THE BLACK PRISM - Music Coming Your Way!
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Nov 05, 2022 at 02:55:58 PM
Hi everyone,
We've gotten the approvals, and the files are prepped! Those who ordered digital music will have their music shortly - we're just putting together the final package to deliver to BackerKit. It should be out tonight!
For the physicals, those will be ordered soon - we're wrapping up the booklets, which will also need approval, and then we'll place the order for those.
Most of you have completed your surveys - thank you! Anyone who needs to add or change their physical address for CD delivery, you probably saw the email go out that we'll be locking that soon. Once that's locked, we'll also be charging cards.
After that... we'll be turning our focus to preparing Reflections and Refractions. For both of those, we will strive to provide you with tracks of beauty and excitement, energy and heart. We're also going to try to load as many tracks onto each as humanly possible, though no guarantees until we sit down with it and determine what is going to work.
As you receive your rewards, we'd love to hear what you think! Feel free to drop us a chat on social media, in Discord (<- !), in email, or even here, and let us know what tracks move you, what you think could be improved, and what you'd love to see us tackle next.
Thank you, our Thousand Stars, for Bringing us Light!
A hearty Blackguard (and/or Bridge Four) salute,
Michael & The Team @ The Black Piper
BLACK PRISM Mixes Are Done, Awaiting Approval! + Bonus
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Nov 01, 2022 at 11:55:48 PM
Hi everyone,
Great news!
We have finished The Black Prism compositions and mixes. They have been delivered to the Weeks team, and we are awaiting approval. And I just have to say that the writing and mixes on these things (from a totally, purely, objective and not-at-biased perspective) are just FIRE. Charles-Henri Avelange is phenomenal, both at writing and at mixing! (He's even up for a Grammy for an album he wrote and mixed in 5.1 honoring one of his ancestors who was a painter.) And Nikhil Koparkar's Lightbringer theme is just incredible, and we totally used his theme all over the place.
Also, I need to fess up and let you know that, um, well, we're including an additional song on the album. I know, I know... we said 5 tracks, but... you know... we accidentally wrote a 6th. So, yeah, sorry about that.
With all 6 tracks, it brings the album runtime to just around 20 mins.
Right, I'm off to bed - it's been quite a month getting this all prepared. (I'm sure the rest of the team - especially Charles-Henri - is ready for a week's worth of vacation!)
We'll keep you updated on the progress of the approval process.
All the best,
Michael & The Team @ The Black Piper
P.s. If you want to get a peak at the mixed songs (not yet mastered), head on over to our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/7VZUwmTqjv - where we've posted some behind-the-scenes mixes in our Announcements and (non-spoiler) production channels.
Cheers!
BackerKit Surveys Sent + Virtual Choir DEADLINE
over 1 year ago
– Wed, Oct 19, 2022 at 05:30:07 PM
Hi all,
As many of you have already seen and have begun submitting: BackerKit surveys have been sent out! If you haven't seen yours yet, please check your various mail folders, and if you haven't received your survey let us know as soon as possible. Especially if you are a part of the...
VIRTUAL CHOIR
Virtual choir folks should get their surveys completed ASAP, because there is information in there regarding submissions, which will need to be completed and returned by next Wed, Oct 26. (I wish we had longer, but due to running a second campaign, we are much closer to the release deadline.)
So, if you're a member of the Virtual choir and have any trouble either with the survey or accessing or submitting materials, please let us know right away!
If you have any other questions, send us a message! And thank you to all those who have filled out their surveys with encouraging words! You all mean so much to us and really fuel what we are doing!
All the best,
Michael & The Team @ The Black Piper
BackerKit Surveys Are Coming!
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Oct 14, 2022 at 02:36:08 AM
Hi all,
Soon (within the next few days), you’ll receive an email from us with a special link to your BackerKit survey. It’s important to respond to your survey as quickly as you can since we need this information to fulfill your rewards.
You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey. When you receive the email with the survey, click the survey link to respond. Answer the questions about your reward preferences, provide shipping information, and purchase add-on items if you like. You don’t have access to this survey link yet, but it will be available soon via email!
After you respond to your survey, you can go back later and change your responses at any time before we close the surveys and get our final counts.
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at
https://the-black-prism-book-score.backerkit.com.
If you used your Facebook credentials to log in to your Kickstarter account, the BackerKit survey is sent to the email address you use for your Facebook account. If you have another email address that you prefer to use, please contact support at
https://the-black-prism-book-score.backerkit.com/faq.
Michael & The Team @ The Black Piper
Post-Campaign Celebration
over 1 year ago
– Sun, Oct 02, 2022 at 11:31:00 PM
Hi all!
We - you - did it! We've finished the Black Prism Album campaign and have even funded soloists. We are extremely excited about collaborating with Hollywood's finest on this album. Thank you for helping us reach that goal!
And we are seriously so thrilled to be producing brand new music to share with you! In fact, I just sent the first draft of The Freeing to our (new) Creative Director, Ian Riley, for notes. I have been looking forward to this track for so long and can't wait for you to hear it!
Speaking of Ian, I want to share a few words from him, before I get down to the business payments, delivery, surveys, and the anthology/updates below.
To our Thousand Stars,
We’re so thrilled that you’ve decided to join us as we embark on this exciting new adventure to bring the Seven Satrapies to life through music in our upcoming album, The Black Prism.
Many of you know Michael from Kaladin, but I wanted to take an opportunity to introduce myself and share with you some of the things that are most exciting to me about the creative direction of The Black Prism.
First off, hi - my name’s Ian! I’ve been lucky enough to work with Michael on this project since the very beginning, first coming onboard as additional administrative support, until ultimately accepting his offer to support the team behind The Black Prism in the capacity of creative director.
The Black Prism is an album unlike anything The Black Piper has done before. Not only do we have an opportunity to work with a series that checks all of the ‘epic fantasy’ boxes that we so loved about The Way of Kings, The Black Prism gives us the opportunity to explore a huge variety of new and interesting sounds, styles, genres, and techniques, both compositionally and sonically, by blending our composers’ experience as Hollywood professionals with my experience leading teams both creative and technical across a variety of industries, training as a classical musician and career as a sound designer for film and video games. We are deeply inspired by the rich tapestry that Brent has woven throughout the Seven Satrapies, and are excited to explore cultural, social, political, and magical ‘spectrums’ through this album.
One thing that is really important to me is that we demonstrate respect and responsibility as we represent both the lore of Brent’s Seven Satrapies and also the cultures and peoples that created the various styles, instrumentations, and sonic expressions that we are drawing inspiration from. In addition to wonderful music, you’ll have the opportunity to read about the instrumentation and influences that we’ve woven into each track once the album is released.
Another element that I’m really excited about is how we are marrying music and sound design to create a unique experience for our listeners when it comes to developing the sound of ‘magic’ in The Black Prism. We’re drawing inspiration from musical spectralism alongside the fundamental harmonic series to develop sonic ‘flavors’ that will be subtly identifiable whenever a particular color of luxin is being drafted throughout the album. Our plan is to support this with sound design inspired by digital and analog synthesizers to give a uniquely ‘otherworldly’ twist to your experience of ‘hearing light.’
Over the next several weeks, I’m very much looking forward to working with the team on this project, and can’t wait to share the final product with you! I’m humbled by the opportunity to bring the world of The Black Prism to life, and so deeply appreciate your generous support in allowing us to do what we do.
In light,
Ian
OK, as promised:
Down to Business
* When Will My Card Be Charged?
Your payment method will be charged today (Monday, October 3). You should receive an email confirmation once your pledge has been successfully processed. If there are any issues, please let BackerKit (or us) know, and we'll help work it out.
* When Will We Get Our Surveys?
These will go out in the next couple of weeks, so please keep an eye on your inbox!
* When Will the Rewards Go Out?
We are targeting November 1st for the digital release of The Black Prism, and the end of this year (December 20th) for the remaining music. And we're hoping to fit in the release of the digital artwork in between.
* I'm Still Excited About The Anthology; What Can I Look Forward To There?
First of all: the anthology is absolutely happening. We are in the process of making that into its own campaign, and we're hoping to run that campaign either late this month or early next month.
Second, we're excited to announce here (and we'll do it more formally through our social media a bit later), but Kristen Britain, bestselling author of the Green Rider series, has signed on to write a story for the anthology!! Woooohoooo! And we are approaching more veteran authors as we speak. We want to provide as much value for both writers and readers alike with this new venture.
So, suffice it to say: we are extremely excited about all that we have in store here!
* OK, That's Amazing, But Will the Production of the Anthology Affect the Production of The Black Prism?
Not at all! Production for the two projects will not overlap, and we are targeting next year for the release of the anthology, as the authors will need time to write their stories!
And that's all for now! We're off to make some new music! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Thank you for helping to make this little dream of ours a reality.
All the best,
Michael & The Team @ The Black Piper
