American-Korean DJ, producer, and hardware wizard Juheun is back on Christian Smith’s Tronic Recordings with Exhale. A two-track blast of high-tension, sci-fi techno built for dark rooms and late hours.
A staple of Phoenix’s underground and co-owner of Circuit Arizona, Juheun has carved out his lane with futuristic aesthetics, razor-precise production, and a deep love of machines that sound like they’re breathing.
Exhale lands as his first Tronic release since 2024’s Gods House, pairing his hypnotic title track with a heavyweight remix of Let’s Dance from techno titan Frank Biazzi. It’s a release powered by momentum, arpeggiated tension, and that signature Juheun blend of hardware grit and emotional release.
Now, in true FM fashion, Juheun crushes a Quick Fire 5 — talking dance-floor philosophy, Biazzi’s remix alchemy, pressure-cooker vocal takes, the gear that shaped the EP, and the one feeling he wants hitting ravers in the chest when Exhale drops.
Whenever I drop this track in my sets I see people closing their eyes and singing along with the vocal and getting lost in the moment.
What was the spark that triggered Exhale?
To be completely honest, lately I’ve been coming across more and more videos on social media where the dance floor is full of people all holding their phones up and filming instead of dancing. This seems to be more common than not these days. When I made Exhale it was my way of reminding everyone we are on the dance floor to lose ourselves…“Take a breath… let it go”!
How did Frank Biazzi’s remix of Let’s Dance flip your original vision?
I’ve always been a huge fan of Frank’s tracks. They always have lots of energy and driving force behind them. That’s exactly what he did with Lets Dance. He was able to keep the integrity of the original vocal and vibes of the track without compromising his style, which sometimes can get a bit dicey with remixes. He smashed this remix and I couldn’t be happier with it.
Which moment in Exhale hits hardest on a packed dance floor?
It’s not about the biggest drop in this track that gets the biggest reaction. It’s actually the moment of release during the breakdown that seems to really get the dance floor locked in. The energy that surrounds and builds up to the breakdown is what makes it so impactful. The breakdown strips away all that energy and lets the listener collect themselves for a brief moment, like a chance to release all that energy. Whenever I drop this track in my sets I see people closing their eyes and singing along with the vocal and getting lost in the moment.
What piece of gear was essential in shaping the EP’s sound?
I’m a huge fan of using arpeggiators in my productions and for Exhale I used two different arps for the main lead soft synths. For the main arpy lead synth that runs throughout the entire song I used a max for live plugin called “Aicd” by a guy named Mganss. It’s controlling one of my favorite soft synths called Diva. The arp plugin is an acid pattern MIDI generator Max for Live device based on a maximum likelihood n-gram model. I love this plugin because it has an auto pattern generator that literally creates patterns with just a click of the mouse. It’s great for generating patterns that are really just outside of the box compared to creating them manually using midi in the note editor in Ableton or your DAW. It’s also a really great tool when your having writers block or just need something to spark some new ideas when your in a rut.
The second arpeggiator I’m using for the synth in the breakdowns is the stock Ableton Live Arpeggiator MIDI effect. It’s super straight forward but has so much power behind it. I have it controlling another Diva synth that has the same MIDI pattern that I extracted from the main synth mentioned above, but this time I’m using the stock Ableton arp to automate the “Gate” knob on the device to tighten and loosen the MIDI notes over time to create a bit of movement within the MIDI note pattern throughout the breakdown to help create some tension as its playing.
Aside from the vocal, the arpeggiated main lead synths give this track its identity. They really give the track its momentum that keeps the energy high and really compliments the vocal. Without them I don’t think the vocal would have the same impact on its own.
If listeners take one feeling away from Exhale, what should it be?
A feeling of release…
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