Greetings! This is Bayohne from the Community team.

Following our recent coverage of new merchandise that debuted during the Digital Fan Festival, today we'd like to showcase our music-related merchandise, the FINAL FANTASY XIV Vinyl LP Box!

It's an extravagant LP Box containing the following four records:
A REALM REBORN Vinyl LP

HEAVENSWARD Vinyl LP

STORMBLOOD Vinyl LP

SHADOWBRINGERS Vinyl LP

Price: $99.99

(Individual LPs: $29.99 each)

This is our first time releasing LP merchandise for FFXIV and is sure to be a must-have for record enthusiasts! For those curious what records are, allow us to describe a bit of their appeal.

The eye-catching jacket illustrations were designed by KUROIMORI, whose work was also featured in our Japanese FreestyleArt gallery!

The warm and nostalgic colors and effects are quite striking. The characters are drawn with soft brush strokes, and the backgrounds are illustrated in minute detail. We highly recommend taking a look at the physical illustrations yourself!

The dimensions of these LP jackets are approximately 12.2" x 12.2" (310mm x 310mm), so you can enjoy the beautiful artwork in all its glory! But the jacket isn't the only thing that's amazing about this LP...

The sound quality of a record is heavily influenced by the process of cutting grooves in the vinyl. In our case, the LP records are crafted by none other than American audio engineer Bernie Grundman!

Bernie Grundman is an audio mastering engineer from the United States. As an engineer, he has contributed to the work of some of the biggest names in music, such as Carole King, Michael Jackson, and Steely Dan. He's a celebrity who's been nominated for multiple Grammy Awards and many other commendations!

We even spoke with the legend himself!

(The following is a summary of a conversation during a remote meeting held in April.)

FFXIV Sound Director Masayoshi Soken
"How was the audio I sent you?"

Bernie Grundman
"Great job! The composition was obviously wonderful, but even the parts that are difficult to adjust, like the enunciation of the female vocals, were processed very neatly. Data loss, whether it be great or small, is inevitable when mastering the original sound data onto a storage device. But with my studio and specialized tools, I was able to master the audio to sound clear and natural."

Soken
"When I previously listened to a record you mastered, I was blown away by the sheer range of sounds that could be expressed with records!"

Bernie
"When it comes to data, it can be prone to digital irregularities, like "S" sounds becoming too sharp. With records, they produce true sound based on a physical representation, so it's harder for that sort of thing to happen. Analog methods are about how beautifully they can channel the signals. Records are wonderful. Not just their sounds, but their size, their jackets, and illustrations too. Even if digital and streaming can be convenient, I think being able to store audio in a physical form is something that's important nowadays."

Soken
"That's true. The sound wasn't the only element where we focused on quality; we emphasized it in the packaging too! It's KUROIMORI's artwork, and we specifically selected the paper and colors to be used. I think it turned out wonderfully, so I'd like to get it out there for everyone as soon as possible."

Soken and Bernie seemed to have a blast as they continued talking about all sorts of technical topics, but perhaps that's a tale for another time!

We hope you'll pick one up for yourself and enjoy the warm sounds unique to records. And they also come with a code to download the songs in MP3.

The Vinyl LP Box will be available around August 31, 2021! Check out the promotional site for the track list and other product details!

Bayohne
- Community team