Gave you all my love : Commentary with Kwangjae Jeon

So!YoON! You are listening to So!YoON!'s second full-length commentary album ‘Episode1 : Love’. The track we are going to listen to is ‘Gave you all my love (feat. jibin of Y2K92)’. I would like to invite Kwangjae Jeon, the producer of this song and our producer who outlined ‘Gave you all my love (feat. jibin of Y2K92)’, who has been drifting in the open sea for a long time. Hello, Kwangjae Jeon Kwangjae Jeon Hello. So!YoON! Please simply introduce yourself. Kwangjae Jeon Hello, I'm Kwangjae Jeon. I do electronic music and I do a lot of things. I'm a producer, an engineer, and I design sound. I do everything that I can do with music. In fact, what people might know of my work is currently with Kim Ximya and Omega Sapien worked on it together and Kwangjae Jeon who would have many more works in the future. So!YoON! Additional information of Kwangjae, "As he said, he often mixes everything related to sound, and he has worked mostly with musicians who make more alternative hip-hop-based electronic music such as Omega Sapien and Kim Ximya, and I think he is a very cool musician." Before we officially talk about the track ‘Gave you all my love (feat. jibin of Y2K92)’ with Kwangjae, I think it would be good to briefly go over the history of this track. The beginning of this track goes back a long time. I think it has been over three years or four years? Three to four years? I think it is about that much. DOCSKIM, who I trust so much, joined as a keyboardist, Jaeshin Park who is bassist, drummer John who visited Korea for a short time, happened to jam at a club and I just recorded the jam without any intention of doing anything. I recorded it and while the file is still there, it is a theme melody of this track. ‘Gave you all my love’ was the only melody theme that existed, but I just wanted to build this track properly, so I thought about it for a long time. Sometimes, I just leave the music on and stares at it and think What should I do with this? In that state, it has been a year to two years or three years, and one day, I should leave this track to an electronic musician. I thought I should throw this material to someone who doesn't understand the composition of the band. Anyways, it's really long. So, I am curious how you felt when you first received this track. How did you feel? Kwangjae Jeon That's right. I might have heard it early last year. I think I listened to it around the beginning of 2022, and So!YoON! played a lot of songs. When I first heard the initial version of ‘Gave you all my love (feat. Jibin of Y2K92)’, I thought it would be fun for me to work on it. Because at the time, I was thinking that I wanted to work on such as band stems and make them into my style, so I asked for it after I heard it. That's what happened. So!YoON! So, I think it would have been the first time for Kwangjae to work on a completely analog source, not with a digital source. I remember that it was your first time working on a track with no clicks and no exact tempo. As the work progressed, I thought it was very effective. I was shocked when Kwangjae made this track and sent it to me. Now I'm telling you again, how could he make this? It was not just admiration. It is kind a like, it is not the bass that I know and it is not the drum that I know, but if I say it like this, people might think, how did he or she make it? To put it simply, it is some kind of like a mess? The space. Kwangjae Jeon That is s right. I'm curious about how So!YoON! had listened to it for the first time, because in my stance, it was processed pretty normally. I mean, I was joking around with the whole track, but I didn't mean to make it into a mess. Of course, now she answered with a good feeling, but as So!YoON! said, “You have made a mess.”, “I am going to kill you.” She kept answering it in the same way. But, in my point of view, I really normally did it. So!YoON! Oh, maybe the word mess was not a compliment! I see. Anyways, of course, this ‘Gave you all my love (feat. jibin of Y2K92)’ went through various versions and processes, like you used a modular for the guitar at that time, or setting up a drum’s saturation, I put a lot of material and gave them to you, and I felt like they were cooked in their own way. I wonder if there is anything you want to do or remember in the process. Kwangjae Jeon There were a lot of things that I did it for the first time. And when I asked for it, I thought there was definitely a bpm. Of course, I thought there was a metronome, but when I got it, I thought it was seven minutes and eight track stems, so I remember looking for bpm for ten minutes. 'I must be doing it wrong. I am probably doing something wrong.' But in the end, when I looked it up, there was no bpm and it was a jam track without a metronome, so I thought a lot about what to do with it. Since it’s eight-minute long. I wanted to cut it down, I really edit it measuring by every 0.001 seconds. And also, to match the arrangement, I adjusted the length of So!YoON!'s demo vocals, cutting and extending them as needed during the work process. So!YoON! Yes. I also can remember through this conversation. Kwangjae Jeon Yes, that is right. That is how I remember it. And then I want to put an instrument, but since I am really used to work on Ableton Live and matching bpm, I felt a lot of pressure about not having bpm. When I ask question to myself, what instrument should I put on? I wanted to add something on top of it, so I thought about it and I know it’s too deep, but there is a function called Envelop Follower. To put it simply, when the audio file comes in, it changes the volume. It is to change the volume, but I changed the hi-hat of the drum that So!YoON! brought and put it to the modulator to create a percussion. It is the intro's ‘Baam Baam Baam Baam Baam’. That is the high-hat rhythm. I was able to work on things like that I do not normally work on. So!YoON! It felt like some kind of like science experiment. Kwangjae Jeon Yes. Me too. So!YoON! And to include more. Why do you think that jam track is a jam track. It is a jam track with a sense of realism and all the instruments that affect each other. In other words, the bass has drums and the guitar has vocals. I think that is why it is a perfect circumstance setting for us to mix. Because usually, when the electronic instruments are added to band music it is the electronic instruments and the drums playing in realistic way. In a way, I think it is a kind of flat way, but the fact that you added a modular to the session, which is a realistic mess, I think the animal parts that I am trying to talk about in this track came to life. I do not know how to express about Kwangjae Jeon, but out of all the workers, he has the most sense of balance I have ever worked on. He is very diligent, and he is very animalistic. So, when we meet and talk, they know so well about music and there is always no technical obstacle. I always call him magician. Anyways, I thought he was a real wizard. Still, I think we met at least 20 times last year and kept working on it. Kwangjae Jeon Yes. That is right. So!YoON! And every time, I was like, what is this person? What does this guy have? I think it was a character that I have never encountered before. Would it rather to be okay to be this progressive? Is there a character that you are pursuing or have in mind? Kwangjae Jeon I do not think I have a particular character. I try to change my habits depending on the people I work on. For example, when I work with other electronic music artists, I try to do nerd talk, or for example, if I work with singers, I try to draw out their energy as much as possible. Through the process, I tell So!YoON!, ‘I can do this, too.’ ‘I can do this, too.’ ‘I can do this, too.’ If I show it like this way, it is fun and I try to put in as much energy as possible. I think my personality itself was like, let me make this person happy at this time. That is why I was able to reflect that. So!YoON! I think it is a really good virtue for working together. There is a certain flexibility, but I think there is always a part where I don't miss my character. Personally, ‘Gave you all my love (feat. jibin of Y2K92)’ is my favorite song. Maybe it is because it is my style. I really like soul music. But the reason I am especially hooked on it is because when I first go and see drum sound, this breakage and this powerful drum cannot help but touch my heart. The body has no choice but to react. However, if it was not with Kwangjae Jeon, I have no doubt that it would have been like a studio album or a jam track with ordinary performers. Kwangjae Jeon The part that I was hooked on is really catchy for me, too, but when the intro is ‘DDA DADA DADA’ and the drum sound explodes, it feels good, and afterwards, everyone cheers after the jam is over. I think those two parts are like that. But I think I am really attached to those two parts. I was really free, but I started and ended with the image that all the songs were free because of those two, so I felt really good. So!YoON! On the other hand, for me, I had two points. The point, when the moog bass came out Kwangjae Jeon Yes. Yes. So!YoON! It is like you did not want to miss that part either. How should I say this? It is some kind of worker’s kick? Kwangjae Jeon Just like my signature sound, I would never take it out. So!YoON! That's right. That's right. When we mixed it, we focused on that part. I think that is why I asked you to raise it. And as the other part is changed, in the latter part, the drum rhythm goes away and a different voice comes out. But I think the dynamic was made because of Kwangjae Jeon, so the latter part was mostly effects, and the jamming drum was literally on fire. I think the latter part was more impactful and at first, the vocal did not go up and only Kwangjae Jeon made the dynamics in the second half. But I thought I needed a new person here. It was not a regular R&B style singer, but a new existence that does not exist. I remember talking to Kwangjae about how jibin would fit in, but it was much later. In hindsight, I think I was right. It was a sudden proposal, and I mentioned how it would be if jibin joined us here. I'm curious how you felt about it at that time. Kwangjae Jeon Perhaps you didn't ask about it first, you probably showed it to me with the vocal stem and asked how is it? So!YoON! It was my imagination. Kwangjae Jeon it was distortion. When you asked with the vocal stem, jibin had two parts, right? There was rap and chorus, and the rap was really good, and I regret not using it properly. After this song ends, what comes to mind is that for the chorus part, it was my first time hearing something great like this from jibin’s chorus regarding the music from Y2K92. So!YoON! When I listened to Y2K92's music, there were a lot of styles that were tight rap or did not have real melody, but I think the profound and mysterious chorus stood out in this track. Kwangjae Jeon Should I say it is a hip hop styled chorus? When you listen to Biggie Smalls and some kind of songs related, it feels like the beat is based with somethings So!YoON! makes you want to sample it. Kwangjae Jeon I liked it because the sound was very low. So!YoON! That is right. I think it was really fun because there was a part where we struggled and jibin completed the second half of the song. Furthermore, when you first heard this track, you think of it as a tough and low R&B soul, but in a good sense, the vocals suddenly appeared which made me to think that it is not even a singer, but a random voice? Plus, I think it was good that it could give you a sense of difference. Actually, we started with ‘Gave you all my love (feat. jibin of Y2K92)’, but we have been working on projects continuously. Kwangjae Jeon Yes. Indeed. So!YoON! This might sound like a spolier from this commentary album, but we have been working on other tracks since two to three years ago, and we are continuously exchanging feedback in progressively. With this commentary album as an excuse, I am going to leave you a spoiler that I am working on another album with Kwangjae Jeon. Kwangjae Jeon This track contains my small jokes, but if the next one completes and comes out with great work, I would like to put a lot of my sincere jokes. So!YoON! That's correct. We cooked this track, but it's just that we added a lot of seasoning. Now, for the next album, we've put our heart into it and fine-tuned it. Kwangjae Jeon I truly knifed it. So!YoON! We might have added more technical elements to ‘Gave you all my love (feat. jibin of Y2K92)’, which contains the touch of Kwangjae Jeon, even though we didn't use a lot of cutting but seasoning. There may have been intentions behind certain parts that we considered important during the mixing process. Are there any other areas like this that you would like to point out or provide feedback on? Kwangjae Jeon I feel like I wasn't able to capture as much as I had thought, but what I considered to be really important was the sampling. This song is a track that contains energy of the performers. For example, there is a coat I really like and there is a guy named Tricky who used to be a guest vocalist for Massive Attack. He was probably in the magazine in the nineties. He said that he samples a lot and that he said something about it. He tries not to cut the noise of the sampling. Because the noise comes out differently every moment. Depending on how long this vinyl has been around how much dust there is. But he thinks that is the air that the sample has. Sampling artists need to be responsible for using it. That phrase was deeply embedded and when I worked on ‘Gave you all my love (feat. jibin of Y2K92)’ at the time, I think I tried to stand out that part. How to put these energies into the right place So!YoON! And for real, Kwangjae Jeon is really good at sampling. If I send you the ingredients, you just cut it well and used it well to write the things that you want to write and even making a melody, making a section, and reinterpreting it. Kwangjae Jeon You can touch it freely and I think it is the funny point to touch Daw. Like playing audio clips, I just put it to the beat like in a game, but when the concept of single bar is applied, it sounds like music. And if you tie them up in big units, it really makes sense, but it's a strange thing. I don't think a person would have played it, but the things that sound like a person playing it came to me very attractive. So!YoON! When it comes to creating that coincidence, I have that basic knowledge? So, how naturally you can handle those tools like your own tools. I think that is a very important part of creating coincidences. But it is just that Kwangjae is not a person who relies on coincidence but sufficiently knows how to deal with equipment and tools that made him to be wizard. Because of this coincidence, maybe it was possible for him to function somethings. Kwangjae Jeon This is a digression and I remember saying this before. I do gamble every single moment. But in the end, I think I can manipulate the probability as long as I set the range. So, I tend to have pleasure when I encounter coincidences in music. So!YoON! Anyways, not only ‘Gave you all my love (feat. jibin of Y2K92)’, but also ‘Episode2’ of So!YoON!, or ‘3’, seeing in the future, do you have any expectations for the albums you will be working on with So!YoON! in the future? As you mentioned earlier, not only with soulful cutting, but also with some presence in the domestic music scene, and considering that Kwangjae Jeon is not very active producing albums, are there any expectations in that regard? Kwangjae Jeon In fact, you believe in me and give me all the authority in our project, which creates expectations. So!YoON! has abilities that I don't have, and I have the authority to do whatever I want with those abilities. So regardless of the expectations for the next projects, I will focus on the projects I will work on with So!YoON!, and if we end up releasing a new project, I hope it will be a pop song. However, even within the pop genre, there are soft pop and easy pop, as well as more challenging pop. I want to try and see how far we can push ourselves, and I believe we can achieve it. That's the expectations I have for our project. So!YoON! I think pop is right, but I think it will be the more of radical thing. Anyways, along with So!YoON!'s future album, we talked about ‘Gave you all my love (feat. jibin of Y2K92)’ with Kwangjae. This place is a bit unfamiliar to you and I think it would be the first time to record a story about music. Thank you for saying it so well. Kwangjae Jeon Thank you. First of all, I think it is good to leave what I think of at age of twenty-nine years old. Then after ten years from now, we can approach it again somehow. My way of speaking and thinking will change, but I think it would be good to come back to this moment after ten years and listen to it. So!YoON! I feel the same way. There is something about this album in terms of records, but I hope it is a meaningful record at this point. We have talked about the track ‘Gave you all my love (feat. jibin of Y2K92)’. Then I will move on to the next track. It was so grateful to meet you. Kwangjae Jeon Thank you. Bye. So!YoON! Bye.