First official Librivox recording available

Posted on Feb 23, 2007 in Librivox, Life | 0 comments

It’s official. You can now not only see what I look like, but actually hear me reading something. Specifically, those somethings are The Japanned Box by Sir Author Conan Doyle and Mother and the Dead Child by Hans Christian Anderson. That’s right, my first Librivox contributions are available! They’re part of the first horror short story collection, which seemed like a fun place to start.

Librivox, for the uninitiated, is an open-source project that pairs willing readers with works—fiction, non-fiction, and poetry—that are in the public domain. I stumbled across the site a few months ago looking for some new audiobooks. Not only have I enjoyed Call of the Wild, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Treasure Island, I’ve decided that this project deserved my help. So I read their forums on how to start, fired up my Mac and a microphone, and boom—I’m contributing.

Anyone can contribute a reading, but they do ask that new readers start with short stories as part of a collection before signing on for chapters in a book. Each project has a leader who answers questions, assigns stories/chapters, and reviews each submission for audio quality and the more subjective measure of “listenability.” My interactions have been very positive and the forums are alive with tips and helpful critiques.

One of the features that some people find distracting compared to a professionally-read audio book is the multiple readers per book. Some chapters are read by a man in London with an accent; the next few by a woman in the Midwest; yet others by someone with a monotonous voice. It’s a grab bag, but after a few chapters you begin to look forward to the fresh approach by a new voice. And when you hear the introduction from a familiar reader you enjoy, you’re extra excited.

Librivox is an example of how the web can be a wonderful tool (besides song lyrics and software drivers). It’s great to be a part of it. I’ll update you when I’ve contributed other readings.

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