Hello everyone and hope that once again you're having a great week and are keeping warm in these chilly winter times (apparently snow is coming in the UK)! It's been another busy week here at JabunAudio with lots of exciting updates to share. Last weekend was Winter NAMM 2019 which although I wasn't there in person, I had a blast catching up with in all the various news blogs about studio and musical gear and my lord it looks to have been a great start to the year for music, with SO many things piquing my interest (affordable modular synths, anyone?). I'm sure you know what I'm talking about if you followed the NAMM news too, but in case it's not your cup of tea, I'll quit my fanboying for the moment. If you did follow the news, leave a comment below with your top gear wishlist additions and I'll share mine in a reply too! With all that said, let's get into some actual JabunAudio news!

First on the cards this week, a notable update for the upcoming Better Than The Book "Hopes and Dreams" album as this weekend all ten first draft mixes for the album were finally completed! We're really approaching the final hurdles now, and with things in a great state at the moment, I've decided to take a short break from the audio to freshen my ears (and catch up on some admin work), and come back to it with some perspective before making the final mix tweaks, mastering the album, and sending it out for some feedback in February. My aim is still to have the album out around April and I think at the rate things are going, it's a good timeline to work with. February is looking to be a pretty busy month though with other things, so we'll see how timing works out, and check back in at the end of February. Exciting times, and if you can't wait to hear something, head over to Patreon (www.patreon.com/NickStanding) for more BTTB news and teasers while you wait (more on that in a second)!

Next this week, I've another very appropriately timed track from World Beyond to share "Where Fires Burn Bright". I'm on lead, bass and acoustic guitar for this one, and it's a lovely contrasting atmospheric track compared to the other more hard hitting metal vibes on the album. I hope you enjoy the animated visualiser that Vlad put together, and no doubt there'll be more where that came from next week! 

​Finally this week, yesterday was the final Wednesday of the month which means I've just sent out another batch of rewards to the $5+ patrons on Patreon. This time I'm sharing the final piece of the publicly available Better Than The Book discography, a bonus instrumental version of BTTB's debut album: "Two Years On [Instrumentals]". If that sounds all good to you then become a $5+ patron to access Two Years On [Instrumentals] immediately (or you can pick up a copy from bandcamp). This latest reward will also be sent out to the $2 Hi-Fi Pigeons (everything) and $1 Pigeons (Mp3s and Artwork only) next week on Wednesday 6th February (which'll actually be the 2 year anniversary for Two Years On [Instrumentals], and the 3 year anniversary for Two Years On), and if you aren't already a patron, remember that you'll also be able to access all the previous music downloads for your tier too when you sign up, including the entire (current) Better Than The Book discography (One Small Step EP, Two Years On album, and more)!
​          For those of you who decide to join (or have already joined) the $10 DEMOlition Pigeon tier or higher, you're in for a treat too as this month I'll be diving into the creation of more Better Than The Book artwork since the One Small Step EP, as well as sharing one of the first draft mixes from the new album! Fun times! [Note: Patreon charges on sign-up AND on the 1st of each month, so to keep the cost low for you folks, be sure to wait for the start of the new month before signing up or changing your subscription tier. Many thanks for the support!]  

And that about wraps things up for this week! I'm actually away for much of the following few weeks, so I'm not sure how much I'll be getting done during that time, but my aim is to continue working on the Hopes and Dreams album when I can and I'm sure there'll be more visualisers from the recent World Beyond album to share each week at the very least. Until next time, I hope you have a great week whatever you're up to (stay warm), and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio and my various music projects. Take care! 

Hi everyone, and hope you're keeping warm this week as it's REALLY started to get chilly here in the UK. Feels like this post will be almost a repeat of last week's one, as once again there's a new track from the latest World Beyond album to share, I'm getting even more excited about NAMM 2019 (which sets up today!) and all the amazing pieces of gear that have been announced over the past week, and there's some more updates on the upcoming Better Than The Book "Hopes and Dreams" album to share too. Let's get started!

Another week and another track from World Beyond's "Nobody Asked For This So I Did It" album to share, and this time it's an appropriately chilly visualizer for the track "Dawnbreaker"! Once again I'm on clean guitars and bass for this one. If you've yet to check it out, go listen to "Nobody Asked For This So I Did It" on bandcamp, and I hope you enjoy the new video! 

 
Finally this week, another update on the upcoming Better Than The Book "Hopes and Dreams" album! It's been an intensely productive week working on this and as of Tuesday, 9 tracks have their (at least) first draft mixes completed, and the final track is in the works! Things are really starting to shape up, and after this last one is done, it'll just be some final tweaks and mastering to do, then the audio will be finished! There's still more to sort out though, like artwork and the admin side of things, so I'll still be aiming for a release around April. If you can't wait for that though, head over to www.patreon.com/NickStanding to pick up the previous albums/EPs/singles and more, and even some demos of what's to come! Hope to see you there, and looking forward to sharing this project with you soon!

And that about wraps things up for this post. No doubt I'll be spending my week, keeping informed about all the exciting NAMM news to come out over the next few days while being busy working on the final mix of this new album. Sounds like a good one to me, and we'll see what else happens in the next blog post. Until then, I hope you have a great week whatever you're up to, stay warm, and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio, Better Than The Book, World Beyond and my various music projects. Take care!

Hello everyone and hope you've been having a great week since the last post! As always it's been busy on my end, mostly mixing the upcoming Better Than The Book album "Hopes and Dreams" (more on that in a second), but also doing some audio consultation for a science podcast which has been a nice change of scenery! With Winter NAMM 2019 (the music tech convention) just around the corner too, exciting news and new gear is starting to be released, and so it's been a great week for fanboying about all the cool new stuff soon to hit shelves from my favourite manufacturers. Perhaps I'll be able to go in person at some point.. Anyways, it's only a short(ish) post this week, but let's start by sharing some more music from last year's World Beyond album! Onward!

The videos keep coming from World Beyond and this week I'm happy to present to you the 13th video in the tracklist for "Nobody Asked For This So I Did It": "Heavy Duty"! As usual I'm playing bass, but I'm also playing clean guitars too this time! We're over halfway through the playlist now, and I'm wondering what'll be next in the video series! If you've yet to check it out, go listen to "Nobody Asked For This So I Did It" on bandcamp, and I hope you enjoy the visualizer for Heavy Duty! ​

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Next and lastly this week, I just have a few updates to share for the upcoming Better Than The Book album "Hopes and Dreams". As of yesterday 7 mixes are ready for their final checks, with just 3 left to do. These last 5 mixes have been a little more difficult than those I finished last year, as I've done myself the favour (or disservice) of doing all the easy/smaller ones first. It's going mostly smoothly so far though, even if a little slower than before, and I'm still aiming to have all 10 tracks to the same standard ready for the final checks, tweaks and mastering in February. Exciting times and I'll keep you updated with it all as things unfold.

In the mean time while I'm finishing up this sophomore BTTB album, check out the first one "Two Years On" on bandcamp! For even more bang for your buck though, you can head over to Patreon, where you can pick-up Two Years On, the One Small Step EP, and a load of other tracks when you sign up for as little as $1 a month! Pick one of the higher tiers to hear the new album before anyone else and get unreleased demos and behind the scenes content too (and even more depending on your tier). More information over on Patreon, hope to see you there, and let's try to hit our 1st target by the time the new album is finished! We're almost halfway there (Livin' on a Prayer)!

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

That about wraps things up for this week! I'll be working hard to get another BTTB mix done before the end of the week (and another one started before the next blog post), and we shall see what other mysteries shall occur in the next 7 days! Until next time and beyond, I hope you have a great week whatever you're up to and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio and my various music projects. See you in the next post, and take care!

Happy New Year everyone and hope you had a great winter break, festive celebrations and first week of 2019! It's been a busy week for me getting back into the swing of things, but it's nice to be back and there is much to share this week, both in terms of music, as well as news and updates. Before we get onto that though, let's briefly look back at the holiday and see what I got up to!

Unfortunately as usual I've been quite ill for the past few weeks, but that didn't stop me from trying to have a good and busy time! It was great to catch up with family and friends, and the new Spiderman was a fantastic watch at the cinema, probably the freshest film I've seen in ages! It was also fantastic to catch up with my old bandmate and friend Andy Forman who I've not seen in far too long! You can hear him playing guitar on Woof Woof, Nag Nag and shouting with the crowd in the rest of the One Small Step EP, as well as in our other past work together in Lights, Camera, Attraction! Looking back at last year's post, it looks like almost a repeat of last winter, as again due to illness I didn't manage to have a jam, or skate with my brother, and this time not even visit Brighton due to illness... I did however make the most of playing my old gigging Ashdown bass amp (as well as other instruments I don't have here). Boy I miss those low end vibes!

As with the holiday season, I was blessed with some great gifts this year too, including the usual edibles and vouchers, some Yu-Gi-Oh! cards (yes, I am a child a heart), and an additional hard drive for backing up all that audio hard work (always useful and just in time as I was running low on free space). My brother also got me a keytar strap kit for my Yamaha Reface Piano which works a charm, frees me from the keyboard stand when needed, and is REALLY well designed! Now I just need to get some more rechargeable batteries to free myself from the AC adapter! The final highlights were some amazing experience gifts for the new year: tickets to see Ozzy Osbourne and KISS on their final tours, a ticket to the always amazing Australian Pink Floyd, and a visit to the Marvel Exhibition in London, all of which I'm super excited for! All in all a super generous set of gifts this year! Thanks so much everyone!

And with that said, enough talk of the holidays and let's get back to some of the usual JabunAudio news! First there's a load of new music videos to share from World Beyond, then some more announcements and updates before we take a moment to reflect on 2018 and set some new goals for 2019! Let's get started!

Firstly this week, I have a whole load of new music videos to share from World Beyond from our recent album "Nobody Asked For This So I Did It", so feel free to check them out below if you missed them over the holidays. The album is also now available from all major digital retailers and streaming services, and you can find all the links you'll need via the URL below! I hope you enjoy it all, and be sure to subscribe to World Beyond's YouTube Channel to be the first to see the new videos. Cheers!

Nobody Asked For This So I Did It: ​https://fanlink.to/naftsidi

"Every day for the past 4+ years I get a little note from my girlfriend and fold it into a paper crane. It’s become such a big part of my life that it’s ended up in my album art and I have 1000s of them now!
     But the birds were not credited on the album and have exacted their vengeance by stealing my precious Jaguar! I must gather a band of misfits, acquire a new set of instruments, and do battle on stage. Only then can I restore balance to ska-punk and make this story Better Than The Book!"

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Next this week, well... last week... it was the first Wednesday of the month and time to send out the Patreon rewards for January! This time I was giving away my debut full-length album as Better Than The Book: "Two Years On", so if that sounds good to you, then become a patron for as little as $1 a month to download Two Years On and all previous rewards for your tier including the One Small Step EP and the last few month's of tracks. Next time I'll be giving away "Two Years On [Instrumentals]" which will be the final piece of the BTTB discography so far, so look forward to being able to pickup the full (current) Better Than The Book discography in its entirety next month. I look forward to sharing more music with you then.

And keeping on the topic of the beginning of the month, as usual another JabunAudio music production newsletter has also been sent out. This time I'll be discussing how to record great gang vocals even if you're working on your own, so if that sounds interesting to you, sign up for free on the JabunAudio home page, I hope you enjoy it, and be sure to share with anyone you think would be interested!

​Finally this week, as has become a tradition, let's look back on December 2018's goals and see how I did. Here's what was set:

1) Have 5 mixes finished for the new Better Than The Book album
2) Write 3 more articles for the JabunAudio newsletter
3) Schedule the holiday time Patreon posts (i.e.: next months rewards)

And it's a triple success from even before I closed the doors for the winter holidays! Only 5 mixes left to go for the new album, all the articles have been written for the blog posts, and the Patreon posts were scheduled and went out in my absence without any problems. Horray! With all that taken care of, here's some goals for this month I'd like to achieve:

1) Have all 10 mixes done for the new BTTB album ready for final tweaks and mastering
2) Set up a new archiving / back-up system for projects
3) Update my ISRC records for the new (and old) World Beyond tracks

I'm not sure that I'll be able to get 1) finished entirely, but I don't think it's impossible, so we'll see how I get on and take as much time as needed. 2) should be pretty simple to set up, but it'll likely take a lot of downtime, to transfer files. 3) I actually set at the beginning of the month, and managed to get done by the time of this post, so it's a cheeky bonus tick in the box for that one already! January's looking to be a bit more of a laid back month at the moment (certainly compared to the last few), so I'm hoping I can sort or nearly sort these goals before a busy February comes around.

Since it's also the beginning of the year, I thought it'd be nice to look back at January 2018's goals for JabunAudio, and see how I got on with those too. Here's the ambitious targets I set myself:  

1) Release the 3rd BTTB album in summer + continue gathering ideas for the 4th album
2) Either release a Jabun EP or be well into working on a new album by the end of the year
3) Invest in some new studio equipment and/or instruments (I don't actually have much in mind for this at the moment, but it's always good to reward yourself)
4) Make some new connections and help make more animations         
5) Keep doing what I do, and keep getting better at it! 
6) Be a better business as well as an audio engineer, music producer and musician. Make 2018 the best financial year for JabunAudio yet!

Well, it's not a great start to those targets, but although the upcoming Better Than The Book album is a bit behind schedule, it's also well on the way towards completion which is something to celebrate. The new World Beyond album was a surprise achievement for the year, so that has to be mentioned in celebration too. Goal 2) has been held back as well for similar reasons, but I've continued to gather new ideas for both BTTB and Jabun throughout the year anyway so that's good. 3) Although I haven't really treated myself to any new instruments / (strictly) musical equipment this year, I did receive the desktop PC earlier this year which has been fixed up and become an incredible tool for music production! I also received the Yui Amplug from my brother which has been amazing for late night practicing and really helped hone some of my guitaring this year. Hilariously, I decided to try and buy a similar thing to help with my bass practice in December, but unfortunately I lost the bidding war on eBay... to my girlfriend, Eva. Apparently, it'll be a present for me at some point (hopefully soon)! The purchase of the new JabunAudio.com webdomain and email address, although not the most fun of things, has been a great investment for the business too. 4) A couple of new connections this year, but mostly rekindling and nurturing long term and older ones I think, and while it's not been a busy year for animation work, it was great to end last month with the new McDowntrends animation from Mr Overkillcoin. 5) I'm still here and I'm definitely continuing to grow, so it's big tick there, and for 6), while 2018 hasn't been the best year EVER for JabunAudio, it's been much better than 2017, and I don't think I made any particularly bad mistakes this year (having learnt from the past), I think I've made some great decisions instead which are already starting to show their benefits. All in all I'd say although I'm a little behind schedule to where I'd thought I'd be, 2018 was a pretty successful year, so let's get some JabunAudio goals set for 2019:

1) Release the 3rd BTTB album and (at least) start on another BTTB or Jabun album
2) There's a cover song I've been meaning to do for a LONG time so I'd like to release that too
3) - 6) Same as last year​: Keep growing!

I think those should all be pretty doable, and I'm still aiming to have "Hopes and Dreams" finished and released before my birthday in April. We'll see how it all goes, and wishing you all a great and successful 2019 for you and your goals too!

And that about wraps things up for this week! I'll be keeping my head busy with mixing the upcoming BTTB album over the next week I'm sure and I hope you all have a great time whatever you're up to as well. Thanks as always supporting JabunAudio and my various projects, once again Happy New Year, and I look forward to sharing more music with you soon. Take care!