April 2024 Patreon & News Post: ONE mix left to go for Better Than The Book's upcoming album, the Better Than The Book LIVE band is back in action after 4 years apart, Bass and Leslie Speaker maintainence, more guitar videos and beatmaking + more!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great start to April! Another month arrives and another set of updates! Let's get to it:

Onto the updates for the month, it's just ONE MIX LEFT to go for this intial and most in-depth round of polishing the tracks before a final go-over for Better Than The Book's upcoming album! 13 tracks done and ready for final pre-mastering checks now, but this final one is gonna be a big challenge! Essentially 2 complete band set-ups including rap vocals, 2 organs, horns AND a full string and brass orchestra?! It's the biggest mix session of the album (maybe even of my entire non-post production engineering career?) and I'm pacing myself through it, but things are sounding boss so far! Aiming to get this done in the coming weeks and I can't wait to share it with you!

Meanwhile on the Better Than The Book news front, March 9th was a monumentous day as for the first time since January 2020(!!!), the whole of the Better Than The Book live band were back together in the same room to jam out the tunes! It's been a rough few years to say the least and I honestly wasn't sure how things'd be after all this time, but I can say with upmost confidence that despite the 4 years away, we are sounding better than ever! 10 tracks were prepped, but only 9 made it to playing due to a lost click-track, but we got a tonne a practice in and a load of videos recorded too including 5 tracks we've not played together before (which I think turned out to be the best ones of the lot)! 8 videos are all edited now, albeit with the lo-fi go pro mic audio quality, and are scheduled for release on YouTube throughout May, and I can't wait to show you all what 4 years apart has done for us! Next practice has been schduled for Mayday weekend (with 2 additional tracks since last time), and hopefully we may have some advancements in video/audio tech by then. We shall see! The plan is to get another practice in after that, then if all's good, start looking for gigs! It's been much too long in the making! Get excited!

Next on the news, on top of a busy BTTB month it's been a super busy one with equipment maintainence too! After many (mainly pandemic) years of putting it off, and my first bass (a modified Squier Jazz Bass with additional secret so-called "BEEF" switch) being in a sorry and slowly deterioating state electronically, I FINALLY got around to serving the electronics including a complete overhall on the control cavity with some oo-lah-lah CTS pots which sound and feel FIYYYYEEEEEN! The bass which was used a lot during my gigging and recording years with Lights Camera Attraction, and on BTTB's Two Years On album is sounding and feeling better than ever, and while it's still residing at my parents' place until Eva and I have a place of our own, it's a lovely instrument which I look forward to playing whenever I'm back! While I was there, I also ended up servicing my dad's electric guitar too, I think the first time it's ever had a full service! He seemed very pleased with the result and it's always a plesure hear him inspired to play. On top of that, after some hesitation, I finally got around to servicing and oiling my homemade Leslie rotary speaker which although was running great before, should hopefully continue to run great again now for another year+. Given the complexities of the task, I decided to video the whole process too for anyone else to find useful! I think that video's scheduled for release at the very start of May before the BTTB live band stuff. It's been a busy time video editing this month! That about wraps things up for overdue equiment maintainence now, but I'm sure there'll be more to do before long!

Finally for this update, there's another load of videos to share! Still keeping up with the 2-a-week packed playlist, and as I mentioned last time, it was a beat based detour this month, followed by a return to some metal guitar! Check out the playlist below:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm

And here's a list of the latest additions:

• Limp Bizkit inspired beat
• Lemon Tea Beat
• KORG Electribe EM-1 Instrumental Hip Hop beat (MF Doom Inspired)
• Nujabes inspired beatmaking on the Akai MPC 1000
• Nujabes inspired beatmaking on the Akai MPC 1000 with a Yoko Kanno Sample
• More chill Nujabes inspired beatmaking on the Akai MPC 1000
• Better Than The Book - Head Above Water (feat. Cyberdevil) Akai MPC 1000 Original Session from 2015!
• Numetal Grunge Tonality on Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar (Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Deftones, POD)
• Dissonant Metal Tonality Tapping on Vintage Modified Jaguar. Something between Wes Borland and DOOM?

Next month we're back to some organ as well as guitar, and also (would you believe) it'll have been a full year of doing these 2-a-week videos by then too?! Time sure does fly! I've got a special video planned to celebrate and hope you're enjoyed the ride so far!

That's it for this month (unless you're a $10 patron in which case you have a mix demo for Better Than The Book's "Don't Be Too Hard On Yourself" to look forward to)! It's looking to be another busy one ahead recording videos, finishing off this final BTTB mix (then getting onto the extra edits) + praticing for May's meet-up + I've got my taxes to look forward to: JOY! I'll be away at the end of the month too for some birthday merriment, and although it's not confirmed just yet, there's been talks of me taking on a bass guitar student too! Should be a fun challenge! Until the next update, I hope you have an amazing April to come and thanks as always for supporting me with this crazy musical adventure! Can't wait to show you the next chapter! Take care and get ready for the next wave!

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March 2024 Patreon & News Post: More Better Than The Book album and live updates, back on the radio + 9 more YouTube Videos including a teaser from the new album + more!

Hi everyone and hope you had a great leap day yesterday! It's March (man oh man this year is going by fast...) and time for another update!

In the news for this month, 3 more Better Than The Book mixes were completed (aaaaaalmost 4) which puts mixing at about 75% done now apart from final checks and tweaks! These final mixes are getting trickier as they branch out into more complex styles, but it's been a fun ride putting them together! 4 left to go so I'm hoping they'll all be at that final checking and tweaking stage by the next update, but we'll see how it goes!

Carrying on with some more BTTB news, it's been another busy month training and practicing for gigging and after a period of uncertainy, I can confirm that Better Than The Book's first full band practice since January 2020 will be happening on March 9th! The studio is booked and I cannot express how excited I am for it! We've prepped 10 tracks (a mix of new and old) to run through and see how we do and hopefully (depending on the results) it'll be the first step to FINALLY getting some gigs booked in later this year. Hoping to grab some footage to share on YouTube while we're there. I cannot wait!

In other news after many months of putting it off, I finally got around to servicing the electronics on my homemade Satin-X doubleneck and I really don't know why I keep putting it off because it's SOOO much nicer to play after I do it! The neck switch was cleaned for the first time in probably 18 years(?!) and it's guillotine switching so smoothly and reliably now! After going through a few different brands of contact cleaner, it seems like Kontakt10 (Servisol) is the winner for getting the dust and scratchiness out of the pots too! We'll see how time tells in terms of the longevity, but it's been super reliable so far! Next on the long-overdue-and-put-off-things-to-service list are the homemade Retro Rotary leslie speaker which was due for oiling last May I think.... oof... (it's a pain, but good too keep on top of it even if it is running smoothly (at the moment)), and the Jazz bass which needs a complete overhaul on the control electronics! All the new parts have been ordered so the latter will definitely be something for the month to come with the former a hopeful shout as well! Wish me luck!

Back to BTTB news and I'm super happy to share that Button Down Radio is still giving the Hopes and Dreams album some love even after all these years! Thanks so much for playing "The Hardest Part" on the show next to some top class Ska acts from around the world! It's always a pleasure and an honour:

https://www.facebook.com/buttondownradio5446/posts/pfbid02ouqjH4sXm7xb8tfKG2zpfMp4ELWh22npsWkropLjkVQ7vqkrHvrAJg6DzeRBWEaxl

Finally for this month's news, it's onto the gear and guitar videos for the month as usual and it's another 2-a-week packed playlist for you! Not much guitar this time actually but there's a whole bunch of other fun things instead concluding with a teaser from the upcoming Better Than The Book album! Here's the usual playlist link with the added videos:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm

And here's a list of the latest additions:

• Cécile Corbel - Our House Below - Balalaika cover (from Studio Ghibli Arrietty)
• Ahhh Scratch Akai MPC1000
• White Noise Scratching Akai MPC1000
• Roland TR-08 + Korg NTS-1 = Drone Machine!
• Pink Floyd - The Wall - In The Flesh? Intro Melodica Cover
• The Yardbirds / Graham Gouldman - Heart Full of Soul Acoustic Cover
• Organ Overdrive with the Orange Amps Micro Dark
• P.O.D. - Youth of the Nation Intro cover on Yamaha Reface CP
• Better Than The Book upcoming album teaser: Mixing "Hearts Racing Backwards"

We'll be taking a beat based detour for most of next month before returning to some good old metal guitar! Hope you enjoy it and there's more to come every Thursday and Sunday as usual!

That about wraps things up for this month unless you're a $10 Patreon Supporter in which case you have another exclusive mix demo from the upcoming BTTB album to look forward to (a track called "Rewrite")! Looks like I'll be mostly busy mixing Better Than The Book, doing more live show practice, recording more videos, and servicing equipment, so no doubt it's going to be a jam packed month before I have my taxes to look forward to in April! JOY! In any case I hope you have a great month ahead and thanks as always for supporting my music and projects however you can! Fun times are 'acomin'!!! Hope you're as excited as I am, and take care!

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February 2024 Patreon & News Post: Halfway there mixing Better Than The Book's upcoming album (+ an exclusive demo mix of "Plot Holes"), BTTB live practice updates, JabunAudio's NOISE gets featured on KORG's offical software list + 8 more YouTube Videos!

Hi everyone and hope you've had a great start to the year! It's the beginning of another month and time for some more news and rewards and what a busy month it's been! 

The updates for this month: with 7 out of 14 tracks from the upcoming Better Than The Book album now mixed, we're halfway there (whooaa, livin' on a prayer)! I'll be aiming to get another 4 done over the next month, but I've left the more complex/unusual mixes until last so things are getting a bit tricky and taking longer than before... Slowly but surely though!

Meanwhile I've been super busy practicing for March for hopefully the first full-band BTTB practice since January 2020 (TBC)!!! It was a tough month getting my vocals back in gear for the longer-than-I'm-used-to sets, but things are feeling pretty good now, and with 10 tracks (a pick'n'mix of old and new) now pretty solid under my fingers, bar the occasional vocal or guitar slip, its now more about practicing creating the performance with these tracks! I cannot tell you how excited I am to get back to playing live and I'll keep you posted with news as and when! and feel free to check out the last time(s) we met up in the playlist below: Woot woot!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvTUl5SAbcIGB2nISnvWjGtq

Onto other exciting news, it took over 2 years to come to fruition but JabunAudio's custom NOISE Oscillator for the KORG NTS-1 Digital Synth Kit is now on Korg's OFFICIAL logue-SDK unit index list (with JabunAudio actually listed now as a software developer for the platform)! Thanks so much for the stamp of approval KORG and hope people have fun with it! With the new NTS-1 mkII announced with its own new noise oscillator, JabunAudio's own NOISE gives users of the original NTS-1 a more basic version to play with while they wait to upgrade. It's free/donation based too so if you have an NTS-1 go grab it and have fun!

KORG's official list: https://korginc.github.io/logue-sdk/unit-index/osc/

See + Hear it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R3mLR4aC5o

And finally for this post, as usual I've been keeping up with the 2 videos a week on YouTube, and this month we have a demo of my homemade spring reverb with organ, some (mostly metal) alternative tuning experiments for guitar, and some experimental Col Legno inspired guitar techniques I borrowed from cello! Here's the usual playlist link with the added videos:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm

And here's a list of the latest additions: Enjoy!

• Homemade Reverb + Organ (Walkin' on the Sun)
• AGCFAD tuning because I don't have a 7-string (Metal)
• AGCFAD tuning on 12-string (Metal)
• CGDGAD tuing on 12-string sounds beautiful!
• 12-string guitar but it's in 5ths instead of Octaves/unison
• Col Legno on guitar with drumstick (Rock)
• Col Legno on guitar with drumstick (Atmospheric)
• Col Legno (+ Gliss) on Guitar with RIGHT hand glass slide

The next month and a half of videos will be much less guitar heavy as it was super cold when I was recording, but guitaring will return in March! Meanwhile there's some other exciting things to share instead! Hope you enjoy it!

And that about wraps things up for this month unless you're a $10 Patreon supporter in which case you have the latest (and almost final) mix of Better Than The Book's "Plot Holes" to look forward to from the upcoming album! Next month is set to be more BTTB mixing and live (solo) practicing ready for March and hopefully the first batch of some much needed equipment maintainence (on top of the usual YouTube stuff)? We shall see how things go but until then, I hope you're as excited as I am for what's to come and thanks as always for supporting my music and projects however you can! Until the next one, and take care!

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January 2024 Patreon & News Post: Another BTTB mix done, more guitar/gear videos including a sneak peek live performance of Better Than The Book's "Plot Holes", project and studio updates + reflecting on 2023 and setting goals for 2024!

Happy New Year everyone and hope you all had a great winter break! A new month comes with a new year and so it's time for an extra special first of the year update!

It's been a very busy month mostly away from the studio with various holiday festivities, but there's been some progress in the studio as well! One top of another solid BTTB mix which makes for a total of 3 so far (and 11 to go), I also got a request to do some programming for the Korg NTS-1 Digital synth which was a fun challenge! I'll hopefully be releasing that as a free/donation based public download in the coming months so I hope people can get something out of it. In the mean time, feel free to check out my previous NTS-1 programming project: NOISE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R3mLR4aC5o

Of course I've also been keeping up with my 2 a week guitar/gear videos on YouTube and this time we have a Better Than The Book organ playalong video, some more organ experiments, some MPC fingerdrumming, unconventional guitar bends and more, AND a rough and ready live sneak peek demo of one of the upcoming Better Than The Book tracks: "Plot Holes"! Here's the usual playlist link with the added videos:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm

And here's a list of the latest additions:

• Better Than The Book - Brighton - Organ Part
• Yamaha YC-25D Touch Mute Organ Demo
• Tremolo + Echo Organ Jam
• DD-6 Looping Fun
• Basic Behind The Bridge B-bending on Jaguar
• Tapped Harmonics and Behind The Nut Bending
• Pop Punk MPC Fingerdrumming
• Pipe Organ vibes with reverb on the YC-25D
• Better Than The Book - Plot Holes - Sneak Peek Live Demo

That's about it for studio updates, but it was a fun time with winter festivities too! This was actually my first Christmas with family since 2019 (due to pandemic + work night shifts) and my first married Christmas with Eva (and her sister) too and it was amazing. As seems to have become tradition, my twin Eamon got me another synth for the studio, the ultra compact Bastl Kastle v1.5 which I'm super looking forward to intergrating into my synth set-up. It's a fun and ready less-melodically-focussed experimental synth of sorts which excels at creating some great textures and soundscapes! Hopefully you'll be hearing some of that from me very soon!

To close this post I thought it'd be nice to reflect on the year gone by, celebrate the sucesses, reflect on goals, and set some new ones for 2024! This past year has been a busy one not only with work but with my personal life too! After a crazy start with my laptop of 14+ years having to be retired and moving projects over to a new system, Jabun released the June22 EP, a collection of 2 live performances inspired by the modular synth works of Suzanne Ciani. I also finally managed to get those BP-1 bass pedals for the organ rig (after 2 years of constant searching), and modified my Jaguar guitar for some lovely new fuctionality. I released Reduce with @Cyberdevil, @ChordC and @Hania which was a dream come true collaboration, modified my homemade Superfuzz and got a pedalboard and BOSS TR-2 Tremolo pedal (from Japan) for my birthday (+ another footswitch), and started a new twice a week guitar/gear YouTube series! I took part in my first ever LIVE podcast interview with the @OffTheWallShow Podcast here on Newgrounds, Finished recording (and got deep into mixing) Better Than The Book's upcoming 3rd full-length album, got MARRIED, and released multiple collaborations with Cyberdevil as part of his yearly INKtober challenge, most notably Pool Party! Phew! That was way more than I remember doing!

In terms of the goals I actually set, the only thing which didn't come to pass (mainly due to logistical and health problems) was taking BTTB to the stage, but there's still time for that! With that I think I'll be setting the following goals for 2024:

1) Release the upcoming Better Than The Book album!

2) Finish recording the next Jabun album

3) Play my first live show as Better Than The Book

4) Play my first live show as Jabun

The logistics have finally lined up (at least closer) again for that 3rd goal, and there's been some actually asked interest about the 4th one, so I just need to figure out how to do it! I've also got some long overdue equipement maintanence to do so hopefully that should go smoothly as well! It's looking to be a super exciting year to come!

That about wraps things up for this month unless you're a $10 patron in which case you have a solid mix for Red Kite from the upcoming Better Than The Book album to look forward to in your rewards! I hope you all have a great 2024 to come and thanks so much as always for supporting my music and projects however you can. Lets make 2024 the best year yet! All the best and take care!

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December 2023 Patreon & News Post: 2 solid Better Than The Book mixes are complete (12 to go), more guitar/gear videos including homemade effects, doubleneck explorations and a live Third Eye Blind cover + more!

Hi eveyone and hope you've had a great November! Another month begins and so it's time for some more Patreon rewards and news updates! 

It's been a heavy few weeks of mixing (and preparing to mix) the upcoming Better Than The Book album project! As of now, 2 mixes are solid and ready for final checks before mastering (once the other tracks are done), and the remaining 12 tracks have all been set up ready with the new session templates and presets to make the mixing process much smoother when I get to them, as well as some general ballpark mixing so I'm not starting from square one for each song, and preparing my mixing sheets with all the notes I'll need too for each track. Progress is going well, and now that the first few mixes are done, I think the pace will be picking up in the New Year as I find my flow again! It's looking to be busy month ahead with various visits and Christmas / New Year festivities, so I'll be taking things at a relaxed pace and doing what I can until the time allows, but I'm super excited to share with you what's going on and can't wait to release this album in 2024!

Next and finally for this month's news, it's onto the gear and guitar videos for the month and it's another 2-a-week packed playlist for you. This time I have another BTTB playalong, some doubleneck explorations and synth accompanied guitars jams, demonstrations of a few of my homemade effects pedals, and a full live cover of Third Eye Blind's Narcolepsy and more too Here's the usual playlist link with the added videos:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm

And here's a list of the latest additions:

• Better Than The Book - Hopes and Dreams 12-String Guitar Solo Playthrough
• Trying to tame the Doubleneck Guitar (uncut exploration / practice)
• Having fun noodling on a Yamaha Pacifica guitar and Roland Aria J-6 Synth
• Right hand only guitar practice on Yamaha Pacifica and Roland Aira J-6 Synth
• I made an "Oldschool Overdrive" guitar pedal! DEMO with Vintage Modified Jaguar
• I made a Univox Super-Fuzz clone guitar pedal! DEMO with Vintage Modified Jaguar
• Homemade Univox Super-Fuzz clone guitar pedal on Bass! DEMO with Sterling SB14
• Muse - Time Is Running Out - Bass Cover with Homemade Super-Fuzz pedal clone!
• Third Eye Blind - Narcolepsy (guitar and vocal cover)

Hope you enjoy them and there's more to come every Thursday and Sunday in December!

That about wraps it up for this month, unless you're a $10 patron in which case you have the first of the solid BTTB mixes to look forward to in your rewards (the final WIP look at "Hold Me Tight (Non-Acoustic)"! It's looking to be a busy month ahead, mostly away from the studio with various celebrations and festivities so I'm hoping to complete at least one more mix + record the next month's worth of videos, but I'm not sure there'll be much time for anything else. We shall have to see! The next blog post will likely be a few days late due to the New Years celebrations, but I'll be back in January with more guitar videos and BTTB album updates at the very least! Until then, I hope you have a great December to come, enjoy any seasonal festivity fun you have planned, and thanks so much for all your support in 2023! See you in 2024, It's gonna be a big year!

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November 2023 Patreon & News Post: Editing is finished => It's time to mix the new Better Than The Book album + INKtober hip hop with @Cyberdevil, an exclusive instrumental beat download for Patreon supporters, more guitar/gear videos, a World Beyond Music video + more!

Hi everyone and man oh man has it been a busy month of October! There's a tonne of stuff to share this time so let's get straight to it!

Firstly in the news for this month, a huge update to share as Better Than The Book's upcoming album is now edited and ready to start mixing! That's 14 tracks all ready to hit the mixer this coming month (and beyond), and man oh man have I been looking forward to this! That's not to say there won't be any further editing at all, but things are sounding pretty solid right now! It's really just a case of polishing things up now and bringing out the best in every track. Super exciting, though I'm sure it'll still be a few months until everything's complete and ready to release! In any case, I'm positive the album will be out in 2024, so look forward to more BTTB in the new year!

Next this month, my good friend @Cyberdevil has been up to his usual INKtober challenge for the 5th year in a row, where he writes and records a rap every day of October, and as usual I've thrown a beat his way to provide some backing and inspiration! It was an especially fun challenge for me this year as after spending so much time editing BTTB stuff on the computer, I decided to compose and live perform the beat entirely with my first ever groovebox, the KORG EM-1 Electribe. It's only got a set selection of sounds and effects in it, unlike a sampler or DAW where you can record your own sounds into it, but the limitations make it a super fun sketchpad to play and compose with. It gives you what it has, and it's up to you to make the best of it! I ended progamming and then live mixing/performing the beat, then giving it a quick mastering style polish in Ableton before sending it CD's way for him to lay down an oldschool rap verse and what a great performance he gave too! The track even went onto receive a Front Page Feature Award here on NG which is super cool! Check out our Inktober collaboration "Pool Party" below:

And if you're a Patreon supporter, you have an exclusive download of the instrumental beat to download too! Head here to become a supporter for as little as $1 a month and get ALL past rewards including the full Better Than The Book and Jabun Discographies and tonnes more as soon as you sign up. Enjoy and hope to see you over there!

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

On top of that, after watching some of my YouTube guitaring videos, CD got inspired to rap over one of my Guillotine Switching riffs too! It's very rough and ready but I very much appreiate the word being spread, and super happy to hear my guitaring has people inspired! Check out "The Guillotine Switch Pitch" Below: 

AND if that's not enough my twin Eamon also threw a beat in for the first time this year too! Completely different vibes to mine and I think Cyberdevil and Eamon worked well on this one too! Check out "Rockstar Inc" Below:

And if you feel like catching up with the full INKtober2023 month, here's a link to the full playlist below. It's quite a ride!

Next on the list, it's onto another good musical friend Vlad from World Beyond who's been busy making music videos for his revisited Winter Legend EP! The video series concluded yesterday with a full on music video to the track Everything We Stand For which I played acoustic guitar on! Check out some top notch WB video editing and some cute hedghogs, and feel free to revisit the Winter Legend EP too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slX8_6h5BNA

Finally it's onto the gear and guitar videos for the month and it's another 2-a-week packed playlist for you with some more fun Guillotine Switching (including my best numetal DJ impression), some extra guitar techniques and alternative tunings, messing with effects and sound design and more! Here's the usual playlist link with the added videos:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm

And here's a list of the latest additions:

• This octave tapping guitar lick sounds a lot faster than my fingers are moving
• Another Short Guillotine Switching Riff on my homemade doubleneck guitar!
• When the Numetal DJ doesn't show up but you have your homemade doubleneck guitar!
• Angels and Airwaves Tom Delonge guitar tone in 3 pedals
• Stumbling into CGDGAD tuning on guitar
• The Veldt - Deadmau5 short cover Roland J-6, Tr-08 , KORG Volca Keys Synths
• Home made Leslie 18 / Vibratone style rotary speaker cabinet demo with Guitar
• Guitar effect shootout: Detune vs Rotovibe vs Phaser vs Tremolo vs Chorus vs Flanger vs Real Rotary!
• Digitech Whammy pedal on Organ sounds unreal and dreamy!

Hope you enjoy them and there's much more to come in the coming month!

And that about wraps things up for this month, unless you're a $10 patron in which case you have a pre-mix demo for a bonus version of Better Than The Book's "Hold Me Tight" from the upcoming album to look forward to! Looks like I'll be busy getting started on mixing that album in this coming month along with recording some more guitar/gear videos for the YT channel so I'm sure it'll be an exciting time! Until the next post, I hope you have a great month to come, enjoy all the new music and videos and fun stuff and thanks as always for supporting my work here on Patreon! Take care and all the best and see you in December!

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October 2023 Patreon & News Post: Busy editing Better Than The Book's upcoming album, more guitar videos including my new ULTIMATE TECHINQUE: Guillotine Switching + more!

Hello everyone and hope you've had a good September! Seems like this time of year is just flying by at the mo, but it's been as busy as it has been productive over here and there is a fair bit to share (some very exciting stuff IMO)! Let's get to it!

Onto the updates for this month, it's been a busy one getting all these fully recorded Better Than The Book tracks checked, edited, and ready for mixing and so far, just 1 out of 14 is ready for the mixing fun! That might not sound like a lot, but since last time, all 14 tracks have been finely combed to remove any unwanted noises (mainly background clicks or hum from electricity), and all the vocal/other instrumental performances/takes have been sorted and compiled for the best peformances too (apart from 2 derivitive tracks which share the same vocal parts and need checking once the others are finalised). It's pretty much just the final checks to go through now so I'm very much hoping to get those last 13 track done and ready for mixing by the end of October! We shall see how it goes (it's supposed to be a pretty busy month ahead again).

Next, I've been busy keeping up with my 2 guitar videos a week, and as usual here's the updated playlist for you:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm

And it's been a SUPER exciting one this time! We have some more 2 hand tapping guitar ideas, some acoustic slide guitar, a playalong to one of the Better Than The Book guitar solos, some more ska/reggae organ, and (get ready for it), the unveiling of a brand new guitar technique I've not seen done before and I specifically developed for the doubleneck guitar: Guillotine Switching! To paste the desciption from the unveiling video:

"A while ago someone commented that they wanted to see how I'd play standing up since that's my name and I always seem to play sitting. I thought I'd save it for when I present my ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE and the time has finally come to stand! I've been working on this for a few years on and off now, but I've not seen anyone use this technique before which is specific to multi-neck electric instruments (please comment if you have). This demo is fairly basic, but I'm working on more complex applications and I think it'll open the door to actually mastering the doubleneck electric guitar as its own instrument, rather than just 2 guitars connected!

I call this technique "Guillotine Switching", an evolution of kill switching in the same manner Tom Morrello (for example) uses it. Instead of cutting the sound to silence, here I'm using the neck switch to rapidly cut between the necks of the doubleneck (hope you like the pun), cutting between different chords on each neck in the first half of the clip, then cutting between a drone note on the 6 string side, and hammer on notes on the 12-string side to create a distinct choppy riff!

The tricky part is the co-ordination and the reliability of the neck switch itself (I built this guitar over 16 years ago and need to clean mine...). I imagine the 2 necks/sets-of-strings like turntables and the neck switch acting as the cross fader. You've gotta keep both necks going and play the right ones in preparation before they're selected or while they're selected if you want it to be heard through the amp. It's still a work in progress (and I missed hitting the switch at one point) but I hope sharing this opens up the conversation to the limitless options this technique potentially has! The doubleneck guitar was never a novelty item. This will be the start of proving that."

I hope you enjoy it, and there's much more to come in October too! Here's a full list of the video additions since last time:

• Drop C Guitar 2 hand tapping (ish) work in progress idea
• Another Drop C Guitar 2 hand tapping (ish) work in progress idea
• Better Than The Book - Cathode Ray Days - Guitar Solo
• Justin Johnson inspired Acoustic Hybrid Slide Fingerstyle Dark Blues Guitar practice in Open D Minor
• Ska Reggae Dub Organ Bubble Pattern Variation Organ tutorial on a Yamaha YC-25D
• NEW ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE?! Guillotine Switching Doubleneck Electric Guitar! A Kill Switch Evolution!
• Guillotine Switching on doubleneck electric guitar unplugged (useless bonus video)
• Numetal Guillotine Switching Riff on Homemade Doubleneck Guitar! MY NEW TECHNIQUE!

Finally, a nice little press feature as news of my wedding to Eva (amongst other things) made it onto @TheTankTribune here on Newgrounds! Thanks so much for sharing all the happy news peeps! Feel free to check out the full newspaper below:

https://thetanktribune.newgrounds.com/news/post/1384926

That about wraps things up for this month, unless you're a $10 Patreon supporter in which case I have a fully recorded (but not yet edited) WIP demo of the "Hold Me Tight" from the upcoming Better Than The Book album for you! Looks like @Cyberdevil is back to his Inktober mischief this year so along with a tonne of Better Than The Book editing, hopefully I'll find a moment to throw a beat his way too! I'm sure there'll be a tonne of updates to share in November on top of a few more guitar videos. Until then, I hope you have a great October to come and thanks as always for supporting my music and project however you can! Take care!

$1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/88602898

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September 2023 Patreon & News post: I GOT MARRIED, Recording is COMPLETE for Better Than The Book's upcoming album, more guitar videos + more!

Yo yo yo everyone and hope you've had a GREAT August! It's the beginning of another month and time for more updates and rewards, and there's some HUGE project and personal ones over here to share this time! Let's get straight to it!

Firstly, a HUGE personal update as on August 19th, Eva and I celebrated our 10th anniversary together by getting married! After a quick mini-moon break, we had an amazing party the following weekend with heartfelt speeches, some mosh-pit and dance floor madness, and competative wedding games including one of my best friends (and DJ for the night) racing to eat some super spicy noodles! I can honestly say it was the best day of my life! What adventures will be had next? We'll have to wait and see :) Thanks so much Eva for being in my life and now being my amazing wife! I love you soo much!

A shoutout to Vlad from World Beyond who shared a post about the special occasion on the World Beyond blog and bilibili too! Thanks for the amazing and kind words Vlad!

I've known Nick Standing since the track Mountains of Gold for which he kindly agreed to record acoustic guitar back in 2013 on Newgrounds. I was so impressed by his guitar composition Mayhem Market that I couldn't think of a better musician for that role and I'm happy to say that he only excelled at his craftsmanship several amazing albums later as Better than the Book, Jabun and guitarist and a member of World Beyond. I am happy that Eva, the most caring, smart and hardworking person I've encountered, and Nick, a real gentleman whose openness, honesty,  skill and expertise are inseparable traits, met each other and became a couple.    

Dear Eva and Nick! We all come from the stars and therefore, no matter the distance, we will always be connected through them. Please accept my most heartfelt congratulations on your wedding! May the future hold enough meteors to grant you any wish you might ever have! It brings me great joy to know little sky gems like you two always look after each other!    

Check out the song by Better than the Book -1314 which Nick wrote to propose to Eva (and she said YES!) betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/1314-single

- Vladimir Kuznetsov - World Beyond

https://www.worldbeyond.net/2023/08/eva-and-nicks-wedding.html

https://t.bilibili.com/831672098498805767#reply181899378608

Meanwhile just before heading off to get hitched, I FINALLY finished tracking and recording for the upcoming Better Than The Book album! 10 tracks + 4 bonus tracks are now fully recorded and just awaiting some final editing before mixing! I'm hoping to get at least half of that editing done this month, but the biggest album hurdle (recording) is now complete! Still no ETA for release but it's slowly but surely getting there! I'll be taking my time to make sure this is worth the wait!

Finally for this month, there's another load of YouTube videos for the new regular posting habit! Check out the updated playlist below:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm

And here's a list of the new additions since last time! I especially enjoyed experimenting with different alternative tunings! They really do draw me to different ways of thinking/playing:

• Clean(ish) tone demo Fender Mini '65 Twin Amp + homemade spring reverb
• Clean tone demo Fender Mini '65 Twin Amp + homemade spring reverb
• Iron Maiden - Dance of Death (2 parts on 1 guitar Intro cover)
• I tried FACGCE Tuning on guitar for the first time. I like it!
• Bass Tapping Practice on Sterling by Musicman SB14
• Home made rotary speaker cabinet demo with Yamaha YC-25D organ
• Testing out CGDGBD (DAEAC#E) Tuning. It's very nice!
• CGDGBD (DAEAC#E) Tuning for METAL. Must investigate further...
• Acoustic DADGAD 2 Hand Tapping Guitar idea (T-cophony inspired)

That about wraps things up for this month, unless you're a $10+ patron in which case you have a fully recorded demo of "Rewrite" from the upcoming Better Than The Book album to look forward to! It's going to be a busy month of BTTB editing and guitar video recording (and wrapping up the post-wedding tasks), and hopefully I'll finally get some time to finish updating the JabunAudio website too! We shall see. Until next time, I hope you enjoy the new videos and music and I shall be back at the beginning of October with more updates! Thanks as always for supporting me and my various projects and take care!

1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/86950958

$10 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/86950959

Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842

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August 2023 Patreon & News post: Almost done with Better Than The Book vocal recording (3ish tracks left), more guitar videos including a cover of Message in a Bottle and getting real for a moment, Newgrounds features and more!

Hi everyone and hope you've had a great July! Another month is here which means another post and set of updates! Let's get to it!

First up, despite being away for a week seeing Iron Maiden and enjoying a stag do and some good times with family and friends, it's been an incredibly productive month working on Better Than The Book's album with 6 more vocal tracks fully recorded! 4 tracks left to go, and one of those in just a stripped back acoustic version of another using the same recordings, so really it's just 3 tracks to record! I'm hoping to have that all done by the end of this month, but with the wedding coming up in less than 3 weeks as I type this + the bash, a mini-moon, and not to mention the mountain of prep still left to do, that miiiiight be a bit ambitous... at this rate I'm sure it'll all be recorded and deep into the final editing by the end of September though, then onto mixing! Exciting times ahead and I really think it's gonna blow you all away!

Next up I've kept busy with my 2 guitar videos a week goals and after some incredibly inspired sessions including inventing my own never before seen special technique (though you'll have to wait until September to see that), I've added another 14 videos to the schedule this month! I'll be slowing down with my own recording now as I'm currently 2 full months ahead of schedule. Feeling good though and it's been a heck of month in July with some lovely comments and vibes. Check out the updated playlist below:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm

And here's a list of the new additions since last time! I especially recommend the "15 years of self-doubt" and Message in a Bottle videos! Enjoy!

• Justin Johnson inspired slide rocky blues in Open G Tuning
• 2 Hand Tapping Guitar Practice in D Standard (WIP)
• 15 years of self doubt and the 90% of what you don't see: 2 Hand Tapping DADGAD Guitar practice
• Basket Case by Green Day, but it's All The Small Things by blink182
• Message in a Bottle - The Police [solo tapping guitar cover]
• Chromatic 7th Chord Triad shapes
• Fender Mini '65 Twin Amp Meaty Drive tone
• 12-String Guitar + Digitech Whammy 5 sounds LUSH!
• 12-String Guitar + Distortion + Digitech Whammy 5 = HUGE SOUND

Finally this week, last month's interview on the @OffTheWallShow Podcast was featured on @TankmanTriweekly and @TheTankTribune on Newgrounds! Thanks for sharing the stuff peeps and it's always an honour! First time in the Tankman Triweekly too! Hope you and your readers all enjoyed it!

https://tankmantriweekly.newgrounds.com/news/post/1369091

https://thetanktribune.newgrounds.com/news/post/1377005

That's it for this month, unless you're a $10 patron in which case you have a sneak peek demo for the fully recorded (but not yet edited/mixed etc...) "Red Kite" from Better Than The Book's upcoming album to look forward to! August is set to be a busy BUSY BIG month with wedding stuff so we'll see how things go musically and the monthly post might be a few days later than usual, but I'm sure there'll be something to share! Hope you enjoy all the new videos and thanks as always for supporting my music/stuff however you can. Next time you'll hear from me, I'll hopefully have a ring on my finger WOOT WOOT! Take care and see you in September!

$1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/85411708

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Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842

Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

July 2023 Patreon & News post: Better Than The Book vocal recording updates (4 tracks finished!), 9 more videos including organ, doubleneck guitar and slide guitar, an interview on the Off The Wall podcast and more!

Hi everyone and hope you've been having a great June (and keeping cool too). It's time for another post and there's some super exciting updates to share with you this month! Let's get to it!

It's been a super busy few weeks recording vocals and after some SUPER intense sessions I'm super excited to share that 4 out of the 14 tracks on the upcoming Better Than The Book project are now fully recorded! Those 4 tracks are just awaiting some minor edits and then it's just mixing and mastering (the technical stuff) left to go. I must say that recording vocals while fun has been super hard work though with a lot of redos and retakes, and especially taxing on the hot days. Here's to hoping I can keep up the stamina. It's a slow and steady race that's for sure! 10 tracks left to go (and a load of editing and mixing etc...). Keep rooting for me if you can please!

Next on the updates for this month, as with last time I've been hard at work practicing and trying to impove my instrumental craft(s) and managed to keep up with posting 2 videos a week as I've been aiming to! This time I've been dabbling in some organ, doubleneck guitar, and slide guitar! Here's a link to the updated playlist below (same one as last time):

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm

And here's a full list of the new additions since last time! Enjoy:

• Octave double hammer-ons
• Farfisa style ska combo organ
• 2-Tone style ska organ
• Doubleneck guitar sympathetic resonance
• Doubleneck guitar muted sympathetic resonance
• Yamaha YC-25D organ Touch Vibrato demonstration
• Tom Morello style pick-up switch experiments on Jaguar (#Shorts version)
• Justin Johnson Style dark blues slide guitar in open D minor tuning
• Justin Johnson Style upbeat blues slide guitar in open D tuning

Next just a cool note from a collaborative project, Sif Savery @Hikarian has just finished her festival tour for the Tales of Zale: Flickering Lights short film we worked on last year (I was the audio mixer), and it's been super cool to see the various nominations and awards it's picked up during the tour! A huge well done to Sif and the rest of the ToZ crew and check out her post about it below:

https://twitter.com/JabunAudio/status/1673623398373523456

Finally, I have something really exciting to share with you all. In May I was invited to be a guest on the @OffTheWallShow Podcast on Newgrounds with @Aalasteir, who interviewed me on all sorts of things! We talked about my history, workflow, thoughts on nature and art, and much more! It was my first time doing a live-recorded podcast (still edited down, but rather than a back and forth not-in-conversation recording thing like I've done before) and the whole thing ran for a little over 2 hours too which is crazy! A huge thanks to Aalasteir for having me on the show and I hope you enjoy listening to the various discussions (mostly me rambling). Check it out below:

The podcast also got a front page feature on Newgrounds! Thanks for sharing it Newgrounds!

That about wraps things up for this month unless you're a $10 patron in which case I'm sharing with you one of those 4 fully finished Better Than The Book recordings I spoke about above: "Plot Holes (Alternative Version)"! I'm hoping to get (at least) another 3 tracks fully recorded by the next post, as well as another batch of videos, but as time closes in, I'll be away for a bit for a little stag do (and Iron Maiden) before getting married in August! Busy busy times, and there's still MUCH to sort out so we'll see how everything goes recording projects-wise. Until next time I hope you have a great July to come and thanks as always for supporting my projects however you can! All the best, enjoy the podcast and new videos and take care!

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Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842

Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding