For the grandparents
Record the grandchildren singing or saying “Merry Christmas, Grandma”, and print it inside their card.
Voice keepsakes
Turn a voice note into a keepsake that plays
Record a voice, or upload a voice note, voice memo or video. We keep the real recording and draw it as soundwave art — print it, frame it or give it, and anyone who scans it with a phone hears the voice.
- The real voice, never AI
- No app to scan
- Pay once, no subscription
Whose voice
Voices worth keeping
Most of them are in a phone already, one update away from being lost.
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Your child, right now
The way they say your name at three will not last. Record it tonight — a song, a “love you”, a bedtime question.
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Grandma and Grandpa
Ask them to tell a story or read their favourite verse, and keep the voice the grandchildren will want to hear one day.
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A voice note you replay
The message from someone far away, the one you have listened to a hundred times. Take it out of the chat and keep it.
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Vows, toasts and speeches
The words said once, in front of everyone. A short part of the recording is enough to carry the moment.
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A laugh you know by heart
Some sounds need no words at all. A laugh, a song they always sang, the way they say goodnight.
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Someone you have lost
A voicemail or a video of them talking — kept as their real voice, never an AI copy.
Memorial keepsakes
Try it now, free
Record it or upload it — and hear it before you pay
Trim it to the words you want to keep, choose a style and scan it with your phone. No account needed — a preview plays for 24 hours, and you only pay if you keep it.
Drop a recording or a video here, or
Upload audio (MP3, M4A, WAV, OGG) or video (MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV). We extract a video's sound on your device, so the video is never uploaded. Trim to the part you want; priced per 30 seconds.
or
Pay once
—
Yours forever
.
No subscription
Make it yours
Choose your style
Colour
Waveform
Finishing Mark
Where to find the voice note
The studio takes an audio file or a video. To get a voice note out of the app it lives in:
- Voice Memos (iPhone). Open the recording, tap ••• and choose Save to Files or Share.
- WhatsApp. Press and hold the voice message, choose Forward, then the share button, and save it to Files — or email it to yourself.
- iMessage. Tap Keep so the audio message does not expire, then press and hold it and choose Save — on recent iPhones it goes to Voice Memos, where you can share it as a file.
- A video. Use the video file as it is. The studio takes the sound out on your own device, so the video is never uploaded.
Keep a copy of the file somewhere safe as well, whatever you make from it. Every app, step by step: how to save voice messages forever.
For Christmas
A gift that plays — and never misses the post
Nothing is shipped, so there is no last posting date: make it, download the artwork and print it at home, even on Christmas Eve.
For someone far away
Send your voice in a frame they can hang by the door — every time they scan it, it is you.
For the family album
One glyph a year — the children’s voices at every age, printed beside this year’s photo.
A glyph, a recordable box or a QR code?
There are three common ways to keep a voice in something you can hold. Each has its place — a recordable box, for one, plays without any phone at all.
| Recordable box or bear | Print with a QR code | TraceSound glyph | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it plays | Press a button on a speaker inside it | A phone camera opens a link | A phone scans the soundwave itself |
| What can wear out | The battery and the speaker | The link, if the seller stops hosting the file | Nothing on the art — the voice is kept under a written promise |
| How it sounds | Through a small speaker | Depends on the file | The original recording, through the phone |
| More than one copy | One device each | Each print carries the code | Print as many as you like — every copy plays |
| Needs a phone | No | Yes, and an internet connection | Yes, and an internet connection |
A glyph fetches its recording, so it depends on us — which is why a share of our profits goes into the Forever Fund and you can download the audio at any time. More on glyphs and voice QR codes.
Questions
About voice keepsakes
What is a voice keepsake?
Something you keep that carries a voice — a recording made into an object or a picture. A TraceSound voice keepsake is soundwave art made from the real recording: anyone who scans it with a phone hears the voice it was made from.
Can I record the voice right here?
Yes. Press “Record your Voice” in the studio and record in the browser, or upload a voice note, voice memo or video you already have. You hear it as a glyph, and can scan it, before you pay anything.
How long can the voice note be, and what does it cost?
You pay once, by length: 3 credits per 30 seconds, and a credit is always 1 USD. A 30-second voice note is 3 credits. Trim it to the part you want — a short one scans just as well. No subscription, no renewal fee.
See the pricingCan I print it at home?
Yes. Once you keep a glyph, download its artwork as an SVG, a vector file that stays sharp at any size, or as a high-resolution PNG for a card or photo book, and print it on paper, a card or a canvas. Print it at the size you will use, and scan it once before you frame or wrap it.
Do grandparents need an app to hear it?
No. They open tracesound.com/scan in any modern phone browser and point the camera at the glyph. No app and no account — just an internet connection.
Is it too late for Christmas?
Never, because nothing is shipped: make the glyph, download the artwork and print it at home, even on Christmas Eve.
Can the whole family have one?
Yes. Print the same glyph as many times as you like — a card for each grandparent, a frame for every home — and every copy plays the same voice. You pay for the glyph once.
Who can hear the recording?
Anyone who scans one of its glyphs. The key cannot be guessed, but it can be copied from the glyph, so only give or hang one where you are happy for it to be heard.
Will the voice note ever stop playing?
Not while TraceSound runs, and not because a payment stops: there is none to stop. If we ever closed, every owner would get at least 3 months’ notice and a copy of each recording, and the collection would pass — with the Forever Fund — to a successor or an archive.
Read the Forever PromiseWhose voice would you keep?
Record it tonight, or start from a voice note you already have. You only pay if you keep it.
Make your keepsake