45dB in 0.8 Seconds — Where One Song Turns Into the Next

Choi On came to the playground. Two guitars — the singer plays acoustic and sings, with an electric played alongside.

The first song is called 'Ayajin Sea'. Ayajin is a beach in Goseong, Gangwon Province.

3:33.9, and 45dB in 0.8 Seconds

I measured the points where one song turns into the next at 0.05-second resolution.

At 3:33.90 it reads −53.7dB. That's the floor after the first song ends.
At 3:34.70 it reads −8.5dB. 45.2dB in eight tenths of a second.

The same thing happens at 11:49.25. From −49.4dB to −9.3dB at 11:50.40 — 40.1dB in 1.15 seconds. Then at 11:52.10 it falls again to −44.7dB and is back at −14.6dB 0.45 seconds later.

Songs aren't joined with a fade. They stop, fall all the way to the floor, and come back in one step.

It's Called 'Take a beat', and It Has the Fewest Beats

Across all 15 minutes 52, the 20~150Hz band exceeds 30% of the total for only 0.9% of the runtime. The band medians are 4.9% for 20~150Hz, 37.5% for 500~3000Hz and 12.5% for 6000~11000Hz.

With no bass and no drums, the low figure is expected — what stands out is the 37.5% in the mids. That's the band where the voice and the body of a guitar live. The thinner the accompaniment, the more room the voice takes. This set uses almost all of it.

And the second song is titled 'Take a beat', yet the first point where the low end really enters is 10:37 — and even that is a quiet −16.5dB. From 3:34, where the second song begins, more than seven minutes pass without the floor arriving once.

Where the Songs Turn Over

'Ayajin Sea' starts at 0:01, 'Take a beat' at 3:34, 'To Find You' at 8:19 and 'Night Star' at 12:23.

Between them sit empty stretches of 4.8 seconds (3:29.75), 4.2 seconds (11:45.25) and 3.2 seconds (12:20.25). Those are the places where 45dB rises and falls on either side.

In a Quiet Room, on Earphones

When there's no low end, a noisy place takes it away first. Play this on a subway or in a café and you'll barely hear the set. Only the mids survive, and ambient noise lives in exactly that band.

A new song has arrived at the playground today. Listen in a quiet room on earphones. That 0.8 seconds at 3:33.9 only exists there. Meet it with the volume already up and it's quite a surprise.