Jabun featured in Ballet of Pain game by Alex Clay, another track "Revolt" from World Beyond to share, the February $5+ Patreon rewards have been sent out, another instrument acquired (melodica) + some more updates!

Hello everyone and I hope you've been having a great week since the last post! I was away last weekend, but apart from that I've been busy working on the final mix tweaks for the upcoming Better Than The Book - Hopes and Dreams album (more on that later) as well as working on the various projects and updates I'll be sharing with you today! It's going to be a longer post this time, so let's get straight into it!

Let's start with something a little different, a game! I'm super excited to finally be able to announce that my track "Dreaming (Parts I - III)" by Jabun, has been featured in the latest game by Alex Clay: Ballet of Pain, which in their own words is "A bittersweet story about growth and leaving bad relationships at home." When Alex got in touch about wanting to use Dreaming (Parts I - III) as the soundtrack I was of course delighted as we've worked together before with high and fun spirits, but when I played the finished game for the first time, I was completely blown away. It was short sweet, and an incredibly beautiful and moving adventure, and the music fit perfectly to my ears too. I feel honored to be a part of such a project and thanks so much to Alex for letting me lend my music to it. The game is free to play in English or Arabic on Alex's website as well as on Newgrounds, so please go check it out by clicking the picture below and support Alex's projects by visiting their Website and Newgrounds page or following them on Twitter. I hope you enjoy Ballet of Pain:

You can also check out and pick up a copy "Dreaming (Parts I - III)" and the rest of the Daydream album by Jabun on Bandcamp: https://jabun.bandcamp.com/album/daydream

Next this week I have another video from World Beyond to share with you, and this time it's "Revolt" which is the only track on the recent album which has any lyrical vocals on it (and some fine vocals they are)! I'm on bass and lead guitar again for this one, and I hope you enjoy the epic visualiser for this latest track! I have a feeling I know what's coming next, and if that's the case I'm super excited for the next video! It's going to be epic! You can check out the rest of the Nobody Asked For this So I Did It album on World Beyond's Bandcamp page, and be sure to subscribe to the World Beyond YouTube channel to see the videos as the come out! Enjoy!

Next this week, yesterday was the final Wednesday of the month which means I've just sent out rewards to the Early Pigeons and $5+ patrons on Patreon! This time I'm sharing another batch of Patreon exclusive downloads: a handful of demos from late 2011 / early 2012 for Better Than The Book songs before Better Than The Book was even a thing, which would later become tracks on the 2016 Two Year On album!
          If that sounds all good to you then become a $5+ patron to access these demos and the rest of the Better Than The Book discography (including the One Small Step EP, Two Years On album and more) instantly! This latest set of rewards will also be sent out to the $2 Hi-Fi Pigeons (everything) and $1 Pigeons (Mp3s and Artwork only) next week on Wednesday 6th March, and if you aren't already a patron, remember that you'll also get instant access to all the previous downloads for your tier too when you sign up. For those of you who decide to join (or have already joined) the $10 DEMOlition Pigeon tier or higher, this month I'll be sharing some work in progress draft artwork for the upcoming Hopes and Dreams album as well as a demo master for track 06 Get A Haircut! Enjoy the exclusive sneak peek! Exciting times!

Sign up and get instant rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

Another bit of super exciting news this week, I've added yet another instrument to my arsenal: a melodica! For those of you who don't know, the melodica is a free reed instrument like a harmonica and is essentially a reed organ played with (in my case) piano style keys and powered by the user's breath. You can play it with a hose-like mouthpiece for playing with two hands, or with a short mouthpiece for playing with one hand while holding with the other in a trumpet or clarinet type position. There are a number of different kinds of melodica's and mine is a fairly basic 32 note alto (I think) model, but I've been meaning to get one for some time and it has not disappointed my expectations; I love it! The breathe control makes it an incredibly expressive instrument despite its almost toy-like appearance and unlike other traditional woodwind instruments, it is fully polyphonic. The tone is somewhat like a more mellow harmonica, less chorusy accordion, covering a tonal pallet similar to a clarinet when played softly to a less bright trumpet when blowing hard. Tuning it was quite the adventure too as I've never tuned a free reed instrument before, but it's sounding better than ever after some TLC on the reeds. I'm certainly looking forward to putting it to good use in my future music work, so be on the lookout for it in the next Jabun and Better Than The Book albums (as well as my client composition work)! Fun times!

Finally for this post, let's conclude with some updates on the upcoming Better Than The Book - Hopes and Dreams album. I didn't have quite as much time as I expected this week to work on it, but as it currently stands, 8/10 tracks have been tweaked to perfection (by my ears anyway), with the 9th almost done too. Once those 2 final tracks are done, it'll be time for the final mastering tweaks, then I'll be sending it off to some fresh ears for feedback, while I freshen my own ears and take a little break to work on the album art. It's almost there, but there's still some more work to do!

And that about wraps things up for this week! It's the start of the month which means some admin work for me to do over the following week, but between all that I aim to have those final 2 BTTB tracks done before next weekend! Other than that, we'll see where the wind takes me, and until next time I hope you have a great week whatever you're up to and thanks as always thanks for supporting JabunAudio and my various music projects. See you in the next one, and take care!