Happy New Year! Reflecting on 2016's achievements and some targets for 2017 + some holiday chat, new toys to share and what to expect from JabunAudio in 2017!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a refreshing winter holiday whatever you got up to and are ready to take on 2017 with a full breath of fresh air and energy! I had a wonderful time back in my hometown visiting family and friends, mostly making the most of being back there (lots of cool stuff in Brighton), chilling and playing video games with my brother and catching up with everyone. I also went to see the new Star Wars: Rogue One film which was simply amazing (BRUTAL though) and had a play on a lovely Fender Jaguar guitar, which felt and sounded amazing and is definitley on my wishlist now! My only regrets for the winter break are that I didn't managed to get on my skateboard while I was back (too frosty and/or wet), and that I wasn't able to to play my homemade double-neck guitar (which I am very much missing right now... ) as it was packed away and not possible to get to while my childhood home is being redecorated and having some building works done. I also managed to pick up someone's cough/cold (thanks guys... ), which I'm still suffering from, so hopefully that'll be gone soon and I'll be back to singing again. On the brighter side of things though, I recieved some awesome gifts for Christmas including two new instruments to add to my musical armory!  

The first was an amazing and unexpected present from some family friends: a tenor saxaflute (G), essentially a bamboo saxaphone in the key of G with a tone most similar to the lovely tenor saxaphone. and a fundemental range from the G below middle C to the G above (+ higher registers which I've yet to figure out). This is my first instrument with a reed so it'll be a while until I'm practiced enough to use it effectively, but it's sounding lovely so far and I've mapped out the chromatic range of the fundemental register which will no doubt aid in my playing. Hopefully with some more work, you'll be hearing this in the next BTTB album! We'll have to wait and see! The second new instrument was from my brother to aid in the creation of my 8-bit and chiptune inspired work: a Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator PO-28. Although this thing may look like a naked calculator, it's cabable of some incredible and inspirational sounds for the genre. The interface took a little while to get used to, but it's not as complicated to learn as I was expecting and you've essentially got yourself a drum machine, synth & sequencer + another live synth as well as a ton of live performance effects to play with. Plenty of stuff to get some great ideas and jams flowing. With the ability to sync it up with my other equipment too, it  fits right in my synth rig and I'm looking forward to using it very soon, maybe even in the last couple of track in this JabunAlbum!? Again, we'll have to see where inspiration takes me, but I can tell this is going to be another great little tool for making the music I love to make! Thanks so much guys!

Anyway, enough about the holidays and cool presents and stuff, lets get back to the usual topics! Nothing really to report this week in terms of music as I've only been back for 2 days now and they were mostly spend doing maintenance to the studio, catching up on messages and getting set up to start work on the album again (as well as other things), so this week I thought it'd be nice to reflect on the goals I set this time last year for 2016 and share some new personal goals I have for 2017. Lets get to it:

So first of all lets recap that list from this time last year:  
          1) Release this new BTTB Album (Maybe make more BTTB, but I'll definitely take a little break)
          2) Do some Jabun Music (Electronic/orchestral stuff) Preferably an EP/Abum
          3) Invest in some new studio equipment and/or instruments, preferably something with a keyboard (I've stuff in mind)
          4) Make some new connections and help make more animations         
          5) Keep doing what I do, and keep getting better at it!

Looking at it face on I think we did pretty well!
          1) "Two Years On" was released and had some major successes and achievements as I mentioned in the last blog post. I
               didn't release any more BTTB in 2016, but the break was great for gathering ideas and the rest of 2016 was a great
               one for BTTB nonetheless!
          2) "The Ocean Above" and some other tracks were released which was well recieved and I've made great progress on
               the new album, although it didn't quite get released before the end of the year. Still, best to take time on these
               things rather than rush them and I think you'll all agree the wait will be worth it for when the album finally does
               come out!
          3) I bought my Yamaha Reface CP in March, and it has since been an amazing tool and instrument I've been using on a
               regular basis! As well as being a controller to help in my composition work, the instrument itself has been one of the
               defining palettes of the new Jabun album and has been an inspiration and joy to play ever since I got it. A great
               invesment indeed! The next big investment was the invaluable acoustic treatment for the Bamboo forest which
               without, I would be alot less comfortable in my new studio another great investment!
          4) With the success of Tales of Zale month and the associated live streams, I made a lot of great new friends in 2016 and
               a lot of great animations too! Some summer adventures with Fun Station 4 Kids have been great too, and the recent                Yu-Gi-Oh! job has been the icing on the 2016 animation cake! Definitely a success!
          5) I think the previous points are evidence enough for this point, but it's an ongoing one so I'll keep working on it!

And with the developments in  A P O T H E O S I S  music, Cyberdevil's Back 2016, Charlotte's Web Instrumental Commission, and World Beyond's Mindshell album (to name a few more unexpected things), I think I can safely say 2016 was undoubted a succesful year for achievements in JabunAudio! Let's continue that trend in 2017 and make it even better!

Setting myself some personal targets and what to expect from JabunAudio in 2017:
          1) Finish and release the debut Jabun album + keep doing more little jabun things on the side as usual
          2) The ideas are gathering and overflowing so I'll aim to start work on a new Better Than The Book album as soon as
               the Jabun one is finished! Aiming for a beginning of 2018 release. Planning has already started!
          3 - 5) Same as last year! I think it's always good to reward hard work so some investment back into the business would
               be great. Perhaps that Jaguar? We'll see how money is doing! As always I'd love to continue with the animation and
               collaborative work, and I've heard that Tales of Zale Episode 3 will be on my audio plate in the near future, as well as
               more Yu-Gi-Oh! and some other cards in discussion. As always, getting better at what I do, developing and improving
               as both an engineer, composer, musician and business is an ongoing and constant target, but working on it
               everyday will make sure I keep growing! 
 
And I guess that's about it for this week! Hoping 2017 is an even better year than 2016 and I'll be doing my best to try to make that happen! Next week's work is set to be more on the album, and with any luck and hearing back from people, I should be back to animation work in the near future too! Hoping you all have an amazing year to come and I look forward to sharing my journey with you as it goes by week by week! Thank you soo much as always for supporting JabunAudio and all the associated projects and I look forward to seeing what this year has in store! See you all next week with some usual updates and take care!