Last week's Patreon reward: "Jabun - Apollo" is here for the $1+ patrons (mp3s + art only) + setting and reflecting on the usual monthly goals!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a marvelous start to December! It's been a very busy time for me this week but not so much with JabunAudio stuff. I was away again for the weekend and my hands have been full with with personal errands these past few days too, so my studio work has mainly been making sure all the loose ends are tied up before I close up JabunAudio for the holidays (mainly admin stuff). I think it's going to be hectic until closing time next Thursday so not so sure what exciting things I'll be able to get done, but there's still a couple of things to report in this blog post (as I'm sure there'll be in the next and final one for 2019) so let's get started!

​First of all for the news this week, yesterday was the first Wednesday of the month which means last week's $5 Patreon rewards were just released to the $1 patrons (mp3s and artwork only)! The reward was of course Jabun's "Apollo" from 2013 and you can read more about it in the dedicated Patreon post below:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/31102212 

Or grab the $1 reward here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/31102211

As a reminder for the $10+ patrons, I'll be diving deep into the creation of the final and title track from Better Than The Book's recent "Hopes and Dreams" album! 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!  

Get the $10 reward now: https://www.patreon.com/posts/10-extra-reward-31102207
Find out more about my projects on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

Next and finally this week it's the beginning of another month which means time to reflect on some goals and set some new ones! Here's what was set for November:

1) Put together and publish a new mastering demo reel for 2019
2) Finish some small web updates I've been meaning to do
3) Record vocals and guitar solos for a cover song that's been on the back-burner the past few months
4) Start putting together ideas for a new Jabun album/EP to release next year

Now I think I did mostly well on these, though some spanners were thrown into the works this month too. 1) & 2) seem like ages ago now but were successfully completed! 3) however I only managed to get half done: The guitar solos were recorded well, but I only managed the main lead vocal before getting ill and messing my throat up (still feels bruised from all the coughing). With the remaining vocals being metal screaming + belted high harmonies (high intensity stuff), I've thought it best to wait to fully recover before attempting recording again so unfortunately it might be a while until I can get this one sorted. On the other hand 4) was pretty darn successful I think! Sifting through my overflowing Jabun ideas folder for material for the new album, there's already 19 track ideas I'd definitely like to pursue with another 19 ideas which are less formed but partially recorded too! On top of 20 Ableton sessions and 56 shorter sound clips, there's also over 7 minutes of fully structured rough demos recorded so far with probably half a dozen reasonably fleshed out track ideas in the works at the moment! All in all a good haul I think!

So onto December's goals, here's what I was thinking:

1) Sort and schedule Patreon reward posts for while I'm away
2) Organise and prepare for the first Better Than The Book full-band practice session
3) Write & record 22.5+ minutes of rough demos for the 2nd Jabun album (total)
4) Finish recording vocals for that cover song (low priority)

Goal 1) is a must since I'll not be working (apart from fun stuff) while I'm away especially on Christmas and New Years Day. 2) is an exciting one which has been in talks for a while and it's really just a case of organising it and making sure everyone is suitably prepared to the best of my ability. I'm feeling pretty solid on my own guitar work, though having been resting vocals the past week or so, those may require some more work. 3) I think is a reasonably target, and by rough demos I mean fully structured demos with a definite track structure. I was originally thinking 30+ minutes, but with how busy the holidays can get I think this is much more reasonable but will still be a challenge. If you're wondering why 22.5 minutes, it's because it's one fully packed side of 12" vinyl, and with over 7 minutes already done, it's just another 15 minutes left to write and demo-record this month which should be ok. 4) is low priority as vocal recovery (especially for that BTTB meetup) is more important so if I manage to record those final vocals it'll be next week, but if not, it'll be in the New Year. That's it for my goals and feel free to share yours in the comments if you'd like! All the best!

And that wraps up this post! Next time will be the final blog post of 2019 before I close up shop for the Winter and in honesty, I'm not sure what'll be happening this week and what'll be there to report so we'll just have to wait and see! Until then, I hope you have a great rest of this first week of December (and keep warm) and thanks as always for supporting JabunAudio and my various projects! Take care!