// blog
in the lab
Hip hop news, producer gear drops, and production knowledge. Three posts every three days.
2026-07-27
4 min read
Hip Hop & Rap News: What's Moving in the Culture
Hip hop news roundup - Lil Baby's Back to School Fest, a Wu-Tang street honor, and Drake's YouTube getting hacked mid-beef.
2026-07-27
3 min read
New Producer Drops: Plugins, Gear & DAW Updates
New plugins and gear for producers - free pedal board effects, a free EQ update, and free Moog samples worth grabbing this week.
2026-07-27
5 min read
How to Use Reference Tracks Without Copying Anyone
Reference tracks aren't cheating - here's how to use them for mixing and arrangement without biting anyone's sound.
2026-07-24
4 min read
Hip Hop & Rap News: What's Moving in the Culture
Hip hop news roundup - Walk of Fame honors, a sequel finally locked, and why the culture keeps rewarding the ones who stayed ready.
2026-07-24
3 min read
New Producer Drops: Plugins, Gear & DAW Updates
New plugins for producers this week - a free MIDI guitar translator, a capture plugin worth testing, and a resonator update that's actually useful.
2026-07-24
5 min read
Creative Reverb in Trap: Space, Depth, and Atmosphere
Trap production tips on using reverb for atmosphere without washing out your mix or burying the 808.
2026-07-21
4 min read
Hip Hop & Rap News: What's Moving in the Culture
Hip hop news roundup - Kanye's overseas run, the Diddy case grind, and Jay-Z catching heat for a freestyle that split the internet.
2026-07-21
5 min read
Parallel Compression: Beats That Hit Hard and Still Breathe
Parallel compression is how you get trap production loud and punchy without crushing the dynamics out of it.
2026-07-21
3 min read
New Producer Drops: Plugins, Gear & DAW Updates
New plugins worth grabbing this week - a free drive pedal, a free reverb, and a modulation plugin that's actually fun to abuse.
2026-07-18
4 min read
Hip Hop & Rap News: What's Moving in the Culture
Hip hop news roundup - Drake's $1.5M World Cup bet, Post Malone's hip-hop return talk, and Rick Ross' Set In Stone listening party.
2026-07-18
5 min read
Mixing Kicks and 808s: Solving the Low-End Battle
Fix the low-end battle between kicks and 808s with EQ carving, sidechain, and pitch discipline for a mix that actually translates.
2026-07-18
3 min read
New Producer Drops: Plugins, Gear & DAW Updates
New plugins and gear for producers - Morphoice's free EightyTen dual-synth beta, AG Cook's Super*Saw plugin, and Novation's Launchkey MK4 88-key.
2026-07-15
4 min read
Hip Hop & Rap News: What's Moving in the Culture
Hip hop news roundup - Tory Lanez drops a 23-track double album from prison, Nicki Minaj fires back at iHeartRadio, and Travis Scott lands in hot water.
2026-07-15
3 min read
New Producer Drops: Plugins, Gear & DAW Updates
New plugins for producers this week - a free lo-fi rack from UJAM and Rhodes, Reyes Amplifonics' Harmony H303 recreation, and Baby Audio's SubCulture.
2026-07-15
5 min read
Sampling and Chopping: How to Flip Without Getting Caught
How to chop samples for trap and hip hop production so your flip sounds original, not lifted - practical beat-making advice.
2026-07-09
4 min read
Hip Hop & Rap News: What's Moving in the Culture
Hip hop news roundup - 50 Cent's Diddy doc lands three Emmy nods, Bone Thugs get their Walk of Fame star, and J. Cole assembles a legend-packed magazine.
2026-07-09
3 min read
New Producer Drops: Plugins, Gear & DAW Updates
New plugins for producers this week - a free clipper from NoizLabs, a free bus compressor from Analog Obsession, and Strymon's new flagship delay.
2026-07-09
5 min read
The Rap Vocal Chain: From Raw Take to Radio-Ready
A practical rap vocal chain that turns a raw take into a radio-ready vocal - EQ, compression, saturation, and delay in the right order.
2026-07-08
5 min read
808 Sound Design: Building Bass That Moves Air
808 sound design tips for beat-making - tune your 808, shape the transient, and mix bass that actually translates.
2026-07-08
4 min read
Hip Hop & Rap News: What's Moving in the Culture
Hip hop news roundup - Diddy's possible early release, a Walk of Fame moment for Bone Thugs, and one lawyer walking away.
2026-07-08
3 min read
New Producer Drops: Plugins, Gear & DAW Updates
New plugins for producers - a free analog-style bus compressor, upgraded stem separation, and 50+ free plugins in one bundle.
2026-06-16
4 min read
Hip Hop & Rap News: What's Moving in the Culture
Hip hop news roundup - Rick Ross, Future, and Ye dominate the summer while UK bans TikTok for teens.
2026-06-16
3 min read
New Producer Drops: Plugins, Gear & DAW Updates
Free VST plugins and producer tools hitting the market this week - tape emulation, vocal splitting, and AI co-writing.
2026-06-16
5 min read
Sidechain Compression in Trap: The Pump You Actually Need
Master sidechain compression to lock your 808s and kicks. Essential trap production technique for that signature pump.
2026-06-14
4 min read
Hip Hop & Rap News: What's Moving in the Culture
Championship wins, family drama, and the independent grind - hip hop culture keeps it real off the court and in the booth.
2026-06-14
3 min read
New Producer Drops: Plugins, Gear & DAW Updates
Free synths, tape machine vibes, and a bigger MiniLab - what's worth your time this week.
2026-06-14
5 min read
Trap Drum Programming: Patterns That Actually Hit
Master trap drum programming with layering, swing, and velocity tricks that make beats bounce. Real techniques for 2026 hip-hop producers.
2026-06-04
~7 min
Mastering Beats for Streaming: Stop Chasing Loudness
Streaming platforms normalize loudness, so the loudness war is over and most people are still fighting it. What LUFS actually means for your masters, and the chain I use to make beats translate everywhere.
2026-06-01
~8 min
Getting a Vocal to Sit in the Mix
The vocal is the record. Here's the order of operations I use to take a raw take and make it sit on top of the beat without fighting it - gain staging, subtractive EQ, compression, and the space around it.
2026-05-28
~7 min
Starting a Beat: Sound Selection Over Everything
The blank project is the hardest part. Here's the workflow I use to get from nothing to a loop that's actually worth finishing - and why sound selection matters more than the notes you play.
2026-05-20
~6 min
808 Tuning: The Practical Version
Why your 808s are clashing with the melody, how to fix it, and the workflow I use to get them sitting right in the mix every time.