Audicratic Monthly — July & August 2026: Reason Free, Studio Sessions & The Erie Canal
July was a quieter month, but things picked up considerably in August. Between working with Reason Studios and LANDR on the launch of Reason Free, getting back into recording sessions, and finding some unexpected inspiration around Albany, there ended up being plenty to catch up on.
Reason Free
The biggest update from the past two months was getting the opportunity to work with Reason Studios and LANDR on Reason Free.
After all of the Reason 14 content I made earlier this year, it was great to take that relationship another step and create sponsored content around the new free version of the Reason Rack.
For the main video, I loaded Reason Free inside Ableton Live and built a beat using the included instruments, effects and utilities. Instead of just running through a feature list, I wanted to see how much I could actually do with the free Rack.
I also created additional short-form content around the release, making this one of the bigger content collaborations I've worked on this year.
Studio Sessions: Copywrite & Albany Lou
Outside of content, I had a couple of great recording sessions over the last two months.
In July, Copywrite came through the studio to record a track. July was otherwise pretty quiet, so getting back into a session and focusing strictly on making music was easily one of the highlights of the month.
Then in August, I had Albany Lou over to record tracks for an upcoming EP. There's more work to be done on that project, but I'm looking forward to sharing more as it comes together.
Not everything that happens in the studio immediately turns into a post or a video, and these sessions were a good reminder of how much I still enjoy that side of what I do.
Flipping the Erie Canal
One of the more random ideas I had in August came after seeing that a section of the Erie Canal had been uncovered in Albany.
Naturally, my first thought was to make a beat out of it.
I took the old Erie Canal song and flipped it into something completely different. Being from the Albany area made this one especially fun — taking a familiar piece of local history and finding a way to reinterpret it through hip-hop.
Sometimes the best beat ideas come from places you aren't looking for them.
A Little Website Cleanup
I've also been simplifying AbTheAudicrat.com and making the site better reflect what I'm actually focused on now.
I'm putting more emphasis on production videos, music, audio, gear and the blog while pulling back some of the sections that don't need to be front and center anymore.
The goal is pretty simple: when somebody lands on the site, I want it to be immediately clear what I do and what I'm working on now.
That's a Wrap!
July may have been quiet, but August definitely made up for it.
The Reason Free collaboration was a big step for the content side of what I'm building, while the sessions with Copywrite and Albany Lou kept me connected to what started all of this in the first place — making and recording music.
Add in an Erie Canal beat and some changes behind the scenes, and these two months ended up being a pretty good representation of where things are heading.
More is on the way.
— Ab The Audicrat
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