The Low End Disappears and Only a Voice Remains for Eight Seconds — KiiiKiii Opened the LCK Final

My bag's already packed. Today it was KSPO Dome.

Two Songs, In This Order

All five members of KiiiKiii took the opening ceremony stage at today's final. They sang 'PAIN IN THE DARK' first and 'Leave Your Mark pt.2' second — they begin at 1:39 and 4:33 in the video.

Neither song premiered today. 'Leave Your Mark pt.2' went up on the official LCK channel on 19 August and 'PAIN IN THE DARK' on 26 August. Neither is registered on Apple Music or iTunes. Right now the only official place to hear these two songs is the LCK YouTube channel.

On the recordings, 'PAIN IN THE DARK' is credited not to all of KiiiKiii but to two members, Sui and Kya. 'Leave Your Mark pt.2' is credited to the group. On stage today, all five appeared together.

Both Songs Use the Same Device

Put the two side by side and measure them and the same design shows up. The moment the vocal first enters, the low end is emptied completely, and the kick returns exactly eight seconds later.

'PAIN IN THE DARK' spends its first twelve seconds on dark ambience with almost no low end. At thirteen seconds a kick drives in and the level jumps 13dB in a quarter of a second. At 28.5 seconds the low end and drums drop out whole and about two seconds of silence follows. At 31 seconds a voice enters alone. The sub-bass reading here is one three-hundredth of what it was a moment earlier — a bare vocal with no bass and no kick under it. It holds for eight seconds. At 39 seconds the kick returns all at once.

'Leave Your Mark pt.2' does the same. The moment the lead vocal enters at 34.5 seconds the sub-bass falls away, and again eight seconds later, at 42.5 seconds, the kick arrives.

Both songs run on the same clock: vocal enters, low end at zero, kick eight seconds later. That isn't chance.

The Arena Kept It

Here's the interesting part. The design survives the stage.

At 2:07.8 in the video the low end disappears whole and two seconds of silence follow — emptier, in fact, than the studio version, dropping to −57dB at 2:10. At 2:10.3 only the voice remains, and eight seconds later, at 2:18.3, the kick comes back. The 28.5, 31 and 39 seconds of the recording play out on stage exactly as written.

Emptying the low end for eight seconds in a dome holding more than ten thousand people is a bold call. Take the low end away and the sound thins; thin sound gets swallowed in a big room. But those eight seconds make the next kick enormous. That's why these songs work — they don't get loud by turning up. They empty what comes first.

There's an edit at 3:34. It jumps from 1:55 of the recording to 2:58, cutting about 63 seconds out. 'Leave Your Mark pt.2' also loops back to the chorus at 1:21 from 6:46, and the minute or so from 7:05 matches neither recording — a stretch that appears to overlap with the players' entrance.

Today's Result

The five on stage were Jiyoo, Leesol, Sui, Haum and Kya. The ceremony opened with columns of light drawing the crowd's eyes, and partway through, players from Gen.G and Hanwha Life Esports came up onto the stage. KSPO Dome was full.

Gen.G beat Hanwha Life Esports 3-1 for a second consecutive title. Gen.G had gone straight through as regular-season leaders; Hanwha Life arrived after beating T1 3-1 yesterday.

How to Watch

The video runs 9 minutes 21. Start at the top for the whole ceremony, or at 1:39 for the songs alone.

KiiiKiii debuted properly on 24 March last year with the mini album 'UNCUT GEM'. 'I DO ME', a month earlier on 24 February, was a pre-release single. A year and a half after debut, they opened the doors of a sold-out dome.