How to Make a K-Pop Type Beat in Soundtrap
BUILDING BEATS WORKSHOP LEADER, DJ & MUSIC PRODUCERS PLAYPLAY AND VAUGHN LEVI WALK US THROUGH CREATING A K-POP BEAT, USING THE FREE BROWSER-BASED MUSIC PRODUCTION AND BEAT MAKING PROGRAM SOUNDTRAP.
K-Pop, or Korean Pop, is a genre of music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. K-Pop has taken the world by storm with a strong idol culture seen with K-Pop teen boy bands and girl bands such as Super Junior, BTS, Got7 and BlackPink.
While K-Pop spans across many different genres, across the board it is notable for having pop vocals, intricate melodies, modern drum patterns and many transitions such as key changes, epic build-ups and more.
Today we'll be focusing specifically on the drum patterns and melodies found in modern K-Pop to make our K-Pop type beat. This beat is influenced by the current style of beats found recent K-Pop songs such as BlackPink’s “How You Like That,” NCT DREAM’s “Hot Sauce” and EVERGLOW’s “FIRST MV”
Let’s start off with the drum pattern. You’ll see PlayPlay has the Patterns Beatmaker sequencer view open and has the loop function activated, looping every 1 or 2 bars as they create their beat.
PlayPlay uses the Cream Kit for this initial drum pattern, laying down a kick on the 1st beat and then another one slightly after the 4th beat to lead into the next bar. They put the snare on the 3rd beat (and another one slightly offset right after the 3rd beat).
There’s also this really cool percussive sound in the Brampton Kit that PlayPlay wants to use so they add that into a separate track. At Bar 9 they bring in an additional open hat from the Vanilla Kit to add a new element into the mix.
K-Pop is all about transitions (fun fact: most K-Pop songs have 4 or more transitions per song), so PlayPlay changes the beat up from bar 1 to 2, repeating the pattern until bar 9. At bar 9, PlayPlay changes it up, amping up the energy by adding some extra kicks but balancing it out by removing a snare. The beat on bar 10 is slightly different than bar 9, and once again, PlayPlay repeats this pattern until bar 16.
Also for the transitions, PlayPlay creates a little space in between bar 8 and bar 9, so there is extra oomph when bar 9 hits.
Now that we have a beat down, let’s get into the melody with Vaughn Levi!
As you’ll see, Vaughn Levi has 2 pad synths, some toy bells and a bassline accompanying the beat PlayPlay just laid down - very bright and energetic in the way that K-Pop is.
Believe it or not, Vaughn Levi simply converted an existing MIDI loop from Soundtrap’s library into a new sound by switching the instrument from the Classical Guitar (how he found it originally) to the Atlantic FM Pad, which can be found under Synths-->Pads. The existing melody being played on the Atlantic FM Pad happens to be perfect for a K-Pop style beat due to the genre’s emphasis on big and full melodies (nothing fills space quite like a pad!).
To make this melody even bigger, Vaughn Levi layers it with another sound by duplicating the exact same melody (in Soundtrap, hold down the alt button and drag down to an empty track). He then changes the sound on this duplicated track from the Atlantic FM Pad to the Carribean Sines, which is another pad instrument found under Synths-->Pads. He likes this one because it adds a little more movement and delay to the melody.
Next, he plays a new melody (F#, A and B) to complement the other melody using the Toy Bells instrument, which can be found under Synths-->Leads.
Finally, while this is a K-Pop type beat, Vaughn Levi did want to put an American R&B spin on it, so he added a bassline melody using the Coax Bass, which can be found under the Guitars.
With all of these elements combined, we have our finished K-Pop type beat! All that is left to do is to arrange it into a full song. Want to try swapping the instruments and complete your own K-Pop style beat? Download our free MIDI pack from this project and have fun!
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You can also visit our Toolbox to learn how to create more beats on DAWs like Soundtrap, and be sure to check out some of our other How-To videos!
Complete Guide to K-Pop
Visit our complete guide to K-Pop music production, where you'll find beat making tutorials, a free MIDI pack and more.