Tips & Tutorials

Alina Smith (ITZY, Fall Out Boy) makes a beat with the weirdest samples

Producer, songwriter, vocalist, and educator—Alina Smith does it all.

Beyond releasing her own music and co-founding the songwriting and production company LYRE, Alina Smith has also worked alongside artists including ITZY, Red Velvet, and Fall Out Boy. She’s also well-known within the music producer community for her Alina Smith Fighting KPOP, LYRE’s Perfect Pop, and LYRE’s Perfect Pop: K-Pop Edition sample packs.

In the video above, Alina joined us for our latest installation of Beat the Odds, our music production challenge where participants are given a budget to choose from a board of possible sounds that each have their own price. Watch along as she produces an explosive pop track from totally unexpected sound sources, including everything from highly-distorted percussion one-shots to ocean field recordings and even fart foley.

VOX_ASFK_snare_heavy_nasty — Alina Smith Fighting KPOP
One-Shot/ —/ 0:00
drumssnarespop
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LYRE_144_top_shaker_808_hat_top_metal.wav — LYRE’s Perfect Pop: K-Pop Edition
144 BPM/ —/ 0:00
drumshatstops
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FF_CF_foley_fart_red.wav — Comedy Foley
One-Shot/ —/ 0:00
fxcinematicfoley
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After laying down her drums with a combination of one-shots, loops, and sound design elements, Alina builds on her arrangement with a hyperpop synth from Splice INSTRUMENT, her own 808 preset in Xfer Records’ Serum, and last but not least, her own vocals.

“I feel like I did so good,” Alina laughs as she listens back to her final track. “I have ten bucks left in the budget—I can get myself a coffee! And I have a little beat that I could turn into a song, which I actually quite like. I think she’s really fun.

“What a way to make a song. This just goes to show you guys—don’t get so caught up in your rut. Don’t take track making and writing too seriously. I had a really great time, and I think that’s very, very important for music and creativity in general.”

For more from Alina Smith, be sure to also check out her Ableton Live sound design tips:

5 ways to create your own FX in Ableton Live with Alina Smith

And there you have it! What was your favorite part of the challenge? What else would you like to see next? Let us know in the comments section of the video, and subscribe to the Splice YouTube channel for more artist-led sessions, tutorials, and challenges.

Incorporate Alina Smith’s energetic sounds into your own productions:

Explore the sounds

September 22, 2026

Harrison Shimazu

Harrison Shimazu is a composer, content strategist, and writer who’s passionate about democratizing music creation and education. He leads the Splice blog and produces vocaloid music as Namaboku.