COMPLETE: Leviathan (Bks 3 & 4) by Thomas Hobbes - lm

[LeonMire]

Leviathan (Books 3 & 4) by Thomas Hobbes.

In Books 3 and 4 of Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes elaborates on the political philosophy set forth in the first two books, by considering the nature of a Christian commonwealth.

This project is now complete. All audio files can be found on our catalog page here:

http://librivox.org/leviathan-books-iii-and-iv-by-thomas-hobbes/

1. 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.
2. New to recording?
   Please read our Newbie Guide to Recording!
3. Is there a deadline?
   Target completion date of this project: Date – August 1, 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.
4. Where do I find the text?
   Source text (please only read from this text!): http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/hobbes/leviathan-contents.html
   
   But you can also follow the links in the window below.
5. Please claim sections (the numbers in the first column below)!
   If this is your first recording, please let me know under which name or pseudonym you'd like to appear in the LibriVox catalogue. We can also link to a personal website/blog.
   
   A word count for each section has been included for convenience. Forum discussions have shown that most people read on average 130-190 words a minute. Per 4000 words, this comes to about 22 to 30 minutes of reading time.
   
   MAGIC WINDOW:
   
   (BC admin)
6. BEFORE recording:
   Please check the Recording Notes:
   http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6427#6430
   
   Set your recording software to:
   Bit Rate: 128 kbps
   Sample Rate: 44.1 kHz
7. DURING recording:
   Make sure you add this to the beginning and end of your recording:
   Start of recording (Intro)
   • "Chapter [number] of Leviathan. - 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]"
   • Then say:
     "Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes. [Chapter #]: [Chapter title]"
   • At the beginning of the book (that is, section 01), please read the full title: "Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Common-Wealth Ecclesiatical and Civill, Parts Three and Four, by Thomas Hobbes."
   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 Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Common-Wealth Ecclesiatical and Civill, Parts Three and Four, by Thomas Hobbes."
   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!
8. AFTER recording:
   Need noise-cleaning?
   Listen to your file through headphones. If you can hear some constant background noise (hiss/buzz), 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
   leviathan2_##_hobbes.mp3 (all lower-case) where ## is your section number. (e.g. leviathan2_01_hobbes.mp3) (Note: The "2" is necessary to make Books 3 & 4 sort properly with Books 1 & 2)
   
   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: ## - [Section title]
   Artist: Thomas Hobbes
   Album: Leviathan, Books 3 & 4
   
   Example:
   
   Title: 02 - Chapter XXXIII – Of the Number, Antiquity, Scope, Authority, and Interpreters of the Books of Holy Scripture
   Arist: Thomas Hobbes
   Album: Leviathan, Books 3 & 4
   
   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: lm - Leon Mire
   • If this doesn't work, or you have questions, please check our How To Send Your Recording wiki page.

Any questions?
Please post below or PM me.

[CarlManchester]

I'd like the first section Leon, if you don't think that will put people off the rest of the book too much...

Cheers,
Carl.

[LeonMire]

I'd like the first section Leon, if you don't think that will put people off the rest of the book too much...

Cheers,
Carl.

I don't think it will. It's all yours!

[Ashwin Jain]

I would like to volunteer to read chapter 3. I'll finish it on next weekend.

Thanks,
Ashwin

[LeonMire]

I would like to volunteer to read chapter 3. I'll finish it on next weekend.

Thanks,
Ashwin

Hello Ashwin.. welcome to LibriVox! And thanks for volunteering!

I've signed you up for chapter 3. You might want to take a look at the Newbie Guide to Recording, even if you've recorded before, to get an idea of how everything works here at LibriVox. But of course, if you have any questions, let me know, and I'd be glad to help.

If you'd like, you can send in a test recording, of just the first couple of paragraphs or so, and I can double-check to make sure that your setup's okay.

And when you turn in your recording, could you let me know how you'd like your name to appear in the catalog (that is, your real name or some pseudonym?), and also whether you have a personal website you'd like to be linked to.

Thanks!

-Leon

[Ashwin Jain]

Thanks leon for a warm welcome

I have gone through all the newbie tutorials ant librivox. This is my first recording. So I have uploaded a test file with just 1 para here -
http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/lm/Leviathan_test.mp3

Please listen to it and let me know of improvements needed in terms or pace, enunciation, voice quality, reading style.I guess my $5 headset is giving good enough results nd i'll stick to it for a while. Also, as I am a native Indian, so my pronounciations may be a bit off at times. Be as critical as you can be.

Regards,
Ashwin

PS : I have not followed the guidlines for header and ID3 tags for this test recording.

[LeonMire]

Hi Ashwin.. thanks for turning in a test recording. I always feel a lot more confident when people do that for their first recording, because sometimes there are technical problems with their first recording (and there are a lot of little things), and it's discouraging to have to do the whole thing over.

But don't worry.. there were certainly no technical problems with your recording. As for pace, enunciation, etc., I don't think you have anything to worry about. You did not speak too fast or anything, you pronounced the words clearly, and most importantly, you were reading with understanding. Keep those things up, and your section will come out nicely.

Your headset, even if it's only a $5 one, produces good sound quality, so that's not an issue (it even sounds better than my $30 microphone!). And don't worry about not being a native English speaker - many of our most experienced volunteers are not native speakers. We accept all accents here, and you were definitely understandable, anyhow.

The one thing I would suggest is to adjust the position of your headset a little bit. Whenever you made an "s" sound, you breathed into the microphone, causing a popping sound (called a plosive). It wasn't that bad, but it's something to look out for in the future. I usually put the microphone well below my chin, so that there's little possibility of breathing into it. If your microphone can adjust like that (and you don't have a beard!), that's a good place to keep it. You'll still come through loud and clear. Other than that, though, I don't have much else to suggest.

Thanks again.. and good luck with your recording! If you have any other questions, let me know.

-Leon

[Ashwin Jain]

Hi

How to read stuff in the brackets and quotation references. Sometime they break the flow and I am worried listeners wud have problems in comprehension. Is it advisable to skip some stuff while reading?

Thanks,
Ashwin

[Sibella]

Hi Leon! Here's some sections I'd like to read:
4, 6, 8, 23, 24.

If I get these done before I go to England I may claim more. I don't know that I'll be able to record much this summer.

[kyphilosopher]

I would like to claim Chapter XXXVII – Of Miracles and Their Use to record.

[LeonMire]

Hi

How to read stuff in the brackets and quotation references. Sometime they break the flow and I am worried listeners wud have problems in comprehension. Is it advisable to skip some stuff while reading?

Thanks,
Ashwin

Hi Ashwin.. I think it'd be okay to skip the quotation references for this project. All of the stuff in brackets that tells you what passage Hobbes is quoting from can be omitted from your reading. If there's anything else in brackets, however, you should read it.

[LeonMire]

Hi Leon! Here's some sections I'd like to read:
4, 6, 8, 23, 24.

If I get these done before I go to England I may claim more. I don't know that I'll be able to record much this summer.

Hi Sibella.. I've signed you up for those 5 sections. Thanks!

Maybe while you're in England, you could visit Malmesbury.

[LeonMire]

I would like to claim Chapter XXXVII – Of Miracles and Their Use to record.

Hello kyphilosopher.. glad to hear you'd like to join this project! Unfortunately, however, Sibella already claimed section 06 (Chapter XXXVII). Is there another you'd be willing to do?

[Ashwin Jain]

Hi leon,

I have uploaded recording of chapter 34 here -
http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/lm/Leviathan_34.mp3

This time my mic didnt give tht good performance. May be coz when i keep it well below my chin, even though i m shouting signal to noise ratio is low....when i do noise removal on this.. a sort of a high pitch backtone seems to be added (have left noise in this)...see once this recording and feel free if this needs to be rerecorded.. or if this is not way below the standards, we can try to clean this one.

Thanks,
Ashwin

[LeonMire]

Hi leon,

I have uploaded recording of chapter 34 here -
http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/lm/Leviathan_34.mp3

This time my mic didnt give tht good performance. May be coz when i keep it well below my chin, even though i m shouting signal to noise ratio is low....when i do noise removal on this.. a sort of a high pitch backtone seems to be added (have left noise in this)...see once this recording and feel free if this needs to be rerecorded.. or if this is not way below the standards, we can try to clean this one.

Thanks,
Ashwin

Thanks Ashwin.. I'll listen to it tonight. Sorry that moving the mic below your chin didn't work - I guess that wasn't very good advice. Or at least it doesn't work as well for your mic as it does for mine.

There is a function in Audacity called Amplify, that can make your recording louder. The disadvantage is that it can make the background noise worse. I'll experiment with it and see if I can make it loud enough. I'm pretty sure I can get rid of the high pitch backtone too.

I'll let you know what I did, so you can use it in the future. Or you're welcome to record the way you did before, since the breathing noises weren't really that bad.

Thanks again!