It's been a quiet week work-wise as I've been back in my hometown for the annual bonfire parade and more! Much merriment has been had: hanging with friends I haven't seen in a long time, lots of skateboarding with my brother (taking a few spills and scrapes as usual!), watching some great movies (Kubo and the 2 Strings is fantastic!!!) and of course seeing the rest of the family. It's not all been relaxing though as I've been continuing my virtual attendance to Music Launch Summit, watching lots of lectures and taking lots of notes! Not much to say other than that this week, though this little thing from Hikarian Animations popped up on my radar which I'd love to share and I'm sure you'll enjoy. Lets get to it!

For those of you not familiar yet with Hikarian Animations, this is the project behind Tales of Zale and founded by a good friend of mine, Sif Perlt Savery. You probably already know about my involvement with Tales of Zale as the audio post-production engineer and a member of the audio team, and it's a project which I really care deeply about and one of my favorites to work on. Recently, Sif has been doing a series of behind the scenes videos with the animatics (kinda like an animation plan/rough sketch) for various scenes in the Tales of Zale series, and this week we have the animatic from Minisode 2, which was first released during Tales of Zale Month in April 2016. It's a great little insight into the process and I hope you enjoy it! Be sure to check out Sif on the Hikarian Animations Youtube Channel and if you can, feel free to support her on Patreon, she's making some kickass stuff! 

​That's about it for this week! I'll be back to Herne Bay and my new digs by the next update, and I recon most of the week will be spend again taking part in Music Launch Summit. I can't wait to put all I've learned into action! Not sure what else'll be on the radar, but in any case I hope you have a good week until then and I'll see you next Friday! Thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio and take care!

​It's a little earlier than usual, but I thought I'd put out this week's blog post today, as tomorrow I'll be travelling back to my home town of Burgess Hill for the amazing annual bonfire festival and to visit some great friends who I haven't seen in a very long time. Very much looking forward to all that! No media to share this week unfortunately, but it's certainly been a busy one and there's news to tell as usual, so let's get into it!

Firstly, the majority of my time this week has been spent attending online lectures at Music Launch Summit which have been a great insight into some of the minds of other industry professionals and trendsetters in the independent music and audio production community! Lots of notes have been taken, and I look forward to putting some of the strategies I've learned back into JabunAudio and my music projects! I think the summit's set to go on until the end of the month, so I'll be concentrating on those lectures next week as well. If you're an industry professional or musician at any point in your career, I highly recommend heading over to the MusicLaunchHub website and checking out some of the lectures there. There's so much valuable information which I know I'll be implementing in my business and musical endeavours, and if you decide to join the Facebook community, I look forward to seeing you there too! Keep connecting and growing, and don't give up!

Next, and lastly really in the news this week, the OpenLabs Songwriting Contest Month 5: Rock results have been published and unfortunately,  despite the great run "Hearts Racing" had holding 5th place in the weeks, days and even hours, leading up to the finale of the competition, we still (somehow) didn't manage to make into the top 10 by the end of the competition... so no prizes for us this time around. Naturally I'm disappointed and disheartened with the results, as I was sure "Hearts Racing" secured a place, but I guess something drastic must have happened in the last 6 hours of the competition while I was sleeping? I can only speculate, but hey, we gave it our best shot and as the saying goes "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" right? I have to say though, I would be interested to see how those last 6 hours went down, as most of the artists who were in the top 10 when I last checked didn't make it to the final pick either. I know some people I've mentioned it to are calling shenanigans on the whole thing, and honestly, from a marketing and corporate advantage point of view I wouldn't be surprised, but certainly now that the results ARE indeed public and announced, kicking up a fuss about it probably won't help anything. Anyway, in conclusion: Sad times, but we tried and that's what counts. There's a few more chances to go in for the grand prize in the coming months, so I may submit for those later, but I'll let you know what's going on as and when things happen. Again, shenanigans or not, thanks so much to everyone who voted and showed your support for "Hearts Racing" during last month's competition. It really put a smile on my face and it means a lot to me, and I hope if and when the next competition comes around, you'll be happy to lend your support again. Many thanks!

That's all for this week! Next week's set to be more lectures and note taking from Music Launch Summit for me, and if I have time, some more composition for A P O T H E O S I S too. I've been craving electronic music again as well, so I'd like to do some more of that soon. We'll see what happens. Anyway, until next time, thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio and my music projects, and I hope you have a great week. Take care! 

It's been a super busy week, and JabunAudio celebrates 2 amazing years of business and the blog! Crazy to think it's been this long since I started turning my passion for music and sound into a way to earn money, meet and help some wonderful people around the world, and be a part of projects I never could have dreamed of doing alone! It's been a great 2 years so far and I'm sure many new adventures await in the next years to come! Lots to share this week too, so brace yourself and I hope you enjoy it!

​First of all, I'd love to share my first original (non-remix) track as Jabun since 2014: "The Ocean Above". After last week's "(Feels Like) Heaven" remix, I was very keen to make even more electronic music, and a commission request from David Klein II, a good friend and collaborator, meant I had a great excuse to make some more! Not only is the request an electronic track, but it combines 2 genres that I really love and that got me started as Jabun in the first place: Chillstep and Chiptune. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out and I look forward to hearing it in the game review videos it is intended for. If you'd like to use "The Ocean Above" in your productions, please send me a message and I'm sure we can work out something, or if it's just for your own listening pleasure, the track can be purchased onBandcamp for the lovely price of £0.60! Anyways, thanks again to David for commissioning this amazing piece to work on and I hope you all enjoy it:

Next this week, I have 2 new(ish) Fun Station 4 Kids animations to show you! These are only labeled as new(ish) as they're alternative versions of some of the animations I've showcased in other recent blog posts. Firstly, we have "The Dinosaur Counting Song", but with an extended lesson walk-through at the end to let the counting sink in, and secondly we have as is tradition, a super speedy version of T-Rex's latest adventure, "3D Shape Crush". Please share these or the originals with anyone you think will enjoy them, and of course head over and subscribe to Fun Station 4 Kids on YouTube to keep up to date with the latest animations and show your support. There are a couple of new animations in the works too (no ETA at the moment), and I certainly look forward to working on them :D Enjoy!

Finally this week, and this came as an amazing surprise, A P O T H E O S I S, a game which I've been doing the soundtrack for released a brand new demo, and it is fantastic! There's still a couple of bugs to fix and of course it's not the full game, but the new demo adds many additional items and power-ups (which are super fun), some amazing updated graphics, sound effects and animation, as well as a peek at the 2nd level which means this is the first demo to feature all the music I've made for the game so far (not including trailer music)! I warn you, it's highly addictive, super fun and will challenge you, but I really recommend giving it a go. The demo is free to download here, so go grab your mouse, enter that ancient temple and see if you have what it takes to become a god! Meanwhile in my contributions to the game, I've been working on the Level 3 music this week which included collating over 1000 samples for a virtual pipe organ! Fun times! In the mean time and in case you're unable to get to level 2 (believe me. it's not easy), you can listen to the latest musical addition to the game here. Hope you enjoy it!

That's about it for this week! In other news, I've STILL yet to hear from the OpenLabs / Linkin Park songwriting contest and the wait is killing me, but I'll be sure to let you know any news when I hear it! Plans for next week: I should be continuing with the Level 3 music for A P O T H E O S I S, then heading back to Burgess Hill for the annual bonfire parade. I missed it last year so it'll be great to get all the old friends together again and go see some amazing marching musicians and fire back in my home town (always a highlight on out town's calendar)! Until next week, I hope you have a great time whatever you get up to and thanks for supporting JabunAudio and my collaborative projects for an amazing 2 years! Let's make the next one even better! Hope you enjoy the new tracks, animations and game demos, and take care!

It's been another busy week finishing off this super fun remix (more on that later) as well as working on another electronic commission which I should be able to share this time next week. Funny that; I haven't released any tracks as Jabun alone since 2014, and suddenly here come 2 of them a week apart from eachother! It's certainly refreshing to be back making electronic music again though and I'd love to start making a habit of it if I can as the average turnaround time for some of these tracks isn't actually that long. Anyway, enough rambling, lets get on with this weeks updates!

Firstly, and not that excitingly unfortunately, I'm still waiting on the results on the OpenLabs songwriting contest, so I'm unable to share any updates or news with regards how Better Than The Book's Hearts Racing did. I'm very much hoping to be able to share some news on the matter next week though as the wait is certainly exercising my patience, and I'm really on edge to hear how it's all gone! Sorry about that, and I'll be sure to report any news as soon as I hear it.

Next, and I guess this is the main news for this week, I just finished my entry for the 'Verlies Projekt - (Feels Like) Heaven Remix Contest' which was a whole lot of fun to work on. On top of being my first electronic track as Jabun since 2014, this was also my first time working in the genre of "Happy Hardcore", "UK Hardcore", etc... (whatever you'd like to call it) which I've been meaning to experiment with for quite some time now. I've no idea really why I decided to go in that direction instead of my usual, chillstep / orchestral palette, but as soon as I heard the melody for this one, I was certain this style would fit it perfectly. I'm not expecting to win this one as there's some great entries out there, but I'm secretly hoping the judge has a soft spot for this style, and the prizes of some Audio Techinca Headphones, a Korg Volca Bass and a release on a UK based record label, as well as the general inspiration to make electronic music again were waaaay too good not to give it a shot. The winner will apparently be announced on October 1st so it'll be a while until I know anything more, but I'll be sure to talk about it again if there's cool news to share when the time comes. Anyway, hope you enjoy the track. Go get your glow sticks out and have fun! 
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​That's about all I have to share for this week. As I mentioned, I've another piece to work on which I hope to finish this weekend and share next week. It's an electronic track a bit more in my comfort zone, but again refreshing as it's a blend of chiptune and chillstep, two of the genres which really started me off as Jabun! I could certainly get used to making more electronic music again! Anyway, I hope to have some more news on that competition to share next week and hope you all have great weeks in the mean time too! Thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio, hope you enjoy this week's track and take care!

Hope you've all had great weeks! It's been a busy one for me working on some new Fun Station 4 Kids material, an electronic track in an unfamiliar but super fun genre for a remix contest, and some serious admin stuff for more interesting things in JabunAudio (more on that later). Lots to tell as usual and certainly exciting times, so lets get straight into it!

First of all, I'd like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who voted for "Hearts Racing" by Better Than The Book in the OpenLabs songwriting contest for a chance to be mentored by Linkin Park! When I first entered it, I had no idea that it would receive so much support, and in honesty, I was seriously worried about the popularity contest aspect of this first round of the competition (which has left me in the dust in many competitions before). From the looks of it though, having retained the 5th place position for a few weeks, and unless something drastic happened in the last 6 hours of the competition, "Hearts Racing" should have finished in the Top 10 entries and be onto the next round of the competition: where the Top 10 entries will be marked and ranked by a team of judges! Unfortunately I can't check whether this is the case or not, as while the competition is being judged, all the results are hidden. I have no idea how it'll go down but fingers crossed that the judges appreciate the music and score it well. Now we wait! According to the contest rules, the results should be out roughly a week after the end of the competition, so hopefully I'll have something (great) to report this time next week. Fingers crossed yet again, and we shall see!

Next this week, I've some awesome news to share from Sif of Hikarian Animations, the studio which created Tales of Zale, for which I've been doing the audio post-production since episode 1!  This has got to be one of my favorite animated projects I've worked on and there's 2 huge announcements to be said this week. Firstly, Tales of Zale Episode 3 is officially in production and as opposed to being the usual 6 minute animation, we're looking to go for a full length 10 minute episode! It's still early days yet, and I've yet to start my part, but I'm super excited to be working on this amazing project again! Secondly, and I think this is probably the bigger announcement, Hikarian Animations now has a Patreon page! If you don't know what Patreon is, in short it's a way for fans to give back to the projects they love and help support artists like Sif or myself in creating original content and media. You're able to pledge a small monthly donation (or however big you'd like it to be) and in return you'll get exclusive content as well as the usual content provided by the channel. The extra funding to work on our own projects allows us to focus more on what we do best, and spend less time worrying about putting food on the table with freelance or part-time work, so projects can be finished quicker and everyone's generally happier. If you like Tales of Zale I highly recommend sending a dollar or more Sif's way to help her create this great series! You can support her on Patreon and read up more about Tales of Zale's progress here: 

Click here to support Tales of Zale: https://www.patreon.com/Hikarian

As well as this awesome news, I also have a little behind the scenes from Tales of Zale Episode 2 to share. Below is a wonderful look into the animation process behind this beautiful series: an animatic of the closing scene. It's interesting to note, I'm often mixing the audio to these in the earlier stages of the project, so these stylings are very familiar to me. I love seeing how it all evolves during the production process! Anyways, I hope you enjoy it and please go subscribe to Hikarian Animations on YouTube if you like it:

Lastly in the news this week, I've finally bitten the bullet and sorted out something which has been on mind for lord knows how long: I'm now officially allowing people to licence JabunAudio music (including Better Than The Book) for their productions and media content. Well... technically I've been doing that for the last few years anyway, BUT now you can find my music on music libraries so you don't need to contact me directly, and pay an appropriate fee depending on your project. How you ask? Well it's now all on a nifty site called Ricall! Just search for "Nick Standing", "Jabun", "Better Than The Book" and more and you can select what you'd like to buy and for what purpose and it'll give you an automatic quote. I plan to upload music to more music libraries in the future, so you should hopefully be able to find me on other libraries soon (I'll keep you all posted). However! While these libraries are great, I'm mainly using them as a discovery point for people who don't know me, so if YOU'd like to use any of my music in your own productions, please contact me and we can work out a better rate if you'd like!  Also if there are any music libraries you think'd be interested in my music, please feel free to buzz me about them and I'll be happy to consider uploading there too!

That's about it for this week! Hopefully by the next I'll be able to share the results of the OpenLabs competition, but I'll just have to wait and see. I'm hoping to finish this remix soon too, so I'll be sharing that for sure as soon as it's ready. After that I've some more music commissions to complete so I'm sure I'll keep busy! Before I sign out for today, I'd like to ask you this: What would you like from JabunAudio next, and do you think Patreon is a way for me to go for Better Than The Book or Jabun? If so what kind of rewards would you like? I'd be interested to know your thoughts! Anyway, that's all I have to say this week! Until next time I hope you have a great one and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio and all of my projects. Take care and see you next week!