Freesound Forums

Hello,

I have a couple of questions re: recording in my back yard;

Where I live (South Australia) there is a law relating to plants that overhang your property. If my neighbour has an orange tree and it hangs over my properties fence I can take oranges off it or cut it off, etc. So my question is this; Do I own the sounds I can record in my backyard?

Example 1; Sound of a car driving past. (I think I would own this and do what I want with it).

Example 2; Sound of neighbours dog barking. (Do I need the dog owners permission? Dog's permission? Wait 70 dog years after the dog dies?).

Example 3; My neighbours arguing. (edit: never mind; not without permission - LISTENING AND SURVEILLANCE DEVICES ACT 1972).

This is about the SA law; (from http://www.privatei.com.au);

You cannot use a listening device to overhear, record, monitor or listen to a Private Conversation unless you have consent of all the parties to that conversation, or you are a party to the conversation and the use of the device is in the course of your duty, in the public interest or for the protection your interests.

I really want to know about the dog barking, as long as he is not having a conversation with my neighbour the sound is mine to do as I wish (without asking permission?) Correct?

Hi there djnicke

Yes, technically any recording you make within your back yard is rendered your own property upon capture. This excludes re-recordings of copyrighted music or sound effects protected by 'mechanical rights'.

The sound recording field is wrought with grey areas, the law is quite vague like stealing oranges from your own garden. Your local or national legislation will apply for audio surveillance conduct. I would advise that if the conversation of your neighbours is distant and hardly discernible, then this would be fine; it could pass as background ambience. If you record them say, 2 meters away over the fence and their voices are clearly discernible, this would need permission (if you intend on distributing the recording) to stay within the law. I'm pretty sure the regulations for audio and video are the similar with respect to capturing 'sensitive' recordings which are intended for subsequent distribution to the public. If you are worried you can get the subject(s) to sign a release form to cover your back.

Here is an example of a legal release:

Sound And Photographs Release Form

As for the dog and the car, those are absolutely fine to record and distribute, copyrights don't apply to animal calls. No worries there, capture to your heart's contempt.

Hope this helped

Awesome! Thanks for your response!