May 2023 Patreon & News post: BTTB Recording updates, pedals, pedalboards and birthday gifts, a branding change, new YouTube guitar video series and more!

Hi everyone and hope you had a great April and start to May! It's back to the usual Patreon rewards schedule this month, but with a big twist of sorts as I've done an overhaul of various things since last time. More on that in a second, but first some updates for the month!

Production and recording for the upcoming Better Then The Book album is coming slowly but surely. Hayfever hit me hard this month, but with some nasal spray and anti-histamines I've been powering through as best I can, with some worn out throats which I've had to adjust pace for. Having said that, all the screaming vocals are recorded now and I only have 1 gang vocal track left to go. All the horn parts are now finished again too, so it's really just the main sung/rapped vocals + that last gang vocal left to record! I'll be aiming to get all the rap stuff and that gang vocal finished in the coming month, and hopefully I'll get to some actual singing again before the next Patreon post!

Next this month, I finally got around to modifying / optimising my homemade Superfuzz pedal! A volume jump issue when switching modes and an overall lack of volume in general had been bugging me for ages but it was a relatively easy albeit fiddly fix, and it's now sounding better (and more controlled) than ever! You can hear it in action on bass in the  A P O T H E O S I S  soundtrack below. Level 02 and the Final Boss themes have the best examples. I need to get back to some orchestral stuff at some point:

https://soundcloud.com/jabun/sets/apotheosis-soundtrack-demos

Onto a fun little feature, Jabun's Rebirth from the June22 EP was featured in @TheTankTribune No.79 on Newgrounds! Thanks peeps for sharing the music and the love as always!

https://thetanktribune.newgrounds.com/news/post/1352598

Next, and back to that shake-up I mentioned earlier, after over a decade of being HurpADervish online and on social media, I've decided to rebrand to just Nick Standing and JabunAudio (and Better Than The Book where appropriate). It was a big decision but I want things to be less confusing for people and I feel like JabunAudio is what I'd like to be know as and for from now on. As such, I've changed up the HurpADervish Twitter and YouTube, which were basically JabunAudio anyway to reflect the new branding, cleared out some of my older less, musically relevant/popular videos, and updated the websites as such. Check out the updated links below:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JabunAudio

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JabunAudio

The change of branding came after a point of reflection, as last month I turned 33. I realised that despite my efforts and output in some areas, I've not been progressing as much as I wanted to in others, and specifically, when I turned 30, I wrote down a few goals / places I wanted to be which I don't feel I've got any closer to in the last 3 years... I'm sure much of that has been due to the worldwide pandemic as well as other difficulties, but I also know that I've not actively taken enough steps in the right direction too. As such one big and new thing I'll be trying to do is be more active posting videos on YouTube. Not just the new music with the artwork in the background, but ACTUAL videos of myself, playing guitar, showing my face and (hopefully) inspiring more people on the instrument. Even if it's just short videos of my practice and experiments, I'll be aiming to release 2 videos a week from now on and see how it goes. The Patreon page/rewards may change to reflect these new videos, but I'll be playing it by ear. It's going to be a brand new challenge, but I'm excited to see where it could lead, and maybe one day I'll finally be able to get my name on the back of an Ernie Ball string packet, or have a Yamaha Pacifica signature model guitar made like I've always dreamed. Who knows and wish me luck! Here's some new videos for the month:

Restoring a Leslie Speaker: Guitar Test (3-4-2022) (OLD but unreleased):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe17fbmwkwY

Pick-up switch experiments on a Fender Squier Jaguar Guitar (OLD but unreleased): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miGfR4YkaGg

The Offspring - The Kids Aren't Alright (2 Parts on 1 Guitar Intro Cover): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ee24sS0h4Vc

A John 5 inspired guitar lick:  

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fxqO68zI0R4

More to come very soon!

Finally this month, and following from me turning 33, some Birthday funtimes! While I was actually on a double night shift on the weekend of my birthday (ergh...), the following week was a super busy but mostly fun one catching up with peeps and sorting stuff out for Eva and I's wedding in August! As with birthdays, I received some super cool gifts this year, and as usual many of them were music related too! My twin Eamon got me something I've been needing for years, a (BOSS) pedalboard (+ cables) for quick set-up and convenience! I remember back when gigging with Lights Camera Attraction, Andy the guitarist had a similar one so he'd be set up in no time while I'd be fumbling with a handful of bass pedals and cables. The new modern version has foam cutouts to hold in pedals of whatever size you could think of! Check out some builds below and thanks Eamon:

In that last picture you'll notice the FS-5L footswitch as well which I saw in the window of one of Brighton's second hand guitar shops for a too-good-to-resist price. I'd been meaning to build an equivalent for a while but this was super economical and convenient! If you're wondering, it switches the "Turbo" mode on for the BOSS Turbo Overdrive above, taking the tone from a lovely crunch to a full on Marshall-esq distortion. Very good!

Next, my parents have been on a long trip visiting Ma's home in Thailand, but also Malaysia where I was born and Japan while they were in the area too! Along with a TONNE of snacks, they bought back the latest Ellegarden album and a BOSS Tremolo pedal which came with a special Japanese spring festival gift bag too! Super cool, and no doubt you'll be hearing that at some point soon!

(My Blues Driver pedal is currently in that pedalboard alongside the Tremolo!)

Finally, not music related, but I'm super excited about it, Eva got me some new PJs, pens, and a preorder for the new Legend of Zelda game (you should know already now that I'm a huge fan)! It's gonna bring a great distraction for the evenings, but there's still a few weeks to wait! Best keep productive until then! Thanks for the gifts everyone!

That wraps things up for this month, unless you're a $10 patron in which case you have another Better Than The Book WIP studio demo to look forward to! More guitar videos to come next time while I continue working on the upcoming Better Than The Book album, and I'm sure there'll be other unexpected things happening in May too. Who knows! Until then, I hope you enjoy the new content, let me know if you have any suggestions or requests and thanks as always for supporting me however you can. Take care and all the best!