Finding new creative mediums, a handful of Diamond Bar High School students have delved into the world of music production, posting their work on platforms like Spotify and SoundCloud.

Having played instruments for 6 years, sophomore Ethan Hoang pursued his long-time interest in producing music after having encountered his first heartbreak. In search of an outlet for his emotions, Hoang took to music to express himself.

“Before I realized it, I had the desire to make music myself instead of just listening to it,” Hoang said.

Under the stage name Esman H., Hoang has published 11 songs on both Spotify and YouTube. 

Since beginning his musical hobby, Hoang has been featured on the Genius Lyrics website, highlighted in an article on the LA Times HS Insider and received 1.2k views on one of his songs posted on YouTube.

“Music has always been something that I can always go back to no matter how terrible my day has been,” Hoang said. “Whether I’ve had a good day or bad one, I always go back home and listen to music.”

An interesting aspect that Hoang incorporated into his songs are the vocal samples he uses. Hoang feels that the use of such recordings help capture the raw, unedited emotion that he feels match his musical style.

“At first I was going for more of a lofi hiphop type of style, but as I slowly started to improve, I realized that if I really wanted to, I could make any type of music that I wanted,” Hoang said. “Now I stick mostly with an old school DJ-style hiphop where voice samples are used in the place of lyrics.”

Sophomore Alec Wong, who goes by Alsmic, was encouraged, after assisting Hoang with producing his songs, to produce his own music. While most of his music is largely centered around rap or hip hop, Wong occasionally produces instrumentals and lyrical pieces. 

“My songs typically don’t have a singular topic, and I tend to jump around a lot in-between songs,” Wong said. “But some of the more notable song topics that I’ve addressed are inspirational messages and stories.”

With over 1,000 followers on SoundCloud and a total count of 38,000 hits across all his songs, Wong said one of his goals is to achieve 50,000 views on one of his songs, which is in collaboration with other artists at DBHS.

Spread out across multiple streaming platforms including Spotify, SoundCloud and Beatstars, senior Joe Lee has achieved 400k plays over 5 years. Lee first started his journey in music production during the summer before his last year of middle school. 

“I love to make music because it is my escape from this complicated world we live in,” Lee said. “When I’m in my home studio, I don’t need to worry about other responsibilities and I dive into the free world of musical production.”

Lee works with a variety of musical entities, but primarily focuses on instrumentals, sometimes including vocals, and writes lyrics for other singers that he has worked with before. Although he usually makes rap and lofi genre of music, his best known songs usually fall into the genre of lofi music. In his songs, Lee plays with a variety of instruments, including piano, marimba, drum set, cello, violin and guitar, occasionally using them as amplifiers on guitars.

“How I choose what instruments to incorporate depends on the style I’m going for,” Lee said. “I use whichever instruments sounds the best for that beat, it’s all very subjective.”

Using music as an expression outlet to express emotions and thoughts, these DBHS students utilize their passion to share emotions in the form of music.