sound is the North East of Scotland's contemporary music festival. Following a pilot event, "Upbeat" in 2004, the first festival was launched in November 2005, and is on its way to becoming an annual event.

sound aims to make contemporary music more accessible to audiences of all ages and backgrounds by presenting an eclectic but very broad range of contemporary music - classical, traditional, popular, jazz, experimental - through a wide range of events including concerts, talks, electroacoustic installations, and workshops.

sound operates largely as a network of local organisations. It was set up as an initiative of Woodend Arts Association in collaboration with the University of Aberdeen. The 2006 network also includes Aberdeen Business School at the Robert Gordon University, Banchory Academy, Belmont Picturehouse, Duff House, Grays Art School, Interesting Music Promotions, Jazz Aberdeen, the Monymusk Arts Trust, Newton Dee Community, North East of Scotland Music School, Strathdee Music Club, urbanNovember and Woodend Music Society.

sound gratefully acknowledges the support of the following: Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council, Aberdeen Endowments Trust, Astor of Hever Trust, Batty Charitable Trust, D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, EventScotland Regional Events Programme, FirstGroup, Hugh Fraser Foundation, PRS Foundation, Scottish Arts Council, and Shell U.K. Limited.