How to submit a story, and 'how it all works' here
Please select and record any short ghost or horror story in the public domain (up to about 74 minutes, so as to fit in an audio CD). There is no need to "sign-up" before recording, as long as the work is clearly in the public domain. If you have any doubts, feel free to ask. Multiple versions are always welcome, so don't worry whether someone else has recorded your selection already; we're happy to hear your version too.
A ghost or horror story should have something of an otherworldly or gruesome nature at its core. Take a look at the various collections in this forum and decide which collection your story would work best in. .
New to recording?
Please read the Newbie Guide to Recording and do a short test recording just to make sure that all your settings are OK. Read this post carefully and refer back to it. It has all the information you need to submit a recording successfully. .
Is there a deadline?
No. This collection will be open until it is full (20 stories have been submitted), at which point another one may be started. .
Please note that a lot of Lovecraft's work is still under copyright - there's a thread here that has an up-to-date list of confirmed PD stories.
Previous Short Ghost and Horror Collections can be found here - duplicate versions are fine, though not in the same volume. .
BEFORE recording:
Set your recording software to:
Bit Rate: 128 kbps
Sample Rate: 44.1 kHz (44100 Hz)
Channels: 1 (Mono) .
DURING recording:
Leave no more than 0.5-1 second of silence at the beginning of your file.
Make sure you add this to the beginning and end of your recording: Start of recording (Intro)
"[Story title] by [Author name]. - This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit: librivox DOT org"
If you wish, say: "Recording by [your name]"
Say: "[Story title] by [Author name]."
End of recording
At the end of the section, say:
“End of [Story Title]"
If you wish, say: "Recording by [your name], [city, your blog, podcast, web address]"
Please leave 5 seconds silence at the end of your recording! .
AFTER recording:
Need noise-cleaning?
Listen to your file through headphones. If you can hear some background noise, you may want to clean it up a bit (optional). Audacity (Mac/Win) offers a much improved noise-cleaning function. See this LibriVox wiki page for a complete guide. .
Save files as 128 kbps MP3
File Name: (lower case, separated by underscores): ghohor045_shorttitleinoneword-noarticles_authorslastname_readersinitials_128kb.mp3, e.g. ghohor045_roomintower_benson_ce_128kb.mp3 .
ID3 tags
Not needed for this project. (You may put "Recorded by [your name]" in the comments section if you wish)
.
Transfer of files (completed recordings)
Upload your file with the LibriVox Uploader: http://librivox.org/login/uploader
(If you have trouble reading the image above, please message an admin) You'll need to select the MC, which for this project is: Rapunzelina .
When your upload is complete, you will receive a link. Please click "Post Reply" at the top left of this thread, and post the link there, including the following information:
The title and author of the work.
A link to the text that you used.
The length of your recording in minutes and seconds mm:ss
If this is your first recording for LibriVox, please give us your name as you'd like it to appear in the catalog (that is, either your real name or some pseudonym). We can also link to a personal web site/blog.
Any questions?
Please post below or PM me.
Please don't download files belonging to projects in process (unless you are the BC or PL). Our servers are not set up to handle the greater volume of traffic. Please wait until the project has been completed. Thanks!
These have been forwarded from the previous collection:
TripHazard wrote: ↑October 13th, 2020, 1:54 pm
Hi, here is my submission for this spooky collection. It's my first time recording a longer piece (I've only done short poems before), so any feedback would be appreciated. I fear I may have mispronounced a few words as well
Rapunzelina wrote: ↑October 13th, 2020, 1:09 am
Hi Jake! Welcome to Librivox and the Ghost and Horror Collection!
That was some cool narration! Thank you! And I enjoyed the story, though I couldn't listen to parts 4 and 5. They sounded doubled. Have you kept your working file in Audacity (or the software you are using)? Maybe there are multiple tracks overlapping, so you can fix that there. It's from around 24:48 to 31:01 in the recording.
If you are using Audacity, when you export anew, check the Export options and choose "Constant" for Bit Rate Mode, and "128 kbps" for Quality. Oh, and when uploading, you can click on "Select MC" and choose "rapunzelina" so that your file goes in the correct uploading folder for this project
Random suggestions
Half the fun in participating in collections is searching and choosing a story yourself, so this is me having fun
Totally random, I don't even know if they are good stories, and they'd better be ghost and horror ones..!!
I'm just posting The Thing at Nolan by Ambrose Bierce, my second Bierce reading, and I have to say I'm really enjoying reading them. I hope this one is a bit better than my first, especially from a dramatic standpoint.
WalkingOliver0202 wrote: ↑October 20th, 2020, 4:04 am
Do you know, by the way, if The Jolly Corner by Henry James is in the public domain? I'd love to read that!
I think it's going to be a bit long for one section in the collection (up to 74 minutes), but it can be divided in parts, or if you're feeling ready for your first solo project, you could set it up in the Launch Pad with 3 sections for its 3 chapters
And thank you for your recording of the Thing at Nolan, I will listen soon!
Hello, Rapunzelina, and many spooky wishes during this month of Halloween!
I've a recording of Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a favourite of mine for this time of year, but it's juuuuuust a little bit long. Right now I have it at 1:14:51. What do you think? Should I put this into two parts, or is it simply too long to add here?
When you have a chance, let me know what you think!
It's right on the limit! If you prefer to keep it in one recording, it will be OK. If you don't have a preference, and you're OK with splitting it, and it also has a suitable point in the story-line to split it in two, I think it will also make for a better listening experience (in case a listener wants to take a break in the middle of the story)
I am personally fine with both options, so whatever you prefer
Yes, and you can do it any way you'd like. I think I would just add "End of part 1" at the outro of the first section, and start with "Part 2 of [...]" in the next section, but whichever way you use the tags will work just fine!
Ooh, so this would be a good place to make my first contribution, right, since it's more free form? Everybody's been talking about the relevance of "Masque of the Red Death" lately but "Shadow" has a similar idea -- and it's shorter which will be good for a first recording! I have a question before I go try it out though -- it has an epigraph, is there a recommended way to indicate that when reading aloud? Or should it just be made clear by tone and pauses?
unhallowedarts wrote: ↑October 20th, 2020, 8:49 pm
Ooh, so this would be a good place to make my first contribution, right, since it's more free form? Everybody's been talking about the relevance of "Masque of the Red Death" lately but "Shadow" has a similar idea -- and it's shorter which will be good for a first recording! I have a question before I go try it out though -- it has an epigraph, is there a recommended way to indicate that when reading aloud? Or should it just be made clear by tone and pauses?
For Shadow, you can use the text from gutenberg,org https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2150/2150-h/2150-h.htm#chap4.23
Most readers indicate epigraphs by tone and pauses. Some may use "Quote" ... "End quote". I think reading just the epigraph works fine
Looking forward to your recording!
Thank you for your help, Rapunzelina. Please let me know if there's anything that needs to be corrected or changed.
Best,
EJ
Brilliant reading, EJ!
One thing I failed to mention before, is that both sections require the Librivox disclaimer. Could you copy the disclaimer from the first part also into the second? right after the title
