The Real Thing Remix Competition
The Real Thing Remix: Real Code. Real Beats. Real Sound.
2025, Collaboration between The EarSketch Team from Georgia Tech and The Coca-Cola Company’s Real Thing Records
The Real Thing Remix Competition is sponsored by The EarSketch Team from Georgia Tech in collaboration with The Coca-Cola Company’s Real Thing Records. Code your own hit with EarthGang’s beats on EarSketch—no music or coding experience required. Share your real self through sound, remix the next real thing, and win an exclusive World of Coca-Cola experience for your class.
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The challenge will run from September 16 to October 15, 2025 and is open exclusively to Atlanta's high school students from Atlanta Public Schools and DeKalb County School District. Students must be at least 14 years of age to participate in the competition.
With this, hear a message from EarthGang to code your next real thing!
Competition Launch: September 16, 2025
Competition Deadline: 11:59PM on October 15, 2025
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Requirements
Music
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Song length must be between 30 seconds and 2 minutes
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Song must have at least five (5) unique sounds
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Song must include sounds from more than one artist (or student-generated content)
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Song must be a remix, distinct from the original songs.
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Recommendations:
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Including more than one artist on EarSketch
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Changing tempo, pitch, and/or order of beats
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Adding effects and loop beats
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Making your own beat
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Recommended: To avoid potentially overlapping sounds, each sound be arranged on its own track.
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Note: Vocals from other artists used in the winner's song may be edited, so we encourage students to record their own or code an instrumental song.
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​Code
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Final code must run without errors in the console and play in the digital audio workstation (DAW)
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Code must include fitMedia to insert sound clips
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Code must include comments to describe code and the song's message
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Recommended: Code should include at least one level of complexity: loops, conditional statements, makeBeat(), custom functions
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Story
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Submission must include a short reflection on the message of their song and how it connects to their identity
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Recommended: Students should choose a theme or genre to their song (Theme Examples: friendship, family, their interests, etc.; Genre Examples: country, hip hop, etc.)
Resources
Getting Started
Here are some resources to help you get started! Our 11-minute competition-specific How to Get Started video paired with our template code will help teachers new to EarSketch or perhaps not having enough time to cover longer modules. If you are new to EarSketch, we recommend checking out our Getting Started in EarSketch YouTube playlist or attending our Teacher PD on September 11. We've also created a handout for your and/or your students' reference.
Use the template code to get started coding your song!
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Click the button for the template code
- Click Import to Edit in the Code Editor
- Save your code by creating or logging into your EarSketch account
- Start editing the code to create your song!
Video Tutorials
FOR TEACHERS
September 11 Teacher PD Recording (00:45:59)
FOR TEACHERS & STUDENTS
Getting Started with The Real Thing Remix
Tutorial (00:11:11)
FOR TEACHERS & STUDENTS
Getting Started in EarSketch Playlist
Lesson
Looking for a lesson to teach with the competition? Check out our Introduction to EarSketch Byte-Sized Beat! We've included a lesson plan, slides, student worksheet, and template code to help make the jump to get started as easy as possible! We recommend spending 2-3 days with your class on this lesson as working on their songs in EarSketch may take some time for students. The template/sample code exists to help beginner students understand the format for a solid submission. Students may import the script so they can edit the code and create their song.
Ready to submit?
Students can either submit their songs by using our submission link. The video demonstrates how you can find your script-URL for the submission.
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Please note students under the age of 13 should have their parents/guardians submit on their behalf.
Submit externally using a link
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Find your song in the Script Library
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Click on the three blue lines next to your Script Name to expand the menu
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Click Share
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Click the blue clipboard next to the Share URL. This copies your script-URL.
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Go to the submission button below
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Complete the form
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Paste in your copied EarSketch script-URL
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Finish the form and click submit
Artist
EarthGang
Atlanta-born, Grammy-nominated, award-winning indie rap duo EarthGang, comprised of Olu AKA Johnny Venus and WowGr8 AKA DocturDot have been pushing the boundaries of hip-hop with their innovative albums, thought-provoking EPs, and masterful mixtapes well before signing to J. Cole’s Dreamville Records in 2017. The name EarthGang is rooted in a desire to have the whole world join them on a journey where music is used as a global vehicle to explore relatable themes of society and self; the conflict between tradition and modernity, religion and enlightenment—music and manhood. Their art experiments with classic & contemporary R&B, jazz, gospel, and funk sounds while their lyricism is influenced by deep societal themes ranging in topic from social justice, artificial intelligence, environmental conservation, posthumous art, mental health, and religion & spirituality. In 2019, their first studio album Mirrorland debuted at #22 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart paving the way for GRAMMYnominations on "Down Bad" (Best Rap Performance) featuring J. Cole, JID, Bas, and Young Nudy, and "Collide" (Best R&B Song) with Tiana Major9 from the motion picture soundtrack for Queen & Slim, both racking up hundreds of millions of streams. Over the years EarthGang has collaborated with legendary artists including J. Cole, Mac Miller, T-Pain, Snoop Dogg, Young Thug, Future, Kehlani, Gorillaz, Wiz Khalifa, & CeeLo Green and they’ve performed across the world on major stages such as Coachella, The Soul Train Awards, Governors Ball, Something in the Water Festival, Lollapalooza, Dreamville Fest, and more. EarthGang has garnered a loyal fanbase boasting over 3M monthly listeners on Spotify and 155M+views on YouTube. Following the release of their EarthGang vs The Algorithm EPs, which featured thought-provoking music that explore complex themes of human creativity and artistic expression in today’s digital age on RIP Human Art (Sept 2023) & ROBOPHOBIA (Feb 2024), EarthGang will be releasing the final, full-length installment with "Perfect Fantasy" in October 2024.
EarthGang has also been praised for their commitment to community activism. Their nonprofit organization, the EarthGang Foundation, is committed to raising awareness towards combating environmental injustices through climate and environmental conservation, with local and global programs that empower individuals to create positive change in the world.