At 1:36.6 It Drops to −44dB, and Half a Second Later It's Back

MONSTA X's 'The Phase' came out on the 4th of this month. Six songs, 16 minutes 52.

First, Getting the Wording Right

You'll see the phrase "a comeback after about a year". Written that way, it's wrong.

As a Korean EP, it is a year and three days since 'The X' on 1 September 2025. But that gap wasn't empty — the singles 'baby blue' (14 November 2025) and 'growing pains' (6 February 2026) came out, and so did 'Unfold', the English-language tenth studio album (3 April 2026, ten tracks).

So the only true phrasing is "about a year for a Korean EP". Widen it to "a year since their last release" and it becomes false.

The same goes for the line-up. I.M enlisted on 9 February 2026, and the official membership is still six: Kihyun, Joohoney, Hyungwon, Minhyuk, Shownu and I.M. Only this promotion is a five-member one; the group has not become a five-piece.

Hyungwon Remixed the Group's Own Song

Three days later, on 7 September, a deluxe edition arrived. Seven tracks, 19 minutes 23.

The one added song is 'MAGIC (H.ONE Remix)' (2:31). H.ONE is Hyungwon's DJ alias, and the remix was made with Justin Oh. A member remixing the group's own title track.

Ten Seconds of Nothing but a Sub-Bass Mass

I measured the video audio of the title track 'MAGIC' in 0.25-second windows.

From 0:00 to 0:09.5 there is neither melody nor rhythm. The level sits at −36.7~−26.1dB with 53~90% of the energy in 20~150Hz. 500~3000Hz peaks at 21%, and 6000~11000Hz never exceeds 1.3%. A sub-bass mass drags on for ten seconds.

The song begins at 0:17.95. A signal reading −23.7dB at 0:17.90 jumps to −9.7dB at 0:17.95. Fourteen decibels in fifty milliseconds. In the very next window at 0:18, the low end locks on at 86.7%.

The body that follows (0:33~2:51.5) has a median of −7.9dB with the 10th-to-90th percentile at −13.9~−5.9dB. Eighty percent of that stretch is trapped inside an 8dB window.

It Punches Through the Wall Four Times

There are four holes in that flat body.

From 1:01 to 1:02 it falls to −16.4dB while 20~150Hz evaporates from 87% to 0.1% and the mids rise to 62%. The same thing happens at 1:18, and this time 6000~11000Hz opens up to 11%. There's a shallower dip to −19.8dB at 2:06.

And 1:36 is the extreme one.

From 1:36.60 to 1:36.85 the level reads −44.0dB, with even the absolute peak in that stretch at −24.6dB. Effectively silence. Yet in the window just before, at 1:36.00, 6000~11000Hz reads 24% — the highest in the whole song — while the low end is at 0.0%. Strip the floor, leave only a noise sweep, and turn everything else off.

Then at 1:37.35~1:37.60 it returns at −5.9dB. 38.1dB in half a second.

Because the whole song is pressed inside 8dB, that 38.1dB reads enormous. That's why it was flattened in the first place.

The Ending, and the 31-Second Difference

After the final hit at 2:51.95 (−7.2dB), it falls to −18dB within a quarter second and −29.8dB by 2:52.20. From 2:53 to 2:56 is reverb tail, and from 2:56.5 to the end it averages −32.7dB — effectively room air.

The video runs 3:08 while the song 'MAGIC' is 2:37. The ten-second sub-bass intro and the eleven-second silent tail account for most of the difference. If you only hear the audio release, neither exists.

Fix the Volume and Leave It

The sample peak is +2.63dB, already over full scale — an over-compressed master. With automatic loudness levelling on, the −44dB stretch at 1:36 gets forced upward and the 38.1dB difference shrinks.

Turn off volume normalisation if you can, set the level once, and listen to the ten seconds from 1:30 to 1:40. That's the most carefully built ten seconds on this record.