Books I'd Like To Record

foxcol · Post by **foxcol** » April 22nd, 2020, 1:37 pm

Greetings.

There are a couple of books/poems that I think are in the Public Domain that I would like to record for LibriVox. How do I find out if they have already been recorded?

If they haven't, can I just record them and upload to LibriVox?

Many thanks for your help.
Nick

Post by **mightyfelix** » April 22nd, 2020, 1:54 pm

You can record them whether they have already been recorded or not! We welcome multiple versions of books! We call it "choice of voice." If you're not sure whether or not they are in the public domain, you can post them in Book Suggestions (or here, if you like, since you already have this thread started) and someone will be along shortly to help you check.

It's easiest to use texts from Project Gutenberg or books that were published before 1925. Other texts are harder to prove. But if you're not sure, we can help!

We do strongly recommend that you start out by doing a section or two in a group project, to get used to the process of recording and the workflow that we use here, before starting out on a long book all by yourself. Or you mentioned poems, and those are a great introduction as well! We have a short poetry collection running at all times. The current one is here: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=78919

Post by **TriciaG** » April 22nd, 2020, 1:55 pm

You can use the search box on the LibriVox home page: https://librivox.org/ but if it's got apostrophes, or if you type it in a bit differently, it may not yield results. Try author name, too.

Or you can post the names/authors of the books, and we can look 'em up for you.

You can record them if they're PD, and even if they're already in the catalog. Wait until your test is OK'd first, though.

If it's a short story, the current short story collection is here: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=79286
If it's a poem, the current short poetry collection is here: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=78919

There are other collections that short works may fit into. Browse here for "collection" in the thread title: viewforum.php?f=19

Follow the instructions in the first post of all those collections.

If it's an actual book, first we recommend recording a few shorter works to get your feet wet. It's a lot of work to record a whole book - more than most people realize! Then here are the instructions for starting a solo book:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=13513

*Cross posted with mightyfelix, but some of our info doesn't overlap, so I'll post anyway*

foxcol · Post by **foxcol** » April 22nd, 2020, 2:10 pm

mightyfelix wrote: ↑April 22nd, 2020, 1:54 pm You can record them whether they have already been recorded or not! We welcome multiple versions of books! We call it "choice of voice." If you're not sure whether or not they are in the public domain, you can post them in Book Suggestions (or here, if you like, since you already have this thread started) and someone will be along shortly to help you check.

It's easiest to use texts from Project Gutenberg or books that were published before 1925. Other texts are harder to prove. But if you're not sure, we can help!

We do strongly recommend that you start out by doing a section or two in a group project, to get used to the process of recording and the workflow that we use here, before starting out on a long book all by yourself. Or you mentioned poems, and those are a great introduction as well! We have a short poetry collection running at all times. The current one is here: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=78919

Many thanks, mightyfelix

foxcol · Post by **foxcol** » April 22nd, 2020, 2:16 pm

TriciaG wrote: ↑April 22nd, 2020, 1:55 pm You can use the search box on the LibriVox home page: https://librivox.org/ but if it's got apostrophes, or if you type it in a bit differently, it may not yield results. Try author name, too.

Or you can post the names/authors of the books, and we can look 'em up for you.

You can record them if they're PD, and even if they're already in the catalog. Wait until your test is OK'd first, though.

If it's a short story, the current short story collection is here: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=79286
If it's a poem, the current short poetry collection is here: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=78919

There are other collections that short works may fit into. Browse here for "collection" in the thread title: viewforum.php?f=19

Follow the instructions in the first post of all those collections.

If it's an actual book, first we recommend recording a few shorter works to get your feet wet. It's a lot of work to record a whole book - more than most people realize! Then here are the instructions for starting a solo book:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=13513

*Cross posted with mightyfelix, but some of our info doesn't overlap, so I'll post anyway*

Thank you TriciaG.

I would like to record some MR James short stories (in particular, The Mezzotint). Also some novels by Walter de la Mare (Memoirs of a Midget)
and some of his poetry. Also the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins. I think the majority of this is in the public domain - though not all de la Mare's poetry, I suspect.

Many thanks,
Nick

Post by **knotyouraveragejo** » April 22nd, 2020, 3:16 pm

A recording of The Mezzotint is in this collection - https://librivox.org/short-ghost-and-horror-collection-034-by-various/

Works by M.R. James https://librivox.org/author/2959

Works by Walter de la Mare https://librivox.org/author/2946

Works by Gerald Manley Hopkins https://librivox.org/author/1009

To reiterate, just because something is in the catalog already, doesn't mean you can't record your own version.

Memoirs of a Midget has not been recorded for LV as yet, but the text is available at Project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39122 Published in 1921 so PD for LibriVox.

Post by **annise** » April 22nd, 2020, 3:21 pm

Hopkins is all PD, the Mezzotint could go in the Short Ghost and Horror, De La Mare lived till 1950+ so only his work published 1924 or earlier would be PD for LV but not for you.

Anne
(answer edited)

Post by **TriciaG** » April 22nd, 2020, 3:27 pm

If de la Mare died in 1950+, then while it's PD in the USA, it wouldn't be PD for someone in the UK.

Post by **annise** » April 22nd, 2020, 4:12 pm

Sorry - didn't check where he lived, I'll go back and add USA

foxcol · Post by **foxcol** » April 23rd, 2020, 5:43 am

Thank you all for your input and suggestions.

For an internet project like LibriVox how does the USA vs UK (or other countries for that matter) work? If I record in the UK, does that mean I have to abide by PD Laws here? Even though (USA) versions of the book may be freely available in the PD (through Guthenberg, for example).

Regards,
Nick.

Post by **TriciaG** » April 23rd, 2020, 5:49 am

For LibriVox, works have to be PD in the USA since the files are hosted on US servers.

For readers or listeners outside the US, works also have to be PD in the country in which they are. Downloading or recording a work by someone "recently dead" in a Life+# copyright country would be breaking that country's copyright law.

So you in the UK have two sets of rules with which to abide when dealing with LibriVox.

Regarding Gutenberg, the "bibrec" tab states whether the work is PD in the USA. It does not vet works for PD-ness elsewhere, so you have to do your own vetting for the death year of an author.

Other sites (HathiTrust.org, sometimes Google Books) will limit the viewability of works not PD where you're browsing. (Sometimes they go too far and limit views for projects that ARE PD for us. It's annoying.) Archive.org doesn't do any limitation, and often have works freely available that are copyrighted even in the US. They take them down when they get a copyright complaint.

foxcol · Post by **foxcol** » April 23rd, 2020, 8:07 am

TriciaG wrote: ↑April 23rd, 2020, 5:49 am For LibriVox, works have to be PD in the USA since the files are hosted on US servers.

For readers or listeners outside the US, works also have to be PD in the country in which they are. Downloading or recording a work by someone "recently dead" in a Life+# copyright country would be breaking that country's copyright law.

So you in the UK have two sets of rules with which to abide when dealing with LibriVox.

Regarding Gutenberg, the "bibrec" tab states whether the work is PD in the USA. It does not vet works for PD-ness elsewhere, so you have to do your own vetting for the death year of an author.

Other sites (HathiTrust.org, sometimes Google Books) will limit the viewability of works not PD where you're browsing. (Sometimes they go too far and limit views for projects that ARE PD for us. It's annoying.) Archive.org doesn't do any limitation, and often have works freely available that are copyrighted even in the US. They take them down when they get a copyright complaint.

So in theory, TriciaG, I could record Memoirs of A Midget for LibriVox, but not download/listen to it (in the UK).

Regards,
Nick

Post by **TriciaG** » April 23rd, 2020, 8:29 am

No, you couldn't record it for anyone (LibriVox or friends or just for yourself), because that would be breaking UK copyright law. I don't believe you are even able to download the text from somewhere like Gutenberg.

If you were to take a holiday in the US, you could record it while you were in the US. But you probably (technically reading the laws) couldn't keep your own recordings on your computer when you went back to the UK.

(I'm not a copyright lawyer by any means, but this is how the copyright laws are generally interpreted around here.)

lurcherlover · Post by **lurcherlover** » April 23rd, 2020, 10:00 am

If you are recording in the UK an author must have died by or before 1949 (i.e. to have been dead for 70+ years) and the work must have been published by or before 1924. (I think I'm right about this but please say if I'm not).

Post by **TriciaG** » April 23rd, 2020, 11:35 am

lurcherlover wrote: ↑April 23rd, 2020, 10:00 am If you are recording in the UK an author must have died by or before 1949 (i.e. to have been dead for 70+ years) and the work must have been published by or before 1924. (I think I'm right about this but please say if I'm not).

If you're recording in the UK for LibriVox, then that's generally true. There are works that are out of copyright in the USA that were published after 1924 (95 full calendar years), but most of those would be still copyrighted in the UK due to the author's death date anyway.