Upload Update – PLEASE READ!

I just thought I’d put a quick note in flagging recent updates to the legal declaration and to the upload process before the weekend comes, when many of you may be planning on getting out and doing some recording.  Please have a re-read of the current Upload Process and the Legal Declaration (both links in the top right hand corner) as soon as possible and check you are knowledgeable of, and happy with, the arrangement as it stands.

A couple of friends within the online community have kindly pointed out areas of the club setup where legally I am left a little exposed.  As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I’m in the process of nailing down a proper legal declaration we can all agree to proceed with but in the meantime there is one thing in particular that would help me sleep a little easier at night.  From now on, could all recordings fulfill at least one of the following criteria:

AT BEST:  It’d be great if we could all start putting a vocal ident, i.e. say your name, on the start of any recordings we make.  I’m sure most of us normally do a verbal ident at the start of our recordings anyway in order to describe what we’re about to record so it won’t hurt to quickly add your name into that info as well.  Obviously this just displays your presence at the recording so, although not foolproof (clearly tracks could be doctored but I think this displays a much stronger intent by the contributor to deceive which makes me feel a little less vulnerable to someone uploading a licensed sound by mistake), it gives a much stronger guarantee that you created the material and therefore have ownership.  Also, it directly links you to the material rather than it being a nameless file that I’ve uploaded.

AT LEAST:  If that isn’t possible please try and leave some sign of imperfection on the start or end of the recording to give us some reassurance that this is not a sound ripped off of an FX library:  some shash, mic bumps, wind buffet – you know the sort of thing.  I’m not saying upload messy tracks that will need loads of editing to clean up; just don’t manicure the top and tail of them to perfection.

Although I may accept sounds that only fulfill the latter criteria if they’re obviously not library sounds, I cannot guarantee it;  if I’m in any doubt that the sound has been recorded by you, I won’t upload it to the set so please try to remember to start identifying yourself at the start of your recordings to make sure your time isn’t wasted and to avoid any offence being caused a result.

Many thanks,

Michael