2.2 Seconds of Nothing Before the Floor Arrives at 26 Seconds

A new song has arrived at the playground today. This time it's a band — UNXL, pronounced "unofficial".

Playground sessions are usually one guitar and one voice. This time there are four people. The person at the microphone is wearing a bass; behind them an electric guitar, keys to the right, drums beside that. All four came in matching blue workwear.

I Measured the First 9.3 Seconds

Up to 0:20.00 the track reads −56.3dB. Effectively silence.

At 0:20.40 the first sound arrives at −14.7dB. 41.6dB in four tenths of a second. Low end 9.1%, mids 35.4%. That's a single guitar coming in first.

But from 0:22.50 to 0:24.50 it empties out again for 2.2 seconds, falling to −43.1dB at 0:23.50. They let go the moment after starting.

Then at 0:25.95 it returns at −9.7dB, and at 0:26.50 the low end leaps from 9.3% to 49.7%. That's where the drums and bass enter. At 0:29.30 it reads −3.6dB with the low end at 55.6% — the highest point of the whole set.

From −56.3dB to −3.6dB in 9.3 seconds, with a 2.2-second gap deliberately placed in the middle. It lands far harder than simply starting loud would, because after those 2.2 seconds 39.5dB refills from −43.1dB to −3.6dB.

A Playground Set With a Floor Is Rare

Across all 14 minutes 46, the median for 20~150Hz is 10.6% (90th percentile 27.3%), with 500~3000Hz at 33.7% and 6000~11000Hz at 16.0%.

The low end exceeds 30% of the total in 7.4% of the set, peaking at 68.0%.

A set with only guitar and voice tends to hold a low-end median around 5%, and crosses 30% in barely 1~2% of its runtime. A bass and a kick drum change that.

The 16.0% at 6000~11000Hz has the same cause. That's cymbals.

The median level is −11.0dB with a 5th-to-95th percentile spread of 21.8dB. They're using that much distance between hitting hard and pulling back.

Four Songs

Song	Start
Do I Like You	0:26
What If	3:57
At the End of Some World	7:35
To Remain With You	11:35

The gaps between songs are short. At 3:55.60 it drops to −40.3dB and is back at −6.8dB 1.3 seconds later; at 11:35.15 the low end jumps from 5.2% to 39.5% in a single frame. They barely rest.

The one long pause is at 7:02 — 1.8 seconds of quiet, then thirty seconds before the next song begins.

It ends with 5.5 seconds of complete silence from 14:40.25, the longest in the set.

Play This One on Speakers

Through earphones the low end at 0:26 rings only inside your head. On speakers the floor moves with it. This set belongs on the latter.

If you're short on time, just the first thirty seconds. 41.6dB rising, 2.2 seconds emptying, 39.5dB refilling — it's all in there.