Hi everyone! It's certainly been a while since the last post, which I think was 3 weeks ago (2 weeks of no posts), but time sure flies especially in this days-all-merge-into-one norm we've found ourselves in! It's been a jam packed few weeks though and I've a tonne of exciting updates to share. Let's get to it!

First of all, a correction / nullification... shortly after the last blog post in which I posted my usual goals for the month, I realised 2 things: Number one, I'd forgotten about some MUCH more urgent projects to finish which already have set release dates; and number two, without knowing exactly when I plan to release those new Jabun projects, it's actually impossible for me to finish the admin work for them... As such, due to the urgent nature of other projects I'm putting the upcoming Jabun album(s) (which are near to completion) on hold for the moment so I can focus on finishing the more urgent projects. Sorry about that!

But what's this all for? What could be more urgent than Jabun? Well there is the matter of a certain Better Than The Book bonus album to be released in July, and I forgot just how much work, both proof listening and admin, it takes to get that sorted, not to mention the lead times for distribution and the wait times for registration services such as PPL and PRS to update their database. As such, a HUGE chunk of the last few weeks has been dedicated to getting that sorted, and I'm happy to say, the product is now 100% finished and the registration admin work is done! All I've got to do now is sort out the distribution and get the audio uploaded to stores and then it'll be time to announce it! Expect another early bird $5+ Patreon reward coming very soon!

Next, a small update but an exciting one for me personally nonetheless! After many months of sticky keys and crackly pots, I took the plunge, ordered some replacement parts and finally fixed my Moog Werkstatt-01 synth, and it plays better now than it has done for years! Great to have it in 100% working order again, and I look forward to using that in future Jabun projects!

And speaking of gear, after finally selling an amp I've been holding for a few months (and making a nice profit on it), this week I happened upon a bargain which I've been looking and longing for for YEARS and couldn't resist sinking all that new found cash into (a bit of a 30th Birthday present to myself). The keen eared among you know how much I love the sound of organ in both Better Than The Book and Jabun (where appropriate), especially that gritty combo organ sound that can be heard in tracks such as "The Grind" and the solo in "(The Travelling To See Eva Song)" (though of course I love a good Hammond sound too). Up until now, with the exception of "Free of Routine" from my early years in Crow's Wing (where I used a 70s Yamaha Electone organ which sadly and regrettably I couldn't keep), I've only been able to use computer emulations to get that beautiful sound, but as of Tuesday, I finally have an organ of my own again, and WHAT AN ORGAN! Keeping with my Yamaha roots, I was super fortunate to find a Yamaha YC-25D combo organ on eBay! Unlike the Electone of my teen years, this one is designed for travel and stage use and even packs up into its own suitcase (which weights a tonne but is super neat), though of course you need a separate amplifier! The sound palette is lovely, closely approximating Hammond, Vox and Farfisa sounds as well as of course Yamaha's own lovely organ sounds, and with the right effects some reasonable pipe-organ esq sounds too. First made in 1972 it's a beast of engineering and as sturdy as a tank! Unfortunately there are 2 slight faults with it at the moment (not too bad considering it's coming up to 50 years old), but these only become noticeable under very specific circumstances and are nothing that makes the organ unplayable or any less fun at the moment. When I can (no rush) I'll likely take it to a specialist to "unlock the DLC", as unlike the Moog I think I'll hand this one to the professionals! I guess I'll be saving up for that and a rotary speaker next! Maybe some bass pedals? Check out the Yamaha YC-25D below (gotta love the colour)!

I'll need to do some reORGANising of the studio layout this week to best accommodate this new member of the JabunAudio family! Looking forward to the many hours of fun it'll bring!

​Next, I've received some very exciting messages recently with some potentially interesting connections, collaborations and client work coming up, but I'll have to save details for if they get set in stone. Interesting times nonetheless! I'll keep you posted.

And finally this week, it's certainly been a while since the last one, but yesterday was once again the final Wednesday of the month which means another set of Patreon reward posts are out for the $5 and $10 patrons! After a few months' break we're finally back to the Jabun back-catalogue of tracks, and this time we're starting on the 2016 discography with another remix track: "Verlies Projekt - (Feels Like) Heaven [Jabun Hardcore Remix]"!  

$5 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/36611523
$10 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/36611529​

This one was a fun remix for a competition back in September 2016, just after I'd moved out of my parent's place but before I had a dedicated studio room set up. My "studio" at the time was an IKEA coffee table in the living room / kitchen with my laptop, some Logitech speakers and Sennheiser headphones, and a couple of synths and my MPC, and it was an interestingly limited time for making music to say the least! Anyway, along came a remix competition and it sounded like fun so I thought, let's try something completely different to my usual sound: a hardcore remix! After ironing out some crazy mixing anomalies I didn't expect due to my less than ideal listening environment, I'm super pleased with the way this one turned out, and I hope you enjoy something fun and different from me this month! Listen on YouTube:

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

For the $10 patrons, you've got another exclusive demo from Jabun's upcoming albums to look forward to as well as an article on the composition/production process for it! Become a $10 patron to access that article and many more now, and remember that you'll gain access to all historic rewards and posts for your Patreon tier too when you become a supporter! With the new REWARD ARCHIVE tag it's never been easier to catch up with all those posts and music downloads you've missed too! I hope you enjoy them :) 

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

​That's it for this month's rewards! Next time is looking to be something (sort-of) new again from Better Than The Book, and possibly a little earlier than usual too for the $5+ patrons! We shall see how the timing goes!

And that about wraps things up for this week! I've got some sorting out to do in the studio to accommodate this new organ, and I'm sure there'll be more admin and audio work to keep me busy next week too! Until the next post, I hope you have a great time whatever you're up to and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio and my various music projects! Stay safe and take care!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great week so far despite the new(ish) normality! Another one on lock down over here at JabunAudio, though I've been taking it a bit easier this week with a much needed break so there's not a whole lot new to report this week. I had a fun 505 day celebration jamming on my own vintage TR-505 drum machine, and have been busy with some artwork things for upcoming Jabun projects, but that's been about the extent of my productive updates. Back to audio and other things this coming week, though I'll be pacing myself for a while I think. Onto the news for this post, some things to celebrate before we move onto the usual monthly reflections. Let's get started!

First of all, on Monday I celebrated the 3rd anniversary of my debut album as Jabun - Daydream which was released May 4th 2017! Crazy to think that was 3 years and 2 studios ago and so much has happened since then! With its fair share of internet media and video games features, I think Daydream did well for itself as my first full length release as Jabun and it certainly seems time to follow it up a new album (or more) later this year! Lots more Jabun in the pipeline to come but if you've yet to check out Daydream, listen to it and pick it up on Bandcamp and all the usual places. I hope you enjoy it:

Next and finally this week, it's the beginning of another month so it's time to reflect on targets and goals for April and set some new ones for May! Here's what I set for myself last time:

1) Complete my tax return
2) Renew the JabunAudio website
3) Get the audio 100% complete for the upcoming cover song 
4) Learn the 17 BTTB songs that currently have live band arrangements
5) Write 120+ minutes of Jabun demos (total)

And a pretty successful month it has been! 1), 2) and 3) were completed with not much else to say! 4) made reasonable progress though was slowed especially in the last week or so due to hay fever and certain working from home considerations. Overall by the last time I practiced which was a week(ish) ago I could sing and play through all 17 tracks with some simplifications as needed. 13 of them I would say I was happy to gig, the other 4 not quite but nearly there for one of them. A good effort given the circumstances I think but a bit more work to do in the coming month for sure! 5) was blown out of the water with a whopping 148+ minutes demoed in total by even a few weeks ago! With so much new material, I've decided to put writing on hold for a while and focus on the next 2 albums which are shaping up very nicely! Overall, happy with the progress though I'd like to have got more done with regards rehearsing those BTTB tracks (not that I know when we'll be able to take it to the stage anymore...). Onto some goals for May, let's set some new ones!

1) Learn the 17 BTTB songs from last month (effectively 4 more to finish + polishing the rest)
2) Sort artwork, mp3s (etc...) and admin work for mystery cover song (ready for release)
3) Finish final audio + sort mp3s (etc...) and admin work for next Jabun album (ready for release)
4) Finish initial mixing the following Jabun album ready for final tweaks and mastering
5) Fix my Moog synth

Now I don't expect to get everything on this list done 100%, but the more the better for progress! 1) Is sort of low priority until I know when BTTB can gig again, but I'd like to get it done for my own benefit and enjoyment. 2) & 3) I'd like to get things all sorted, though there may be some lead time on the admin work being completed. The audio is so close to finishing on the Jabun album too with the final artwork already sorted this week. 4) 1 track done, 3 left to go with regards the mixing on the following Jabun album and it's not far off for 2/3 of those other tracks. Just gotta go and do it I suppose! 5) I actually had this on my personal (not published) list for last month and while I thought I had fixed it, the problem seems to be intermittent again as of last week so I'm going to have to but the bullet and replace some components... Basically the top key is sometimes sticking, or double triggering, or not triggering at all so needs replacing. Less annoying but also a problem is that the cutoff pot of the filter is a bit scratchy and ought to be replaced. It's been like that for a while but if I'm going to fix the Moog I might as well try to fix all of it! Trying to source the parts has been difficult though so we'll see. Fixing the key is priority, cutoff pot is bonus. Aiming to have it all fixed up and in perfect working order (still works for sequencer play with the problems, but ideally no problems is better) by the end of the month depending on how long it takes to get the 2 replacement parts. We shall have to see! All in all some busy times ahead with those goals so wish me luck! Feel free to share your goals in the comments below too and we can keep each other accountable!

And that about wraps things up for this week's blog post. Client work's been a bit dry over here since the lock down started, so I'll be keeping busy with my own projects in the mean time and from the list above, I'm sure there'll be plenty to get on with. We'll see how much there is to report next week but until then, I hope you have a great week and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio, Jabun, Better Than The Book, and my various projects! Stay safe as always and see you in the next one! Take care!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great end to April. Still on lockdown over here, and its been a reasonably productive week mixing / mastering + sorting artwork for one of the upcoming Jabun albums, as well as recording / mixing the next one. I'm definitely starting to feel a little burned out as of late though, and the lockdown restrictions are starting to get to me too, so perhaps time for a break soon. It was certainly a strange 30th birthday on Friday, but I think I made the best of it (looking forward to celebrating properly when this is all over). But anyways some cool things to share this week! 2 new tracks and the associated Patreon rewards. Let's get to it!

So as previously mentioned, Friday was my 30th birthday so as an extra special treat and thanks for all the support over the years, not only did I release 2 new Patreon exclusive bonus mashup tracks, but also patrons got them on my birthday instead of having to wait for the first Wednesday of the month like usual! Woot woot! For those of you not on Patreon you can listen to them on YouTube! Grab the rewards and check out the videos below:

$1 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/34612399
$5 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/34612358

The first bonus track is another Better Than The Book mashup and although I didn't think it would work initially, I'm actually super pleased with the way it turned out! Check out "The Bigger Call, Maybe..." via the video link below and hope you get a kick out of it!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great week so far despite the extended lock-down and all the crazy stuff still going on outside! It's been a super busy and productive one over here at JabunAudio working on a variety of new tunes and sorting out a tonne of upcoming Jabun projects (more on that in a moment). A fair bit of news to share this week so let's start with a celebration!

Firstly in the news, after much hard work and promotion, I'm super happy to report that Better Than The Book just passed 1000 followers on Twitter (right on time for my 30th Birthday tomorrow too)! Thanks so much for all the support especially since Hopes and Dreams was released last year, with a special thanks to all the radio shows and blogs which featured the music and everyone else who helped spread the word (especially the album's PR extraordinaire Meg)! If you're not yet following you can find BTTB on Twitter here, and check out the screenshot below:

https://twitter.com/BTTB_UK

Next this week, with not much else to do while on lock-down, I've been super busy composing demos, recording and engineering for new Jabun projects and my oh my has it been a productive time! With almost 2 and a half HOURS of original Jabun demos completed since November last year (not including covers or half finished demos), I'm finally taking a break from composition now to focus on what I've currently got and polish them up for some new releases! As it currently stands here's what's lined up for the near(ish) future (in approximate order though with no timescales just yet):

1) A mystery metal cover song (master audio finished; just artwork, conversions and the admin side of things to do)

2) A 33 minute Jabun "LIVE" album (all recorded, needs final mixing and mastering, then artwork and admin)

3) A 37 minute Jabun studio album (fully composed and well demoed, needs final recording, and all the rest)

4) A ~70 minute Jabun studio (double) album (Roughly demoed, with possible additions to come) 

5) A bonus album with alternative versions (eg: instrumentals) from album #4 above

+2 more miscellaneous leftover demos I'll likely release as Patreon exclusive bonuses

And on top of that there will definitely be a Better Than The Book bonus album coming in July too! I'm currently aiming to have projects 1, 2 & 3 out before the end of the year (maybe beginning of 2021 for #3), and more details to come as and when I can share them! In any case it's looking to be an exciting time for music for the foreseeable future and I've still got the rest of the Jabun back catalog to upload to Patreon too! Hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am, and I can't wait to share it with you all!

Finally for this week, a heads up that tomorrow is my 30th birthday and to celebrate I'll be releasing 2 new bonus tracks on YouTube with Patreon exclusive downloads! That also means that tomorrow will have a good few Patreon posts/rewards too. If you're a $5+ supporter, then you've already got access to these tracks, and download privileges will be granted to the $1 patrons at ~9am BST tomorrow too! Come join the fun on Patreon to grab those downloads and all previous rewards for your tier including the full BTTB discography + a tonne of Jabun and other bonus tracks! Hope to see you there:

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

And that's about it for this post! Hope you're looking forward to the new tracks tomorrow and I'll be sure to share them in the blog post next week. It's certainly going to be a strange birthday this year, and I'm sure the rest of my week will be filled with working on more Jabun projects and other things. Until then, thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio, Jabun, Better Than The Book and all my projects and I hope you have a great week! Stay safe, wash your hands, and take care!

Hi everyone and hope you're staying safe and well indoors with some very clean hands (lots of time to practice that at the moment)! It's been a slow week here at JabunAudio finishing up some tax year admin work, practicing the usual BTTB tunes and learning/brushing up some more, jamming on synths / drum-machines / samplers, playing a bit of cello for the first time in a while, a tonne of melodica, and working on more demos for the upcoming Jabun album(s). As it currently stands, the demos total to over 111 minutes (1 hour 51 minutes), which makes me about 8 and half minutes away from this month's target (probably 2 or 3 more tracks I recon). Nice! Certainly feeling that lock-down strain at the moment though and looks like it'll be for another few weeks at least so staying productive is going to be a push. Keeping at it as best I can though! Other than that there's not a whole lot to report this week, though I do have something very cool to share from World Beyond, so let's talk about that!

So over the past year and a bit since World Beyond released its 2nd full-length album "Nobody Asked For This So I Did It" in December 2018 (for which I played guitar and bass on most of the tracks), my dear friend Vlad has been working hard on various animated videos for each of the tracks, unveiling a story which has been many months in the making! On Sunday, the finale of these animated videos was released for the track "Awaken The Giant" and it was simply glorious! "Awaken The Giant" happens to be the only track on the album which I didn't contribute to instrumentally (though I took part in a lot of proof listening etc...), but I just had to share it here! A huge congrats to Vlad for getting this project out there and looking forward to working with you on your music again soon! I hope you all enjoy "Awaken The Giant" and here's a statement from Vlad about the production:

"This animated video signifies the end of a huge period of my life that started with the production of the album Nobody Asked For This So I Did It, way before I turned to Nick Standing for recording the first guitar tracks. Back in 2016 I took the photo of construction workers on top of a nearby building and then decided it would be cool to make this a theme of the entire album only with a sci-fi twist. Ordinary people building a foundation for the future of humankind. And then the plot thickened with each new video revealing more and more of the structures they were working on from odd looking towers appearing to be parts of gigantic heads that turned out to belong to huge stone robots. The final video was supposed to tie everything together. I teased a few scenes in the Not The Beginning video. Back then I thought I would be able to finish Awaken The Giant a lot sooner, but life got crazier and production of some scenes had to be cancelled or postponed. Every segment in this video took me hours, sometimes days to design and a lot more to render in 4K on my workstation. Sometimes I had to return to finished footage to update the visuals which pushed the release date even further back. And yet, I just had to do it because from the inception of NAFTSIDI everything was for this video. Finally able to move on, I'm releasing the animation on my channel and the mkv file will also be available from Bandcamp as a download. I hope after so much tease, I at least did not disappoint you. Thanks so much for staying in our World Beyond. You made it happen."
- Vladimir

And that about wraps things up for this blog post! Not a whole lot to report these days unfortunately, though I'll be keeping up the blog for the forseable future and reporting what I can! Looks like this next week will be filled with more Jabun composition and various practicing as there's not a lot else I seem to be able to do at the moment, but I'll be sure to share anything else exciting that crops up in the next post! Until then, I hope you all have a great week to come, stay safe and wash your hands and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio and my various projects! Take care!

Hi everyone and hope you're staying safe and healthy especially during these corona virus times. It's been another week of lock-down over here at JabunAudio filled with a little bit of Jabun composition, some World Beyond project proofing, some Better Than The Book guitar/vocal practice, and a whole load of JabunAudio admin work since the new tax year started on Monday. Some more exciting radio news to share with you today as well as a long overdue update so let's get on with it!

First of all, after much consideration and suggestions from various social media platforms due to the corona virus disruptions over the last month or so, I've decided to set up a PayPal tip jar for anyone who wants to throw some spare PayPal pennies my way to support my music, especially during this crazy time.
 
I realise that while Patreon is a great platform for people who want to support my music/projects on a regular basis, many people aren't in that position to do so, and since I try to keep as much of my music as possible free to listen to for everyone on platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud, Newgrounds, etc... there's not much incentive these days for people to actually buy digital downloads anymore (a huge thank you to everyone who does though)! With this being the case, I thought setting up a separate PayPal tip jar would be a good alternative for those who want to support my music with one-off tips or the occasional support without the commitment of Patreon, or simply buying the same digital album over and over again. If YouTube (etc...) is my busking street, think of this tip jar as my open guitar case for your spare change. Every little bit makes a difference!
 
With the UK on lock down at the moment, all I can really do is make or practice more music (as you've heard), so I'll be working on a whole plethora of new tunes for the foreseeable future! If you're enjoying the music and have some pennies you won't miss (whether a Patreon supporter already or not), feel free to send them my way via the new PayPal Tip Jar button or hyperlink below:

https://www.paypal.me/NickStanding

You can now find this tip jar button at the foot of all the JabunAudio, JabunMusic, Better Than The Book, and Nick Standing web pages, and I've updated my various social media profiles and streams with the hyperlink (where I can) so it'll always be easy to find! Thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio, Jabun, Better Than The Book, and my various music projects in all the ways you can, many thanks for listening, and I can't wait to take Better Than The Book live once this corona virus thing is all over! 

Next and lastly for this post, some super cool news to share as Better Than The Book's "Brighton" was back on The Ska Show with Beefy this week playing alongside Less Than Jake's "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" (a track I requested for the show and one of my all time favourites)! Thanks for sharing the tunes and the lovely shout out, Beefy!

Check out the replay of the show below: Less Than Jake is on at -37:03 followed by a lovely shout out, then "Brighton", then more tunes and another shout out!

https://www.facebook.com/TheSkaShowwithBeefy/posts/2923405277747858​

And check out the full playlist for the show below!  Lots of great stuff this week!  

https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-ska-show-with-beefy-on-southern-fm/playlist-31st-march-2020/2914311901990529/

Remember you can grab "Brighton" and the rest of the Hopes and Dreams album in all the usual digital places including the Better Than The Book Bandcamp page:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/hopes-and-dreams

Or grab the full BTTB discography, bonus tracks and all when you become a supporter on Patreon if that’s your jam. The next set of rewards will be on April 24th (my 30th birthday) including 2 new Patreon exclusive bonus tracks so hope to see you then!

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

And that about wraps up this blog post! I'm told there'll be something new to share from World Beyond next week so look forward to that, and by then I'll hopefully have my taxes sorted and be back to Jabun composition or something equally as exciting! Until then, I hope you have a great week to come, stay safe and sensible during these crazy times, and thanks as always again for supporting JabunAudio and my various music projects. Take care!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great start to April despite the corona virus craziness going on! It's been another week on lock-down doing a bit of Jabun composition and experiments with the total duration of demos up at 96+ minutes now and still a dozen+ ideas I'd like to pursue before reviewing them and sorting out some albums. Having said that, there are a few ideas which have pieced themselves together nicely into a 4 track - 38 minute ambient album which I've set aside for the moment. That's looking to be the next Jabun album, though I'll continues writing demos for a while as I mull it over. In other news I've also been busy sorting out some more LIVE arrangements for the Better Than The Book LIVE band to learn, and since it's not clear when we'll next be able to meet up for a practice we might as well make use of this unprecedented downtime for some solo learning. Onto the main news this week I have an extra special and silly April Fool's BTTB bonus track to share with you (which also ties into April's Patreon rewards), and there's also the monthly goals to review and set as usual. Let's get started!

So first of all this week, yesterday was the first Wednesday of the month which means the $1 Patreon rewards have just been sent out, and this time I have something extra special for you, an unreleased bonus track from the 2016 Better Than The Book album "Two Years On"! Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liE7nsRbgJY

... is what I'd have said if there was such a thing, but anyway, here's Wonderwall... and happy April Fool's Day!

This silly mashup has been sitting half finished in my projects folder since about September 2018 but now seemed like the right time to finish it up ready for some April Fool's fun! I hope you get a kick out of it and sing along loud and proud!

Songs used:
Better Than The Book - Make Your Mark [Instrumental]
Oasis - Wonderwall [Acapella]

This bonus mashup track is a Patreon exclusive download so if you want to pick up a copy, come join the lovely Patreon community! Remember that you'll be getting not just this mashup but all historic rewards for your chosen tier when you sign up too including the full Better Than The Book discography and much more! With the REWARD ARCHIVE tag it's never been easier to catch up with all those posts and music downloads you've missed too! I hope you enjoy them :) 

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding (Sign up and find out more)
https://www.patreon.com/posts/34612394 (Exclusive download)

And for the $10 patrons, you've got another exclusive demo from Jabun's upcoming 2nd album to look forward to as well as an article on the composition/production process for it and early access to all the upcoming music later this month! Become a $10 patron to access that article and music and much more now!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/34612377 ($10 rewards)

That's it for this set of Patreon rewards, but as it's my 30th birthday on April 24th, there'll be new rewards including 2 more Patreon exclusive mashups coming early next time! I'll leave all the details as a surprise for later this month, but until then, I hope you enjoy the new music and see you on the 24th!

Finally this week it's the beginning of the month and time to set and reflect on some goals! Here's what was set 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!
 
​So with all the disruption going on around the world, 1) has been delayed a bit due to awaiting feedback from other people. It's currently sitting in a mostly done state, but as there's no rush to release it I've been working on the Jabun demos instead. Speaking of which with 96+ minutes of demos completed now, I GREATLY exceeded my targets for 2)! In fact it would appear I've written a whopping 40 minutes of demos in the past month which feels a little crazy. I definitley don't expect to be making as much next time. 3) is all done and sorted, and with the Better Than The Book (and ALL) gigs indefinitely postposed, while I did lean the setlist solid for what would have been next week's gig, it's kind of an irrelevant goal now... Overall a reasonably successful month though, not perfect but definitely making up for the lacking areas with some extra Jabun demos! Let's set some goals for next month!

1) Complete my tax return
2) Renew the JabunAudio website
3) Get the audio 100% complete for the upcoming cover song 
4) Learn the 17 BTTB songs that currently have live band arrangements
5) Write 120+ minutes of Jabun demos (total)

Since I'm likely to be stuck inside and had to cancel my holiday downtime anyway I figured I'd set some big goals this time. Of course 1) & 2) are essential, but the others are lower priority. 3) will depend on the availability of my feedback team, so that's partially out of my control. 4) Should be ok. I've already learnt 8 tracks for the gig + another 2 from the December practice (though those are a little rusty) + 1 more, so really it's only 6 new tracks to get under my fingers and vocal chords. If I can get a few more down that'd be cool, though I'm not too bothered if I don't make the full 17. 5) Is probably a little over ambitious but with 40+ minutes written last month it seems this'll hopefully not be quite as strenuous as it only equates to about 23 minutes of new music, all of which are partially started already. We'll see how it goes but I'd be happy with just 15 minutes of new music! I've a few more maintenance goals for myself too but those are also less in my control so I'll just set these 5 here! Any goals you have for April? Leave them in the comments and we can keep each other accountable!

And that about wraps things up for this blog post! I've honestly no idea what's going on next week or for the foreseeable future with all this corona virus stuff, so I'll be playing it by ear and tending to the goals above and we'll see if there's anything else to share in the next blog post! Until then, I hope you have a great start to April, stay safe and sensible and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio, Jabun, Better Than The Book and my various projects! See you next time and take care!

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!