Kaladin is an epic fantasy, cinematic-style book soundtrack inspired by Brandon Sanderson's bestselling novel, The Way of Kings. Blending gritty styles that are heavily influenced by the epic music of Two Steps From Hell and Steve Jablonski (Transformers) with piercing beauty influenced by James Horner (Avatar) and Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings), the album tells a tale of a harsh world where storms ravage the earth, spirits assist humanity, and hope, beauty, and honor exist as delicate wisps on the wind.
The album connects with the imaginations of fans in an exciting way. It enhances the listener's experience of the story without getting in the way of their imagination, enabling them to picture their favorite moments in vivid detail. For those who haven't read the book, the music deftly captures the sting of betrayal, the horror of fighting a war on the front lines, the whispers of a spiritual awakening, and the strength of friendship so that the listener may become familiar with the story on a human level. The music invites all listeners to to join the magic of a world that needs heroes to stand and accept the call to unite.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Big Update and Changes - and Stuff is Coming!
about 6 years ago
– Thu, May 03, 2018 at 09:29:17 PM
Hi everyone!
This update is well overdue! Thank you all for your immense patience, while we’ve been working things out on our end, but we have a big update for you.
Sae Sae’s Status
Many of you are aware that our fearless Creative Director and Producer, Sae Sae, has been suffering major chronic health issues. Those issues have certainly come in full force throughout the winter and have not fully abated. Her seizures do seem to have been letting up a little over the past month, but she’s still not out of the woods. These things knock her out for days or weeks at a time. Keep sending good thoughts/prayers for her!
Despite the difficulty, she’s been pushing through, and we as a team have been making some good headway. A few things have been pushed back, due to not only that, but some things you’ll read about below. We can’t thank you enough for your patience and encouragement!
This brings me to...
The Changing of the Guard
We’ve had a big change at The Black Piper. Richard Williams has decided to leave The Black Piper in order to focus more on his music without having to worry about the business intricacies of the company. It was an amicable departure. Schedules permitting, you will hear his music again on our future projects! We wish Richard well in his future musical endeavors!
In his stead, we’d like to introduce Sandra Schnieders as the newest producing member of the Black Piper! Sandra was an amazing composer/orchestrator on the Kaladin album, and you may remember her as one of the interviewees from our original Kickstarter video. She’s also extremely business savvy and very dedicated and focused. We are extremely excited and grateful to be able to welcome her to the team.
Welcome to the The Black Piper, Sandra!
The Reward Report
Here’s the part we know everyone is interested in… “Where’s our stuff?!”
Here's a quick overview of where we are with the rewards:
What Is Currently In Progress of Being Fulfilled
Physical CDs The CD Booklet and disc art have been submitted to Dragonsteel for final approval, and once we have it, it’s off to the printers! The music files have already been submitted, and the CDs have been paid for!
If you specified separate shipping of your CD and didn’t want to wait until all your physical rewards were completed to receive it, you can expect to receive them in the mail toward the end of June.
Custom Songs Sandra, Michael, and Richard have begun reaching out to those who ordered the custom songs and have commenced writing! It’s a long list that will take some time, but all songs are anticipated to be finished by the end of August. If you have any time sensitive needs, please reach out to us, and we’ll see what we can do to work with you to get your song done sooner.
Art Book Sae Sae has started designing the Art Book, and we’re working on getting permissions from the artists this month. We are hoping to have the art book ready to be shipped by September.
Kaladin Art Card Sae Sae and Seth Keller had some scheduling conflicts over the holidays, but they will get back to finishing the Kaladin art card later this month. This is the only art card left before we can go to the printer with the cards.
Stormlight Selfies Marina is hard at work drawing these right now, and doing an amazing job! Watch for yours in your email inbox!
Literary Consultations Sae Sae has started working on her consultations. She is now booked up for the next year, so please be patient while you wait for her to read your work. But in the near-future, be on the lookout for an email from her requesting your work and getting the process started. If you have a time-sensitive need (in the form of a contest deadline, or submission deadline), please let her know and she'll adjust her schedule to accommodate as best she can.
What Has Been Fulfilled
(for those whose orders have been fully charged and locked down)
The Kaladin digital album (MP3 version, WAV version, and MIDI version)
Digital bookmarks
Digital art cards (individuals except Kaladin). Full sets are waiting on Kaladin
Natalie Rodgers' wallpaper
Digital conductor scores
Dinner for the Viral Contest Grand Prize Winner, Tyler Shelton, and his guest.
Please note: If you haven’t received your digital rewards that have already been fulfilled, it may be that your order isn’t locked down (charged and locked). If you haven’t received them and are prepared to complete payment and lockdown, please email us, and we will get your order processed.
We most sincerely thank all of you for you patience and encouragement. We’re getting close, and your rewards are coming! If you have any questions/comments, please feel free to reach out!
All the best,
Michael, Sae Sae, and Sandra
The Black Piper
Correction to the last update (regarding The Children of Eldair Kickstarter)
about 6 years ago
– Thu, Mar 08, 2018 at 09:31:44 PM
Hey all,
I made a mistake in the last update regarding Jemma Young's Kickstarter campaign for The Children of Eldair. Here's some more information directly from Jemma, along with some of her lovely artwork:
"For those who are caught up on Sanderon's books and need some new fantasy reading material, check out my kickstarter campaign 'Children of Eldair.' I'm raising funds to print the second book of the long-format comic which has some great world building, interesting cultures, and fun magic systems. And of course, beautiful art."
CD/Art Book Updates + Credit for Wandersailer Choir + Other Kickstarters To Check Out
about 6 years ago
– Wed, Mar 07, 2018 at 11:42:19 PM
Hi everyone,
It's been a busy - and trying - couple of months. Sae Sae has been out of commission with major seizures for much of this year so far, but we're still moving forward! The progress has been slower than we'd like, but we do have some reports to make, and we thank you very appreciatively for your tremendous patience and well wishes!
Physical CD Updates
We're working hard on finishing up prepping the physical albums. Our goal is to have the orders placed for them at the end of the week/next weekend (at the latest). If all goes well on the production side, we should be sending them out this month, as promised, to those of you who aren't waiting for your art book or other physical rewards. We're so excited!
Art Book Updates
We're continuing to work toward getting these shipped out toward the end of June. If anything changes, we'll let you know right away! We've been reaching out to artists now that we're ready and have been preparing for the commissions. We've had to take the art book a little slower while we've been prepping the album, but we're making progress!
Wandersailer Virtual Choir Credits
For any of you who were in the Wandersail Virtual Choir - please send me an email ([email protected]) letting me know whether you'd like to be credited on the album and how to spell your name! I've already emailed most of you, but if I missed you in the email, please let me know!!
Other Kickstarters To Check Out
Green Rider
There are two Kickstarters I want to tell you about. One of our composers, Kristina Bishoff, is running a Kickstarter herself for a book soundtrack for the book The Green Rider and it's over 80% funded! I'll have the pleasure of helping orchestrate for her! You can check out The Green Rider Kickstarter here.
The Children of Adair vol. 2
One of our wonderful artists, Jemma Young, is also doing a Kickstarter. It's the second book of The Children of Adair, a long format comic book and web comic, and we think it's visually appealing. You can check it out here. Jemma is graciously giving anyone who sees this update and donates $25 or more a free Stormlight print to go with your order. Just use the code "blackpiper" during the survey once the Kickstarter ends! Here's an example of her work:
Thank you
Thank you all for your tremendous support and encouragement during all of this! It has and continues to mean a lot to all of us! And thank you to those who have left such glowing reviews and ratings on Google Play, iTunes, Amazon MP3 and others! And to those who volunteer to help! You all just mean so much!
Please don't hesitate to reach out for any reason whatsoever! We love talking with you and hearing your stories!
With deepest gratitude,
Michael and The Black Piper Team
Digital Album Release, Call For Reviews, and The Reward Report (Shipping/Schedule)
over 6 years ago
– Fri, Feb 02, 2018 at 01:05:17 AM
Hi all,
We're writing this to you feeling extremely and utterly humbled because of your powerful response to our digital release!
Digital Release
We had a great end of the year last year. We had promised to digitally release Kaladin by Christmas and we did exactly that. We distributed the MP3s to you, our backers, the second we got the audio files back from the mastering engineer mid-December. And then, right on schedule, Kaladin digitally showed up on CD Baby on Christmas day!
2018 has started with a bang and Kaladin has been released on all major digital outlets:
... and many others! See a complete list in the graphic below!
Digital Distribution Partners
The Response
The response from all of you has been absolutely overwhelmingand positive! Many of you have written to express excitement, amazement, and overall encouragement. A number of you have told us that you even cried while listening to the album. We are just so incredibly humbled by your response and we feel like we've succeeded in a big way! You've told us all this on our Facebook page, Twitter, The Black Piper forum, and via email. In direct messages, through discussions in the various Brandon Sanderson groups on Facebook, and on Reddit.
You are so vocal about your love for our album and we could not have hoped for a better response. Your positive and specific feedback has told us what we did right, and which songs and styles resonate with you. We're taking note and plugging that in to our prep for album number two.
Your feedback is encouraging. You've helped us succeed so far. And now we need your help to position us for a second album.
WE NEED OFFICIAL REVIEWS
We need for you to review the album. And do it everywhere you can! Do it on all the major platforms, at least: iTunes, Amazon MP3, Google Play, CD Baby, and anywhere you come across the Kaladin album! (I've provided the links to make it easy to find each one.) Review it in as many places as you can! Here's an article on how to do it on iTunes.
We Need Your Ratings!!
We Need Your Reviews!!!
Why Your Reviews Are Vital
The more and better the reviews, the easier it is for people to find the album, the more likely it will be that distributors (iTunes, Amazon, etc.) will feature it, which will get the attention of customers and potential investors, labels, publicity, critical claim, etc. All of which we absolutely need in order to be in a good position to negotiate a second album with DMG and Dragonsteel.
Our sales and acclaim will determine whether or not we can do a second album! We need you, our fans, now more than ever, to be active in rallying the troops! If you've listened to album, please leave a review! This is the most important thing you can to do help us ensure we've got more negotiating power when approaching DMG and Dragonsteel about doing a second album, especially if that album takes place in The Cosmere.
Your enthusiasm is motivating and inspiring. Now let's turn that passion into something more tangible. Your official reviews are key!
The Reward Report
Here's a quick overview of where we are with the rewards:
What Has Been Fulfilled (for those whose orders have been fully charged and locked down)
The Kaladin digital album (MP3 version, WAV version, and MIDI version)
Digital bookmarks
Digital art cards (individuals except Kaladin). Full sets are waiting on Kaladin
Natalie Rodgers' wallpaper
Digital conductor scores
Dinner for the Viral Contest Grand Prize Winner, Tyler Shelton, and his guest. (If you're interested in seeing some pictures, we'll be posting them on our social media!)
What Is Currently In Progress of Being Fulfilled
The Stormlight Selfies. Marina is hard at work drawing this right now!) Watch for yours in your email inbox!
Literary Consultations. Sae Sae has started working on her consultations. She is now booked up for the next year, so please be patient while you wait for her to read your work. But in the near-future, be on the lookout for an email from her requesting your work and getting the process started. If you have a time-sensitive need (in the form of a contest deadline, or submission deadline), please let her know and she'll adjust her schedule to accommodate as best she can.
What's Next
Custom Songs. Richard, Michael, and possibly Sandy will begin working on custom songs in March
Cd Booklet. Sae Sae is hard at work lining up the artwork for the physical albums. (This is for the 8-page cd booklet, not the 100 page art book). Once the cd booklet is complete, we'll be able to create and distribute our physical albums! (see below for details on the physical album)
Kaladin Art Card. Sae Sae and Seth Keller had some scheduling conflicts over the holidays, but they will get back to finishing the Kaladin art card in later February.
Art Book. Due to some health setbacks, Sae Sae will start designing the Art Book in late February, early March. We are hoping to have the art book ready to be shipped this summer.
Physical CDs. We're waiting on the artwork for the cd booklet to be complete but you can expect the physical cds to be available for purchase on all our distributors' platforms in March. (see below for info on recieving your physical album earlier than June if you've ordered one through Kickstarter and BackerKit.)
Reminder About When Physical Rewards are Coming
Just a reminder that all physical rewards will begin shipping in June! We're shooting for sooner, but end of June will be on-target.
If you would like to recieve your physical CD before June, please email us at [email protected].
Our aim is to save you shipping costs by bundling everything together in a single shipment (which is why you should expect your physical rewards this summer). But if you don't mind paying for shipping more than once, we can send you our physical cds in March.
Contest Winners - Literary Consultation
Will anyone who won a literary consultation with Sae Sae (from our kickstarter livestream, not as a purchased add-on), please email us at [email protected]? We're double checking our records and want to make sure that everyone gets their prizes. Thank you and sorry for the hassle!
If you do not email us letting us know you won a literary consultation, you will NOT recieve your free consult with Sae Sae!
Lastly, And Again,Thank You!
From the deepest recesses of our hearts and spiritwebs, thank you all!Your enthusiasm has been the most energizing, the most uplifting, the most wonderful support we could have ever hoped for. You are all so uniquely wonderful and it's been personally fulfilling to go through this with you, and not just for you. We are beyond grateful that we had the opportunity to share our music with you. You deserve every ounce of effort we can give you and we'll be working doubly hard this year to finish fulfilling your rewards and line things up for a second album. A massive and heartfelt Bridge Four salute to you all!
Warmest Regards,
Sae Sae, Michael, and Richard
A Big Update, When are We Releasing??, and LAST CALL for Order changes / updates / additions!!
over 6 years ago
– Wed, Dec 20, 2017 at 12:26:38 AM
Hi everyone!
We've got some big things for you in this update! Thank you for your patience in waiting for this to come out! It's been a wild, crazy ride on this end - and I'm happy to have the chance to tell you about it!
Before I get too far, I don't want you to miss the last section of this update - it's important: this is the last call for order changes, updates, additions, etc. on BackerKit! More on that below - but please read that section and go make any necessary updates to your order on BackerKit as soon as possible! (Thank you!)
What We've Been Doing
So, over the last few months, we've been putting our hearts and souls into writing, orchestrating, prepping, recording, mixing and mastering the Kaladin album - with all the bells and whistles! We've recorded some stellar strings in Budapest, a great choir in Salt Lake City, and amazing soloists in L.A. We hired one of the world's best mixers, Casey Stone, to mix the album, and an outstanding mastering engineer, Patricia Sullivan, to master (put the final touches on) the album!
If you've ever been a part of a big budget Hollywood soundtrack recording, you know it's a TON of work! And we wanted this to be a Hollywood-quality album! So, we put every ounce of effort into it! And to really give it everything it deserved, we had to go radio silent! We put in long, crazy hours - and we're excited to say that we made it happen!! (We know that most of you are as excited as we are about that!)
Pre-Release Party
Finishing up the album took quite a lot of effort and work, and after it all, poor Sae Sae had some major seizures, which have given the post-recording phase some challenges! (Such as not being able to send out any updates until now!)
However, after we finalized everything with the album, we were able to throw a great Pre-Release party, and invited everyone we could through Facebook and Twitter. We featured foods from the book (chouta!), we had some great posters up describing the process for the project, and a lot of people came and had a great time!
We got to release the THATH glyph by Isaac Stewart!!! (He even signed it for us!)
And we also had a surprise visit from a couple of special guests!!!
So, When are We Releasing, Already?!?!
The question on everyone's minds! Well, we are excited to announce (at last!) that we are releasing the digital album tonight (right now)!!! We will be sending the mp3s out via BackerKit. For those that are interested in the higher quality wav files, I'm working out a solution for delivering those soon as well - though, there may be another mechanism for that. Stay tuned.
In order to receive your copy of the digital album, you'll need to make sure you're all paid up on your rewards in BackerKit. Please let me know if you have any issues being able to download your copy of the album once your order is all finalized (minus the payment for shipping).
When will all the other rewards release?
Other digital rewards (digital: bookmarks, art cards, wallpapers) will begin releasing in January. We'll be working on the art book through the spring, so the digital art book as well as all of the physical rewards will all start shipping in June 2018.
Tell us your experience with the album: the new Black Piper forums
Once you've had a chance to listen to your new digital Kaladin album, let us know what you think! We've set up the brand new Black Piper forums. Tell us:
Which songs are your faves and why?
How does the music make you feel?
Does the music work for the scenes we're depicting?
Do you need to know specific pages for the scenes to understand what the music goes to or does the music speak for itself?
Do you think people would need to read the books in order to enjoy the music?
Anything else you want to say - regarding your experience, your thoughts about the campaign - anything!
LOCKING DOWN BACKERKIT
Here's an important piece of news: in conjunction with the release, we'll be locking down BackerKit. The last day to make final updates to your order is Thursday, December 21, 2017, at midnight PDT. After that, we will lock your reward selections and charge cards for add-on item purchases, pledge upgrades, and pre-orders. You can continue to update your shipping address up until we lock addresses for shipping.
If you haven’t answered your survey yet, if you fill out your BackerKit survey or pay for extra shipping after the order due date, we’ll still receive your information but your shipment may be delayed.
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://kaladin.backerkit.com.
THANK YOU!
Also, thank you all for being so responsive to answering our BackerKit survey—even though it may not seem like much as an individual backer, you have no idea how tremendously helpful this has been for me when trying to keep track of all 1900+ of you!
Thanks everyone for your support, and especially for your excitement and encouragement! Please don't stop telling us what we're doing right - or what we need to improve on! I can't tell you just how much your words mean to us!!! This has been - and continues to be - an incredible journey, and we are so grateful to be on it with you.
PLEASE - if you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to message us through Kickstarter or email us! We love hearing from you, and we'll make every effort to fix any issues and answer any questions!
