Help Fund WMGSO's Second Studio Album!
We're counting on you to help us record 'Crystals in Time '
Organized by Washington Metropolitan Gamer Symphony Orchestra
Story
Campaign Update
4 months ago
First, we want to extend our sincerest thanks for your patience and continued support as we work to bring our upcoming album, Crystals in Time, to life. We know there have been some delays, and we truly appreciate your understanding as we ensure every detail is perfect.
Today, we’re excited to offer another preview of the album, guided by our album director, Josh Haas. In this update, you’ll hear audio clips from “Heart of the People” (from Final Fantasy X), showcasing the album’s evolving sound. We’ll take you behind the scenes, from our early recording sessions to where we are now in the audio editing process. It’s a unique opportunity to hear how Crystals in Time is coming together.
We’re grateful for your continued support, and we can’t wait to share more as we move closer to the album’s release. Stay tuned for more updates—we’re almost there!
Stay tuned for future updates, and happy holidays,
Kara Welch | PR Director | WMGSO
Campaign Update
7 months ago
Over the last several months, we've provided insight into the workflow behind creating WMGSO's upcoming album, Crystals in Time, through a Q&A series with our Album Director.
Today, we're excited to share behind-the-scenes audio clips from Crystals in Time, a project that's been years in the making. In this video, we're giving our backers an exclusive glimpse into this incredible journey, from our recording sessions in the studio to where we are in the audio editing process today.
We're very proud of how far we've come and hope you enjoy a first taste of the album's evolving sound.
Campaign Update
about 1 year ago
Our audio editing team has spent hundreds of hours editing our upcoming album, Crystals in Time. While we're working, we want to give you a behind-the-scenes view of what making an album involves after the fun part in the recording studio. Our audio goes through three post-production stages before we sign, seal, and deliver our Final Fantasy tunes to your ears.
Half of our tunes are now done with Tier 1 editing which involves take-picking and rough editing. In the studio, we record lots of takes. For example, sometimes only violins are playing, or everyone but the violins are playing. We rarely get "perfect" takes, but we get loads of "good" takes. Most of our takes are a mixed bag where a great take from violins, might not be so great from trumpets, or vice versa. The Tier 1 team sorts through all this with our arrangers and musical leadership, then weaves everyone's best together into a coherent whole. Tier 1 editing is a huge amount of work, so we're glad to have a bunch of volunteer editors take it on! By the time Tier 1 audio editing is finished, everything is there and you'd recognize what we're playing. But, it's not polished yet.
Tier 2 is detailed editing and mixing. Our concertmaster, Elias, and his cat, Howl, are doing this work. Elias is adjusting intonation, cleaning up microphone bleed, and editing things our Tier 1 team couldn't tackle. As he put it, "This kind of editing can be like mining for iron in the swamps of Valheim." It's hard work digging so deep! Once editing work is complete, he can refine the artistic balance and blend that makes our music shine. After Tier 2, the music sounds the way we want for release, but it isn't quite ready yet.
What we're calling Tier 3 is the final mastering for the album. We'll take everything back to Omega Recording Studios and have their pro engineers take a final pass over each track. They'll optimize balance and volume to ensure that our musical vision sounds great in all the different formats (like CD audio, Spotify or YouTube streaming, etc.). Once we're finished here, our music is ready to go out into the world!
Do you have audio editing experience and want to help us with our future endeavors, or live mixing our concerts for our Twitch streams? Learn more about how to get involved here.
Can't wait to share more,
Kara Welch (PR Director) & Josh Haas (Album Director)
WMGSO
Campaign Update
about 1 year ago
We want to express our deepest gratitude to everyone who supported our album fundraising campaign! We have some news to share as we enter the next stage of development.
Our audio team and their cat companions continue to be hard at work editing and mixing our album tracks for Crystals in Time. This work isn't as glamorous as the studio recording days, but it's a critical part of the polished studio sound we're delivering with this project.
Our current hurdle is ensuring full licensing agreements with the entities who hold the rights to the original Final Fantasy tunes we've recorded. Our lawyers have been pursuing fair use agreements appropriate to our unique musical interpretations for 1.5 years; before we even started recording! As soon as these licensing agreements are complete, we'll be on the fast track to getting our album in your hands!
Stay tuned for more news!
Kara Welch | Acting PR Director | WMGSO
P.S., VGM audio editing with Morpheus, cat of dreams.
Campaign Update
about 1 year ago
We realized we left things a little open-ended, so we're happy to officially announce that Crystals in Time, our Final Fantasy album, is funded! We are working every day to bring our music to your ears.
Between our Indiegogo & Givebutter campaigns, we reached 82% of our total funding goal: raising $22,168 of our $27,000 ask.
Because we didn't reach our full funding goal, we made several adjustments to ensure the album will still be produced: we prioritized paying for studio recording hours and cut expenses by moving portions of audio editing in-house and reallocated funds from our general budget.
We will release our album when it has the best possible, most professional sound, & our full licensing agreements are set in stone. The audio editing stage has called for a longer processing period while our in-house volunteers are editing and mixing the audio, with hundreds of hours poured into this labor of love at this step alone. We will continue to provide progress and time frame updates. We are also leaving the Givebutter funding campaign open until the album is released, with any additional donations used to compensate our volunteers and advertise the final product.
While you wait, check out our Day 2 in the Studio Recap on YouTube documenting WMGSO's adventures last summer at Omega Recording Studios. This heartfelt home video shows your donations at work!
More news coming soon,
Kara Welch | PR Director | WMGSO
P.S., don't forget to check out our latest YouTube studio recap video when you can!
Campaign Update
10 months ago
Our last few album updates have taken you behind the scenes of our production process, defining tier 1-3 editing and outlining our licensing situation. Today, we wanted to bring you the third in a series of interview questions with our Album Director, Josh Haas, for a more personal take on the album development workflow.
Question: If there was one part of the album production you could re-do, what step would it be and why?
Answer (Album Director, Josh Haas): I badly underestimated how difficult the licensing process could be for music with as much creative liberty taken as ours. It's been well over a year since we started that process, and we still don't have a good idea when or how it will resolve. If I could have done one thing differently, I'd have put a little more creative restraint on our arrangers - myself included! - so that all the tracks on our album could be handled under much simpler compulsory licensing. I love our creativity very much; it's a part of what makes WMGSO special! Until music licensing laws are more supportive of our creativity, we'll have to keep ourselves in check when we're recording.
Stay tuned for more info about Crystals in Time coming soon 
