Soundcloud: Making music on campus
Soundcloud is a large, international library of music. Whether it’s rock, rap, or electronic, people from all over the world have produced and contributed to it, including several students.
“I make music during my free time,” said senior Kevin Norgaard, who regularly contributes to Soundcloud. “I usually post just random tracks, remixes that I make for fun.”
Norgaard has been producing music since his eighth grade birthday when his father bought him the music production software FL Studio.
“At first I was into dubstep. You know, the middle school phase. It was horrible. My first song was Chicken and Rice. It was probably the worst song I’ve ever made in my life,” Norgaard said. “Over time, it started to sound more like music and less like a videogame.”
However, Norgaard has had some trouble over the years with his remixes and copyright infringement claims.
“I had about twenty remixes on my Soundcloud account, and Soundcloud started giving me copyright strikes. I had to take all of them down except for two,” Norgaard said.
Recently, Norgaard has released a rap album with Alex Safayan (also known as Yung Sepha): Suavé. The album can be viewed on his Soundcloud: tenthcloud.
Zack Thielemann, senior, is another Soundcloud artist on campus.
“I create mostly hip-hop instrumentals and short trap songs, as well as a few piano pieces on the side,” said Thielemann, “I also do a lot of vocal recording and mixing/mastering on the hip-hop side of things.”
Thielemann has been composing music for years on piano and in Fruity Loops, a digital audio workstation, for years. However, he his involvement in soundcloud has recently escalated. “I never really started working seriously until about a year ago, when I started to drift more to hip-hop and trap stuff,” Thielemann said.
Thielemann has garnered satisfaction from music, even from a young age.
“I have always wanted to create music since I was slamming on a family piano when I was a small kid. Hearing something that sounds good, and knowing that you made it is a feeling I will never get over,” Thielemann said.
Thielemann draws inspiration from hip hop artist such as Metro Boomin, Stoupe, The Enemy of Mankind, Young Chop, Yung Gud, and Drake’s producer, 40. All of his influences manifest into a style which can be accessed on his Soundcloud: Thielemann.
But not everyone’s a solo artist. One such example is the local band Paper. Its members, who formed the band during the summer of 2015, include guitarist and vocalist Hoyt Yeatman, bass player Kyle Hart, and drummer Jeff Demorest.
Paper doesn’t apply itself to a definite genre.
“We do play rock music, but we don’t like classifying it to one genre because it takes away from the whole interesting element of it,” said the band’s drummer, Jeff Demorest. “Some would say we’re a punk band, but punk came and went in the eighties, so you can’t be a punk band in the same way you can’t be classic rock band and you can’t be a hair metal band.”
Demorest is an experienced musician. He’s learned not only the drums, an instrument he’s played since the fourth grade, but also the guitar, bass, cello, and he can sing.
Demorest is currently pursuing a career in music, a decision he made at his first concert which was The Police on their reunion tour.
Two months ago, Paper released an album titled Goat Soup, which can be listened to on the band’s Soundcloud: soundloud.com/paper-829804086.
