SAMPLED▌ FRONT AND CENTER
Is LUNA Really Free? The Free DAWs Worth Downloading on Mac, Windows and iPad
Universal Audio's LUNA now costs nothing on Mac and Windows. Here is what that gets you, plus the other free DAWs worth your time, including Sampledex on iPad, Mac and Windows.
// also right now
GearWhat Equipment Do You Need to Start a Video Podcast at Home?
A home podcast studio built from gear I actually use: a 4K webcam, a pair of tracking PTZ cameras and the headphones every broadcast booth already owns.
FeatureIs Sampledex for iPad a Real Free DAW, and What Can It Do?
Robert Clemons has brought Sampledex from the Mac to the iPad as a free download. Here is what it does, what it can't do, and who it's for.
// from the dispatch
Fielded is the Backwoodz artist who might have engineered your favorite rapper's album
A trained musician turned bedroom producer, an R&B singer built on vulnerability, and a fixture in museum spaces from the Guggenheim to Art Basel.
billy woods and Kenny Segal: two albums, two opposite moods
Hiding Places (2019) and Maps (2023) are the same duo making deliberately different records. A comparison of the pair that produced woods' most-recommended work.
Jeff Markey has been on Backwoodz since the first Armand Hammer mixtape — he just disappears between records
From "Native Sun" in 2013 to Sports & Leisure, the Akron-born producer's credits read like a decade of well-timed cameos.
ASCAP vs BMI vs SESAC: Which PRO Should You Join in 2026?
What a performing rights organization actually pays you, how the three US societies differ now that BMI is for-profit, and how to pick one.
How to Build a Music Release Calendar That Actually Works
A practical, no-fluff guide to planning singles, EPs, and albums so your releases build momentum instead of burning you out.
Armand Hammer, explained: billy woods and ELUCID's 13-year run
Two of New York's most distinctive writers have been recording as a duo since 2013. A guide to the group, the albums and why the pairing works.
Defcee is a rapper, a writer and a teacher — and he runs one of Chicago's longest-standing rap workshops
Ten-plus projects since 2007, stages shared with Amiri Baraka and Chance the Rapper, and a monthly workshop broadcast that keeps the pipeline open.
SKECH185 came up in Chicago's most overlooked rap lineage — and it shows in every verse
Tomorrow Kings alum, southeast side native, graffiti writer first. He Left Nothing For The Swim Back is the record that put it all together.
GOWILLOG: the album billy woods made out of his own album
On Halloween 2025 Backwoodz released GOWILLOG — GOLLIWOG rebuilt from scratch by August Fanon. Here is what it is and how it differs from the record it came from.