The British Library and National Trust for Scotland are teaming up for a crowd-sourced soundscape across the coastline of the UK.

The aim is to create a coastal sound map with sounds from across the country provided by anyone who wants to get involved. The National Trust are asking people in the UK to record sounds from anywhere on the 10,800 mile coastline and upload it with a location, image and description to the map on their audioBoom website.

Cheryl Tipp, curator of wildlife and environment sounds at the British Library said: “There’s something really evocative about the sounds of our coast. They help shape our memories of the coastline and immediately transport us to a particular time or place whenever we hear them.”

In addition to the sound map the sounds will also be used in an original piece of music created by electronic musician and producer Martyn Ware, founding member of Human League and Heaven 17.

Ware said of the project: “I’ve had a deep connection with the coast all my life. As a kid growing up in Sheffield we’d go on family holidays to Scarborough or Skegness; I can still remember the sounds that filled our days at the seaside.

“There is something emotionally deep about our connection with the coast which has shaped our identity. That is what is so exciting about this new commission and I want to capture the sensory nature of the coastline, reflecting the diversity and beauty of the sounds of our shores.”

The project is running for 3 months until September 21st so if you live anywhere on the British coast or are visiting you have three months to contribute any sounds of the seaside from footsteps in the sand to seagulls calling, people eating ice cream and waves crashing on the rocks.

Here’s some tips for recording from the National Trust:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egzf0OCmBgw&w=640&h=360]

You can find out more on the National Trust website.