More $5+ Patreon rewards are out: "Piggyback Ride" (Mp3s + WAVs) + an exclusive LIVE Jabun ambient modular synth jam for the $10+ patrons!

Hi everyone and hope you've been having a great July so far! It's the final Wednesday of the month which means its time for another dose of $5+ Patreon rewards and this time we're continuing with some more soundtracky (but slightly different) stuff with another track from 2013, "Piggyback Ride"!

Piggyback Ride is an interesting one in my catalogue in that it combines orchestral and chiptune elements for a retro videogame-esq vibe with the clarity of more traditional scoring. This piece was originally written for a game on Newgrounds asking for people to submit tunes for the soundtrack, but after sending it over and some feedback, the makers decided to go with something else. I was a bit dissappointed at the time as this would have been one of my first compositional rejections, but as I wasn't sure how else to improve on the track, I ended up releasing it as-is for people to listen to at the very least, as I was still pleased with the way it had turned out. As it so happened, while the originally intended audience wasn't so keen on Piggyback Ride, the track was eventually picked up by a MUCH higher profile interested party: EDF Energy & The British Science Association for their online "A to Bee" game which you can still play online:

https://jointhepod.org/teachers/games/a-to-bee-game

It's a great example of how one track even if not initially well recieved might lead to something big (and that's happened to me a few times throughout my carear as I'm sure you know by now). Piggyback Ride has been featured in a number of other multi-media productions since then and is a fun one I look back on with fondness! Since it was designed for use in games as well as for listening, I'm including 2 versions in this months rewards: the looping version which was featured in various games, and an edited version with a fade out for your personal listening pleasure! Grab Piggyback Ride when you become a supporter on Patreon, and listen to the track on YouTube below:

Piggyback Ride: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukGJmuw057E

$5+ rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/53164462/

And for the $10+ patrons, this month you have an exclusive LIVE Jabun ambient modular synth performance to look forward to! Become a $10+ patron to access that and many more rewards now, and remember that you'll gain access to all historic rewards and posts for your Patreon tier too when you become a supporter including the full Better Than The Book and Jabun discographies and much more! With the newly updated REWARD ARCHIVE it's never been easier to catch up with all those posts and music downloads you've missed too! I hope you enjoy them!

$10+ rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/53164465/

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

Discover the Reward Archive (4th October 2018 -> 1st May 2021): https://www.patreon.com/posts/announcing-posts-50344842

That's it for the rewards this month! Something a little different to come in the next set of rewards, but until then, I hope you have a great August to come and thanks as always for supporting my music on Patreon! All the best, take care, and enjoy the music!

PS: Remember that there's still 50% off anything on the Better Than The Book Bandcamp store with the code "2years" until 8/8/21! Grab a discount while you can and thanks for the support while I work on the next album:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

Happy 2 year anniversary to Better Than The Book's Hopes and Dreams album and 50% off everything on the BTTB Bandcamp store to celebrate!

Hi everyone and hope you’re having a great July so far!

Time really does fly and would you believe that today marks two years since the release of Better Than The Book’s 2nd full-length album Hopes and Dreams?!

With 9/10 tracks from the album airing on radio stations from as far as the west coast of the USA, to here in the UK (including 2 tracks on BBC Introducing), to even Australia, a tonne of online features and coverage from various web magazines, and even one track appearing on a ska music compilation album by The Ska Show with Beefy (the second most listened to Ska music podcast in the world), Hopes and Dreams was undoubtedly my most well received project to date, and I want express my sincerest gratitude to everyone who made that happen!

A HUGE thank you to the BTTB (not quite yet) LIVE band, Sam, Andy and Eamon, the radio DJs with special mention to Beefy and Melita, Meg, the album’s PR extraordinaire, my subscribers on Patreon with special mention to top tier supporters past and present Michael White, Bob Roberts, David Klein II and Nathan Puray, and of course everyone else who’s made some noise for BTTB over the years! You folks really do make my dreams come true!

To celebrate a fantastic two years on from Hopes and Dreams (puns intended), I’m launching my very first Better Than The Book Bandcamp sale! From now until August 8th (the end of the weekend following the next Bandcamp Friday), you can get a whopping 50% off anything on the Better Than The Book Bandcamp store below using the code “2years” at the checkout. Enjoy!

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

Or if you’re feeling extra keen, grab the entire Better Than The Book and Jabun discographies and more including many exclusive downloads and bonus tracks when you support my music with a front row seat on Patreon for as little as $1/£1 a month! New rewards are published monthly and I hope to see you there in the comments!

https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

Meanwhile in BTTB news: guitar, bass and organ recording has just been finished for Better Than The Book’s next big album project (+ some more stuff), and once I’ve gone through to check everything it’ll be time to start recording vocals! Still no estimated release date just yet for the new album, but things are certainly coming along and I hope you’re as excited as I am to hear the next batch of tunes!

That’s it for this post and I’ll be back with more Patreon rewards to share next week! Until then, I hope you have a great rest of July to come and thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book and my various music projects however you can! Take care and all the best!

More $1+ Patreon rewards are out: "Closing Scene" and "See Ya Later" + the first work-in-progress studio recording demo from Better Than The Book's upcoming 3rd album for the $10+ patrons!

Last week's $5 Patreon rewards are now out for the $1 patrons: "Closing scene" and "See Ya Later" (+ an exclusive work in progress studio demo from Better Than The Book's next album for the $10+ patrons)! In case you missed last week's post you can read more about this month's rewards below and remember that you'll gain access to all historic rewards and posts for your Patreon tier too when you become a supporter including the full Better Than The Book and Jabun discographies and much more! Hope to see you there and thanks as always for supporting my work on Patreon!

Read more: ​https://www.patreon.com/posts/50804846/

$1+ rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50804859/

$10+ rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50804790/

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

Discover the Reward Archive (4th October 2018 -> 1st May 2021):

​https://www.patreon.com/posts/announcing-posts-50344842

More $5+ Patreon rewards are out: "Closing Scene" and "See Ya Later" (Mp3s + WAVs) + the first work-in-progress studio recording demo from Better Than The Book's upcoming 3rd album for the $10+ patrons!

Hi everyone and hope you've been having a great June! It's the final (Wednes)day of the month which means it's time for some more $5+ Patreon rewards, and today we're continuing with more 2013 soundtracky pieces, this time a pair of them!

"Closing Scene" and "See Ya Later" are variations on the same musical theme both released in May 2013. The first is a musical box style track and the second a subsequent string orchestra version of the same piece! At the time I composed Closing Scene, I'd just been given some new samples to play with including a set of thumb piano notes (if I remember correctly) and I thought it would be fun to compose a simple musical box theme with them. Interestingly, at the same time, one of the rooms in my parents' house where I was living at the time was being redecorated and had no carpet on the floor, giving this really cool and lively ambience. I ended up dragging some computer speakers to the room and playing the piece out loud with a microphone set up to capture the reverb on the other side of the room. Mixing the original dry piece with the live recorded room reverb gave a really nice effect for the final track! I do love taking advantage of these rare acoustic opportunities!

After recording Closing Scene, I got the feeling that there was more I could do with this theme, and by swapping the thumb piano samples for my usual pizzicato strings, I thought it gave a really nice and different vibe. With a few extra tweaks, some added percussion and woodwinds, See Ya Later was created! When I listen to See Ya Later, it evokes images of being in an old wooden floor house, early on a sunny summer Sunday, tiptoeing tired around the house before making my way outside for a day of adventure, like something in a Hayao Miyazaki film. Those of you who have been following my work for years may also recognise See Ya Later as the credits music to much of the Fun Station 4 Kids videos, and indeed this piece was another door-opener for a tonne of amazing collaborations in the years to follow (totalling to over 30 MILLION YouTube views last time I checked)! I really should get back to more of this orchestral work soon (maybe even more variations on this theme), but until then, I hope you enjoy Closing Scene and See Ya Later! 

Grab Closing Scene and See Ya Later when you become a supporter on Patreon, or listen to the tracks here on Newgrounds below:

$5+ rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50804674/

And for the $10+ patrons, this month you have the first work-in-progress studio recording demo from Better Than The Book's upcoming 3rd album to look forward to! Become a $10+ patron to access that and many more rewards now, and remember that you'll gain access to all historic rewards and posts for your Patreon tier too when you become a supporter including the full Better Than The Book and Jabun discographies and much more! With the newly updated REWARD ARCHIVE it's never been easier to catch up with all those posts and music downloads you've missed too! I hope you enjoy them!

$10+ rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50804790/

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

Discover the Reward Archive (4th October 2018 -> 1st May 2021):

https://www.patreon.com/posts/announcing-posts-50344842

That's it for the rewards this month! We'll be continuing with more soundtracky work in the next set of rewards I'm sure, but until then, I hope you have a great July to come and thanks as always for supporting my music on Patreon! All the best, take care, and enjoy the music!

A special Juneteenth Bandcamp Friday

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great June so far!

Today is a special Juneteenth Bandcamp Friday event to raise funds for some important stuff I think we can all support: putting a stop to racism and making the world a safer and more accepting place for everyone.

Instead of a usual Bandcamp Friday where all Bandcamp's revenue shares go directly to the artists, this Friday June 18th from midnight to midnight Pacific Time, Bandcamp will be donating 100% of its usual cut to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to support their ongoing efforts to promote racial justice through litigation, advocacy and public education. You can find out more on Bandcamp here:

https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/juneteenth-fundraiser-2021

With the ongoing Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate movements (amongst others), I think it's clear there is something terribly wrong with society which really can't be ignored any longer, and that instead of "not being racist" (which should be obvious), it's time if you haven't already and are able to to actively look out for your friends, neighbours and community to make a stand and say enough is enough, we will not ignore or condone any acts of racism. The same can be said for acts of homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, etc... (and a Happy Pride month to all by the way).

I know it's not always easy or comfortable to talk about this stuff let alone actively do something about it, but if we all make even the smallest effort to look after one another and make the world a better place, I think that'd be pretty neat!

So if you've been thinking of picking up some music on Bandcamp, do it this Friday! It doesn't have to be from me, but whatever you buy I'm sure will help put the world on a better path, and if you do decide to pick up one of my albums, then it really means a lot too. You know where to find my Bandcamp stores below and I hope you're able to help:

Better Than The Book (Ska punk): https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/

Jabun (Ambient and experimental electronic): https://jabun.bandcamp.com/

Nick Standing (other older stuff): https://nickstanding.bandcamp.com/

And if your wallet is empty or there's nothing you want at the moment music-wise, you can help by simply talking to your friends and family about this stuff and raising awareness of the issue. Remember it's not about who's lives matter over who's or one group of people against another, it's about everyone working together to put a stop against racism and other forms of discrimination and allow everyone to live their lives feeling safe and respected regardless of ethnicity, culture or skin colour (or gender or preferences too), and I don't think there's anyone who can reasonably argue against that.

Until the next post, thanks for doing your bit to help, and thanks as always for supporting my music in any way you can too.

All the best, stay safe, and keep on skankin'

Nick

Better Than The Book / Jabun

The final video from World Beyond's Nobody Asked For This So I did It album has been released: "NOT THE END"!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great June so far. Some cool news to share today as the collaborative music project I've been part of for many years, World Beyond has just released the final video from its Nobody Asked For This So I Did It album which came out in December 2018: NOT THE END! It's been a grand few years since the album was released and thanks so much for supporting the project over the years! Vlad sure kept this one quiet as even I didn't know this video was coming out and I was playing bass (and guitar maybe) for it! I hope you enjoy this epilogue/conclusion to the album and I'm looking forward to sharing WB's next project with you all soonish (super exciting stuff)! Check out the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtDWwxfJZQ0

And pick up the Nobody Asked For This So I Did It album on Bandcamp:

https://worldbeyond.bandcamp.com/album/nobody-asked-for-this-so-i-did-it

That's it for today and I'll be back with some more Bandcamp related news later this week! Until then, I hope you have a great time, stay cool and thanks as always for supporting my various music projects however you can! All the best and take care!

More $1+ Patreon rewards are out: "Mayhem Market" + an exclusive unreleased Jabun demo from the writing sessions of 2019/2020: "Arc-welder" for the $10+ patrons!

Last week's $5 Patreon rewards are now out for the $1 patrons! Read more below and thanks for supporting my work on Patreon! Remember that you'll gain access to all historic rewards and posts for your Patreon tier too when you become a supporter including the full Better Than The Book and Jabun discographies and much more! Hope to see you there and take care!

Read more: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50804671

$1 rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50804654

Become a Patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

Explore past rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/announcing-posts-50344842  

More $5+ Patreon rewards are out: "Mayhem Market" (Mp3 + WAV) + an exclusive unreleased Jabun demo from the writing sessions of 2019/2020: "Arc-welder" for the $10+ patrons!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great May so far! After Jabun's big Generation Supernova album release in April and the updated Patreon REWARD ARCHIVES, we're back to the usual schedule, and as it's the final Wednesday of the month, that means it's time for some more rewards for the $5+ patrons! This time I'm heading back down memory lane for more of my tracks as plain old Nick Standing, and today I'm sharing with you the first in a new set of orchestral / soundtracky works "Mayhem Market"! 

Mayhem Market was released back in March 2013, and was the first track I recorded with the Shure SM27 microphone I was gifted for Christmas the previous year! Much of the inspiration for this track came after finally getting around to watching Disney's "Tangled" (good fun btw), which features an amazingly scored scene running through a market. Super inspired and itching to do some more recording, Mayhem Market was the result of the shortly followed recording session! The description I wrote back then when I uploaded it to Newgrounds is as follows: 

"I finally got round to recording with the SM27 I got for Christmas! Just a little soundtracky piece that sprung to mind. Imagine playfully racing through a crowed fantasy market with a good friend, rival or the love of your life, perhaps being chased by some half-wit bad guys or the fuzz! If I could do this as my job, I would be sooo happy XD" 

Mayhem Market is a blast from my past which I'm still super pleased with, especially from an acoustic guitar performance point of view. As chance had it, it also ended up being heard by the amazing World Beyond shortly after its release, opening the door for me to join that epic music production team (thanks so much to World Beyond for that opportinuty and praise) and help create much of the amazing stuff we've released together over the past almost decade! 

Mayhem Market unfortunately doesn't have any associated artwork, and this is the case for much of my soundtrack type work as Nick Standing from around this time. Nevertheless, I'm sure the music speaks for itself, so close your eyes and imagine a scene, and I'm sure it will be even more vivid than any painting or photo I could provide! I hope you enjoy it whether you've heard it before or this is your first listen!

Grab Mayhem Market when you become a supporter on Patreon, or listen to the track here on Newgrounds below:

$5+ Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50804595

And for the $10+ patrons, you've also got an exclusive unreleased Jabun demo from the writing sessions of 2019/20 to look forward to, the hyper-experimental and glitchy "Arc-welder"! Become a $10+ patron to access that and many more rewards now, and remember that you'll gain access to all historic rewards and posts for your Patreon tier too when you become a supporter including the full Better Than The Book and Jabun discographies and much more! With the newly updated REWARD ARCHIVE it's never been easier to catch up with all those posts and music downloads you've missed too! I hope you enjoy them!

$10+ Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50804613

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

Discover the Reward Archive (4th October 2018 -> 1st May 2021):

https://www.patreon.com/posts/announcing-posts-50344842

That's it for this month's rewards! Next time we'll be continuing with some more soundtracky work, but until then, I hope you have an amazing June to come and thanks as always for supporting my music on Patreon! Enjoy the music, take care, and all the best!

Jabun's full Generation Supernova album is now streaming and playlisted on YouTube and Newgrounds!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great May so far!

The final (for now) weekly new music upload is here and Jabun's full Generation Supernova album is now available for streaming on YouTube and Newgrounds! Check out the full Generation Supernova album below:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAGi_mCVc30

Newgrounds: https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/1031625

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

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6tKVPNjy1_BP9Em-lnNl3w9M8_pOjMxZ

Newgrounds: https://www.newgrounds.com/playlists/view/a78406727321023caf886e4645d4c5b2

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1I3XVBjn5hqjUdrg1HWaMT

And if you like what you hear, pick up the Generation Supernova album on Bandcamp:

https://jabun.bandcamp.com/album/generation-supernova

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 (The reward archives have just been updated too)! Hope to see you there!

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

Explore the rewards archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842

That wraps up the promo posts and uploads for Jabun's Generation Supernova album! I hope you've enjoyed these generative soundscapes and experiments over the last few months and I'm sure I'll be back in the not too distant future with another grand Jabun adventure to share with you (still sitting on over 70 minutes of demos from last year's writing sessions)! 

The next set of $5+ Patreon rewards will be out at the end of month again as usual with the $1+ rewards following a week later on the first Wednesday of June, but until then, I hope you have a great May ahead filled with good times and vibes and thanks as always for suporting Jabun, Better Than The Book and my various projects in all the ways you can! All the best, take care, and enjoy the music!

I made something! Introducing "NOISE": A custom white noise user oscillator for the KORG Nu:Tekt NTS-1 Digital Synth Kit! (Free download or donation)

Hi everyone and I have something super exciting and off-topic to share with you this afternoon!

I recently was gifted a KORG Nu:Tekt NTS-1 build it yourself digital synth kit for my birthday last month (huge thanks to my twin Eamon), an exciting compact digital synthesizer which you put together yourself (IKEA style), that KORG also released a free software development kit so you can create your own custom sound sources (oscillators) and audio effects for it (IF you know how to programm in C++ (which I admittedly do not, but that's no problem))! You can use it standalone, or as an audio processor or sound module and it's incredibly versatile! There was one thing which seemed missing out of the box though...

Among all the custom user oscillators people had made and distributed on the internet (and there are a tonne of great ones), for the life of me I could not find anything which was just a simple noise generator (free or otherwise) so after some research, I figured I'd do some code tinkering try to make my own... and it was a success! No point in keeping it to myself soooooo...

Introducing NOISE: a simple white noise oscillator with adjustable soft-clipping for the Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-1 so you can shape the noise with the envelopes, filters and effects for making percussion sounds, sweeps and the such!

NOISE is free to download with an optional donation on my JabunAudio website (where you can find out more about it), and I've put together a quick demo video explaining the features and giving some usage examples too:

https://www.jabunaudio.com/news/introducing-noise-a-custom-white-noise-user-oscillator-for-the-korg-nutekt-nts-1-digital-synth-kit-free-download-or-donation

I'm still new to the coding for this synth so it's a VERY basic user oscillator, but as I learn more, I look forward to creating some more exciting custom content in the future! If anyone else has one of these fine DIY synths, then I hope you like my very first program for it and enjoy making some noise, with NOISE!

All the best!