Traditional Instruments Are Credited — but the Top End Spikes Only Three Times

Out at 6pm yesterday: SoonSoonHee's 'Aribom : It Will Pass'.

Start with the credits. Haegeum by Kim Geun-yeong, daegeum and sogeum by Kim Dong-hyeon, taepyeongso by Kim Mi-gyeong, janggu and kkwaenggwari by Lee Su-jin, and pansori voices by Kang Tae-gwan and Park Se-mi. That's an unusual amount of traditional session work for a ballad single.

And Yet the Top End Stays Pressed Down

I measured all 4 minutes 22 in 0.25-second windows.

6000~11000Hz sits at 1~3% for most of the song. That's strangely low for a track with kkwaenggwari and taepyeongso in it.

There are exactly three exceptions: 20.2% at 0:26.25, 37.2% at 1:18.50, and 14.5% at 3:31.50.

All three are isolated strikes. The traditional percussion isn't laid under the song — it lands exactly three times. The rest of the time the haegeum and daegeum are folded into the midrange.

That's the method here. Rather than putting the instruments out front, they're kept inside the frame of a ballad and brought to the surface only three times.

The Low End Disappears Twice

The first sound arrives between 0:07.25 and 0:07.50. It jumps from −20.09dB to −9.46dB — 10.6dB in a quarter of a second — while 20~150Hz shoots to 65.6%. The low end opens the song.

The voice comes in from 0:09.75, with 500~3000Hz settling above 60%.

Then from 1:54.50 to 1:58.75, roughly four seconds, the low end disappears. 20~150Hz falls from 2.7% to 0.0~0.1% and the level drops from −7.11dB to −17.6dB.

The same thing repeats longer, from 3:06.25 to 3:13 — about seven seconds. Low end 0.1~0.6%, bottoming at −13.47dB at 3:09.25. It's the quietest stretch in the body of the song.

Then it returns at 3:14 and peaks between 3:34.25 and 3:39.75, where the level moves within just 1.4dB for five and a half seconds. Over the same stretch the mids climb to 75.5% at 3:36.00. The voice fills the frame.

Widen the hole from four seconds to seven, then place the flattest and loudest 5.5 seconds right after.

The ending is abrupt: from −5.09dB at 3:58.75 to −24.58dB at 4:04.25 — 19.5dB in 5.5 seconds — and after the low end hits 0.0% at 4:04.50 a tail runs on to 4:11.00.

SoonSoonHee Is Three People

Gi-tae, Mirrorball and Ji-hwan, a trio that began in 2018 with 'I Loved You So Much'. 'At Seomyeon Station', 'Haeundae' and 'To Stay Alive' are among their songs.

This single has two tracks — the 4:22 title and its instrumental, 8:44 together. Producer Hangil wrote, composed and arranged it and played piano, drums and backing vocals; according to the agency the producer has worked with Hwang Chi-yeul, Davichi, Lee Chan-won and Kassy.

Their last proper new song was 'My First and Last Love' on 28 December 2025. Two collaboration singles came between, in May this year ('All For You' on the 7th, 'How Fortunate' on the 21st).

Listen Somewhere With Decent Sound

With the top end pressed to 1~3%, those three strikes pass as noise on a small speaker. The 37.2% at 1:18.50 only reads as a traditional instrument on proper playback.

Just give it a listen, trust me. Try around 1:18 and then 3:06 through 3:40 back to back. That's the seven seconds emptied out and the 5.5 seconds filled.