April 2023 Patreon post: The Reward Archive has been updated (4th October 2018 -> 16th March 2023) + monthly news including a new collaboration with Cyberdevil, ChordC & Hania "Ripples of Time (Reduce)" (Free download), starting BTTB Vocal recording and more!

Hi everyone and hope you've had a great March. It's the beginning of another month and so it's time for the usual Patreon update! With the release of Jabun's June22 EP last time, I'm taking a break from music rewards including DEMOlition Pigeon rewards this month, but there's lots of updates and news to share so let's get to that today and I'll be back to the usual schedule come May!

Firstly for the month, with a new album out it seemed like a great time to update the Reward Archives for quick access to all past music rewards and DEMOlition Pigeon articles! As of now, the Rewards Archive is complete from 4th October 2018 -> 16th March 2023! Check it out and read more below:

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

With almost 5 years on Patreon now, there's a whole lot in the back catalogue so I'll leave you to explore if you wish on the Reward Archive post itself. For a quick summary of the changes though, here's a list of the new additions since last time:

$1+ Music rewards:

• Cyberdevil and Jabun - A Lemon Leaf Breeze {Free download + Patreon Exclusive Instrumental}
• Jabun - June22 EP

$10 Demolition Pigeon Rewards

• An exclusive off-vocal studio demo from Better Than The Book's upcoming projects!
• An exclusive Jabun ambient live jam!
• Another exclusive Jabun ambient live jam!
• A WIP studio demo from Better Than The Book!
• Another WIP Better Than The Book demo!
• A sneak peek at Jabun's new June22 EP album artwork!
• An orchestral BTTB sneak peek!

Hope you enjoy exploring if you've missed any and thanks for being a patron!

Onto other news updates for the month, after quite a while of disrepair, I've finally fixed my Jaguar guitar which had some truly messed up controls (to the point of unusable). Not only is it all fixed and sounding better than ever now, but I also finally managed to do some mods I've been meaning to implement since last year! For those interested, these are treble bleed mods on the volume control on both the rhythm and lead circuits (tuned to bring out the best for both circuits). It basically means that things done get dull when you turn the volume down now, which really makes for an even more versatile instrument! Good times!

Next it's been a super busy month for work on Better Than The Book's upcoming album. After a VERY scary moment of panic where I'd accidentally deleted/lost the master session of the opening track (over 2 years in the works...) and thankfully recovered it in full from my back-ups, I was first busy with cello recording (now complete) and now it's onto vocal recording! I decided to start with gang vocals and as of now it's 7 tracks done, 3 to go (and 4 without any), but gang vocals are strenuous so I'm trying not to overdo it on my voice (which I may have done already....). Gotta take it easy as to keep vocally healthy. Going through the final lyric sheets though, there was one track which I wasn't quite happy with (but an easy fix) and one track I REALLY wasn't happy with, and after some long thinking I decided to completely scrap the lyrics and rewrite the vocals (lyrics and melody) from the ground up for that one. It took a little while, but the new lyrics are now complete (which I'm MUCH happier with), and I've already recorded the gang vocals for it too! Unfortunately the change in melody meant that all the horns (and some of the drums) I'd painstakingly programmed for it no longer worked at all, and while I have managed to redo the drums, there's still a long way to go before the horns are finalised again. That said, it's just that 1 track of horns and then all the vocals left to go so it's really coming on well! Not sure how long all these vocals will take but I'm sure the time will fly by and recording will be complete in the next few months!

Finally this month, it's been a little longer than expected in the making but today I'm super excited to reveal my latest collaboration with the one and only @Cyberdevil and few new exciting people! I'm sure you already know by now that Cyberdevil and I go waaaay back to 2013 (dang... has it been almost 10 years already?!) with on the whole regular collaborations and frequent chats. Earlier this year, CD invited me to provide some "quick" help with the production on some music he was working on for an animated series on Newgrounds, "Reduce" by @Mejson. CD's vocals were already tracked and @ChordC provided an excellent orchestral/nu-metal-esq instrumental so it was my job to polish up the mix/master from stems, add a little of my own production flair, and "if I had time" maybe provide some vocals for the chorus. At the same time, CD had also contacted the one and only @Hania (of Newgrounds vocal fame) to provide vocals in the chorus too, and while I wasn't originally intending to sing on the track due to work and busy times, when Hania said she was on board, I just couldn't miss the opportunity to sing alongside her! I remember first hearing Hania back when I was 17 and playing and singing her stuff while playing piano. Never would I have thought I'd be singing alongside her 15 years later! Thanks for setting that up CD! Anyways, fanboying aside, a quick mixing request turned into a fully fledged production project and I hope you enjoy our latest collaboration "Ripples of Time (Reduce)"! Check it out on Newgrounds, get a free download, and here are the credits below:

• ChordC - Original Instrumental and Idea.
• Cyberdevil - Lyrics, Main Vocals and Coordination.
• Nick Standing (Jabun) - Backing Vocals, Additional Mixing/Production, Mastering and More!
• Hania - Choruses and Backing Vocals.

Listen/download on Newgrounds:

That about wraps things up for this month! We'll be back to the usual monthly news and DEMOlition Pigeon rewards in May though the rewards may be a little later than usual as I'm away for some Birthday (hopefully) fun times. Until then, I hope you have an excellent April to come and thanks as always for supporting my music! Take care and I'll see you in the next one!