Asher Zhang / Beat producer / Researcher

Beats
built to
question.

I produce rap beats that use rhythm, atmosphere, and sound design to carry ideas—from the human cost of war to the creative possibilities of technology.

▶ Play original work
02Original beats
EPQAI & music
CS + MATHIntended study

01 / Selected production

Beat tape.

Peace cover artwork: a white dove flying through a shadowed city sceneConceptual hip-hop / Original

Peace

2:16 Length44.1 kHz Audio

I built this beat as a plea for peace. A child crying, gunshots, and ambulance sirens create a mournful atmosphere—asking the listener to reconsider the relationship between war and humanity.

Jazzbeat cover artwork: a warm sepia interior with flowers, lace, candlelight, and the text Jazzbeat by AsherJazz hip-hop / Original

Jazzbeat

1:01 Length48 kHz Audio

Inspired by the late Japanese artist Nujabes, I layered the friction of vinyl with a saxophone passage I learned to compose—bringing warmth, imperfection, and movement into the beat.

Original productions by Asher Zhang. Headphones recommended.

Official release / Beat productionPeace — AsherReleased on NetEase Cloud Music
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Official release / Mixed by Asherchat now — ChereiReleased on NetEase Cloud Music
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Portrait of Asher ZhangAsher Zhang / Producer / Researcher

02 / Why I produce

I use production to ask what technology cannot answer alone.

I’m Asher. I began learning guitar at ten and performed in a number of small live shows before teaching myself arranging and mixing. Since then, I have produced beats used in released music and mixed tracks that artists have published.

When I build a beat, I focus on emotional expression and atmosphere—creating a space the listener can enter. I plan to study computer science and mathematics, and I want to keep exploring how computation can support, challenge, and reshape musical creativity.

Peace and Jazzbeat show two sides of that practice. One confronts violence through unsettling environmental sounds; the other studies musical lineage through jazz-inflected hip-hop. In both, listening becomes a form of inquiry.

Humanity firstTechnology should deepen expression, not replace it.
Sound as evidenceA texture can communicate what words cannot.
Research through makingProduction turns questions into experiences.
Revision is craftI test, listen, and rebuild.

03 / Inside the session

Process,
not polish.

Original Logic Pro project screenshots showing arrangement, instrumentation, and sound-design decisions.

Logic Pro arrangement for Jazzbeat, showing melodic MIDI regions, a Neo Soul drum kit, a lo-fi scratch sample, and white-noise texture layers
01

Jazzbeat — Building the texture

At 95 BPM in C major, I layered a Neo Soul drum kit, repeating melodic phrases, a lo-fi scratch sample, and a white-noise texture loop. The arrangement shows how I built warmth and motion through repetition, contrast, and small changes in density.

95 BPMC majorLogic Pro
Logic Pro arrangement for Peace, showing musical regions alongside gunshot, clock, children, rain, and ambulance sound effects
02

Peace — Sound as narrative

At 145 BPM in D minor, I placed gunshots, a clock, children’s field recordings, rain, and an ambulance alongside the musical layers. These sounds work as narrative events, turning the beat into a reflection on war, fear, and humanity.

145 BPMD minorSound design

04 / Extended Project Qualification

To what extent will AI music generators impact the global music industry in the 2020s?

01

Access

How can AI lower barriers to music creation and widen participation?

02

Industry

How might creators, platforms, and established roles adapt to disruption?

03

Ethics

What do copyright, transparency, cultural value, and sustainability demand?

04

Creativity

My research led me to view AI as a tool that should supplement—not displace—human creativity.