Many of you may know the App Gallery as the best place to find new apps to create and promote sounds.  You may know some of the music focused apps such as BandPage by RootMusic or Presonus Studio One, but more and more focus on spoken word and storytelling.  These apps make it easier than ever before to let your audience listen in.

New to audio editing?  Don’t need all the effects in music making software to get your point across? Hindenburg Journalist is the app for you – it is a simple to use and streamlined audio editor made for journalists.  Packed with all the features needed to assemble a good radio show and without all the effects and ad-ons needed for music production,  it’s the best way to get started in podcasting.  When you’re finished editing,  export directly to SoundCloud.

SpeakerText offers quick and inexpensive transcription for any SoundCloud sound you share with it.  The amazing thing about SpeakerText isn’t the transcription though,  it’s their CaptionBox that really makes the app stand out. Embedded directly below the SoundCloud player, it highlights each word as it’s being spoken.  You can also jump to any part of the recording by clicking on text you want to hear.  Neat, huh?

Storify is an app that allows you to curate the best of social media to tell a story, letting visitors get the whole picture, as it happened.  Drag and drop media into Storify and then embed the whole post anywhere on the web. ABC’s Dan Patterson uses Storify and SoundCloud to chronicle Occupy Wall Street . Find out exactly how you can make the most of storify here.

So what are you waiting for?  Try some of the easy-to-use tools out there to help you record, edit, transcribe and share your stories with SoundCloud and the world!

Happy Friday all! This week we want to introduce you to Liraz, the newest member of our Berlin family from Tel Aviv. She is our native applications product manager and she loves good tunes and blue skies! Read more about her below!

Hi! Thank you for doing this interview with me and taking time out of your busy day. How are ya doing?

Hi, all is good. I’m happy do to this interview. I’ve been reading my colleague’s interviews before coming here and I’m glad it is my time to say hi everyone!

How do you like Berlin and where are you originally from? How long have you been here so far?

I’ve been here around a month so far and I enjoy Berlin very much, especially when the sky is blue. The city is beautiful and intriguing. There are a millions of things I want to do and place to go. I came from Tel Aviv, Israel and in one short day went from summer to winter. The temperatures around me dropped by 20 degrees during a four hour flight. In fact, every day I’m in Berlin is a new personal record for me in terms of low temperatures. I’ve never experienced this kind of winter weather.

Can you tell us what your your role at SoundCloud is? Also, how do you like working in the Berlin HQ ?

I’m a product manager and I manage SoundCloud’s native applications. This includes its mobile apps – Android, iPhone and iPad – as well as our Mac application. Working in the office here is great fun. I’m especially impressed with the professionalism in the office, it’s a great opportunity to work with such a great group of people. I see a lot of excitement and joy and caring towards the product and what we do, and I really like being part of something bigger that is changing user habits, something users really enjoy and integrate into their daily lives.

How did you get introduced to SoundCloud and what do you love most about it?

I first heard of SoundCloud a few years ago through a friend who is a musician and uses the platform. I guess what I like best about SoundCloud is that it enables everybody to create something and to get their creativity out there to others, as well as the ability to find music you like and then share it with others. In general being part of a community that is constantly evolving and growing.

What are your favorite Sounds on the cloud?

It changes all the time, so I’ll focus here on a few Israeli sounds Ishai Adar,

His group with Ohad Fishof, Bney Hama

Some piano from Raviv Gazit,

A new artist working on his first record, Dan Pundak

And some sound from a friend of mine (a SAP guru that loves music, does both covers and original stuff) http://soundcloud.com/ronenfox

Finally, do you have any fun facts about yourself that you would like to share?

I grew up in a Kibbutz, which is a collective community of people who work together and live together. The economic model has changed quite a bit over the past years, but when I was growing up it was a very unique, socialist environment to be in. The kibbutz I am from is called Givat Brenner (http://www.givat-brenner.co.il), and it was founded in 1928 by 2 groups of very young peoples, one came from Italy, and the other from here, from Berlin. My grandparents where part of the Berlin group, and in fact my grandmother grew up close to here, in Alexanderplatz.

Where can you be found on the interwebz?

twitter: www.twitter.com/liraz
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/liraz.axelrad
Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/liraz-axelrad
My blog: lirazaxelrad.wordpress.com