daechwita was a objectively cultural reset but why— a long & technical thread;
#HAPPYSUGADAY

as always a little disclaimer we begin is necessary to let it be known this thread is based on my own interpretation, experience in music production and understanding. yoongi himself has talked on making process on d-2 vlive & my thread aims to expand on the technical details

but before we fully go in on the techniques n tools used in production, let’s take it from the top cus daecwhita has such an important element that might be foreign to most as well as the most interesting at first listen; gugak. that’s korean traditional music

i know everyone is by now familiar with the meaning of daechwita and its practice in korean history BUT the instruments might still be unfamiliar to most so i made a little graphic to explain them and give u a little glossary for when i use their names in my thread

daechwita starts with the signature sound of traditional daechwita; loud & piercing sound of taepyeongso and barrel drums that point the rhythm, but differently it’s interlaced with the conductor’s voice that order the strike of the jing once and begin daecwhita. then jing hits!

it’s a very clever intro already,, the signal (jing) that normally calls for the beginning of the music is not to cue the gugak here but the start of agust d’s daechwita. this is followed by a tape rewind sound— as if to say “let me take u back to the beginning of the story”

that’s what makes min yoongi an amazing storyteller. when the song begins with a 8-bar intro which is basically the intro of instruments & beat (consists of a distorted synths & jing as the bass note) until we fall into a false sense of security before suddenly it ALL escalates

our only warning is the sampling of kwaenggwari, which is originally not used in daecwhita at all but added in here to amp up the BUILD of that energy and anticipation before the song basically punches with the hook. and wow does it has the full blow; dry 808s drums trap beat+

very fast closed hi-hats, sharp taepyeongso which is an instrument traditional musicians even call “inflammatory”, somewhat unpolished in the way it cannot be ‘tamed’ bc of its wild tone & rough pitch and behind it all the constant jing notations. IT HAS THE FULL IMPACT

but to top it off, even the way yoongi enunciates “daechwita” aims for a full impact. translated directly dae(grand) chwita (blow & hit), chwita is pronounced together rather than the stress he puts into daeCHwi-Ta, -ch and -t being plosive sounds works in that explosive effect

putting such great care into lil details like this tells how much yoongi knows what he’s doing, playing with even vocal sounds to match the full effect of that powerful hook. another example to that is the ADLIBS in this song. they’re placed so far in the back + a lot of reverb

these little adlibs of yoongi are scattered all over the song with that gorgeous full stereo width. allow me to elaborate on that. space is a very important component to create separation between instruments, vocals, balance AND create sense of sounds being natural, ‘live’+

it’s how we normally perceive sounds in real life; left, right, centre, away, close. using rich reverb & delay, auto-panning (the spot of sound), EQ ( by rolling off the highs of frequencies you can make the sound farther away) yoongi’s adlibs sound FAAR away in a very wide space

even the percussion of a cymbal after his adlibs at 0:54, lower in frequency, has the reverb & delay. the wide space makes us feel SURROUNDED & hugged by all these sounds. we feel high-strung, restless w the deep growling sound of sub bass played all throughout the song, but why?

yoongi becomes the higher being in this song. daechwita has only one chord; c#m. it’s being repeated again and again, with the deep bass sound that keeps us on edge as yoongi plays with the beat with his cadence, flow, delivery with echoing adlibs all around us as the main stars

he makes every verse fun with the way the tone, texture, SPACE of his voice changes with the lyrics. daechwita becomes his literal march as a king, a statement to show how well versed he is at rapping, production and understanding of music (gugak being his inspiration)

he is someone to study closely when it comes to how he uses his voice even for the chorus.the sub bass (20-60hz) that play throughout the song without a pause is basically a very deep,low sound that’s associated with being “uneasy” or on edge. in the chorus part this is followed+

by another unsettling distortion. an instrument( my guess being jeopiri) is distorted with ambient sounds to sound off-pitch to further unsettle and make us feel almost ‘small’. but the hitting strike comes when yoongi uses his OWN voice to mimic the same effect

the beat builds up w a snare roll (notice how he combines modern sounds & trap beat w traditional components)for that bigger drop before yoongi sings daechwita for chorus but this time?? besides layering of his voice for a bigger harmony,he drags the last syllable in daecwhita

let’s make this clear; not everyone can pull of autotuning. it has the tendency to sound cheesy w most but yoongi knows his way around it, incorporates his BEAUTIFULLY into his work often & this time he uses it to modulate his throat length for a monotone, instrument-like sound

in fact at first listen most mistake his voice for an instrument with the way his voice is layered, held in one pitch very much like the traditional instruments of daechwita!! and it’s prolonged to nail the hook of the song into heads and sign along

besides one chord only for the entire song, he makes it a point to prove his ability to make the audience enjoy every sec of a song with only his voice, rap & performance when the jing announces the beginning of another verse and it’s only the trap beat, bass and the jing left

the jing is brought to the front using stereo image and panning instead of all the way back like it was throughout the song and the gongs vibrate with each bar. it’s hypnotising; constant, round & full. his voice is also switched to a comfortable whisper “there’s nowhere higher”

and it’s exactly THAT. whether it’s production techniques, tools, mixing, his voice n lyrics, yoongi is elevated above us in a broad, endless space until the message is clear; “i’m at the top, i’m the king”. it’s quite frankly mind-boggling how much intricately yoongi used every+

choice from sampling,his rap to instruments, mixing & production as well as the mv’s creative direction that it leaves no space of doubt in my mind that he’s a genius in every sense of that word. daechwita is a piece of art to be viewed with a new light at each listen