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New gear: Korg Volca Modular synth, Jabun's 15-4-20 album receives a Front Page Award on Newgrounds.com + more updates!

14/1/2021

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Hi everyone and hope you're having a great week so far. It's been an intensely busy one here at JabunAudio, mostly sorting out and proof-listening to all the uploads for Jabun's upcoming 3rd album (all done now), as well as doing a variety of admin tasks too. Not much actual music making this week, but I did receive my new Korg Volca Modular synth in the post which has been intensely fun! A little more news to share with you this week as you can tell by the title but let's start with a little update on the new synth!

As many of you know I've been using the Korg Volca Keys for years, most notably in tracks such as Better Than The Book's Meteor Shower, or Jabun's Anxiety, and after so many years working with it, it's been amazing to add another Volca, the Volca Modular to my synth armoury! Based on the Buchla "west-coast" method of synthesis, it's taken a little while to get my head around compared to my experience with the more common "east-coast" style synths and with the highly flexible patch-ability of it, it's been hours of great fun exploring new synthesis methods and sounds over the past week (so much so that I'm almost through my 2nd set of batteries for it already; gotta pick up some more rechargeables). While I originally intended to use it for making light ambient soundscapes, I've actually found it easier for making intense and gritty sounds unlike anything I've been able to do up until now instead, a testament to the versatility of the unit despite its compact design. For those interested in something alien, but fun and a great bang for it's buck, I'd highly recommend one, with the warning that things might not always go how you expect them to when working with it (at least that's what I've found). Looking forward to using it in a new track soon(ish)!

Interestingly, on my first day playing with it though, I discovered a strange behaviour which seemed unintentional. After reporting it to Korg tech support, they've managed to reproduce my result on their end and confirmed that I've indeed found a bug (likely in the firmware) and so the information has been passed onto the Korg development team in Japan, which if you ask me is pretty darn cool! Hopefully there'll be a firmware update shortly but in any case I'll be having a tonne of fun with the synth in the meantime while a solution is found! Seems I've had a knack for finding bugs recently! I wonder if I'll end up with 2 of these as well!

Onto other updates for this week, some amazing news to share as Jabun's 15-4-20 album received a Front Page Award on Newgrounds.com, gathering over 2000 listens in the week since its upload! Thanks so much for the love folks, I think that's a record for me, and check out 15-4-20 on Newgrounds below:

https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/993867

Hope you enjoy the music, and if you like it, pick up a copy on Bandcamp below:

https://jabun.bandcamp.com/album/15-4-20

Or grab it with the entire Jabun and Better Than The Book discographies + all past rewards for your tier when you become a supporter on Patreon for as little as $1 a month! More music to come soon!

Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding
See the past rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/44575319

That about wraps things up for this week! I've got a tonne of spreadsheets etc... to sort for Jabun's 3rd album release so it's looking to be an admin heavy week for me, though hopefully I'll have some time for more writing / jamming and there is another SUPER exciting project coming up which I should be revealing at the start of next month if all goes to plan! Until the next one (which may be next week or not, though there'll certainly be one on the 28th), I hope you have a great January to come and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio and my various projects in all the ways you can. Stay safe, take care, and all the best!
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Jabun's full 15-4-20 album is now streaming and playlisted on YouTube and Newgrounds, announcing PATREON REWARD ARCHIVE posts for 4th October 2018 -> 1st January 2021, setting goals and reflecting on 2020, a new synth on the way + more updates!

7/1/2021

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Hi everyone and hope you're having a great start to 2021 so far (despite the UK being back on national lockdown...). It's been a busy week here getting back into the swing of things, setting up Patreon reward posts for the next few months as well as promoting the newly updated REWARD ARCHIVE (more on that in a moment), updating all the websites with the 2021 dates as well as some more admin, maintenance type work. Some exciting things to look forward to though, as following last week's ponderings for new gear, I've treated myself to a new synth (at a great price too): a Korg Volca Modular! Feel free to Google it if you're interested and hopefully it'll arrive by the time I post this, but I'm certainly excited to start learning the (rather alien to me) Buchla West Coast method of synthesis! No doubt this'll be a source of inspiration for new Jabun material to come! Onto the main news, it's going to be a long post this week with some new music uploads to share as well as lots of reflecting on monthly and yearly goals as has become tradition. Let's start with the final upload for Jabun's 15-4-20 album: the full album stream!

The final (for now) weekly new music upload is here and Jabun's full 15-4-20 album is now available for streaming on YouTube and Newgrounds! Check out and relax to the full 15-4-20 album below:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoNxP6aKAaE
Newgrounds: https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/993867

Or check out the playlisted songs on the platform or your choice:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6tKVPNjy1_DhYHr_G4zBVb0B4U7XvXCr

Newgrounds: https://www.newgrounds.com/playlists/view/afd0c486bbd149e1ba77435e0d5ee8ae

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/04UWDI1dPv1eVO674eZy1w

And if you like what you hear, pick up the 15-4-20 album on bandcamp:

https://jabun.bandcamp.com/album/15-4-20

Or grab it with the entire Jabun and Better Than The Book discographies + all past rewards for your tier when you become a supporter on Patreon for as little as $1 a month! More music to come soon! Hope to see you there!
​
Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding
See the past rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/44575319

And that wraps up the promo period and uploads for Jabun's 15-4-20 album! I hope you enjoy these ambient soundscapes for years to come and I'll be back shortly with the next batch of Jabun tracks in the spring! More details to come soon!

Speaking of Patreon I have a HUGE update to share with you this week as on January 1st I announced the second set of Patreon reward archive posts for all rewards covering from 4th October 2018 (when I started on Patreon) to 1st January 2021 for the convenience of Patreon supporters and new patrons!

These months' rewards cover the full discographies (as of 1st January 2021) for my ska punk / pop punk project Better Than The Book and electronic / cinematic / ambient project Jabun, as well as a few bonus tracks and covers, and the REWARD ARCHIVE is here for your convenience so you can pick up all these rewards (Mp3s, WAVs, artwork and more depending on your tier) in one place when you sign up. No need to search through all the posts manually: Just click the link to the REWARD ARCHIVE below (which will be pinned to the top of your feed when you sign up), select the archive for your tier, dig in and enjoy the music! Hope to see you in the comments! 

Become a patron for as little as $1 a month to access the REWARD ARCHIVE below and all new music as it's released:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/44580119/

And find out more and become a patron below:

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

Music rewards include: 

Better Than The Book's full discography (as of 1st January 2021):
  • One Small Step EP
  • Heartbeats [The Knife] + GG [Good Game]
  • Meteor Shower 2017 demo, MLGG + Stars Racing {Patreon exclusive}
  • Two Years On album
  • Two Years On [Instrumentals] album
  • A selection of pre-BTTB demos {Patreon exclusive}
  • Hopes and Dreams album + press photos, lyric sheets, and a behind the scenes studio photo and story
  • Get A Haircut [Radio Edit] {Patreon exclusive}
  • Hopes and Dreams [Radio Edit] {Patreon exclusive}
  • Mark Your Wall & The Bigger Call, Maybe... {Patreon exclusive}
  • Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals] album

Jabun's full discography (as of 1st January 2021):
  • Bergamot
  • Diamond Eyes - Nine Fifteen Ft. Jess (Jabun Remix)
  • 3rd September 1939
  • Apollo
  • Clare Jeffrey - 60 Days [Jabun Orchestral Mix]
  • Distance
  • Home
  • Verlies Projekt - (Feels Like) Heaven [Jabun Hardcore Remix]
  • The Ocean Above + Noir
  • Jabun [Alternate Reality] - Warrior (Kesha METAL Cover) {Patreon exclusive}
  • Daydream album
  • 15-4-20 album

As well as:
  • Erase Stuff (Mashup) {Patreon exclusive}
  • Nick Standing - Nothing Else Matters (Metallica cover) {Patreon exclusive}

For those of you on the $10+ DEMOlition Pigeon tier, you'll also have access to all the work in progress, demos and behind the scenes monthly articles too including:
  • A sneak peek at Better Than The Book's "(The Travelling To See Eva Song)"
  • Journey into Better Than The Book's "Get A Haircut"
  • Better Than The Book - One Small Step's artwork story + a new mix
  • A deep dive into Better Than The Book's "Meteor Shower"
  • More Better Than The Book artwork stories + another first(ish) draft mix from the new album
  • Work in progress artwork for Better Than The Book's upcoming Hopes and Dreams album + a demo master for track 06 "Get A Haircut"
  • An in depth look into the creation of Better Than The Book's Hopes and Dreams album cover (+ demo alternatives)
  • A behinds the scenes look into Better Than The Book's "The Hardest Part"
  • A behinds the scenes look into Better Than The Book's "Artificial Ignorance"
  • A behinds the scenes look into Better Than The Book's "And I Fear"
  • A behinds the scenes look into Better Than The Book's "Brighton"
  • A behinds the scenes look into Better Than The Book's "GG"
  • A behinds the scenes look into Better Than The Book's "You've Got A Lot to Say"
  • A behinds the scenes look into Better Than The Book's "Hopes and Dreams"
  • 10 minutes of exclusive demos for upcoming Jabun tracks
  • Another behind the scenes look at an exclusive Jabun demo
  • Another behind the scenes look at an exclusive Jabun demo
  • Another behind the scenes look at an exclusive Jabun demo
  • Another behind the scenes look at an exclusive Jabun demo
  • Another behind the scenes look at an exclusive Jabun demo
  • A look into the artwork for the 2nd Jabun album
  • A sneak peek demo at an upcoming cover song
  • A behind the scenes breakdown of Jabun [Alternate Reality]'s Kesha Warrior metal cover
  • An exclusive sneak peek at next year's 3rd Jabun album, demo + photo
  • Another sneak peek demo from next year's 3rd Jabun album
  • An exclusive first sneak peek demo from Better Than The Book's next album

More Better Than The Book will be coming soon(ish) as I'm busy writing the project's 3rd album, but the next few months will be focused on my "other" music as plain old Nick Standing, as well as Jabun's upcoming 3rd album which is due for release spring 2021! Until the next post and then, thanks so much for supporting Better Than The Book, Jabun and my various music projects on Patreon, and I hope you enjoy the music (and articles) above and to come!

Finally this week, it's time for some reflections on December and 2020 as a whole and to set some new goals for January and 2021. I think it goes without saying by this point that 2020 was not the year we all expected it to be, and with that came much disappointment, but let's look back at the goals I set myself at the start of last year and see how I did. Here's what was set:

1) Finish and release that cover song!
2) Finish or at least be in the final stages before releasing the 2nd Jabun album
3) Release the 3 mystery bonus projects I plan to release!
4) Play my first full band gig as Better Than The Book
5) Start work on a new BTTB EP/album?
6) Make a new and updated Patreon intro video
7) Invest in some new studio equipment and/or instruments      
8) Keep doing what I do, and keep getting better at it! 
9) Make 2020 the best financial year for JabunAudio yet!

Now, ya' know, considering the unexpected circumstances, I don't think things went that badly at all! Of course the main disappointment was not being able to play my first gig (or any gigs) as Better Than The Book, especially after all the hard work and investments at the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020, though I've been sure to keep up my practice throughout last year and apart from getting back in sync and practiced with the guys again, I'm feeling mostly ready for it when the time comes! Musically it's been a very successful and productive year 1) was revealed as Jabun [Alternate Reality]'s debut track Warrior (Ke$ha Metal cover), 2) although not the album I'd planned to release at the time was Jabun's 15-4-20, though my 3rd album as Jabun is already complete and ready for release in the spring (apart from admin work) and I'm STILL sitting on an additional 70+ minutes of demos as well! 3) Turned out to be the 3 silly mash-ups around April Fools and my 30th birthday "Mark Your Wall", "The Bigger Call, Maybe..." and "Erase Stuff", as well as Better Than The Book's Hopes and Dreams [Instrumentals] bonus album, and speaking of 5), apart from some lyric sheets to finish and of course properly recording and producing it all, I've got a decent amount of material for the next BTTB album on the back-burner for working on throughout 2021 as well! One thing I really didn't get around to was making an new Patreon intro video. By the time I had some free time (which wasn't a lot), it felt like it'd be irrelevant again, and so I figured I'd delay it until it felt right to do another, and just concentrate on actually making music for the moment. And speaking of making music, although not on the goals list or even my radar at the time, Cyberdevil's INK 19 mixtape, our collaboration "Away Fear", and my Metallica "Nothing Else Matters" cover for my Dad's 60th birthday were more grand additions to the music of 2020! Onto 7), not only did I get a cabinet for my at the time new Orange amp, but I also invested in the lovely Yamaha YC25D vintage combo organ (something I've wanted for decades) AND fixed it up to 100% working order again (not to mention making my own service manual and finally repairing my Moog too). I think 8) goes without saying as accomplished and my longest interview to date in October on Newgrounds is a good illustration of that. Finally although it could have been a complete disaster, 2020 understandably wasn't the best year financially for JabunAudio, but it wasn't the worst either (partially thanks to the SEISS grants from the government which have helped keep me afloat). It's been a bumpy ride for sure, but things are going better than expected given the circumstances. Overall, while 2020 was an awful year for socialising and gigging, the isolation made for some good productive time and inspiration and I'm sure there'll be plenty more music to show for it (not just from me).

With those reflections done, let's set some goals for 2021! With all the uncertainty of the future, these'll be tentative, but I'll see how I get on:

1) Keep doing what I do, and keep getting better at it!
2) Make 2021 the best financial year for JabunAudio yet! (I can only try)
3) Release Jabun's 3rd album
4) Finish writing and start recording Better Than The Book's next album
5) Play the first BTTB live gig (still hoping)
6) Release or at least finish recording another (4th) Jabun album?

With the Korg Volca Modular on the way, it'd be nice to invest in more gear, but there's no quota to meet for a 2021 goal and I've probably treated myself enough already. Goals 1) and 2) will always be so and I hope at the very least I'll still be able to do this in a year's time. Goal 3) is pretty much in the bag as everything just needs to be uploaded and the admin sorted ready for launch and promo. 5) I'd really like to do, though it's not really up to me anymore... we'll see how it goals. 4) I'm not even if I started now I'd be able to get the album out this year (Maybe if I'm extra inspired with the final bits of writing), though I don't want to rush it either, but I'd at least like to be well on the way recording-wise before 2021 is out. 6) I think it'd very much be possible to release another Jabun album in 2021 on top of the 3rd album, and there's still a lot of (IMO) great material from the writing sessions of 2019 and 2020 I'd like to compile and release. We'll see how it all goes with Jabun and BTTB and I'm sure one of them will be close to or have already launched another album before the year is out! Wish me luck and I hope you all have great 2021s to come!

Onto reflecting on December's goals, I didn't set many for the month but here they are:

1) Release Jabun's 2nd album "15-4-20" to the world!
2) Sort the next set of Patreon Reward Archive posts which'll go live at the start of January.

And not really much to say! Jabun's 15-4-20 was released and so were the new Patreon reward archives! Done! I've already done a considerable amount of the things I'd intended to do in January 2021 (Updating the Patreon page with the new reward archives, updating the websites, finishing the 15-4-20 promo period, and sorting the next few Patreon reward posts), so the rest of my goals are mainly focused around admin on Jabun's upcoming 3rd album:

1) Sort the Bandcamp, RouteNote and streaming uploads for Jabun's 3rd album (proof listening)
2) Make an announcement video for Jabun's 3rd album
3) Make a promo schedule for Jabun's 3rd album
4) Try to finish another 3+ 1st draft lyric sheets for Better Than The Book's next album

Goals 1) - 3) are essential to keeping the next Jabun release on track, and there'll be more to do on that next month as well. Goal 4) is more causal, though I'd like to make sure I keep working at the new Better Than The Book album while I'm busy with all this admin work. I'll also be keeping up with live practice, and I've even started practicing (roughly) some of the new demos too + I need to update some of my records for upcoming royalty payments, and serial numbers when the new synth arrives etc... It's looking to be a busy month overall, though with the new lockdown and ongoing isolation fatigue, I'll be making sure to keep tabs on my own mental and physical health too and doing my best to balance the hard work and play / relaxing time. Hope it's a good month ahead and hope you all have a good month to come as well!


And that wraps up this gargantuan start of the year blog post! It's going to be busy on my end I'm sure, but I also can't wait to get patching and experimenting on the new synth when it arrives and having some fun making music in a new way! Until the next post which may or may not be next week but will certainly be on January 28th at the latest, I hope you have a great start to 2021 and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio, Jabun, Better Than The Book, my projects and just me, Nick Standing, especially over the past crazy year. I look forward to bringing you new music soon! Take care and all the best for 2021!
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Christmas festivities and new gear, Jabun's 15-4-20 C is now available for streaming on YouTube and Newgrounds, 15-4-20 featured on World Beyond's winter round-up blog post, Cyberdevil's INK 19 now streaming on YouTube + more updates!

30/12/2020

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Hello everyone and hope you had a great Christmas and/or winter festive time however you were able to celebrate! I've been taking a bit of a break since the last post, but keeping up with a little bit of web update work, promo for Jabun's recent 15-4-20 album and of course this blog post! It's certainly been a bit of a strange Christmas this year, my first away from family and my hometown, but all things considered I think things were pleasant as I could have hoped for, and it's been nice to relax a bit after such a busy time last week with the various project and album launches (before a similar level of busy comes in January)!

Some fun things to share from the holidays: My twin Eamon and S.O. Eva chipped in together to gift me an Ammoon Pockverb reverb/delay pedal to help with creating some lovely ambient soundscapes, especially with my Yamaha YC-25D organ (though I've been playing it with synths and guitar too and it sounds spectacular)! Funny story: when it first arrived, I tested it and some strange glitches were happening with certain settings though the pedal itself apart from that was about 95% working as it should. I contacted Ammoon directly to see if there was simple fix to the problem (firmware update perhaps), but instead they decided to just send me ANOTHER one so now I have two of them! They both work about the same, and funnily enough using them together solves the initial problem I had! A super pleasant surprise which has made for some LOVELY ambient explorations over the holidays, though none recorded as of yet. Looking forward to putting these to good use for jams, inspiration and future music! On top of that, my parents gifted me a lovely and compact power supply to power those pedals (as well as some new wellies), Eamon made me a GLORIOUS dank meme mashup album, and Eva got the New "Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity" game for us to play together (If "Jabun" didn't give it away you must already know by now I'm a massive The Legend of Zelda fan)! Lots of snacks from care packages too which was very kind and I've been eyeing up some things to potentially treat myself too given the time of year and the recent album launch so I'm sure there'll be more updates on that later. Overall, a fun festive period, though I'm very much looking forward to being able to see family again; this covid thing really has been going on for far too long... 

Onto the main news for this week! Let's start with some more music! The next weekly new music upload is here and Jabun's 15-4-20 C is now streaming on YouTube and Newgrounds! Check out and relax to 15-4-20 C below:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tDNPCWS_TM
Newgrounds: https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/991903

And if you like what you hear, pick up the 15-4-20 album on bandcamp:
https://jabun.bandcamp.com/album/15-4-20

Or grab it with the entire Jabun and Better Than The Book discographies when you become a supporter on Patreon for as little as $1 a month! More music to come next year! Hope to see you there!

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

And the full 15-4-20 album is now available to stream on Spotify as well:

https://open.spotify.com/album/04UWDI1dPv1eVO674eZy1w

Next week I'll be putting up a full album stream for 15-4-20 (the final video in this 15-4-20 series) and calling the promo period for 15-4-20 to a close, but I hope you enjoy listening to the tracks individually until then. Not long to wait!

Next this week, Jabun's 15-4-20 album was featured in World Beyond's winter round-up blog post, along with a lovely rendition of Carol of the Bells as well as some free download codes for our Winter Legend EP and more project updates from World Beyond's Vladimir Kuznetsov! Check it out below and hope you enjoy the music:

https://www.worldbeyond.net/2020/12/merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year.html

And finally, as promised in last week's blog post, the new Cyberdevil INK 19 mixtape is now available for streaming on YouTube! Strangely, the first couple of seconds is a bit messed up but other than that everything's great (let's just call it a watermark of sorts)! If you haven't yet checked it out, read more about INK 19 on Cyberdevil's website below where you can pick up a free download ungarbled version of the album as well! Enjoy!

https://cyberd.org/the-fruits-why-fruits-though-why-dont-we-ever-say-vegetables-or-nuts-or-berries-or-something-of-inktober.html

That's about it for me this week and month and year! Man oh man has 2020 been a strange one, but a strangely productive one given the circumstances too. I'm looking forward to reflecting on everything in next week's blog post as well as unveiling the updated Patreon Reward Archive too, but until then, I think I'll be enjoying the rest of my holiday drowning in echos and reverb tails! Thanks for sticking with me over this past and crazy year and heres to a hopefully much better 2021! Take care and as always, thanks for supporting JabunAudio, Jabun, Better Than The Book, and my various projects in any way you can. All the best and have a great New Year's Celebration how ever you're able to!
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Cyberdevil launches his INK 19 Mixtape (which I helped with), Jabun's 15-4-20 B is now available for streaming on YouTube and Newgrounds, and a happy 8th anniversary to Better Than The Book's debut EP One Small Step + more updates!

23/12/2020

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Hi everyone and hope you're having an as-good-as-possible-given-the-circumstances start to the holiday season so far! It's been a busy week over here at JabunAudio and alas with the current crazy coronavirus news that's been going on in the UK, I'll be stuck up here in Leeds away from my family this Christmas... It's going to to be a strange one for sure, but on the bright side I have some extra cool news to share with you today, a great free gift from Cyberdevil to start the Christmas holidays with an 808 boom, as well as some more cool news worth celebrating! Let's get to it!

First of all this week, it is with great pleasure that today I share with you Cyberdevil's brand new INK 19 Mixtape, a free to download, just shy of an hour long remastered revisit to Cyberdevil's Inktober Challenge raps of 2019! Check out the cover art below!
Picture

We've been hard at work for the last month polishing this secret project and it's been a great thing to be a part of! I've been on mastering and additional mixing duties as well as providing the beat to "Away Fear" which was recently (re/pre)released as a full production track (the version in here is more a legacy mix of sorts)! I highly encourage you to read more about it on Cyberdevil's website here where you can pick up a free download:

https://cyberd.org/the-fruits-why-fruits-though-why-dont-we-ever-say-vegetables-or-nuts-or-berries-or-something-of-inktober.html

And listen to the mixtape in full on Newgrounds! We hope you enjoy it!

https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/990124

The full mixtape will be coming to YouTube shortly so I'll be back next week to share that! 

Next and speaking of YouTube, the weekly new music uploads have started and Jabun's 15-4-20 B is now streaming on YouTube and Newgrounds! New tracks from the 15-4-20 album will be uploaded each Wednesday until the first week of January! Check out and relax to 15-4-20 B below:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFiPTfAD9aU
Newgrounds: https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/990130​ 

And if you like what you hear, pick up the 15-4-20 album on bandcamp:

https://jabun.bandcamp.com/album/15-4-20

Or grab with the entire Jabun and Better Than The Book discographies when you become a supporter on Patreon for as little as $1 a month! More music to come next year! Hope to see you there!

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

And the full 15-4-20 album is now available to stream on Spotify as well:

https://open.spotify.com/album/04UWDI1dPv1eVO674eZy1w

Finally this week, time sure flies past as Better Than The Book's debut EP One Small Step turns 8 years old today! Man it seems like a lifetime ago, a start of something special that's really bloomed into something greater than I'd ever anticipated over the last 8 years! Here's to the past and the future and if you've yet to hear it, check it out on Bandcamp:
https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/one-small-step-ep

And/or pick it up along with the rest of the BTTB and Jabun discographies on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

And that wraps things up for this post! I hope you enjoy all the new music and revisits to old and with that I'm going to pack up for a few days and enjoy a well earned break! Next time I'll be sharing the final track from Jabun's new 15-4-20 album: 15-4-20 C, as well as a YouTube stream of Cyberdevil's new INK 19 Mixtape, and with Christmas just around the corner I'm sure there'll be some fun extra things to share then too! Until the next post, I hope you have a great holiday season (despite any disruptions that may take place) and I look forward to bringing you new music very soon! Thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio Jabun, Better Than The Book and my various projects, all the best, seasons greetings, and take care!
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Jabun's 2nd album "15-4-20" has been released, Patreon rewards are out in celebration (including an exclusive first sneak peek demo from Better Than The Book's next album for the $10+ patrons) + more updates!

17/12/2020

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Hi everyone and hope you're having a great December so far! It's been a super busy time here at JabunAudio preparing for this week's HUGE news as well as some equally monumental news I hope to be sharing next week and more exciting things for Jabun in the future too! No rest for me over here so let's get straight into things!

So after much wait, a tonne of hard work preparing and more social media posts about it in the last month than anything else, this week I’m super excited to finally release my 2nd album as Jabun – 15-4-20! Check out the album teaser video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79-h1xzgLxI
(Featured music: “15-4-20 B” – Jabun)

The album preview on SoundCloud featuring all 3 tracks:
Jabun · 15-4-20 Album Preview
https://soundcloud.com/jabun/15-4-20-album-preview

And most importantly, listen to and pick up Jabun’s 15-4-20 album now on Bandcamp:
https://jabun.bandcamp.com/album/15-4-20

15-4-20 is a one take per track live improvised ambient exploration and the first of its kind in my discography. The entire 33+ minute, 3 track album was recorded on the evening of April 15th 2020 with no overdubs or edits, just a single take for each track. I hope you enjoy the gently changing ambient soundscapes; a snapshot of an evening in lockdown during the strange spring of 2020!

In case you’ve not seen them yet, you can also check out the full album credits, special thanks and descriptions on the Jabun – 15-4-20 Bandcamp page! Read more below and I hope you have fun exploring:

https://jabun.bandcamp.com/album/15-4-20

All tracks written, performed and produced by Nick Standing [Jabun]
Recorded, mixed and mastered at JabunAudio by Nick Standing [Jabun]
Album artwork, images and photography by Nick Standing [Jabun]
Recorded on April 15th 2020

15-4-20 is available now from all major digital distributors including, Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon,Spotify and more and will be coming to YouTube and Newgrounds in the coming weeks too! I hope you enjoy it!

And of course, in celebration of 15-4-20’s release, there’s whole handful of rewards for my supporters on Patreon too! For the $1 patrons, you’ve got the full mp3 album and artwork including alternative album covers and the original album cover photo (with no titles)! Pick it up below:

$1 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41340585/

For the $5 & $10 patrons, you’ve got all that + the highest CD quality WAV files for all 3 tracks! The $10 patrons will also be getting an exclusive first look sneak peek demo from the next Better Than The Book album! Check out the rewards below: 

$5 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41340517
$10 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41340589

If any of that sounds good to you, then become a patron today for as little as $1 a month and remember that you’ll be also getting access to all past rewards for your tier too including the full Better Than The Book and Jabun discographies, many Patreon exclusive bonus tracks and more! 

Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding
​

Now that Jabun’s 15-4-20 album is out, I’ll be uploading tracks from the album to YouTube and Newgrounds each Wednesday until mid January 2021, and with such a big release, I’ll also be taking a short break from Patreon rewards to update the Patreon REWARD ARCHIVE posts for the convenience of new patrons. I’ll be back with new rewards for the $5 & $10 patrons on the final Wednesday of January, and the first Wednesday of February for the $1 patrons! Until then I hope you have a great holiday season and enjoy the new music, and thanks as always for supporting Jabun, Better Than The Book and my various projects on Patreon and in any way you can! I look forward to sharing more music with you in 2021!

And speaking of new music, over the last few weeks I've been busy finalising things for the release of Jabun's 3rd album as well, including sorting the master WAVs, Mp3s and FLAC files and getting started on the admin side of work before uploading to distributors! Expect something slightly different, but a logical experimental progression from 15-4-20 coming in Spring 2021! More news on that next year!

And that about wraps things up for this blog post! If all goes to plan, I should be sharing an unrelated but equally exciting piece of huge news next time (man is it busy at the moment), as well as Jabun's 15-4-20 B on YouTube and Newgrounds, at the very least! With all the promo work going on too, it looks like I'll be continuing the JabunAudio blog posts throughout the holiday season this year (I think that's a first), but until the next one, I hope you enjoy this latest batch of Jabun tracks I've poured my heart into and thanks as always for supporting all my projects in all the ways you do! Happy holidays, stay safe and take care!
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From Ash To Alabaster featured on Newgrounds' Tank Tribune Phonograph Vol. 23, Bandcamp Friday tomorrow (best time to pre-order Jabun's 15-4-20 album), setting and reflecting on monthly goals + some more updates!

3/12/2020

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Hi everyone and hope you're having a great start to December! It's been a few weeks since the last post and boy what a busy time it's been with promo for Jabun's upcoming 2nd album "15-4-20", BTTB writing, more Jabun stuff for NEXT year's album, and another BIG project which I can't wait to share with you! We're in the calm before the even calmer Jabun induced storm on December 16th, but there's still a few cool things to share this week before we go through the usual monthly reflections! Let's get started!

​First of all this week, I just wanted to share with you a super cool bit of news that came in my notifications on Monday! My old 2014 collaboration with the one and only Cyberdevil "From Ash To Alabaster" has been featured in Newgrounds' Tank Tribune Phonograph Playlist Volume 23! Thanks so much to The Tank Tribune for having us on there and check out the link below for the full playlist! Enjoy!

https://www.newgrounds.com/playlists/view/830569fecb9da7ba72e285e0c540e405

More stuff from CD and I coming soon and of course it's about 2 weeks until my 2nd album as Jabun is released to the world too! If you've not already done so check it out the pre-order page and single below on Bandcamp:

https://jabun.bandcamp.com/album/15-4-20

And speaking of Bandcamp, in support of musicians impacted by the coronavirus, Bandcamp is once again waiving its revenue share fees on the first Friday of the month from midnight to midnight Pacific Time (that's tomorrow)! That means that if you purchase anything from Bandcamp this Friday 4th of December, the artists you support (including myself) will get more of the sales revenue than usual since Bandcamp doesn't take its cut, and you'll be able to support the music you love more directly than ever on the platform!
 
If you've been itching to pre-order Jabun's upcoming "15-4-20" album or pick (it) up Better Than The Book's "Hopes and Dreams" or one of my other tracks or albums, now's the best time to do so! Check out the Better Than The Book, Jabun and Nick Standing Bandcamp pages below and thanks again for supporting my music in any way you can, it really means a lot:

Better Than The Book
https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/
 
Jabun
https://jabun.bandcamp.com/
 
Nick Standing (< The sillier old stuff)
https://nickstanding.bandcamp.com/

Finally this week, it's time to reflect on the goals I set last month and set some new ones for December! Here's what was set for November:

1) Announce and launch the pre-order for this years new Jabun album (and start the promo)
2) Finish the 3rd Jabun album's Master audio WAV files
3) Finish 3 more BTTB first draft lyric sheets (bringing the total to 8)
4) Write 3 more BTTB first draft horn parts for the demos
5) Write and roughly demo the 2 extra alternative version bonus tracks

(+ keeping up with the BTTB live practice as best as I can)

And on the whole, a good month, especially considering the extra things I've been working on coming up which weren't mentioned on the list (you'll see soon). Of course Jabun's 15-4-20 album was announced with pre-orders and a nicely attended pre-release single premier on YouTube which was a pleasant surprise, so 1) was successful. 2) is just about done too, though I must admit I had one of my worst cases of "tweak itching" sorting it, calling it "finished" half a dozen times before tweaking again and saying NO MORE! Master WAVs have been complete at least ready for MP3 conversions etc... when needed, though that can wait. 3) was the only goal I didn't quite complete, only managing 2/3 of my target BTTB lyric sheets this time, but making a tonne of progress on the 5 lyric sheets which still remain as well as drafting out 5/3 horn parts for goal number 4) so I guess it evens out nicely. 5) was a success too with 2 more demos added to the bonus tracks, and I managed to keep up (the bare minimum) of my BTTB live practice too which went well but does feel a little demotivating considering the lack of gigs on the horizon.

Overall this month though I realised that I think I've been putting a bit too much pressure on myself lately to be productive, potentially as a distraction from the currently dire situation outside, for the music industry and the uncertainty and ethical worries for the future and what would usually be a joyous season with family so close now, but overall much to the detriment of my own mental health which I should be keeping better tabs on. I'm doing ok but feel a need to slow down at the moment with my own work and concentrate on one thing at a time for a little while at least. To think when I first started these monthly goals, I'd be setting 4 things each month (including stuff not shared publicly), though over the past year it's grown to a total of 12 somehow?! It's been insanely productive, but probably at the cost of my well being so the REAL reflection on goals this month will be to take a step back a bit and re-adjust myself. As such I won't be setting any formal goals for personal writing or production projects this month and instead will be focusing on the release of Jabun's 2nd album as well as a few other admin things. 

So for December 2020, here are my JabunAudio goals:

1) Release Jabun's 2nd album "15-4-20" to the world!
2) Sort the next set of Patreon Reward Archive posts which'll go live at the start of January.

That's it! I do have a tonne of smaller personal goals though they're more of a to-do list rather than than the usual goals. I would like to keep up with the Better Than The Book live practice just so I can stop myself getting rusty, but any (non-client) writing and production work will be deemed as casual. I'll do it leisurely when I can but no pressure. Hopefully the break will let me re-adjust and get invigorated for next year and we'll see how things go from there! Remember to take care of yourselves too and if you have any goals, feel free to share them in the comments, but don't put too much pressure on yourself!

And that about wraps things up for this week! It's going to be a busy few weeks leading up to and out of Jabun's 2nd album release on December 16th, but I'm sure there'll be things to share (and certainly things to do) until then and the next post. In the mean time, I hope you have a great week to come and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio, Jabun, Better Than The Book and my various projects! Take care, stay safe and keep well!
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​The pre-release single "15-4-20 A" from Jabun's upcoming "15-4-20" album is OUT! Pre-orders are now open on Bandcamp + more Patreon rewards are out in celebration! "15-4-20" releases on December 16th 2020! (+ more updates)

19/11/2020

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Hi everyone and hope you've had a great week since the last post! It's been a super busy and exciting time here at JabunAudio following the announcement of Jabun's 2nd album 15-4-20 last week and the launch of pre-orders and the single 15-4-20 A on Monday (more on that in a moment), and while I've had my hands pretty full with promo and admin work for the big release, I've still found some time for more Better Than The Book writing / demo recording too so there's been as much fun as there is hard work since the last blog post! Lots of stuff coming soon and let's get straight onto this week's big Jabun news!

After last week’s big announcement of Jabun’s brand new 2nd album 15-4-20, I’m super excited to share with you today the album’s pre-release single 15-4-20 A as pre-orders open on Bandcamp! Check it out below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBVOhWL1OeY

Pre-order Jabun’s 15-4-20 album and pick up the pre-release single 15-4-20 A on Bandcamp:

​https://jabun.bandcamp.com/album/15-4-20

15-4-20 is a one take per track live improvised ambient exploration and the first of its kind in my discography. The entire 33+ minute, 3 track album was recorded on the evening of April 15th 2020 with no overdubs or edits, just a single take for each track. The pre-release single 15-4-20 A was the first improvisation of the session and was pitched/slowed down 15 semitones from the original recording for a deeper feel. I hope you enjoy the gently changing ambient soundscape; a snapshot of an evening in lockdown during the strange spring of 2020!

Now that pre-orders are open, you can also check out the full album credits, special thanks and descriptions on the Jabun – 15-4-20 Bandcamp page! Read more below and I hope you have fun exploring:

https://jabun.bandcamp.com/album/15-4-20

15-4-20 will be released to the public on December 16th at 8pm GMT, but of course my supporters on Patreon have lots of rewards to grab today in celebration of this new album and single launch! 

For the $1 patrons, you’ve got the album cover art and an MP3 download of the pre-release single 15-4-20 A today + you’ll of course be getting the full MP3 album and all the additional artwork when it’s released on December 16th as well! Only a month more to wait! 

$1 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41340578/

For the $5 & $10 patrons, in case you missed it last week, you’ve already been given early access to the full album download package! All 3 tracks (MP3 & WAVs) and all artwork! For the $10 patrons, you’ve also got another sneak peek demo from next year’s 3rd Jabun album! 

$5 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41340517
$10 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41340556/

If any of that sounds good to you, then become a patron today for as little as $1 a month and remember that you’ll be also getting access to all past rewards for your tier including the full Better Than The Book and Jabun discographies, many Patreon exclusive bonus tracks and more! I hope to see you there!

Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

That's it for this weeks blog post and I hope you’re as excited as I am for the album launch on December 16th! No doubt I'll be busy with promo and other things in the coming weeks, but until then I hope you have a great month ahead chilling to 15-4-20 A, and thanks as always for supporting Jabun, JabunAudio, Better Than The Book and my various projects! Take care, all the best, and enjoy the new music!
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HUGE NEWS: Announcing Jabun's 2nd album "15-4-20" (releasing December 16th 2020)! Artwork revealed, pre-orders and pre-release single coming next week, a tonne of Patreon rewards out in celebration + more updates!

12/11/2020

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Hi everyone and hope you're having a great November so far! It's been a busy week here at JabunAudio preparing for this long awaited HUGE announcement from Jabun (as I'm sure you can see by the blog post title) as well as writing more lyrics, horn parts, and recording more demos for Better Than The Book's next album (+ some BTTB live practice), promoting last week's collaboration with Cyberdevil "Away Fear", and playing a tonne of Yamaha combo organ (learning about pipe organ and Hammond registrations this week and it's been a blast)! Fun times again as we launch into a new promotional campaign for this week's big news! Let's get started!

After many months of preparing, and over 3 years after my debut album as  Jabun - Daydream, I’m finally announcing my follow-up 2nd Jabun album “15-4-20” to be released on December 16th 2020! ​(Check out the artwork below)
Picture

When I first started writing Jabun demos again in November 2019, this was certainly not the album I expected I’d be releasing in 2020, but having said that, 2020 was not the year any of us expected it would be either! As it so happens, 15-4-20 would be the album I knew I could finish before the year was out, and although I’d planned on releasing a more traditional album to directly follow Daydream, I thought I’d release this experimental project first while other albums were still in progress!

15-4-20 is a one take per track live improvised ambient exploration and the first of its kind in my discography. The entire 33+ minute, 3 track album was recorded on the evening of April 15th 2020 (hence the title) with no overdubs or edits, just a single take for each track recorded live. All tracks were recorded with just my Korg SQ-1 sequencer controlling my Yamaha Reface CP electric piano and its built-in effects, directly onto a single stereo track in Ableton where I added some more reverb and echo and the usual master processing for each track including fade outs. 
Now I can't quite call this a live album because one minor edit I made to tracks A and B was to simply slow down the recordings in the same way as altering the tape playback speed, so that the pitch drops giving it a deeper / different feel. This simple edit gave a different vibe to each of the tracks despite their similar set-ups. 

The project that would become 15-4-20 was originally meant as just a fun experiment for the evening, but the results I liked so much I thought there was no point in keeping it to myself! The challenge was that instead of improvising on the piano's keyboard as I usually would, I would control the piano instead via an analogue sequencer designed for use with synthesisers. The sequencer is an array of knobs which determine the speed and pitch of what notes will be played, as well as some switches and buttons to dictate how the sequencer will operate and perform other functions. I also allowed myself to move the controls for the pianos effects section(s), but not to touch the keyboard at all. Needless to say, it was a bit of an alien experience to me but a very fun and exciting one full of surprises and just the right amount of chaos which was exactly what I wanted! 

Whether you sit down to listen intently, have it on in the background while doing something else, or simply relax in the sounds, I hope you enjoy this ambient experimental soundscape, a snapshot from an evening in lockdown during the strange spring of 2020. The photo for the album artwork was taken on the following morning, April 16th 2020!

With just over a month to go until “15-4-20” releases to the public on December 16th at 8pm GMT, there’s an exciting few things happening before then! Pre-orders will be opening next Monday exactly 1 month before on November 16th at 8pm, along with the release of the pre-release single for the album “15-4-20 A” which will be premiering on the HurpADervish YouTube Channel at the moment of launch! Tune in below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBVOhWL1OeY

Jabun 15-4-20 bandcamp: https://jabun.bandcamp.com/album/15-4-20
(Goes live on Monday 16th November at 8pm)
​
Of course my supporters on Patreon have lots of rewards to look forward to in celebration of this new album launch! 

For the $1 patrons, you’re getting the full resolution album art today, as well as an mp3 download of the pre-release single “15-4-20 A” when it’s released on November 16th, and of course the full mp3 album and all the additional artwork when it’s released on December 16th! 

$1 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41340506/

For the $5 & $10 patrons, you’re getting early access to the full album download package today! All 3 tracks (Mp3 & WAVs) and all artwork! For the $10 patrons, you’ll also be getting another sneak peek demo from next year’s 3rd Jabun album!    

$5 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41340517
$10 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41340556/

If any of that sounds good to you, then become a patron today for as little as $1 a month and remember that you’ll be also getting access to all past rewards for your tier including the full Better Than The Book and Jabun discographies, many Patreon exclusive bonus tracks and more! I hope to see you there!

Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

That wraps up the news for this week! It's going to be a busy time for me preparing for the single and pre-order launch on Monday 16th November at 8pm, but I'm sure I'll fit some BTTB writing and other things in with all the promotion! A lot more to share in next week's blog post, hope you're as excited as I am, and until then I hope you have a great week chilling in any way you can! See you for the premier and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio, Jabun, Better Than The Book and my various projects! Stay safe, relax and take care!
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New Cyberdevil collab: "Away Fear", Yamaha YC-25D Combo Organ finally repaired 100%, Mr. Knife featured in Newgrounds.com's Tank Tribune & Halloween Phonograph playlist, Bandcamp Friday, setting and reflecting on goals + a tonne of creative updates!

5/11/2020

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Hi everyone and hope you're all doing well and staying safe! It's been a few weeks since the last blog post and man has it been a busy time since then. Sure, the whole UK is in lockdown again (with my area being locked down in tier 2 for over a month now anyway) but that doesn't mean there isn't any good news to share with you today! Some quick updates before I get on with the main bits of news this week: After a long wait and much admin to sort, this year's new Jabun album has finally been approved for worldwide distribution! More details to come when I announce the experimental album in all its glory next week and hope you're excited for then! Meanwhile I've been busy with a long overdue collaboration as well as writing and recording more Better Than The Book demos, making some Jabun artwork, and finally fixing my Yamaha organ! More news to share on top of that so let's start with that mystery collaboration!

First of all this week, I have a long-time-in-the-making hip hop collaboration with the one and only Cyberdevil to share with you, a brand new track called "Away Fear"! For the past 2 years, CD's been taking part in his own version of the Inktober challenge where he writes, records and releases a new acapella track each day and every day throughout the whole of October, (with the occasional collaborations for good measure)! Last year I created an experimental 808 based instrumental for what was going to be the Halloween grand finale of last year's batch, but due to various circumstances it ended up being placed on the back-burner despite all being written at the time. When I heard that CD was taking part in the tremendous challenge again this year, it seemed a great idea to reignite that collaboration, but since it was all written last year (and keeping true to Cyberdevil's daily writing challenge), we decided to give what was going to be a more rough and ready production the FULL Jabun production treatment, going all out with this revamp of last year's collab that was never released! With hypnotic distorted 808s and vocal editing, thunderous distorted bass guitar slides and of course Cyberdevil's signature intense rap flow, I'm super pleased to present to you our first collaboration since 2016 (?!) "Away Fear"! Head over to Newgrounds to hear what CD had to say about it and if you enjoy it, it's completely free to download on SoundCloud and Newgrounds too! Check it out below and I hope you enjoy "Away Fear"!
Cyberdevil · Away Fear
https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/977701

There is the possibility of more Cyberdevil related collaborations coming soon, but I'll be keeping that on the down-low until everything's set in stone! Enjoy the new track in the mean time!

Next on this weeks news, after months of research, planning, hard work, and waiting for packages in the post, I've finally 100% fixed my vintage Yamaha YC-25D combo organ! After exhausting all the UK sources I could find for one obsolete IC that was keeping me from fixing the last 6 dead notes on the lower keyboard, I finally found someone in the USA who had a few of the rare ICs spare from salvaging from a different broken Yamaha synth. Deals were made and I was keen tracking the parcel as it made its way from The States across to Heathrow and up the country, only to find they wouldn't deliver it due to customs charges... After waiting for Royal Mail to send me a grey invoice card, I walked to the local depot (after checking the opening times online) only to find that they were closed (covid precautions) and I'd have to pay online and get it redelivered. A medium hit to the wallet and 2 more days wait and the package arrived, but the IC unfortunately hadn't come with a socket as requested (although I wasn't charged for it either so no loss, just delay). A quick eBay order, and the suitable socket arrived the next morning and I got stuck straight in with my soldering iron! Moment of truth as I plugged the incredibly rare 2nd hand LM3211 IC into the newly mounted socket on the organ's divider board and stuck in some probe wires to check the signal flow, and huzzah! It worked! Quickly plugging the organ into my MPC and monitors and sure enough all those lost notes were back, with no further breaks in the circuit to investigate! Amazing! With the creation of my own service manual as well as learning how the organ worked, fixing this old analogue tech has been an amazing project to partake in and I'm s
o pleased and relieved to have it working at full capacity as I'd hoped when I initially bought it back in May. Super excited to show you all what it's capable of and you'll definitely be hearing it in the next Better Than The Book album (and the upcoming demos for those in the $10+ Patreon reward tiers!). More updates on that in a moment!
Picture

Next on the news this week, a super cool press feature to share with you today as an old Nick Standing classic track "Mr. Knife" was featured on Newgrounds.com's Tank Tribune Halloween Special (and the Halloween Phonograph playlist)! Big thanks to NG and The Tank Tribune for having me on and I hope you enjoy this old track of mine! Check it out below:

The Tank Tribune:
https://thetanktribune.newgrounds.com/news/post/1124008

Halloween Phonograph:
https://www.newgrounds.com/playlists/view/f916b0f36858c4cafa5ef09d01c34988

Mr. Knife is available on the Nick Standing Bandcamp page, and I'll be adding it soon to the Patreon back catalogue as we explore my Nick Standing and soundtrack work next year! Hope you're looking forward to it and if you can't wait until then, check it out on Bandcamp below:

https://nickstanding.bandcamp.com/track/mr-knife

And speaking of Bandcamp, in support of musicians impacted by the coronavirus, Bandcamp is once again waiving its revenue share fees on the first Friday of the month from midnight to midnight PDT (that's tomorrow)! That means that if you purchase anything from Bandcamp this Friday 6th of November, the artists you support (including myself) will get more of the sales revenue than usual since Bandcamp doesn't take its cut, and you'll be able to support the music you love more directly than ever on the platform!
 
If you've been thinking of picking up Better Than The Book's "Hopes and Dreams" or grabbing Jabun's "Daydream" or one of my other tracks or albums (Maybe "Mr Knife" perhaps?), now's the best time to do so! Feel free to check out the Better Than The Book, Jabun and Nick Standing Bandcamp pages below and thanks again for supporting my music in any way you can:

Better Than The Book
https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/
 
Jabun
https://jabun.bandcamp.com/
 
Nick Standing (< The sillier old stuff)
https://nickstanding.bandcamp.com/

Finally for this blog post, it's the beginning of another month and time to reflect on goals and set some new ones as usual! Here's what I set for October:

1) Finish the master audio for Jabun's 3rd album
2) Create at least a first draft for the cover art for Jabun's 3rd album
3) Write 3 more Better Than The Book demos or until the demos reach 39 minutes total
4) Finish first draft lyrics for 5 of the Better Than The Book demos
5) Fix the organ 100%
6) Finish the makeshift service manual for the organ
7) Fix my mpc1000
8) Update the Patreon page

(And I wanted to keep up with my personal BTTB live practice too)

​And overall it was a pretty successful month! Apart from goal 1) which I was waiting on some feedback for, everything else was sorted! For 2) the cover artwork for Jabun's 3rd album is actually fully complete now including all exports! I have possible plans to make some extra art as a sort of liner notes thing, but that can wait until later. 3) as mentioned last month I wasn't sure whether it would be 2 or 3 more BTTB demos to tip over the run-time total to 39 minutes, but it turned out to only be 2, which worked well. 4) is all done with 7 lyric sheets left to finish by my count. 5) as you've read above was complete and is sounding amazing and with my homemade service manual even being featured on combo-organ.com, 6) is complete too! 7) MPC fixed and working perfectly again, 8) also done, and although pretty demotivating considering all future BTTB gigs have been either indefinitely postponed or cancelled with no new gigs able to be booked, I have been keeping up with my BTTB practice (though admittedly it's the bare minimum at the moment). With the waiting on feedback and the release of the new Cyberdevil collab taking up much of my production time this month, I think I can forgive the lack of completion of goal 1)! 


Going back to the Better Than The Book writing goals, I thought it'd be cool to share this quick update about how it's all going! So at the moment, I have 11 very rough song demos totaling to just over 39 minutes with 4 of those being what I'd call "complete rough demos" (basically meaning they have drums, bass, guitars, finished first draft lyrics / vocals + any rough horn / lead organ parts recorded), and 5 first draft lyric sheets finished. My intention is to have that become the next BTTB album which I'll likely be starting to record properly next year, once all the demoing is finished. I've also got a further 2 demos which I intend to be bonus tracks for a bonus EP with mainly alternative versions of songs from the album but one new track too! There's 2 more alternative version bonus tracks I'd like to explore for that EP for a 4 track "Extras" bonus project, tied to, but separated from the main album. Sounds like a fun new exploration for the project and we'll see where is all goes as I keep writing and the project unfolds over the next few months!

So with all those things reflected on and a more clear plan of where to go with this next BTTB project, let's set some goals for next month!

1) Announce and launch the pre-order for this years new Jabun album (and start the promo)
2) Finish the 3rd Jabun album's Master audio WAV files
3) Finish 3 more BTTB first draft lyric sheets (bringing the total to 8)
4) Write 3 more BTTB first draft horn parts for the demos
5) Write and roughly demo the 2 extra alternative version bonus tracks

And as usual I'd also like to keep up with the BTTB live practice as best as I can. Overall the only high priority goal is just goal 1) but making some progress on the other 4 would be great too and while I'm not sure I'll be able to fit them all in, I'll certainly be giving it a shot! With the possibility of more Cyberdevil collaboration stuff this month, I may be prioritising that, but we'll see how things pan out. Should be a busy month ahead so wish me luck and all the best with your own goals should you choose to share them or not!

That about wraps things up for this blog post! Phew that was a long one but I hope you enjoyed the few weeks of news crammed into it! Next week's gonna be a BIG one (in subject rather than length) as I'll be announcing Jabun's 2nd album! Hope you're as excited for that as I am, and I'm sure I'll be busy with preparations and some BTTB writing in the mean time until then! For the moment though, I hope you all have great weeks to come and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio, Jabun, Better Than The Book and my various projects! Stay safe and take care!
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Yamaha YC-25D Combo Organ Supplementary Service Manual, MPC1000 repaired, A 3 part interview on Newgrounds.com (my longest and most detailed interview to date!), last week's Patreon rewards for the $1 patrons: Jabun's Daydream album + more updates!

8/10/2020

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Hi everyone and hope you're having a good week! It's been a busy one here at JabunAudio, though my motivation is definitely wavering due to the coronavirus lockdown situation I'm currently stuck in... I've been taking a bit of a music break to do some maintenance work including replacing the sticky buttons on my MPC1000 which seems much happier now! The new buttons are a little stiffer than the old ones, but they work at least which is the main thing! I've also taken the time to finish drawing up a supplementary service manual for my vintage Yamaha YC-25D combo organ + there's more rewards for the $1 patrons to share today, as well as my longest interview to date with The Interviewer on Newgrounds.com! Let's start with that service manual!

As many of you already know, I'm currently fixing up a vintage Yamaha YC-25D Combo Organ and after being unable to find a service manual for it online (not even to buy...), I decided to put together my own YC-25D supplementary service manual (to be used in conjunction with the freely available YC-45D service manual) to help in problem solving and repairs. I figured there was no point keeping it to myself so I'm giving it out free to anyone who needs it as a thanks to the community for their help so far. Use at your own risk and share it with anyone who needs it, but please don't charge for it. If you do find it useful though, feel free to make a Paypal donation. All the details are in the document's foreword. Happy YC-25D organ repairs. Download below:
yamaha_yc-25d_supplementary_service_manual__ver._1.0_.pdf
File Size: 1415 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Mediafire link as backup: 
http://www.mediafire.com/file/l8eaj10nm3q7067/YAMAHA_YC-25D_Supplementary_Service_Manual_%2528Ver._1.0%2529.pdf/file

Since I posted it earlier this week, my homemade service manual has already been featured on the amazing all things combo-organ website combo-organ.com too! Thanks to Robert for the kind words and sharing my work and hope it's a help to your readers!

https://www.combo-organ.com/Schematics/index.htm

Updates on my own repairs: I'm still trying to source that final component (an LM3211 or equivalent frequency divider IC), and hopefully I'll have some more concrete updates on that soon! Fingers crossed!

Next this week, I've got something super special to share with you today and something I hope you enjoy! Last month I took part in my biggest and most detailed interview to date, a 3 part discussion with The Interviewer on Newgrounds.com all about my musical journey so far! It goes right back to my musical roots, through many of my notable projects including collaborations, bands from my teen years and beyond, through to my solo projects Better Than The Book and Jabun, discussing great memories, not so great ones and my advice for musicians and creators from my own experience. It's a long journey, but I hope you get something out of it and enjoy the read! A huge thanks to The Interviewer (The-Great-One) for inviting me to take part in this, and I'd like to share some of his kind words before you read:

"Today's guest is quite possibly one of if not the hardest working musician here on Newgrounds. With his project Better Than The Book being a success here on Newgrounds and acclaim for his assistance towards other musicians here on the site. His skills are incredible as a composer, lyricist, singer, and guitarist. His story is long, but an amazing one and I wish for you to read it all the way to the end. I am most pleased to welcome, @Jabun."

"Jabun is a rare talent that you don't see in too many musicians nowadays. He is a musician of many hats which is what a lot of musicians used to be like. His songs are not factory produced by writers who are looking for that zany lyric or melody that will stick in people's minds. He makes music that not only he likes, but he thinks people will like. He is truly one of the best here on the site. I know this interview was in three parts, it is the longest interview I have done to date, and I felt it needed to be. Jabun's story needed to be told and I wanted you to experience the journey in hopes that it would inspire you. If you're a musician just starting out, I hope you learned something today and will take it with you."

Without further wait, I hope you enjoy the ride! Read the full interview below:

Part 1: https://theinterviewer.newgrounds.com/news/post/1119983
Part 2: https://theinterviewer.newgrounds.com/news/post/1119986
Part 3: https://theinterviewer.newgrounds.com/news/post/1119990

Next and finally this week, yesterday was the first Wednesday of the month and so last week's Patreon rewards are now available for the $1 patrons (mp3s and artwork only). This month we arrive at the final entry in the Jabun discography (so far), Jabun's debut album Daydream! Read more and grab the rewards below:

Read more: https://www.patreon.com/posts/40080121/
$1 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/40080120/

And that wraps things up for this blog post! There are some collaborations potentially brewing in the pipeline so hopefully that'll get me a bit more motivated, and hopefully I'll have some updates on those organ repairs to share next time too! We shall see, and until then I hope you have a great week whatever you're up to and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio and my various projects however you can! Stay safe, take care, and see you around for the next one!
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