Christopher Tin's debut album Calling All Dawns

[Thunderfall]

Christopher Tin, composer of the Civilization IV theme song "Baba Yetu", today announced that his debut album Calling All Dawns is now available for pre-order. CDs sold during the pre-order period will be individually signed and numbered by Christopher Tin. The CDs will ship on the album's official release date of October 1st; and on that day, those who have pre-ordered will be e-mailed a link to a complimentary download of the full album.

Calling All Dawns consists of twelve songs in twelve different languages. It is a narrative told in three parts--day, night, and dawn--about life, death and rebirth. Each song flows seamlessly into the next, and the album ends on the same chord that it opens with--thereby representing the fluid, cyclical nature of the universe. It carries a strong message of unity: that regardless of race, culture and religious belief, we are all connected through our common human experience:

01. Baba Yetu (Swahili)
02. Mado Kara Mieru (Japanese)
03. Dao Zai Fan Ye (Mandarin)
04. Se E Pra Vir Que Venha (Portuguese)
05. Rassemblons-Nous (French)
06. Lux Aeterna (Latin)
07. Caoineadh (Irish)
08. Hymn Do Trojcy Swietej (Polish)
09. Hayom Kadosh (Hebrew)
10. Hamsafar (Farsi)
11. Sukla-Krsne (Sanskrit)
12. Kia Hora Te Marino (Maori)

The album was recorded at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Performers on the album include the Grammy-winning Soweto Gospel Choir, Grammy-nominated opera singer Frederica von Stade, Portuguese fado sensation Dulce Pontes, early-music quartet Anonymous 4, and Iranian singer Sussan Deyhim, among many others. Calling All Dawns was recorded and mixed by three-time Grammy-winning engineer John Kurlander.

To hear a preview of Calling All Dawns, visit the samples page on Christopher Tin's website.

When you pre-order, you can use promo code CIVFANATICS to save $1 off a single album purchase! If you order more than one CD, then the code should NOT be used since there is already discount for that.

[PieceOfMind]

I was very excited to finally receive by email the news of this album's upcoming release. You beat me to announcing it! lol

And we can save $1 by being civanatics memebers! (seriously, thanks)

I highly recommend checking out the samples.

[Thunderfall]

Originally Posted by PieceOfMind

I was very excited to finally receive by email the news of this album's upcoming release. You beat me to announcing it! lol

And we can save $1 by being civanatics memebers! (seriously, thanks)

I highly recommend checking out the samples.

I need to give my members some goodies, however small. Just make sure you only use the code when ordering 1 copy.

I also recommend checking out the album samples. Great stuff there!

[valamas]

The civ4 version of Baba Yetu can be found in the default installation folder...
C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets\Sounds\Soundtrack\

Filename is
OpeningMenu.mp3 or OpeningMenuCIV4.mp3

This is at least on my computer.

(Btw Thunderfall, nice flower, and with shock damage!)

[Varelse]

Originally Posted by PieceOfMind

I was very excited to finally receive by email the news of this album's upcoming release. You beat me to announcing it! lol

And we can save $1 by being civanatics memebers! (seriously, thanks)

I highly recommend checking out the samples.

And where can one find these samples?

[Netich]

Great news. Ive preordered the CD (thanks for the $1, CFC!! )

I really like the samples, very inspiring... but i prefer the original version of Baba Yetu.

[chrissifniotis]

Brilliant sound, very good music, but I won't be getting the album, not unless there's a way to buy from the counter.

I realize it's somewhat off topic, but does anyway know or can direct me to a site that has the lyrics to 'The People Are Heroes' from the Civ4 soundtrack?

[PieceOfMind]

Originally Posted by Varelse

And where can one find these samples?

Originally Posted by Thunderfall

To hear a preview of Calling All Dawns, visit the samples page on Christopher Tin's website.

8char

[Thunderfall]

Originally Posted by chrissifniotis

Brilliant sound, very good music, but I won't be getting the album, not unless there's a way to buy from the counter.

Not sure if the album will be available at places like Amazon.com, but I know it will be available in iTunes.

I realize it's somewhat off topic, but does anyway know or can direct me to a site that has the lyrics to 'The People Are Heroes' from the Civ4 soundtrack?

First link in Google search results has the lyrics.

[chrissifniotis]

Oo Weird, and thank you.

[Pikkis]

Nice to see this was published here too, though I read about this in an email before I noticed this piece of news here. I thought about preordering one like many here, but the shipping and handling costs to Finland were so massive, and the samples so good, that I decided to buy five pieces (which don't get much bigger shipping and handling costs than just one). Now I can give the additional ones as (very unique) presents to my friends when they have birthdays or something like that.

[christophertin]

Hi everyone,

Christopher Tin, here. Thunderfall suggested that I post here, so I finally made an account.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone--and thanks to those who ordered! You're very kind, all of you. I've been working on this for so long, and it's been such a labor of love, that it's very gratifying to hear people's responses to the music.

I'll be posting new samples within a few days, that are longer and give a better sense of the scope of the project. The album uses Baba Yetu as a starting point and evolves from there, covering a wide range of world sounds and textures. There are still the thrilling drum and choral songs (#2 Mado Kara Mieru and #10 are my personal favs), but there are a few slower, more haunting pieces as well. I hope you enjoy what I've put together. The album's being mastered at the moment, but that should be done within a week at the most.

For those of you who have questions about sales and distribution, the download version will become available Oct. 1st on my website as high quality MP3s, and possibly even as full-quality AIFFs. For those of you who live abroad, this will be the least expensive way to go, as I know shipping can be quite expensive. (Or hey, you can do what Pikkis did and order a bunch, to lower the per-unit cost! Thanks, Pikkis!)

Sometime after October 1st, the album will be available on iTunes around the world, so for those of you who would rather do it that way, that's an option as well.

If you have any more questions, feel free to email me at mail@christophertin.com, or just respond to this thread. Thanks!

Humbly yours,

Chris

[Thunderfall]

Glad to see you here, Chris!

For those of you who have questions about sales and distribution, the download version will become available Oct. 1st on my website as high quality MP3s, and possibly even as full-quality AIFFs. For those of you who live abroad, this will be the least expensive way to go, as I know shipping can be quite expensive.

Will the download-only version have same price or lower?

PS: I have added an avatar for you.

[PieceOfMind]

Originally Posted by christophertin

Hi everyone,

Christopher Tin, here. Thunderfall suggested that I post here, so I finally made an account.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone--and thanks to those who ordered! You're very kind, all of you. I've been working on this for so long, and it's been such a labor of love, that it's very gratifying to hear people's responses to the music.

I'll be posting new samples within a few days, that are longer and give a better sense of the scope of the project. The album uses Baba Yetu as a starting point and evolves from there, covering a wide range of world sounds and textures. There are still the thrilling drum and choral songs (#2 Mado Kara Mieru and #10 are my personal favs), but there are a few slower, more haunting pieces as well. I hope you enjoy what I've put together. The album's being mastered at the moment, but that should be done within a week at the most.

For those of you who have questions about sales and distribution, the download version will become available Oct. 1st on my website as high quality MP3s, and possibly even as full-quality AIFFs. For those of you who live abroad, this will be the least expensive way to go, as I know shipping can be quite expensive. (Or hey, you can do what Pikkis did and order a bunch, to lower the per-unit cost! Thanks, Pikkis!)

Sometime after October 1st, the album will be available on iTunes around the world, so for those of you who would rather do it that way, that's an option as well.

If you have any more questions, feel free to email me at mail@christophertin.com, or just respond to this thread. Thanks!

Humbly yours,

Chris

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the extra info. Can I strongly encourage the idea of full quality AIFFs (as an option)? I am one of the ones who would find the S&H prohibitive so it would put my mind at ease if I knew I was not getting a reduced quality version by buying the download version. After all, the music you are producing is not the sort most people would want to put through lossy compression!

One more question - Is it possible to preorder a download version without intending to get the physical CD? Or is that unnecessary anyway as the download will be available the same time as for the preorderers?

The alternative would be to wait until the CD hits local retailers but I would imagine it would be difficult to give any sort of ETA on that option yet.

Cheers,
PieceOfMind

[Strahlemann]

Wow, that's great. Judging from the samples, "Calling All Dawns" will be an awesome album. I definitely will buy it.

Originally Posted by christophertin

Sometime after October 1st, the album will be available on iTunes around the world, so for those of you who would rather do it that way, that's an option as well.

Any infos on how long it will take till the album will arrive on itunes (Germany)?

And, btw, didn't you already have an account here?

[christophertin]

Hi again everyone,

Thunderfall, thanks for the avatar!

To answer your questions, yes, the download only version will be priced lower... probably the same price as iTunes ($10), but I'll be offering a higher resolution MP3 and a full-quality AIFF version.

As far as pre-ordering download versions, yes, that's a little moot since they won't be released until October 1st anyway. So essentially the pre-orders are simply for people who want a signed, limited edition physical copy.

As far as iTunes releases go, I'm really not sure--I'll be sending it to iTunes Oct. 1st, but they say they can take anywhere from one to six weeks. It will be available for all worldwide iTunes, though.

And finally... Strahlemann, you're quite right! Apparently I did have another account. (Whoops.)

Chris

[Netich]

Its great that you can read this topic, since your music (especially this CD) fits us Civ players very well.

I just want to say that the circle concept is just brilliant. Its like travelling around the world, and finally returning to the place you started. I wonder if there are also common patterns or common harmony progressions between the songs...

[christophertin]

Originally Posted by Netich

I just want to say that the circle concept is just brilliant. Its like travelling around the world, and finally returning to the place you started. I wonder if there are also common patterns or common harmony progressions between the songs...

Yeah, there totally are!

A number of themes get repeated throughout the album--themes that correspond to light, resurrection, etc. Sometimes the main theme of one song becomes the bridge of another, etc. It's sort of a unified whole, if you will, that charts a long narrative arc (although I'm sure people will be skipping around between tracks, depending on what mood they're in).

Here's another example; the last song, the Maori prayer 'Kia Hora Te Marino' takes the two main themes from Baba Yetu (the opening female 'ooh' and the notes of 'Baba yetu, yetu uliye'), inverts their order, and then develops from there. It's also in the same key as Baba Yetu, so that when it ends, it fades out on an open G chord--the same chord that Baba Yetu fades in on.

[Netich]

Originally Posted by christophertin

Yeah, there totally are!

A number of themes get repeated throughout the album--themes that correspond to light, resurrection, etc. Sometimes the main theme of one song becomes the bridge of another, etc. It's sort of a unified whole, if you will, that charts a long narrative arc (although I'm sure people will be skipping around between tracks, depending on what mood they're in).

Here's another example; the last song, the Maori prayer 'Kia Hora Te Marino' takes the two main themes from Baba Yetu (the opening female 'ooh' and the notes of 'Baba yetu, yetu uliye'), inverts their order, and then develops from there. It's also in the same key as Baba Yetu, so that when it ends, it fades out on an open G chord--the same chord that Baba Yetu fades in on.

Can't wait...