.svg)
.svg)
Rob Grimaldi is a multi-platinum producer, songwriter, and A&R.
With a massive list of collaborators including the likes of BTS, BLACKPINK, Martin Garrix, and Teddy Swims, Rob Grimaldi is responsible for hits including BTS’ “Butter” and BLACKPINK’s “Love to Hate Me.”
Above, Grimaldi sat down with us to provide an intimate look into his creative process, walking through an instrumental track he’s working on for a K-pop track in Pro Tools. Watch along to hear his tips and techniques in action, and read highlights below.
Access the world’s best sample library and connected creator tools for only $0.99.
4 K-pop production tips from Rob Grimaldi
1. Make loops your own
While sampling loops and one-shots is a key part of the commercial K-pop sound, Grimaldi emphasizes the importance of tailoring these elements to the unique needs of your track.
“One of my favorite things is to bring Splice loops in and spend a bunch of time making them feel very much my own,” he says. “I think there are so many amazing starting points on Splice, but the beauty of the platform and my favorite way to use it is to bring in these samples and really get to manipulating them.”
For a few sound design techniques for making loops your own, check out our guide below:
2. Sweat your leads
The backbone of many modern K-pop productions is a strong synth lead that’s both catchy and cuts through the mix. “The beauty of lead sounds in K-pop tracks (and actually everywhere) is you want them to be hooky enough for people to hear them and say, ‘Oh, I’ve heard that before’ in the best way possible, so that when they continue listening to the record, that’s already a hook in itself aside from any vocal melody,” Grimaldi shares. “So, I want to always make the lead as catchy as possible.”
In order to achieve this in his own track, he starts by manipulating a loop so that the melody and rhythm match his vision for the song. From there, he shifts the lead’s pitch to a higher range so it cuts through the arrangement, and then introduces color with some distortion. Next, he adds more samples to fill out some holes in the lead, and then layers additional sounds, including an unassuming recording of his voice singing the melody.
“Without effects on it, it’s really funny for me to hear my voice back like that,” he laughs as he plays his vocals in solo. “But, when you put it as a fourth layer to the lead sound, it’s more felt than heard—and when you’re mixing really strategically, you get a really cool layer.”
For more sound design tips for synth leads, check out our guide below:
3. Less can be more
While his productions always sound large and full, Grimaldi shows us that sometimes, this is the result of doing less, not more.
For example, he takes a drum loop from Splice and strips away its hi-hats entirely in order to better align it with the rest of his arrangement. “I really love this loop, but I knew I needed to simplify it a little bit,” he tells us. “There’s a lot going on. There’s some eighth note hi-hats happening that I knew would actually mess up the balance of our record that we’re working on today. But, I loved how the kick and snare really hit the transients. So, I brought it into Pro Tools and edited it down, so that I would still get the hit of the kick and snare with the 808, but everything else in the middle is gone.”
Grimaldi takes a similar approach when transferring his chord progression idea from his keyboard to the DAW—instead of preserving every note and flourish he initially played, he maintains a sense of movement largely by being intentional with his synth timbres and rhythms. “I think that sometimes, when you put too much melody in your chord progressions, it negatively affects the vocal melody of the song, unless the vocalist is really going to follow it purposefully,” he says. “I’d like to leave enough space for them to imagine what they would do.”
4. Chop, stutter, and transpose
While it can be easy to get lost in an endless sea of plugins and effects chains when producing, Grimaldi shows us just how far you can take your creativity with just chopping, stuttering, and transposing audio regions. “Chopping has been one of my most used tricks ever,” he tells us. Combining the technique with transposition, Grimaldi is able to craft entirely new ideas from loops that tightly follow his existing progressions and melodies.
Try the Splice x Pro Tools integration yourself
Throughout the latter half of his walkthrough, Grimaldi makes use of the new Splice x Pro Tools integration to quickly find and audition samples that fit with his track. If you’re a Pro Tools user, you can check out the integration here, and learn more about how it works below:
And there you have it! What was your favorite tip or insight from Rob Grimaldi? Who else would you like to see featured next? Let us know in the comments section of the video, and subscribe to the Splice YouTube channel for more artist-led tips, tutorials, and insights.
Discover, build, and create with Splice—right inside Pro Tools:
July 23, 2025
