There are many ways for students to express their creativity at Vista del Lago High School. Some use art to communicate their feelings, play the guitar or sing to show their talent, while others photograph the world around them.

However, several students pursue their creativity outside of school using Soundcloud, a popular app for upcoming artists. They produce edits and sounds to create new pieces of music, which they publish on the app. Two students, Seth Hornstein and Elvis Thomas, are such producers known by their usernames, DJ Sloth and Elvis Thomas.  

Thomas’ older brother introduced him to music production by getting him FL Studio, a professional producing program. Similarly, Hornstein was also influenced by his older brother.

Every production process is different, allowing him to make a variety of songs with distinct melodies. “I draw in notes into the program to match the melody in my head, then I work on the drums and bass, and any other instrument or synthesizer I want to use,” said Thomas.

Hornstein also follows the same path as Thomas, making his own beats from scratch. He has a built-in studio and collaborates with others to write music. He uses FL Studio and a MPK, a desktop keyboard and a studio combined. “It’s not much, but I love it,” said Hornstein.

Both students produce their music from scratch, although Thomas occasionally uses samples, but he calls it “cheating,” so he usually sticks to his own personal production.

“I just take out all my anger and sadness on a track, and I create something beautiful,” said Thomas. Hornstein pours out his feelings into his songs as well. “It would be a dream come true to make this into a career,” said Hornstein.

They both want to make this their future. But as a precaution, Thomas wants to go to college and major in business, and may pursue law.

Thomas and Hornstein generate music monthly, update their followers with brand new tracks, and create mixtapes with a multitude of genres. Both have a lot coming up and are excited to see where their music takes them.