Welcoming of new volunteers

Get to know your fellow readers and tell us a little about yourself
Locked
KiltedDragon
Posts: 6917
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 11:37 am
Location: Full time RVer
Contact:

Post by KiltedDragon »

As part of the Librivox registration process for new volunteers, they are now being sent the following in an email when their accounts are activated. This is information many of us were giving new volunteers as they posted in this forum. Not that this information can't still be given out when welcoming new people here, but to let you know that new volunteers are already receiving it as part of their registration.
Welcome to Librivox.

Thanks for taking the time to introduce yourself! I have activated your forum account; you should be able to log in now. Do let me know if you have any trouble.

You may like to introduce yourself to the community in the "introduce yourself" forum: http://forum.librivox.org/viewforum.php?f=17

An overview of how Librivox works can be found here: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/How_LibriVox_Works

There are numerous ways to volunteer here. An important one is proof-listening, which consists of checking someone's recording for errors. If you'd like to give that a try, you can find lots of information here: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Guide_for_Proof-listeners

If you wish to try your hand at recording, the place to start is the Newbie Guide to Recording: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Newbie_Guide_to_Recording, which tells you how to set up your computer to record.

We urge you to make a "1 Minute Test" for review before you start actively recording. This is NOT an audition, but a way to check to make sure all your technical settings are correct, your volume loud enough, etc. You will find the information for the 1-Minute Test Recording here: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/1-Minute_Test. The instructions also tell you how to upload your test and then post in the "Post Your 1-Minute Test Recording Here" forum so someone can give you feedback on it.

One of our volunteers has created a number of videos that you might find helpful to learn more about the workings of Librivox. You can find a listing of those here: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/User:Philchenevert

Also to point out to professional (or aspiring) Voice Over artists, all our recordings are put back into the public domain which means sometimes they are sold on ebay, etc. Have a look at this page which describes our Public Domain policy: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Copyright_and_Public_Domain

We hope you have fun and please, don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.
Barry
My Recordings
Darn stuff! I have books to read!
pperrier520
Posts: 2
Joined: November 14th, 2011, 3:05 pm

Post by pperrier520 »

I just got this, as I'm a newbie. It's great information, because it can be intimidating trying to figure out where you go from "I want to volunteer" to "I'm now registered," to "Now what?"

Looking forward to jumping in and getting some work done.

Pat
Graceyy007
Posts: 1
Joined: November 19th, 2011, 6:14 am

Post by Graceyy007 »

I too, like Pat, would like to start recording, but I don't have the faintest idea where to start. If anyone could give me a little pointer, I would be very grateful.
Thank you very much!
Starlite
Posts: 16548
Joined: April 30th, 2006, 2:17 pm
Location: Thunder Bay Ontario, Canada

Post by Starlite »

Hi Gracey. In your welcome email you will find many links to instructions and guides. Don't be afraid to click them. We are a safe site. (No viruses etc)

Have fun here.

Esther :D
"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable
people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress,
therefore, depends on unreasonable people." George Bernard Shaw
ToddHW
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 19836
Joined: August 14th, 2011, 4:24 am
Contact:

Post by ToddHW »

Graceyy007 wrote:I too, like Pat, would like to start recording, but I don't have the faintest idea where to start. If anyone could give me a little pointer, I would be very grateful.
Thank you very much!
There is a kinda pervasive liaise-fair attitude around here that normally won't provide even any hints of strong direction cuz everyone is going their own way and so too soon will you. But since you explicitly asked - I joined 3 months ago and jumped right into reading. I troll 3 forum places regularly trying to satisfy my new-found addiction.

1. Readers Wanted - Books Forum. As it says, every book there needs readers (cuz when they are full - all chapters assigned - they move to the Readers Found forum). I have picked out things that looked interesting like a chapter in a Jules Verne book, or perhaps things that looked like they only were a few chapters away from being released. I use the Magic Window in the first message for each book to see how many sections are not assigned and how long each chapter reading is, and I use the source text link in the first message go look at the text to see if it looks like something I really want to do.

2. Readers Wanted - Dramatic Works. Very different. Instead of doing a chapter or a story, you take on a role in a play. It can be a lot fewer words than a book reading, but you have to pretend to act without anyone to act against which can be both good - no stage fright - and bad - no interaction cues or facial expressions to help - and no applause. I've had fun doing different voices and being multiple people in some works. Even some singing! There is a lot of work that goes on in taking all the contributions and putting them together so there may be a big time delay from doing a role to seeing it released upon an unsuspecting world....

Both of these forums have an "Orphans" topic - usually listing chapters or parts where an original volunteer had to step aside for real life stuff. (Which is expected and not a problem! - just let people know.) Through the orphan choices you can kinda feel like you are jumping in at the last minute to help get something released quickly, and it is almost like someone is begging you do try this rather than you having to decide what to do. (The opposite of this feeling of being told what is important and urgent to do is often found in the Short Works Forum - often there you are supposed to decide what work you want to contribute to a collection. Well, I have no idea what to pick on my own, so I haven't done any of those yet.)

3. New Projects Launch Pad. This is where new projects start. Before they even get to the Readers Wanted forums. Sometime things there look really enticing and there is that exciting feeling of being the first to grab a choice part or chapters the second something gets posted there.

Anyway, those three places I look through almost daily.

Feel free to ask more questions either publicly here or more quietly via PM.

Thanks and welcome aboard, Todd

(I'd be remiss if I didn't remind - as the intro email does - of the other important things like proof-listing to actually produce the final products. Out of guilt I now spend a buncha time on that too.)
annise
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 38571
Joined: April 3rd, 2008, 3:55 am
Location: Melbourne,Australia

Post by annise »

All of that Todd - but you did forget an important part - please please please do a 1 minute test before leaping in to a recording so that all your technical settings are right - it is so so discouraging to have to say to an enthusiastic newbie "thanks for your recording but ...we can't use it because ........ (insert here something that could easily be fixed before the recording was made)
What Esther was saying to you both is - your introductory email - which is repeated at the top of the page - tells you what you need to do to get started - just click on the links given . People come here with varying degrees of pre knowledge - we try to provide information for all . If you have a recording studio and tons of recording experience, all you need to do is check the settings and volume we need and jump , but if like the majority of us here you have never used a recording program or recorded anything then you need to read more.

So have a look at the first post in this thread or your emails , and get started . If there is something you don't understand when you have read it ask - sooner you get started , the sooner you get to the fun part :D

Anne
Locked