Cross Symphonic - A cinematic Chrono Cross album

[CptOvaltine]

I'll do my best to polish it as best as possible before I release it!

[chrono.source]

Take your time. Was just listening to some of this over the weekend. Keep it up!

[CptOvaltine]

Take your time. Was just listening to some of this over the weekend. Keep it up!

Thanks, Chrono.

I hope I don't over-hype this album. XD  All in all everything is running smoothly, things are just taking a bit longer than expected.

[CptOvaltine]

Hey guys, so I'm not overly publicizing this yet, but I've uploaded all of the edits and re-writes for tracks one and two on my soundcloud.  (links below)  I wanted to share them with all of you!  These tracks are FINISHED.  With a little mastering they could be ready for release!

Track 01: Torn Between Worlds
https://soundcloud.com/john-paul-hayward/torn-between-worlds-cross-symphonic

Track 02: Far From Home
https://soundcloud.com/john-paul-hayward/far-from-home-cross-symphonic

The youtube tracks are not updated, so if you want to hear the difference between the original version and the final version you should check those out!

[chrono.source]

Hey guys, so I'm not overly publicizing this yet, but I've uploaded all of the edits and re-writes for tracks one and two on my soundcloud.  (links below)  I wanted to share them with all of you!  These tracks are FINISHED.  With a little mastering they could be ready for release!

Track 01: Torn Between Worlds
https://soundcloud.com/john-paul-hayward/torn-between-worlds-cross-symphonic

Track 02: Far From Home
https://soundcloud.com/john-paul-hayward/far-from-home-cross-symphonic

The youtube tracks are not updated, so if you want to hear the difference between the original version and the final version you should check those out!

Awesome! will do over the weekend

[CptOvaltine]

Cool!  I hope they lived up to the expectation!

I will have something to tell you all on Monday/Tuesday, so make sure you drop by!

[CptOvaltine]

Hey all,

So, as promised here is an update on Cross Symphonic, and the future.

Back in January, right around the time I posted this thread, I started doing some research on licensing the music. During that process I was introduced to someone who was very interested in helping me produce this album...for a live orchestra! Long story short, we had planned to launch a Kickstarter in September to help offset the costs of an orchestra with an expected record date in October...well, obviously none of that happened. I haven't been able to get in touch with the interested party recently, so I'm not exactly sure what's happening, or if they're even still interested in this project.

That's where I'd like some feedback and/or some help. I've put enough time and energy into this now that I don't want to skimp on anything. So I have 1 of 3 options available:

1 - I can launch a Kickstarter to raise enough money to license the music, commission some art work, and send the tracks to be mixed and mastered - ensuring that virtual instruments will sound great on everyone's speakers...not just mine. This would be a digital release.

2 - Keep trying to get in touch with the previously interested party to see if I can get the ball rolling again.  This would be a limited physical release (including CD and Vinyl) and a digital release.

3 - I can launch a very ambitious Kickstarter to fund an orchestra + choir myself. This would be a limited physical release (including CD, Vinyl, album art poster) and a digital release.

Because of some work commitments whatever I choose will happen in February. If I haven't heard back from the previously interested party by then, I'm inclined to go with option 3 and take this on myself. I have several years of experience working with orchestras, as well as 2.5 orchestral/choral studio albums under my belt.  While this would be the most ambitious project I've worked on, it's not out of the realm of what I already do.

When writing Cross Symphonic I had always envisioned this being performed by a 90 piece symphony orchestra.  (For reference that's about the size of the orchestras used for the Star Wars movies) An orchestra this size costs anywhere from $60k - $90k depending on a few factors I have yet to decide on. 

I've already laid all of the ground work and received quotes to contract an orchestra as well as pricing for several different studios. (Including the studio where The Force Awakens was recorded.) I've spoken with a conductor and researched the licensing requirements.  All that's left is to come up with the money. If I could even fund-raise half of the budget I think I could figure out a way to get the rest.

My question is, do you think the fan interest is there to raise that kind of money, and if so would any of you be interested in helping me get the campaign in front of as many interested people as possible? For those that are interested in actively advertising both the campaign and album, I would happily let you listen to a private playlist of the entire album.  #bribery

I've always wanted to give the music from the Chrono series the same treatment - if not better- than what Final Fantasy gets. To my knowledge there isn't a big budget studio album dedicated to anything Chrono related out there.  I would not only like to change that, but would like to set a new standard for video game albums in the future.

[chrono.source]

I'm definitely loving the background you already have for this sort of project, (ie. previous orchestral work). I live in Canada and will most likely have to watch any orchestra created out of this on youtube or some other facet, but none the less I'm excited.

My personal thoughts would be to continually contact your interested party (let's call them... Sunstone Records), just in case they magically reappear, but continue your kickstarter to raise funds. Any funds produced could always go towards helping fund Sunstone Records and their initial proposal. At the same time definitely go forth with your full-blown project.

Now what sort of assistance would you be looking for specifically? I'm sure some of us here could probably pick up a few things here and there depending on the size of the project.

[CptOvaltine]

I'm definitely loving the background you already have for this sort of project, (ie. previous orchestral work). I live in Canada and will most likely have to watch any orchestra created out of this on youtube or some other facet, but none the less I'm excited.

My personal thoughts would be to continually contact your interested party (let's call them... Sunstone Records), just in case they magically reappear, but continue your kickstarter to raise funds. Any funds produced could always go towards helping fund Sunstone Records and their initial proposal. At the same time definitely go forth with your full-blown project.

Now what sort of assistance would you be looking for specifically? I'm sure some of us here could probably pick up a few things here and there depending on the size of the project.

Well the good news is that we can ship to Canada, so any album that we create will definitely be available to you!

I think that's a smart approach, although launching my own kickstarter could cause some problems with Sunstone Records (which is actually a cool name, maybe I should make that a thing. haha)  Since they wanted to launch their own kickstarter, and already have an audience to promote it to.

Ultimately my biggest shortcoming is marketing.  I've never been successful at marketing...well...anything really.  So my greatest fear is that if I try to take this on it will fail miserably simply because no one saw it.  If you guys are interested in helping we can create a group chat, google doc, or something where we can get together and see if we can come up with a basic strategy. Basically a plan to promote the kickstrater/album in various gaming communities, facebook groups, anywhere that Chrono music can find a few supporters. If we found 1,000 people who were interested in donating $100 we would be almost completely funded! I'd like to think there are more then a 1,000 people out there that are interested in Chrono Cross and wouldn't mind throwing a few dollars at this project.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

1 - I can launch a Kickstarter to raise enough money to license the music, commission some art work, and send the tracks to be mixed and mastered - ensuring that virtual instruments will sound great on everyone's speakers...not just mine. This would be a digital release.

2 - Keep trying to get in touch with the previously interested party to see if I can get the ball rolling again.  This would be a limited physical release (including CD and Vinyl) and a digital release.

3 - I can launch a very ambitious Kickstarter to fund an orchestra + choir myself. This would be a limited physical release (including CD, Vinyl, album art poster) and a digital release.

I would honestly recommend tiering it. Have different goals on the kickstarter, and the different goals will determine what gets done.

For example:

Raise $10k, you can get a digital only release as is.
Raise $25k, you can get the recordings mastered and do a digital-only release.
Raise $50k, mastered version and a full physical release.
Raise $100k, fully orchestrated version.

Something along those lines. And you can have rewards for backers. For example, donate $20+, you get whatever the best digital version ends up being. Donate $50, you get a full physical release plus the digital one. Donate $100+ and they all of the above plus a little goodie or something. Tiered rewards for backers.

That way, no matter what goal you end up hitting, you can get it out there and aren't limited by scope once you hit the first threshold.

Basically a plan to promote the kickstrater/album in various gaming communities, facebook groups, anywhere that Chrono music can find a few supporters. If we found 1,000 people who were interested in donating $100 we would be almost completely funded! I'd like to think there are more then a 1,000 people out there that are interested in Chrono Cross and wouldn't mind throwing a few dollars at this project.

Man, if only you got the blessing of Mitsuda's blessing on this. That would give it yet another level of endorsement we could leverage in marketing. I am not the most marketing savvy, but I do think you could hit up some mainstays of reddit (r/videogames, r/jrpg, r/music, whatever), plus whatever else the cool kids are doing these days. I can promise the first $100 donation.

[CptOvaltine]

I would honestly recommend tiering it. Have different goals on the kickstarter, and the different goals will determine what gets done.

For example:

Raise $10k, you can get a digital only release as is.
Raise $25k, you can get the recordings mastered and do a digital-only release.
Raise $50k, mastered version and a full physical release.
Raise $100k, fully orchestrated version.

Something along those lines. And you can have rewards for backers. For example, donate $20+, you get whatever the best digital version ends up being. Donate $50, you get a full physical release plus the digital one. Donate $100+ and they all of the above plus a little goodie or something. Tiered rewards for backers.

That way, no matter what goal you end up hitting, you can get it out there and aren't limited by scope once you hit the first threshold.

That's a solid approach, and one I had already planned on.  When talking and planning things out it was decided it would be best to set the kickstarter goal at around 20K - 25K.  That way we were pretty much guaranteed that it would be successful.  This was of course when I had Sunstone promoting this to their audience.

I think the plan is solid though, set a relatively low threshold for backers.  Maybe in the 10K range, which would be plenty for licensing and probably a very small physical release. Then we can set stretch goals for things like Vinyl, larger physical release etc.  Somewhere around the 20K - 30K mark we could do a live recorded EP with a smaller orchestra. 

There's no way we could record the full album with that, but we could likely get 3 or 4 tracks in front of an orchestra. Although it's a bit of a waste, as you spend the most time and money in the first few hours of recording while the orchestra learns to play in the new space and gets a feel for each other as well as the conductor.  Not to mention studios charge an arm and a leg for big set ups but short record times.

If we could hit the 50K - 60K mark I might be able to pull off coming up with the rest of the budget externally, but it would be a huge gamble for me.  If this didn't pan out I would be in trouble.  If we hit the 70K+ range I would guarantee the album and the larger orchestra.

There would of course be backer rewards.  Essentially pledging to the kickstarter would be like pre-ordering the album.  The more you pledge, the more swag you get.  $10 - $20 would be a digital download of the album, $30 - $50 would be a physical CD, where as $80 - $100 would be a Vinyl.  Then you can break into the bigger tiers, $250 could be a signed CD & Vinyl for example.  (Not that anyone would care about my signature. haha)  We would have to come up with some nice rewards for big spenders.  We could also do limited tiers - so for the first 5 people to donate 1K they can attend the recording session if they live in the area, or something like that. There are plenty of possibilities, we would just have to think about it.

Man, if only you got the blessing of Mitsuda's blessing on this. That would give it yet another level of endorsement we could leverage in marketing. I am not the most marketing savvy, but I do think you could hit up some mainstays of reddit (r/videogames, r/jrpg, r/music, whatever), plus whatever else the cool kids are doing these days. I can promise the first $100 donation.

Haha I see what you did there.  If I had a way to get in touch with him I would try and see if there was any way that he would endorse the album.  That would go a LONG way.  I think the only way to really get it in front of him would be to use reddit and twitter.  If enough people start talking about it, and tagging him in tweets/hashtags, it could potentially get in front of him.  From there all we could really do is hope and pray he decides to promote it or not.

Ultimately, whether Sunstone gets back in touch with me or not, if I could do this myself I would prefer it. There are a lot of strings, not to mention a 10 year revenue sharing contract that is involved with them producing this.  If I were able to do it myself I would have a lot more bargaining power and control over the production.  Afterwards I would have no problem signing with them and having them handle distribution. It would set me up with a lot more flexibility to work on my next tribute album...which I would really love to be Chrono Trigger.

I really appreciate the support, and the willingness to help/donate!   If you guys would like to help out, and are interested in hearing my mock ups I would be happy to create a private playlist for you guys to listen to the full album as a thank you!

[Razig]

I would be interested in a CD of the album.

I don't remember where I read it, and I don't know if it's true, but I've heard that Mitsuda is very reasonable about licensing. Especially Chrono series stuff, since it's his favorite thing he's ever done.

A lot of fully funded Kickstarters still end up failing because they go a little too nuts with all the bonus goodies and forget to set aside enough money to actually get all that stuff shipped out. Is there really enough demand for vinyl to make it worth the expense? Not just the expense of producing it, but also consider the heavy-duty packaging it will require.

[CptOvaltine]

I would be interested in a CD of the album.

I don't remember where I read it, and I don't know if it's true, but I've heard that Mitsuda is very reasonable about licensing. Especially Chrono series stuff, since it's his favorite thing he's ever done.

A lot of fully funded Kickstarters still end up failing because they go a little too nuts with all the bonus goodies and forget to set aside enough money to actually get all that stuff shipped out. Is there really enough demand for vinyl to make it worth the expense? Not just the expense of producing it, but also consider the heavy-duty packaging it will require.

I was actually able to get my music in front of Mitsuda via Sunstone last year, and he was very receptive to the music. However, without Sunstone's involvement I have no connection to him, or anyway to contact him.  The licensing isn't really an issue, as most licensing companies have access to all of the Cross licenses I need.  It's more the exposure I'm worried about.

A year ago I would have agreed with you about Vinyl.  I've had some very interesting conversations with a few self promoters, as well as Sunstone, and they both say that Vinyl is one of the best incentives in a campaign representing upwards of 60% of revenue/pledges.  I guess in the collectors market it's a big deal.

Fortunately I own a small publishing company, so I'm very accustomed to shipping goods.  I also have negotiated rates with UPS and USPS that will give me an edge up on everything.

[Razig]

A year ago I would have agreed with you about Vinyl.  I've had some very interesting conversations with a few self promoters, as well as Sunstone, and they both say that Vinyl is one of the best incentives in a campaign representing upwards of 60% of revenue/pledges.  I guess in the collectors market it's a big deal.

Weird. I feel like a dinosaur for insisting on having CDs as a backup instead of just trusting everything to digital. I can't imagine wanting something even more outdated and obsolete just to put it on a shelf. Why don't the hipsters go for something real old school and insist on wax cylinders?

[CptOvaltine]

A year ago I would have agreed with you about Vinyl.  I've had some very interesting conversations with a few self promoters, as well as Sunstone, and they both say that Vinyl is one of the best incentives in a campaign representing upwards of 60% of revenue/pledges.  I guess in the collectors market it's a big deal.

Weird. I feel like a dinosaur for insisting on having CDs as a backup instead of just trusting everything to digital. I can't imagine wanting something even more outdated and obsolete just to put it on a shelf. Why don't the hipsters go for something real old school and insist on wax cylinders?

Haha give it time. They have to insist on 8 track tapes first, then we'll get back there.

Needless to say, if funded there will be CDs.