The BBC Nature Sounds Archive is a comprehensive collection of animal noises and nature recordings that is unrivalled in the world of sound. This comprehensive and unique archive was compiled over the last few decades by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Since the 1960s, BBC sound recordists travelling on documentary and research assignments haven been collecting sound recordings from all over the world.
The BBC Nature Sounds Archive contains more than 13,600 noises and sounds, including a unique collection of more than 7,000 recordings of bird calls. All recordings were labelled and documented with the help of ornithologists and scientists who analysed the sounds and identified the animals and birds.
The BBC Nature Sound Effects Library is a BBC product.
For many years the BBC has been producing impressive, award-winning animal and nature documentaries. The BBC crews often travel to the farthest corners of the world, e.g. to capture footage of whales in the Arctic Circle. The wealth of sound material recorded on those travels was later analysed and labelled by biologists and experts, resulting in a unique archive filled with animal noises.
The BBC Nature Sounds Archive includes recordings of the rare kiwis in New Zealand, gibbons from the rain forests of Borneo and all sorts of whale sounds.
Very few sound files in the BBC archives are under 30 seconds in length. Unlike the tracks in most modern archives, the BBC files run between 2 and 4 minutes. This is very generous and also incredibly helpful because many tracks contain variations throughout their duration. Sound editors looking for alternative takes will find this very useful. However, there are also very extensive sounds. If you like, you could listen to the big prairie chicken for over 30 minutes!
All noises and sounds from the BBC Nature Sounds Archive can be found in the Avosound Online Archive. All recordings can be previewed in good quality and analysed in Avosound Online Sound Library!
Ever since the BBC began to send its famous documentary film crews into the world in the 1960s, sound recordists have been capturing a wealth of unique sounds that are almost impossible to get. With the BBC Nature Sounds Archive you will travel around the world and to the farthest reaches of the planet. Feel like observing birds of paradise in Papua New Guinea? Or listening to orang-utans in Indonesia? Or what about crawling through the rain forest of Venezuela and running into a giant otter that is about to eat a tasty piranha fish?
How about a trip to Africa? In Tanzania, for example, we climb down into the Ngorongoro crater and meet lions and hippos. By the way, don’t mess around with hippos! They are responsible for most animal-related accidents in Africa. Maybe it’s their hot-blooded temper or their short-sightedness that makes them such unpredictable creatures. The BBC Nature Sounds Archive doesn’t give us any explanations, of course, but it does take us on a magical tour through all sorts of countries and wildlife reserves you’ve never visited before. These include the Russian bird delta with hawks and frogs, hummingbirds in the Rio rain forest, owls and Colorado chipmunks in the Rocky Mountains, giant lizards on the Fernandina Island of the Galapagos, the Rio Almonte in Spain, Magellan penguins in Punta Tombo in Argentina and, finally, a place called Nome in Alaska.
The BBC Nature Sound Archive contains a comprehensive collection of animal calls. Years of work went into creating these recordings as well as documenting them in extraordinary detail. Animals are categorised according to their name (including their Latin/scientific description) and the location of the recording, which makes it easy to find a specific animal. Howl with the Canis Latrans, growl like a Canis Lupus or transform into a Felis Catus.
The BBC Nature Sounds Archive is a massive collection of versatile sound material. It is especially popular with Sound Designers who like to morph the basic tracks into unique sounds.
The BBC Nature Sounds Archive contains 8109 recordings of birds and bird calls. The bird call archive of the BBC is an impressive collection of sound recordings, expertly analysed and documented in detail by ornithologists.
Oriole, oystercatchers, pelicans, penguins, sea gulls, passerine birds and storks: they all are documented in this archive. The layman will be enlightened by the variety of bird life, while the professional will cherish the massive collection of identifiable bird sounds.
The BBC Nature Sounds Archive features the oven birds, the King of Saxony, the eastern bluebird and the Maori bellbird –– as well as the Galapagos mockingbirds, the birds of paradise, chickens, amethyst hummingbirds and a whole variety of feathered performers eager to tweet and chirp their way into your next production.
All the BBC audio tracks are individually available for download. You can preview all the tracks in mp3 quality in the Avosound Online Sound Archive and then order and download them instantly.
In addition to the mp3 preview, all sounds in the Avosound Online Sound Archive feature a waveform and spectrum monitor that provide visual information about the recording. Please click here to browse the Archive.
