Varney, the Vampyre, Volume 1, by Thomas Preskett Prest.
Happy Halloween!
I thought this would make a nice book for the occasion.
Varney, the Vampyre (subtitled The Feast of Blood) is one of the first classic vampire stories and influenced, amongst others, Bram Stoker's Dracula. It was originally published as a penny dreadful until, in 1847, it appeared in book form. There are three volumes in total, with around 220 chapters. This project will be with us for a while!
The grand (probably rather optimistic) plan is to have all three parts finished in time for Halloween next year, so that's four months for each volume.
How to claim a part, and 'how it all works' here
To find a section to record, simply look at point 5. below at the sections. All the ones without names beside them are "up for grabs." Click "Post reply" at the top left of the screen and tell us which section you'd like to read (include the section number from the left-most column in the reader list, please). Read points 6. to 8. below for what to do before, during and after your recording.
Is there a deadline?
Target completion date of this project: June 30, 2008 – but try to send your recordings as soon as you can. If you cannot do your section, for whatever reason, just let me know and it'll go back to the pool. There's no shame in this; we're all volunteers and things happen.
Please note: Due to the sheer size of this project, I'd like to set one additional rule: Once you've signed up for a chapter, you have one month to submit the recording. If I haven't received your files by the end of that time, the chapter will be reclaimed.
Please claim sections (the numbers in the first column below)!
Note:
The chapter numbers in the text are off after chapter 40: 41-43 are not missing, just wrongly labeled. I've corrected them below. Please read them as they should be, not as they're written. To make them easier to identify, I've added the chapter number of the text to the notes field of each corresponding chapter (but please do go by the section number, not the chapter number in brackets. Scream if this doesn't make sense!)
Chapters 49 and 50 [i.e. 46 and 47] have the same heading in the original.
Set your recording software to:
Bit Rate: 128 kbps
Sample Rate: 44.1 kHz
DURING recording: Make sure you add this to the beginning and end of your recording: Start of recording (Intro)
"Chapter [number] of Varney, the Vampyre. - 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: "Varney, the Vampyre, Volume 1, by Thomas Preskett Prest. [Chapter]"
End of recording
At the end of the section, say:
“End of [Chapter]"
If you wish, say: "Recording by [your name], [city, your blog, podcast, web address]"
At the end of the book, say (in addition): "End of Volume 1 of Varney, the Vampyre, by Thomas Preskett Prest."
Please leave 5 seconds silence at the end of your recording, or 10 seconds for files longer than 30 minutes!
Also, please remember to check this thread frequently for updates!
AFTER recording: Need noise-cleaning?
Listen to your file through headphones. If you can hear some fairly constant background noise (that is, hiss, fuzz, etc. -- not screams or bat squeaks), you may want to clean it up a bit. The new (free) version 1.3.3. of Audacity (Mac/Win) has much improved noise-cleaning. See this LibriVox wiki page for a complete guide.
Save files as
128 kbps MP3
varneythevampyre_vol1_##_prest.mp3 (all lower-case -- and note spelling!) where ## is your section number. (e.g. varneythevampyre_vol1_01_prest.mp3)
ID3 V2 tags
(To find out more about ID3 tags, go to our wiki: http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/WhatIsID3)
Add the following tags to your .mp3 file (how you do this depends on which software you use – if you are unsure about ID3 tags, send me a message). Please mind upper and lower case!
Title: ## - Chapter # [Where ## is your section number in two digits. Example: 04 - Chapter 4]
Artist: Thomas Preskett Prest
Album: Varney, the Vampyre, Volume 1
Please ignore tags for Genre and Track Number - these will be filled in automatically at the cataloguing stage.
Transfer of files (completed recordings) Please always post in this forum thread when you've sent a file.
Also, post the length of the recording (file duration: mm:ss) together with the link.
Upload your file with the LibriVox Uploader (when your upload is complete, you will receive a link - please post it in this thread): http://upload.librivox.org
(If you have trouble reading the image above, please message an admin) You'll need to select the MC, which for this project is: cs - Cori
I'll need the following information from you when you submit a recording:
your name/pseudonym as you want to appear in the LibriVox catalog, and your website URL if you like. These are only necessary if this is your first LibriVox recording.
the file size of your .mp3 file/duration of the recording.
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Any questions?
Please post below or PM me.
Last edited by Satu on May 27th, 2008, 11:59 am, edited 12 times in total.
Seems like an awesome book, so I'll happily record Chapters 2 and 3.
Edit: My apologies, I'd like it under the name K.N. Charbonneau with no additional links. I'll throw together a 20 sec file later tonight or so to verify that my settings are in order, which I believe they are. It would never hurt to check with a veteran though, heh.
Last edited by Itami on November 1st, 2007, 6:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Itami wrote:Seems like an awesome book, so I'll happily record Chapters 2 and 3.
They're all yours, thanks!
Could you please let me know under which name you'd like to be credited in the catalogue, and whether you want a link to a personal blog or website to appear?
Also, if this is your first recording, you may want to send a sample recording of a minute or so, to make sure the sound quality etc is all right - often things can be improved at the outset that are difficult to fix later.
Itami wrote:
Edit: My apologies, I'd like it under the name K.N. Charbonneau with no additional links. I'll throw together a 20 sec file later tonight or so to verify that my settings are in order, which I believe they are. It would never hurt to check with a veteran though, heh.
Oops, I nearly missed this. You're all signed up now (at least I think so ). Thank you!
It just occurs to me that we don't really need the "Volume 1" bit in "Chapter # of Varney, Volume 1", because the chapters in all three volumes are continously numbered. I'll update the first post to that effect!
nrobert2 wrote:I would be glad to read Chapter VII - but I am an American female. Would that suit the book?
Nancy
Hi Nancy!
At Librivox, we absolutely don't mind what sort of accent anybody has -- as long as they want to read, that's all that matters. So, by all means, please do read chapter 7 (and anything else you fancy )!
Could you let me know under what name you want to be credited in the catalogue, and whether there's a url you'd like to link to? And, if this is your first recording, you might consider sending a test recording of a minute or so, just to make sure your settings and such are okay.
). Thank you!