It's been a fairly quiet week which is a nice contrast to the past few hectic ones. Still a few stories to tell though so lets get to it!

Only Monday at the London Studio this week as it seems like all the regular clients are heading off on their summer holidays. I did end up engineering 2 more episodes worth of voice-overs though which was fun. Same director as before and the VA was a great laugh! I look forward to working with them again :D

A lot of the rest of the week was devoted to BTTB vocals and more recording. Unfortunately, my voice hasn't been on top form this week, so I didn't manage to get as much vocals done as I'd hoped. I did manage to get the entirety of the final track "Confessions" recorded though: vocals and all the instruments, so I'm very pleased with that. Backing vocals for a few tracks have been done too, and I finally finished another song's worth of lyrics and got the last one sooooo close to completion! Only 4 lines left to write in the album (Why are lyrics soo hard!). I hope to have some more vocals done soon!

On a completely different note, my bro left his Korg MS-20 mini at my place this week so I've had great fun making crazy sounds with that! What an awesome synth!

Lastly, just this afternoon I finished the mix for a new animation which should be up in a few days (I'm sure by the next update) so that's something to look forward to! No idea how busy next week'll be (London again on Monday but that's all I know). so hopefully my voice gets better for some more BTTB stuff. If not, there's still much to do with other things!

That's it for this week! Hope you have a good one and as always, thanks for supporting JabunAudio. Take care!

A busy and long week, but packed full of exciting new experiences and achievements! Let's get started!

As with the past month, most days have been spent in London assisting in recording/editing sessions at the recording and post-production studio. The week started with the usual CD mixing on Monday followed by some editing of last week's opera session and some other things. The 2nd half of the week was the highlight though! The main engineer was on holiday, which meant I was covering his recording sessions, which was a challenge but a lot of fun. I engineered 2 voice-over sessions (one in the secondary studio (my usual place there), and the other in the main room with the mixing console (my first time using it solo)),  a total of 5 episodes of 2 shows which are due for broadcast on British TV later this year! Very exciting times. I've been there a month now, and discussions are in progress for continued work with the studio. Fun times!

Although it has been very busy, I did manage to squeeze some Better Than The Book work in, though not a great deal. Most of it was working on my secret weapon for the new album (it's still a secret), and doing some vocal recording tests (sounding good I think, but I didn't have time to record full vocals for any tracks). I managed to recreate the vocal setup they have at the London studio which makes it SOOOOO much easier to record comfortably and in a way which doesn't make you feel like you're recording (red light effect is a mood killer...). The downside, is it's bulky to set up, but it works great to improve the performance so that's what counts XD

Lastly, more mastering jobs have been in the works which has kept me even more busy on my off days, but have been fun (more jazz). Not sure if I'll get streaming links for these to show, but if I do, I'll be sure to post them up as and when :3

That's it for this week. Back to London each week for the foreseeable future now, and obviously, I'll be progressing Better Than The Book as and when I can (although it'll likely be slower...) I should get a new laptop battery so I can try working on the London commute methinks... Anyways, have a splendid week, thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio and until next Saturday, take care :3 

It's been a crazy busy 2 weeks, so apologies for the lack of update last week. Lots to tell though, and I hope this week's announcements make up for it. Let's get started!

Firstly, it's been another (mostly) exciting 2 weeks working at the London based studio doing various music and post-production jobs. More mixing and CD burning, lots of editing and proofreading/listening to voice-over scripts for radio and audio-books, and even recording opera vocals and grand piano! I also engineered my first voice-over recording session solo with just the director, VA and myself in the session. Exciting times! Pro Tools editing is a breeze now, though I'm still picking up new tricks and pitfalls to watch out for, so it's been a great learning experience. Some habits have even rubbed off into my Ableton workflow! Next week's set to be another busy one, and that'll be 1 month I've been there by the end of it. Exciting times!

Since it's been pretty busy, I've not had a lot of time to work on the new Better Than The Book Album, though I have managed to get one more track finished off lyrically, so it's just 2 more to go (and they're mostly done now too). I've also finally implemented my secret weapon on one of the tracks, as well as started working it onto another, and it's sounding simply glorious! I couldn't have imagined it'd be this spectacular, but all that hard work in sorting it out (years in the planning) has been totally worth it! Lastly on the BTTB front this week, I'm pleased to announce the final track listing for the album! There's one tiny detail to work out (marked below*), on the exact wording/crediting for the track featuring the awesome Bob Axell, but the track names themselves are good to go! I hope you enjoy them:

Better Than The Book
Two Years On
01 - Homecoming
02 - Hearts Racing
03 - Undead Education
04 - Cathode Ray Days
05 - Make Your Mark
06 - Wireless Networks Available
07 - Head Above Water [Ft. Bob Axell]*
08 - The Bigger Picture
09 - Confessions

My final update this week isn't audio related at all, but just something I wanted to share it as it makes me happy. Last week, my awesome Grandad celebrated his 90th birthday, and we had a big party for him! Happy times! He's doing well and has always been an inspiration to me in soo many ways (musically, technologically, and as a person). My biggest WOW about my Grandad is that he helped design the Bluebird Car, AKA the car to break the land-speed record at the time it was built! I'm turbo proud of my Grandad and I wish him a BIIIG happy birthday at this tremendous milestone. Love you Grandad!

That's it for this update. What's in store for next week? There's been a high likelihood of more mastering jobs on the near horizon + it's set to be another busy week at the London studio. I'm about ready to record vocals for some BTTB tracks too (when I get the chance), so that's going to be exciting! Until next week, take care, and as always, thanks for supporting JabunAudio!

So as the title says, this week has been a BIG change of scenery for me, as I spent most of it working at SonicaStudios in London (This was the news hinted at the end of last week's post). It was a refreshing break from my usual work, and the studio itself is a lovely facility with some great people to work alongside. Lots of voice-over recording sessions, mixing singing groups and setting/packing up recording sessions, including some Japanese voice-over, and meeting a guy I see on TV every week. Pretty awesome! There was lots to learn too, as their native system was Pro Tools rather than my usual Ableton, and their plugin and hardware suites (including a 48 track stereo broadcast mixing console!) were huge! Nevertheless, I think I've got the basics sorted, and I look forward to returning on Monday for some more audio action!

Because of the extensive time spent there, there wasn't a lot of time to carry on with my own work or client work, but even so, I still managed some more animation mixing for a new project (Details will be revealed closer to the release), and sorted drums and keyboards for another Better Than The Book track. Spending over 90 minutes on the train each day, also gave me time to work on some lyrics and track titles, so some progress has been made there, though it's not quite finished yet. The track titles are almost finished though, so I may be doing an announcement soon. Just need to let them settle :D

Next week I'm back to SonicaStudio for a few days, then I have a busy end of week for my amazing Granddad's 90th Birthday celebration. As such, there may not be an update next week, or if it is, it'll be either on Thursday (early), or Sunday (late). We shall see! Until then (or Saturday 18th) take care and thanks for supporting JabunAudio.