Hi all,

I have to apologize. We realized that we sent out a brief update about Tales to newsletter subscribers but failed to send one here. I'm aiming to rectify that now!

If I hadn't mentioned this before, all of the stories have been edited, and most of the front/back matter is prepared. We are putting the finishing touches on that and will be handing this off our formatter, who has just returned from a conference. My understanding is that formatting should be a fairly quick process, but we'll let you know if there are any hiccups.

As soon as that's done, we'll send the files to the printer for the physical copies, and you should be receiving digital copies of the Tales anthology! So, that should be wrapping up soon!

The Soundtrack

We are currently in the thick of composition with a lot still to get through. However, you have been waiting a long time for this literary and sonic awesomeness, and we don't to keep you waiting any longer. So, our plan is to begin sending you individual tracks one at a time, spread out to allow for proper composition and mixing.

Once we have sent you all the tracks, they will actually go through a mastering process, whereby we will compile them into a complete album and balance the tracks against each other, putting them into a proper order, etc. Once that is complete, we will send you the full album (again), as the tracks will sound even more glorious.


By the way, these stories have all turned out so awesome and we're extremely excited to be sharing them with you soon!


All the best,
Michael & The Team @ The Black Piper

Hi Tales physical copy backers,

We need your help with a decision regarding the cover. Would you rather:

Please vote in the poll below to make your voice heard. The poll closes Saturday just before midnight PST, because we need to get some info to the designer.

Thank you, and feel free to drop any comments regarding your thoughts on the above, below.

Michael & The Black Piper Team

Hi everyone!

Refractions is here!

[Edit: you can check out a few samples here: https://play.reelcrafter.com/northernsky/totbp-refractions]

Have you ever felt lost, broken, or rejected? Our latest album reaches back into the past to find old, forgotten, and "broken" songs to polish them up and make them "beautiful". The work spans over a decade of effort.

After more than a year of polishing and updating, this "small" project has grown into something massive, with efforts from more than 80 people (it may be closer to 100) world-wide, and it includes the incomparable talents of such performers as:

Judy Kang (resident cellist for Celine Dion)
Stroma FilmWorks (New Zealand orchestra comprised of performers from prestigious groups such as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra)
Olivia Foa'i (singer on Disney's Moana)
... and many others

Because this album is meant to show you our rough edges, we have included a special look-behind-the-curtain. As an additional download for Refractions backers only, we are sending you Refractions Origins, a collection of the "original" tracks from which Refractions was born - the broken tracks (as many of them as we are able to share.) Some of these are snippets; many are unmixed reference tracks sent to creative directors during the process.

For those who haven't pledged for a copy of Refractions, but would like to, we've re-opened the "pre-order" store. Simply head to the campaign page (https://talesoftheblackpiper.com), click "Pre-Order Now!", find Refractions in the list, add to cart, and place your order.

We don't have a date yet for a wider release of Refractions. We are currently targeting May 2024, but we have a few things to work out first before fully committing to a date.

We also don't yet have any details on which, if any, platforms we will release it on. We will have it available for sale (at a higher price) on our website - at which point the "pre-order store" will be closed again. but beyond that stay tuned for updates.

Refractions has been broken up into several zip files. If you have ordered Refractions, you should get an email that directs you how to access your content and how to open the multipart zip files provided. (There are 5 zip files for the Refractions WAV format and 3 zip files for Refractions Origins.)

If you cannot find the instructions or have any trouble with the downloads - let us know!


As always, let us know if you have any comments or questions or just want to share some love!

All the best,
Michael & The Team @ The Black Piper

Hi everyone!

Exciting news regarding ....



Refractions Mastering is nearly complete. We just have to put a few finishing touches on the tracks (adding metadata, making sure tracks have the proper leading and trailing silence, etc.)

We're also putting some finishing touches on a (digital) companion booklet we'll be sending out to Refractions backers along with the music.

Oh, and I know that this "little" project has taken more than a year to complete. I didn't realize just how big it was until I saw the credits sheet. I mean, by big-budget Hollywood standards, it's not quite blockbuster size, but it's still pretty decent! I think I've counted over 80 people who've been involved!

Also, take a look at all these featured performers 😍!



Some great folks on there! Like:

OK, So When Will We Get It?!

Short answer is: Tuesday, if all works out!
Long answer: We're waiting on a few assets to plug into the companion booklet before finalizing it, and those may come in after Tuesday, but they are promised by Monday. So, as long as those come in in time and we can get everything proofed, you'll have it on Tuesday!

Yay!

If you haven't pledged for your copy of Refractions - there's still time to grab it for $10 before it goes out next week. (It'll be a few dollars more once we put it up for sale in April or May.)

We also have some good news on the Tales front!

Status

I'm not sure whether we've mentioned this, but most of Tales is through the proofing stage - just waiting on a few last things there, and we have begun the audiobook narration, with some directions from the authors. Additionally, we are currently working on the music, and we will have our full focus on composing once Refractions has been delivered.

So, another "yay!"


Exciting things are happening. We're excited, I'm excited. We hope you're excited!

As always, let us know if you have any comments or questions.


All the best,

Michael & The Team @ The Black Piper

Hi everyone,

Guess what??? FINALLY after more than a year of preparation, Refractions is now off to the mastering engineer! Oh my, we are SO STOKED!



You'll notice there are some blank checkmarks above. That's because the mastering engineer will also be mixing those tracks.

You'll also notice that there are 25 total tracks. Yeah, we kind of snuck a few in there we didn't originally plan on. Sorry about that....

Timeline (Refractions)

The mastering engineer will be looking things over today and giving me an estimate on timeline, but it really isn't that much farther to go!! I might guess 2 weeks, but he does work fast. We'll let you know, though.

Whew - I just have to say - this album has taken so much more effort than we thought it would. A lot of sleep sacrificed, but, you know, I think it's so worth it in the end for the art. (We hope you'll agree once we get this thing into your hands!)

Now, just have to settle on a cover...

One note - once the music and cover are done, we'll send the tracks out to all those who paid for Refractions (which was an add-on to the campaign.) We are looking to put the album up on streaming platforms and put it up for sale, but that might not happen for a couple of months. 

So, now that we've wrapped on the main work for Refractions, we can fully turn our attentions / efforts to music for Tales of The Black Piper.

On the literary side of Tales, the stories are currently undergoing final proofing - but that won't affect the music aspect. The stories are essentially ready for us to get moving on.

#excited!


Well, that's it for now. More soon.

All the best,
Michael & The Team @ The Black Piper