As the CESJDS varsity dance team performed at KabShab on Dec. 6, the soundtrack had particular significance in addition to the dancing itself. The soundtrack was curated by senior Lauren Rich.
Rich has been producing music mixes for a little over a year and really enjoys blending songs into one remix. Her mixes are played at social events with her friends and by the dance team.
“I wanted to combine songs that I liked and I thought would be good together,” Rich said. “I also just love music.”
Rich uses rekordbox, an editing and recording software for DJs, allowing her to change the vocals, instrumentals and drums of different songs. While in the future Rich might consider becoming a DJ for profit, she currently just does it for fun when she has time.
Rich is not the only JDS student with this hobby as Freshmen Jackson Gill and Hillel Goldberg work together to produce background music for smaller singers that they meet online. Goldberg has enjoyed music since he was little, as he was surrounded by music from his grandfather’s record collection and his cousin in Israel who also produces music.
“I’ve always had an interest and passion in music,” Goldberg said. “Music runs in my family.”
Goldberg mostly makes trap and R&B production, as well as engineering vocals from singers in his vocal recording studio, an acoustically treated room in his basement. And while Goldberg has a subscription to DistroKid, a website that allows artists to upload their music on platforms such as Spotify, he hasn’t done so yet.
The process of making these songs starts with finding a sound online, adding chords to make melodies and countermelodies and adding drums.
“My favorite part about producing is beginning a project from blank and then building something out of it,” Goldberg said. “It’s really fun to see the process.”
For Gill, music has always been a part of his life, but mostly through musical instruments such as saxophone, piano and guitar. Goldberg introduced him to virtual music production last year, and soon after they started working together they realized they worked really well together.
Gill and Goldberg upload all of their music tracks on their YouTube channel, BoochBeats. They currently have six songs uploaded, one with over 1,200 views and another with 1,300.
According to Gill, he and Goldberg are focusing on putting their work onto platforms for now, and once they believe they have enough grounding and recognition, they will start charging to make a profit. Something that Goldberg and Gill have benefited from the most is meeting new people online who are also interested in music production, and then learning different techniques from them.
“Music is a medium where a lot of people who usually don’t have things in common can connect,” Gill said.