Note: for quick tips right on the music search page, tap the icon below the big orange button.

Orange Button Search Tips:

  • SoundHound's big orange button works for searches of music you hear playing from a speaker, or music you sing or hum. Just tap the big orange button to have SoundHound start listening!

  • For best results when singing or humming, have only one person sing or hum at a time, with no background music. Try to sing for at least ten seconds, and tap the orange button again when done.
  • Sometimes, SoundHound won't have a song you sang if it is not yet one of the millions on midomi.com. But you can log on to midomi.com and be the first to add it. Then, anyone who sings it will find it! (Or, you can have us ask a user to add it.)

  • For best results on music you hear playing, do searches without talking or singing over the recording. After you tap the orange button, SoundHound will listen for a few seconds and return a result - no need to tap again. No result? Please let us know here so we can add the song to our database.

Notes:

  • Always sing, hum, or play music right into your phone's microphone.
  • SoundHound's big orange button works on solo singing and humming (and some rapping where there is a detectable melody), or on recorded music. SoundHound does not match live ensemble performances.
  • No connectivity for your orange button search? SoundHound will save your search as "pending" and it will appear in red on the History screen under Searches. (A number will also appear on the History button and the SoundHound application icon.) When you have internet access again, you can retry your search by tapping on it.
  • Want to just say the name of a song or artist? Tap the gray Say Search button below the big orange button.

Say and Text Search Tips:

  • To use SoundHound's Say Search, just tap the black (Say Search) button with the speech bubble, speak a song or artist name, then tap again.
  • You can also press and hold the black button, speak, then release the button as soon as you are done.
  • You can say things like "Beyoncé," "Poker Face by Lady Gaga," "Britney Spears Circus," or "No Surprise."
  • Be sure to have just one person speak the title or artist, right into your phone's microphone, without background noise or music.
  • You can also just type a song title or artist name by tapping on the text box.

Notes:

  • Say search finds top songs and artists. Tap the text box to the right of the Say Search button to do a text search on all songs and artists - plus albums and now lyrics! Still not there? Let us know here so we can add your item.
  • Say search works on spoken song titles and artist names. To search for music you hear playing from a speaker, sing or hum, be sure to use the big orange button.

Found a song, artist or album you like?

On pages after a search, tap these icons to:
Hear a 30 second sample of the music when available.
Play any song, album, or list of top songs, right from your iPod - a SoundHound exclusive.
Check out the artist: bio, albums, top songs, photos, and fans on midomi.com.
See the album page: release info, review, track listing and more.
Bookmark any artist, song or album. Then see Bookmarks on your History screen. You can share or buy bookmarked songs later.
Share over email, Facebook, or Twitter. (To edit Twitter or Facebook login details after a share, open the Settings app and then tap SoundHound.)
Go straight to the song in iTunes. Note: to change the country of your iTunes store, open the Settings app and then tap SoundHound.
Instantly see licensed, verified lyrics.
Find lyrics online when regular lyrics are unavailable.
Instantly play a YouTube video - without even leaving SoundHound.
Discover similar artists.
See all albums that have the current song.
Lyrics provided by Gracenote
See Lyrics Terms of Use

See and edit history, and email all your bookmarks

Tap the History icon on the SoundHound home page to see your Searches, Browsed items, and Bookmarks. Note that items you've browsed will appear in a pale blue color.
To email all your bookmarks - including links to iTunes and sound-hound.com - tap the Bookmarks tab at the top of the History page, then tap the Email icon.
To delete or reorder items in your search list or bookmarks, tap the Edit button in the upper left of the history page.

What's Hot?

Tap the What's Hot icon on the SoundHound home page to see the hottest songs overall, songs just grabbed by other users, and SoundHound's exclusive Underrated chart: a list of songs getting grabbed much more on SoundHound than they are played on the radio.
Lists of songs and artists show popularity with these bars - look for them everywhere in the app!
On the What's Hot page, check out how songs are trending: flames for heating up, ice for cooling off.

Now Playing

Tap the Now Playing icon on the SoundHound home page to see your iPod's current song. SoundHound automatically fetches and displays lyrics if they are available!
You can instantly check out all the great SoundHound info about this song in just one tap.
Want to play another track from your iPod right inside SoundHound? Just tap Library and select a song.

About SoundHound

SoundHound is powered by Melodis's own Sound2Sound Search Science (S2S).

When you tap the orange button, Sound2Sound springs into action. If you are listening to recorded music, it matches a flexible fingerprint of your sound against a database of recorded music, giving you the fastest, most accurate result possible, even for popular remixes. If you are singing or humming, Sound2Sound knows to match your melody and rhythm with the millions of user recordings on midomi.com. The matching technology is flexible, working for any key or tempo. It also takes advantage of lyrics if your search included words.

When you tap the say search button, Sound2Sound uses a compact, flexible representation of your voice that can be instantly matched against phonetic versions of song and artist names. Sound2Sound is also included in SoundHound's text search, where its ability to understand pronunciation allows it to give correct results for misspelled searches.