Listen online

Hear Scotland’s heritage online.

  • Browse our growing list of online archive audio sources here
  • Have a listen into some podcasts weaving heritage clips and contemporary comment
  • Look at some animations that combine archive audio with illustration
  • Check out our films – you’ll find drama inspired by archive recordings and some behind-the-scenes footage

_______________________________________________

If you’ve only got a couple of minutes, listen in to Scotland’s past via our 2-minute Sounds like Scotland animated mixtape. It features clips from 12 audio collections held across the country from Lewis to Aberdeen and from Inverness to the Borders. The archive recordings span from 1909 to 2017 and were made on a host of weird and wonderful formats – wax cylinders, wire, shellac discs, open reel tape, cassettes and digital media. Enjoy birdsong, music, spoken memories and more…

With warm thanks to the collections who shared these recordings for the Sounds like Scotland animation:

Sound design: Steve Urquhart 

Animation: Iain Gardner, Animation Garden