Results
Congratulations to all participants and winners!
2025 Back to School Beats
Top Winners
Top 3
Timothy M.
Grade 10
Teacher: A. Wozniak
Lane Tech College Prep
Chicago, IL
"Creating my song taught me how to blend two different feelings; peace and chaos into one cohesive track. I chose trap because of the hard drums and energetic patterns naturally bring intensity, which made an interesting contrast with the calm atmosphere I wanted to express. I used the sample “the way the wind moves pt.1” by Sons of the Morning gave the piece a drifting, aromatic foundation, and layering sounds like strings, flutes, and light vocals added an elegant, peaceful touch that softened the chaos over it. Through the process of making this, I realized how each creative decision could shift the emotion of the song, and I learned to appreciate the opportunity to experiment and push myself. Taking on this project reminded me that meaningful experiences often come from simply choosing to try, and I’m grateful I embraced this one."
Top 3
Axel P.
Grade 11
Teacher: A. Wozniak
Lane Tech College Prep
Chicago, IL
"I had no clear inspiration from the start. I had a whole different intention until halfway through the actual song when the song was ACTUALLY forming inspiration got to me. It's not much of an inspiration to me, but it can be to someone else. The progression from an ugly beat to a more interesting near out of tune sound can be representation of progression. It can be precepted in any shape or form by anybody. We all go through the same thing at a different level. Either someone loves this or hates it."
Top 3
Kristin S.
Grade 08
Teacher: A. Wozniak
Lane Tech College Prep
Chicago, IL
"This song represents how stress builds up in my life, it's inspired by Artic Monkeys' indie rock music. I used layering to show responsibilities, deadlines, and pressure stack on top of each other. The song starts simple with drums and bass, then adds guitars and percussion until everything hits at one in the chorus. When the chorus reaches the loudest and most intense point it's a way to show how stress overwhelms me when everything piles up simultaneously. Just like how the song eventually fades out in the outro, I know that with time, the stress passes and things calm down again. This is my own soundtrack that represents what I go through and how I survive this chaos."
Honorable Mentions
Marius B.
Grade 10
Teacher: B. Remess
Lane Tech College Prep
Chicago, IL
Isaac D.
Grade 10
Teacher: B. Remess
Lane Tech College Prep
Chicago, IL
Carmen C.
Grade 12
Teacher: A. Wozniak
Lane Tech College Prep
Chicago, IL
Lilah G.
Grade 11
Teacher: A. Wozniak
Lane Tech College Prep
Chicago, IL
Ishmael M.
Grade 11
Teacher: L. Flemister
Hiram HS
Hiram, GA
Isabella B.
Grade 11
Teacher: A. Wozniak
Lane Tech College Prep
Chicago, IL
Audrey S.
Grade 11
Teacher: B. Remess
Lane Tech College Prep
Chicago, IL
2025 Manufacture Your Music Competition
Top Winners
1st Place
Gavin O.
Grade 10
Teacher: R. Williams
Collins Hill HS
Suwanee, GA
"I wanted to express how stress builds over time with this song. At first, the song has a floaty and mysterious feel, but towards the middle of the song, the bass is used to build suspense. After that, the song's suspense dies down similarly to how it builds up. Whilst creating this project, I learned how to write a program in the context of manufacturing music. I learnt some things about what makes songs popular. Around the time this project began, I had many other projects and exams in school. It quickly came to overwhelm me, and I lost sleep because of all the stress. This song is a reflection of my experiences and outlook of my life. Expressing such has helped me understand how to make the most out of my life."
2nd Place
Sophia M.
Grade 10
Teacher: T. McRary
Rabun County HS
Tiger, GA
"This song was a project for my computer science class. As I was playing around with the sounds, I found all of these very cool tech like sounds that ended up inspiring me for the tune. The vision then became a song that makes you feel like you are traveling to the 80's to a place that is supposed to represent the future, and the way futuristic things were displayed at that time. I found that there are a lot of cool and unique sounds on EarSketch that ended up being really fun to use when mixing this. I made the mistake of just doing a billion fitMedias on random tracks rather than organizing from the start, which ended up messing me up some. It was very cool figuring out how I wanted to transition between parts in a way that felt natural, and I ended up really liking what I came up with. Overall, I am very happy with how this song came out."
3rd Place
Verity S.
Grade 11
Teacher: L. Flemister
Hiram HS
Hiram, GA
"I was inspired by one of my favorite music artists, Steve Lacy. I am still adding details to this song but I am fairly happy with the beat I have created as it is my first time using EarSketch. My intentions with the song was for it to be a short groovy song just to peak peoples interest. I hope you enjoy listening."
Runner Up
Arnaldo L.
Grade 10
Teacher: R. Williams
Collins Hill HS
Suwanee, GA
Joshua B.
Grade 11
Teacher: L. Flemister
Hiram HS
Hiram, GA
Duane M.
Grade 09
Teacher: T. Patterson
Woodward Academy
College Park, GA
Sponsors and Partners for 2025 Manufacture Your Music