MacAulay and Co

How To Send Us A Soundcard

STEP 1: DECIDE WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO RECORD WITH

If you've got a smartphone, hurrah! All you need is a handy free app such as the excellent Audioboo, SoundCloud, iTalk Recorder or anything else designed for easy recording, so download the nicest-looking one from the App Store and away you go. We think Audioboo's the easiest, but there are stacks of apps that do much the same thing. Choose whichever one suits you best.

Don't have a smartphone? Don't despair: you can use Audioboo from within your web browser, by going here: http://audioboo.fm/. Don't want to do that? Windows' own Sound Recorder (or on the Mac, QuickTime Player) can record from your computer's microphone, if it's got one (if it's a laptop, it probably has).
Here's how to do it in Windows: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Record-audio-with-Sound-Recorder. On a Mac, open QuickTime Player and choose New Audio Recording.

STEP 2: FIND A SOUND WORTH SHARING

It could be the gurgling of your new niece, the rain pelting your exposed flesh as you sunbathe in Stirling or the flapping of winged monkeys as they fly off to wreak vengeance on your enemies. Whatever it is, tell us what's going on and let the whole nation hear it.

STEP 3: RECORD IT

Are you ready? Click the red record button - but don't record for too long, because we're making sonic postcards here, not War and Peace. If you're recording speech, a sentence or two is ideal; for sounds, ten to twenty seconds is the sweet spot.

STEP 4: SEND IT TO US

If you're using Audioboo or similar, upload your sound and use the built-in sharing to send it to us - our email address is fred@bbc.co.uk. If you're not using an app and you've just recorded the sound on your computer, simply email the file to us (so for example in QuickTime Player, save the file and then choose Share > Mail to open the sound recording in your email program here). Brevity is particularly important if you're using that option: long audio files are enormous and take forever to send.

STEP 5: FAME & FORTUNE

Well, fame anyway: we'll listen to every soundcard we receive and share the best ones with everybody!