Copyrighting Arrangements

[amos]

Long time forum lurker , Hopefully someone will know about this.If I use sheet music that is in the Public Domain, and then make a recording from it, does it then become my arrangement?What if I followed the instrumentation exactly?What if I used different instrumentation?Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[goulash]

As i understand it, if the sheet music is in the public domain, this means someone has already copyrighted the material in question. Any version you then make would then be a cover, either way, you're not the one making any money out of it even if you jazz it up so to speak. While you retain the rights to your version, the copyright still belongs to the original artist/publisher