: Since I was a little kid I’ve always been into writing music. Trying to write songs and come up with things on piano and guitar. Since I was a little kid I’ve always been into writing music. Trying to write songs and come up with things on piano and guitar. After playing guitar in jazz ensemble in both high school and college, I took a course in composition which really helped further my writing. Consistent playing in numerous groups also helped develop my writing technique and musicianship.

JG: Drums have always been a constant in my life. Since I was very young, rhythm was a very natural thing. I grew up learning to play by ear, until later being apart of band throughout my Middle and High School years. I spent a long part of my career in marching percussion and it is something that I rely on heavily when I write drum parts. I also currently play with the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks and FC Dallas drumlines.

SS: I’ve been a huge music lover since I was a kid. I wrote a few pieces in middle school but lost interest until college. I got into music production very briefly around 2011 while I was working as a manager for a DJ. I played around with Maschine and Ableton a bit, but it didn’t really stick at the time. James and I have been friends for a long time and one night during the summer last year, we were talking about music and I just decided to spend the next day with him in the studio making a song. We put together a track and that was the beginning of what would later become Audyssey.

Tell us about your approach to writing and production.

We always start with the drums, unless there’s an idea, melody, or something else to use as a starting point. Basically pick a tempo and get a groove going. Then we add some chord progressions and a sense of an “A” part. From there we fill out the section with synths, guitar, bass, and effects. After that we write a “B” part and do the same thing in terms of filling it out. Once the “meat” of the tune is solid, we write an intro and organize the first couple minutes. Before we finish it off, we’ll write a bridge or breakdown and finalize the structure of the verse/chorus song form. Lastly, we fill in the transitions and make sure everything is as dope and tight as possible. Then mix down to -6db, compress, reverb, panning and then mastering.

What programs, equipment and other tools do you use when producing?

We are pretty much an Ableton-only shop. We use a lot of common VSTs as well like Kontakt, Serum, Massive, Sausage Fattener and Ozone, for example. We do most of our writing at James’ place. He has a pretty nice setup consisting of Ableton Push, an Alesis Keyboard, 2 KRK Rokit 5s with a KRK Sub, a Scarlett 6i6 interface and a nice big TV as a second monitor.  

Jose uses a Roland SPD-SX to write drum parts and an Akai MPK Mini to write in melodies / chords / bass lines.

How has Clyp played a role in your production process?

We use Clyp EVERY session, sometimes more than once. We’ll use it to share all our bounced tracks with Jose (who lives up in Dallas), and to store our WIP’s to show friends/fans during the week. Clyp is often both the beginning and the end of our work – we often start a session by checking out music on Clyp, or listening to our old versions, and we end every session by bouncing our tracks and uploading to Clyp. It’s truly a great product that we leverage constantly and is a huge part of our workflow.

How does the feedback you get on Clyp influence your editing and creation process?

Every musician uses feedback differently. We personally like to get a lot of feedback and use it as much as possible, but often this can be a problem. Sometimes we find ourselves thinking too much about what people will like, how things will be received, and it can be a blessing and a curse. Sometimes you act on feedback, sometimes you ignore it – but Clyp makes it really easy to GET that feedback, which is often critical to finishing a piece. Listeners hear things that you don’t and it’s important to consider their perspective, as long as you don’t let it stop you from expressing yourself and writing the music that you want to write.  

Who/what are your influences at the moment?

JB: The Floozies, GRiZ, Phish, and Grateful Dead

JG: The Meters, Herbie Hancock, Lettuce, Stevie Wonder, GRiZ , Big Gigantic, and The Temptations

SS: The Geek x VRV, Pretty Lights, STS9, Maddy O’Neal, Muzzy Bearr, Resonant Frequency, Sunsquabi, Manic Focus, and Gramatik

Can you share a Clyp you’re currently working on?

This track is a work in progress, which came out of our “2 tracks in 2 weeks” exercise. This track has gone in several different directions, but has ended up with a somewhat cinematic, almost future-y feel. We started this one off with drums and then played around on the bass to pick the basic melody, which formed the foundation of the song. After about 3 studio sessions we got to a nice spot and cut this track and walked away. That being said, we may still do some rearranging to emphasize the main drops and flush out the critical sections.  

Any tips or advice for other creators/producers/musicians?

Never stop writing. Keep the momentum going and don’t get discouraged no matter what happens. You may not always like your final product, and they may not be good at first – but keep working, keep learning and the results will come. It’s good to get into a routine, pick a day and just dedicate it to working. Make writing music a habit.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

My name is Gab but my guess is a few of you know me as Knapsack. I’m 15 years old, I’ve been producing for 3-4 years now and I’m based in Chicago.

What inspired you to start making music?

I’ve been playing the piano for 11 years now, and that is what most influenced my niche for composition. For most of that time I was studying classical music, like many do, but in the past year or so I’ve become far more interested in jazz and music theory. I became fascinated with electronic music through none other than Monstercat. I took up producing in GarageBand when I was 11, and I got into Ableton when I was 12. I’ve been writing music ever since.

Tell us about your approach to writing and production.

My approach to making things is a little bit all over the place, but it works every now and then. I like to hop right into projects with the drums because the groove tends to lay the foundation for my songs. Shortly after I like to start fooling around with some ideas for chord progressions on my keyboard or on the piano. I like to work on my chords a little bit longer than others would because a compelling progression will keep me interested in working on the song. From there you just let your ideas take you away and let the music sort of flow out!

What programs, equipment and other tools do you use when producing?

My DAW of choice has always been Ableton. I work on a Mac so Logic Pro has always been my other option, but I always find myself going back to Ableton. My must have music equipment is for sure a midi keyboard of some sort. Here’s my full list of equipment:

• Keyboard: M-Audio Keystation 49
  
• Microphone: old Sennheiser e835
• Field recorder: Zoom F7
• Headphones: Audio Technica ATH-M50x
• Novation Launchpad
• Interface: M-Audio Fast Track
  

How has Clyp played a role in your production process?

I upload almost everything I make to Clyp. I use Clyp to send songs that I’m working on to all my friends and when I’m proud of something I made, I’ll submit it to be featured on Clyp. Being featured on Clyp, and the system in general is great because the community that is behind the whole thing. I love that I can submit something without any stress of a release and I get all this support and feedback!

How does the feedback you get on Clyp influence your editing and creation process?

The feedback that I get on Clyp has been a game changer. It is so convenient to be able to send a Clyp to really anyone that you want and they can just drop their opinions right there, especially when I’ll upload the song there anyways. I take into account everything that people let me know on the site, and everyone is so supportive. I almost never get any discouraging comments and everyone is helpful.

Who/what are your influences at the moment?

I love electronic music, but I primarily listen to Hip-Hop and RnB. Some of my favorite artists in that vein are: Noname, Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, and Kevin Abstract. Other artists that I love and that have influenced me greatly are: Tennyson, Mr. Carmack, Oshi, Ramzoid, Raptures of Lovers, Duumu, In love with a ghost, Eli Way, instupendo, nohidea, Stereo Cube, and loads of others!

Can you share a Clyp you’re currently working on?

This is Signals (ft. Atlas Grey). The second rendition of this song was the first clyp of mine that ever got first place featured. This song means a lot to me and will be coming out as part of my next EP soon.

Any tips or advice for other creators/producers/musicians?

Advice that I heard one time from samsin was to just straight-up copy people, and I couldn’t agree more. When you copy people you learn both their techniques and develop your own in the process. Now obviously don’t go and plagiarize someone else’s work, but instead find someone you like and study them. It’s very effective.

Vinyl is making a comeback, and in a big way. In fact, more people are listening to vinyl today than ever before. That’s why we’re excited to announce a revolutionary new feature to all Clyp creators – Clyp to Vinyl.

Have you ever wanted to listen to your own music on one of the most timeless musical formats ever created? Do you long for the nostalgic feel and warm sound of a 12” record? Look no further, because with Clyp to Vinyl you can be the proud owner of your very own record loaded with all your best bangers. Now you can listen to your favorite Clyps in the same medium your parents, grandparents and great grandparents would have.

We all know how hard it can be to get your music “in people’s hands”. Well now with Clyp to Vinyl it’s never been easier! Simply submit the URL’s of your favorite Clyps and you’re off to the races!

Clyp to Vinyl is only available for a limited time. Click here to get your vinyl.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hi! My name is Soren and I make music. I’m 19 and live in Cape Town, South Africa. I’m a musician, YouTuber, student and sock enthusiast.

What inspired you to start making music?

For me, music is deeply rooted in emotions and a shared experience between the artist and the audience. Growing up with what I now know as social anxiety, I often found that I was unable to engage in extreme social conditions. I had very small friend groups and didn’t enjoy being surrounded by large crowds of people. I never really opened up to many people, and often found myself being an observer. I used music as a way to try and relate what I experienced to other people by painting landscapes in ways that only sound can accomplish.

Tell us about your approach to writing and production.

I usually start songs with a short idea written down somewhere or roughly produced on my laptop before I head back to my apartment to develop it into a full idea. I rarely open up my DAW without some idea as to what I’m going to produce. Though, I don’t always have my laptop with me to take down an idea when I have it, and most of my ideas are had in super inconvenient places such as during a lecture or while I’m driving. I’ve gone to great lengths to get ideas saved somewhere, even going as far as to try and explain or vocalize it in a voice recording on my phone.

Because of this tendency of mine to have very short ideas that I develop later, I have plenty of projects with only 8 or 16 bar loops, waiting to be completed. I struggle to get to all of them, so the lesser ideas generally get discarded or put aside for later.

What programs, equipment and other tools do you use when producing?

I use Logic Pro X for most of my production, though from time to time I use Ableton, FL Studio and Pro Tools. As for equipment, I use a Focusrite Saffire Pro 26 (personally my favorite audio interface as far as combining portability with quality and flexibility), a RØDE NT2-A condenser microphone, a few midi controllers and a Korg LP-380 digital grand piano.

How has Clyp played a role in your production process?

Clyp offers me a quick and easy way to bounce out a project and share it with as many people as I like, allowing me to test ideas and concepts with extreme ease. It has definitely helped me progress with music at a much faster rate.

How does the feedback you get on Clyp influence your editing and creation process?

The responses that I get from the audio that I share on Clyp give me an alternate perspective on the pieces that I produce. It also gives me insight into what the piece depicts as far as imagery and metaphors are concerned. This means that I can revise an idea that may be too esoteric or complex, thus streamlining the idea.

Who/what are your influences at the moment?

My influences change drastically and frequently, but over the past couple of months I’ve been heavily inspired by the works of Damon Albarn, Porter Robinson, KOAN Sound, Keaton Henson, Dave Remmler, and Venetian Snares. I produce a variety of music, hence the variety of styles from these inspirations. Other than artists, my biggest inspirations come from my day to day experiences and emotions.

Can you share a Clyp you’re currently working on?

This is something I started after considering the idea of an emotional tipping-point; the choice to remain silent about something that’s affecting you, or to take action and fight back. I found the best way to try and describe this was by contrasting the introduction and the drop as much as I could without it sounding too foreign. I hope I accomplished that.

Any tips or advice for other creators/producers/musicians?

Never produce a certain genre with the goal of wanting to make it big. Make a piece of music because you want to convey something, not because you want to make money. The moment you start producing for monetary gain or for status, you’ve failed as a musician. If you stay true to yourself and produce what you feel, then your audience will find you.

Without further ado, we’re excited to announce the winners for the Middlelands Festival contest on Clyp! After thousands of submissions and a very tough selection process from our judges, we’ve selected the three winners. 

 Coming out on top, the winner of two 3-day passes to the first annual Middlelands Festival (along with some pretty sweet Clyp swag) is Knapsack. Listen to his winning Clyp “In My Head” below:

It was such a tough decision for the judges, we actually had a tie for second place. Check out the second place winners below.  

2nd place: Synthion - Cake Pop

2nd place: Sammay - In Color

If you didn’t win, don’t be bummed! Tickets to Middlelands Festival are still available. Grab a 3-day or single-day pass and get ready to rage to the likes of Major Lazer, Kaskade, Marshmello, Bassnectar, and SO MANY MORE.

We had a blast running this contest for everyone! If you have any feedback on the contest or suggestions for future contests, don’t hesitate to give us a shout on Facebook, Twitter or email (hello@clyp.it). 

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hi, I am Funk Is Dead! I’ve been producing for a little over a year, and decided recently that I should release some tunes! Previously I worked with friends on their music but decided I should become my own artist as well.

What inspired you to start making music?

I always loved listening to music that made me FEEL something. So I wanted to create music that I enjoy feeling. I always love a song you couldn’t help but do a little dance to. Those are the songs that have meaning and bring out life from music. 

Tell us about your approach to writing and production.

Writing music can be many different things, and can start many different ways. My approach is usually to have something in my head. A style, maybe. The first thing that always comes to me are the chords in a song, or a simple piano melody. From there, I try to wrap a “groove” around it.

What programs, equipment and other tools do you use when producing?

I currently use FL Studio, but plan to branch out to use Ableton for collaborations. A plugin I highly recommend above all else would be Kontakt, it’s very high quality and has many useful libraries for any and all genres. I have a few pieces of hardware, but don’t really use them in production besides monitoring my audio.

How has Clyp played a role in your production process?

To be honest, Clyp has become my favorite music sharing platform. It makes uploading work-in-progress tracks, or even finished tracks, so simple! Clyp was suggested to me by a friend a while ago, and I’ve been using it ever since. It has definitely sped up the process of sharing my music around to people.

How does the feedback you get on Clyp influence your editing and creation process?

Clyp is very communal. You will see a lot of the same artists around often, but also never fail to see new faces, which means I can get feedback from the regulars and even the new-comers!

Who/what are your influences at the moment?

My influence in the music industry has always been Daft Punk, hands down! They’ve always added heart & soul into their music, and you can’t listen to a Daft Punk track without dancing!  Aside from them, honestly, my friends. People like Mabeha give me inspiration and the will to become a better artist! I never let only huge artists influence me and my music. My friends have great talent and they remind me what having life in music is every single day.

Can you share a Clyp you’re currently working on?

Sure! It’s not quite finished yet, but here it goes!

We’re still waiting on a vocalist, but so far we think we have some real gold on our hands! 

Any tips or advice for other creators/producers/musicians?

My biggest tip would be to never make your music anything less than something you enjoy doing from your heart. Produce music for the right reasons, and never give up. You can do anything you put your mind to!

May the funk never die!

Middlelands Festival is a brand new electronic music festival deep in the heart of Texas. We’ve partnered up with them to give away two 3-day GA passes to one lucky winner. We’re also giving away some Clyp swag :)

Contest submissions work the exact same as Featured submissions do. Here are the details:

1. Submit an original Clyp to be voted on
   
2. The community will vote on their favorites
   
3. The winners will be featured on the homepage the following week and will be entered to win tickets to the festival
   
4. After the contest is over, a panel of judges will select the winners

 The contest runs until Friday March 3rd and winners will be announced on Monday March 6th. Click here for rules and prizes. 

Give us a shout via email, Facebook or Twitter if you have any questions!