Hello everyone and hope you're all staying safe, healthy, and sensible during these unprecedented crazy times we're having around the world at the moment. As I'm sure you've heard, the UK (much like the rest of the world) is now on lock-down for the next 3 weeks (minimum) with no unnecessary leaving of homes or travel in hopes to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, but fret not, I'll still be offering (almost) all of my remote services at JabunAudio as usual from my home studio. While you're stuck at home and need your tracks mixed or mastered or your animations post-produced (butchering the terminology there I know) I'll still be here for all your audio needs! Looking forward to working with you and seeing what silver linings you make from this current cloud we're all under!

And on the topic of lock-down, not only has Better Than The Book's debut gig been indefinitely postponed, but due to the current regulations, I can't even meet up with the band, or even take my planned downtime/holiday for Easter, so JabunAudio will likely be open for longer than usual for this time of the year (make the most of that!). On brighter notes for general news this week, I've been keeping busy composing demos for the upcoming Jabun album(s) which are now surpassing 77 minutes of demos for new projects! There's still a tonne of ideas I'd like to explore but I'm starting to settle on a theme for at least one upcoming album so perhaps I'll concentrate on that soonish. Exciting times! In other news, there's the final of the current Better Than The Book live rehearsal videos to share with you today so let's check that out below!

Another LIVE & LOUD full song play-through video to share with you today from Better Than The Book's first full band rehearsal back in December, and this time we're back to the Two Years On album for "Cathode Ray Days" in full for the finale of this live rehearsal video mini-series! Enjoy some TV nostalgia (amongst other things) below:

Hi everyone and hope you're staying safe and healthy in these rapidly changing and uncertain times. It's been a mixed week here at JabunAudio as you'll find out in a moment, with much to celebrate and some things to be disappointing about too. On the bright side of smaller updates, I've been back to my usual Jabun experimental music making which has been incredibly fun and exciting this week pushing my limits and the current folder of demos to over 62 minutes in total now! Still many more ideas I'd like to explore before settling down to properly record and mix an album (or more), but it's a refreshing time to make music at the moment.

The rest of my week has been dedicated to almost constant social media work with various announcements and updates to give, but I think things will be slowing down soon (out of my control) which is good for my mental health at least (I think). I think I need a break from the current world... it's dire out there (and looking through the window of social media / the news / internet...). Onto the main news for this week, let's get the not so fun stuff out of the way before getting into the better updates. Here we go!

First of all this week, it is with mixed emotions that I must report less than a week after I excitedly announced it, that Better Than The Book's debut gig on April 11th in Haywards Heath (Sussex, UK) has been indefinitely postponed by the event organisers due to COVID19 concerns.

Given the current times, I fully support their decision for the safety and comfort of the attendees, staff and entertainers for the evening, though of course it saddens me that it'll be longer until we can hit the stage.

I'll be sure to share updates as and when I receive them and hopefully we'll be able to make the future rescheduled date when it comes around. Keep up to date on the events page for the time being:

https://www.facebook.com/events/892633854540874/  

And until then and always, stay safe, be kind to each other, and keep on skankin'! 

Next this week, another LIVE & LOUD full song play-through video to share with you today from Better Than The Book's first full band rehearsal back in December! This time we're moving onto the Hopes and Dreams album for "And I Fear" and as with the last track, this would have been literally the 2nd time we'd have played this together (the first being a few minutes before). Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8OgLGLfms0
​
Line-up:
Nick Standing: Composer, guitar + lead vocals
Eamon Standing: Harmonica + backing vocals
Sam Brown: Bass + backing vocals
Andy Forman: Drums

"And I Fear" and the rest of the Hopes and Dreams album are available on all major digital distributors as well as the Better Than The Book Bandcamp page:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

Or of course you can pick them up if you haven't already when you become a supporter on Patreon, complete with the full Better Than The Book discography and more when you sign up! With the project going live (though with the current state of things it could be a while), we could use all the support we can get to push it as far as possible, and another set of $5 early access rewards was just posted on Monday too (more on that in a moment) so come join the community:

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

Just one more of these videos to come next week before we move onto something different! Subscribe to the BTTB YouTube channel to get them fresh off the press, and I'll see you next week for another one! 

Finally this week, some early access $5 Patreon rewards have just been sent out and an updated rewards schedule for March / April / May has been made! You may be thinking, wait... it's not the final Wednesday of the month and indeed you're right, but it's time once again to mix up the Patreon rewards schedule for some new music which means the $5 & $10 patrons have just been granted extra early access to not 1, not 2, but 3 Patreon exclusive bonus tracks! 

Become a $5+ patron for instant access to all those tracks on top of all historic rewards for your tier:
Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding
Get these rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/34612358

I'll not be saying what the tracks are here yet (that's for the $5+ patrons to know), but with a new batch of tracks completed comes a diversion from the usual first and last Wednesday of the month Patreon reward schedule, so here's an update on what's to come over the next few months!

Firstly with this new $5 reward out which covers March and April's rewards there will be no new $5 rewards in April, only new $1 and $10 rewards as follows.

First Wednesday of April:
$1 patrons will receive the 1st of the Better Than The Book bonus tracks
$10 patrons will receive another demo & article from the upcoming Jabun album (delayed March reward)

Friday April 24th:
$1 patrons will receive the 2nd of the Better Than The Book bonus tracks + another bonus track (early May reward)
$10 patrons will receive another demo & article from the upcoming Jabun album (early April reward)

There will also be no extra $1 reward in May since it was given at the end of April.

You may be wondering why April 24th, and that's because the reason for these bonus tracks is that it's my 30th birthday! They're nothing too special (or extra special depending on how you view it) but all 3 tracks will be exclusive downloads only for patrons (though they will be available for streaming on YouTube as well)! I hope you enjoy something slightly different and fun to start my 3rd decade of living and look forward to seeing what I'll create in the next decade to come!

With that schedule lined up, it should be back to the usual schedule and the Jabun back catalogue for the end of May with $5 & $10 rewards on May 27th and $1 rewards on June 3rd. There are still however 2 new and bonus pieces of music currently in the works with the aim of releasing this summer, so I'll keep you updated on any changes to the schedule! It's certainly set to be an exciting few months!

Become a $5+ patron to be among the first to listen to these 3 new bonus tracks and grab all previous rewards for your tier when you sign up including the full Better Than The Book discography!

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

And that about wraps things up for this week's news. Crazy times around the world at the moment so please do take care of one another and try to keep busy with fun things. I'm not sure what the future holds at the moment, but I'll be continuing to make music and provide services as JabunAudio for as long as I can (though there will be some Easter downtime as usual). Next week I think will be a very different week to this one, though you can be sure there'll be the final BTTB live video (for the moment) to share at least! Until then, I hope you have as good a week as you can, stay safe and healthy, and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio, Better Than The Book, Jabun and my various projects. Keep calm and take care!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great week so far! It's been a super busy one here with a little bit of music production work on the upcoming mystery cover song, but mostly Better Than The Book LIVE show practice and a tonne of admin and promotional work. Some huge news to share today as well as a new video and more so let's get stuck in with this week's updates:

First of all, after almost 8 years of the project and more than 3 years of people asking for it, Better Than The Book will finally be hitting the stage on April 11th at the United Services Club in Haywards Heath (Sussex, UK)!

It's set to be a crazy good night with a load of other pop punk bands from the local scene (including Lights, Camera, Attraction! for which I used to play bass), and all proceeds for the night are going towards MacMillan cancer support which is always good too. The event starts at 5pm (I'm not sure when we're on), and all the details can be found (or asked for) on the following Facebook event page! Check it out below:

https://www.facebook.com/events/892633854540874/

Now I know many of you reading will be halfway around the world and won't be able to make it, but for those you who are in the area, the event is ticketed and tickets (like the one above) must be purchased in advance apparently, so if you want to join in the fun and get through the doors go get those tickets quickly from Ben or Bex on the Facebook page above and I look forward to seeing you there for a night I'm sure will not be forgotten! It's gonna be a good one!
    
Next this week, I have another LIVE & LOUD full song play-through video to share with you from Better Than The Book's first full band rehearsal back in December! This time we're moving onto the Two Years On album for "Undead Education" and truth be told, this would have been literally the 2nd time we'd have played this together (the first being a few minutes before) so please excuse the roughness around the edges! We definitely messed up the ending a bit but hope you enjoy it nonetheless, it was fun times anyhow! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICptI6D7Q9M

Line-up:
Nick Standing: Composer, guitar + lead vocals
Eamon Standing: Harmonica + backing vocals
Sam Brown: Bass + backing vocals
Andy Forman: Drums

"Undead Education" and the rest of the Two Years On album are available on all major digital distributors as well as the Better Than The Book Bandcamp page:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/ 

Or of course you can pick them up if you haven't already when you become a supporter on Patreon, complete with the full Better Than The Book discography and more when you sign up! With the project hitting the stage in less than a month now, we could use all the support we can get to push it as far as possible, so come join the community and grab some tunes:

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

Only 2 more of these videos to come over the next month! Man how time flies... Subscribe to the BTTB YouTube channel to get them fresh off the press, and I'll see you next week for another one! 

Finally this week, some more cool news to share: looks like GG from the Hopes and Dreams album made it onto a Spotify playlist! Thanks so much to NeverEnoughMusic.com for sharing the tunes, and check out the playlist below:  

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1ZAVMLJco8G18mT3stwPfG  

And that about wraps things up for this week! Lots of BTTB practice for me to be getting on with next week, as well as some very soon to come Patreon reward posts to sort out, and music to continue writing and producing when I have the time! Not sure what new and exciting things will be reported next week, but there'll certainly be another LIVE video to share at the very least! Until then, I hope you have a great week to come, remember to grab a ticket for the gig on April 11th if you can make it, and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio, Better Than The Book and my various projects! Take care and enjoy the music! 

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great start to March and enjoyed a fun 303 day if you celebrated! It's been a super busy week here at JabunAudio finishing up not 1, not 2, but 3 bonus tracks and their artwork in time for April and my 30th birthday (ergh...) as well as doing mix adjustments on that upcoming cover song I mentioned previously, and some proof listening work for a phenomenal new track by World Beyond! With regards those bonus tracks, there will be another $5 Early Pigeon Patreon announcement coming very soon once I've uploaded and sorted all the files so keep your eyes on Patreon for that! Away from making music, it's also been a busy week practicing the Better Than The Book LIVE stuff (more on that in a moment), as well as the usual admin and social media grind, and backing up the machines as is what happens at the beginning of each month. Productive at least! Another Better Than The Book video to share with you today as well as $1 Patreon rewards and the usual setting and reflecting on monthly goals, so let's get started!

First of all this week, another LIVE and loud video, and this time (and for the next 3 videos too) it'll be a full song play-through from the first full band Better Than The Book rehearsal back in December! This week we're back to the One Small Step EP again for some "Backseat Phobia"! Buckle up your seats and enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNgfm0jJHYI
​
Line-up:
Nick Standing: Composer, 1st guitar + lead vocals
Eamon Standing: 2nd guitar + backing vocals
Sam Brown: Bass + backing vocals
Andy Forman: Drums
​
"Backseat Phobia" and the rest of the One Small Step EP are available on all major digital distributors as well as the Better Than The Book Bandcamp page:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

Or of course you can pick them up if you haven't already when you become a supporter on Patreon, complete with the full Better Than The Book discography and more when you sign up! With the project going live, we could use all the support we can get to push it as far as possible, and another set of $1 rewards was just posted yesterday too (mp3s and art of last week's $5 rewards: Jabun's 2014 single Home (+ all historic rewards for your tier)) so come join the community:

Read more: https://www.patreon.com/posts/33331416
$1 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/33331414
Join Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

3 more of these videos to come over the next month, all full song play-throughs from the first LIVE and loud rehearsal session! Subscribe to the BTTB YouTube channel to get them fresh off the press, and I'll see you next week for another one! 

Finally this week, it's time to reflect on and set some more monthly goals! Here's what I set myself for February:

1) Develop a general exercise / vocal workout / BTTB practice routine
2) Get this cover song mixed and rough mastered ready to send for some feedback
3) Write 50+ minutes of rough demos for the upcoming 2nd Jabun album (total)
4) Get verified and sort my profiles for Jabun and Better Than The Book on Spotify (update socials + website with links)

And overall I think it was successful! 1) I've got into a good routine I think, though I feel like I'm not as far on the vocal workout routine as I'd have hoped by this time. Still, I can definitely feel the benefits of all the breathing exercises at least to it's definitely working! With illness and various visits it's been difficult to keep up with everything, but I think it's all going ok. 2) The upcoming cover song has been mixed and got feedback for now so I'm just going through the tweaks for the next round of feedback at the moment. Target achieved! 3) Over 55 minutes of rough demos for the upcoming Jabun album are completed now so that's great! And finally 4) both Better Than The Book and Jabun have been verified on Spotify and the various websites (etc...) updated! Check out the links below if you haven't seen them already:

BTTB - https://open.spotify.com/artist/4GUCmKQoIk3bNWGiXDGkrp
Jabun - https://open.spotify.com/artist/6Ig1iozkpNv4mOGHJFny73

Overall a pretty good month I'd say! No major gripes though I still feel I could have done better with goal 1). Let's set some more stuff for March:

1) Get the audio 100% complete for the upcoming cover song
2) Write 70+ minutes (total) of Jabun demos
3) Get those 3 bonus tracks uploaded and sort out the Patreon rewards for the next 2 months
4) Prepare and learn the setlist (solid) for Better Than The Book's 1st gig on April 11th!

Wait wait wait 4)?!?! That's right, although it's still yet to be officially announced, Better Than The Book will be playing its very first gig on April 11th! Details to come and I'll be posting about them in the next blog post hopefully, but should be exciting times! As such there's a lot to prepare for it, not just with regards the music, but equipment, travel etc... but as it stands from the current practice sessions, I'd say the music is pretty darn solid at the moment at least (90+% there)! Goal 1) should hopefully be doable, and I'm aiming to have another draft send out before the next blog post. 2) is fairly low priority this month, but always fun to write more music, and 3) since I'll be away for most of April I've got to schedule the posts beforehand. I hope you enjoy the fun and silly bonus tracks to come! That's enough goals for me for March! Wish me luck and feel free to share your own in the comments! All the best with yours too!

And that's it for today's update! I'll be back this time next week with the next BTTB live video as well as an official announcement for that debut BTTB gig if all goes to plan, and I'm sure there'll be more fun news to report as well! Looking forward to it and until then, thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio, Better Than The Book, Jabun, and my various music projects and I hope you have a great week to come! Take care!