The Beautiful Nightmare of Coming Down From a High is something only a rare minority of people can say they have experienced. Only those of us with turbulence in our lives who can revel in the calm waters of everyday life. Despite turbulence in my upbringing I can now proudly say I live a mostly normal life. I’ve been working my ass off to live a chaotic life in different respects. Life can be extraordinary, fun, and exactly how you want it if you work hard enough.(According to every self help book haha). For me, music is a part of that dream a surreal thing that can make an everyday experience feel magical.
Have you ever had a song mirror not only your emotions, but your whole life?
High by The Chainsmokers was one of those songs that brought a colourful palette with its words and soundscape. Partly because it brings me back to several chapters in my life that I really cherish. When the soundwaves hit my ears the dying embers of memories I thought were long gone crash together like water particles of a large wave. The memories of my family and my own personal struggles understanding emotions bubble to the back of my mind.
Emotions in a Sound
You Only Say You Love me When You’re High
High The Chainsmokers
Usually I’m out of touch with my feelings. But when I listen to this song, everything clicks and feels alright. I rarely feel at peace with my place, purpose, and spot in the universe. This leads to chasing something, what I’m looking for I don’t know, but I continue to seek it. On this journey to discovery I found I quite enjoy eating an edible every now and then. When I went back to the Seattle after living in Japan I made the mistake of eating an edible right before bed.
High as a kite I thought of who I was, where I came from, and where I belonged. While trying to sleep I heard something that was bothering me as I tried to drift off to the void. That voice that kept me from going to bed was my mom at almost 01:00 in the morning. Went I went to investigate, I found her praying with my Grandma. When I realize how much my grandma, mom, and I had all changed I broke down crying.
Why was I crying? It was a mix of sadness, joy, and love.
“I LOVE YOU” I didn’t just say it at that moment, but I felt it. Why did I have to be high to say that with feeling with emotion?
I Miss The Chaos
It’s Like We Go Through the Same Shit Every Night
High The Chainsmokers
My dad has had his own battles with addiction, drug use, and connecting with his emotions. Perhaps that’s why there was always turbulence in our house growing up. Those who have had a family who has struggled with substance abuse will know of the inconsistencies that come along with it. All the missed appointments, disappearances, and mood swings that lead to an unpredictable experience. There would be nights where I’d wait on the stairs or sit by the phone waiting on to hear the phone ring. One time my mom was even crazy enough to pack the kids in the car and go out looking for him.
A lot of time shifting between caregivers aunts, uncles, my older half sister when he was the most inconsistent. It was pretty chaotic, but I still miss those times. This wild period of my life when my parents still argued daily I hold dear in my life. That’s what love does, my mom loved my dad and us so much that she made it work. And it was good for awhile, some of the lyrics about drug-affected relationships make me think of my own Dad.
Praying for Change
You Always Swear That It’s Gonna Change But It Never Does
High The Chainsmokers
Things almost never changed with my dad, he’s almost the same now as he was ten to twenty years ago. While that makes me sad, the bittersweet sting of this song is more a message to myself.
I promised myself I would live an extraordinary life when I moved to Japan. While I’ve had great memories the gap between where I am and my potential always bothers me. It seems that every area I continuously apply myself to I end up short. I’ve been working on the whole art and music thing seriously in some way shape or form for over ten years now. There was also a period of my life where I really wanted to be an eSports personality, but that never really happened either.
I always tell myself that I’ll improve and things will change but they never do.
Making a Remix Start the Zen Way
The first step of making a remix is to listen to music. Listen to music while working, working out, while walking or while doing nothing else. When you find a song that really strikes a chord with you put that song on loop and listen to it over and over again.
Side Tangent about being old. When the IPOD first launched you had to download and buy songs to listen to them so I remember early on when I only had a couple songs from old CDs or from the store you got to really listen to them.
When I decided I wanted to remix High, I put the song on loop and I’ve probably listened to it over three hundred times.
Be Mindful About Listening
I realized what I loved about the song after really listening to it. The lyrics were moving, the guitars made me think of my time playing guitar, it had the nostalgic feel of Closer. The original drop of the song twas a little softer then the EDM I liked. When I remixed it I would give it a MitiS, Seven Lions, Illenium sort of vibe.
In the DAW
The next step to making a remix is to choose a Digital Audio Workstation or DAW. My chosen software is FL Studio so after using a Vocal Splitter AI tool called Ultimate Vocal Remover to split the vocals and instrumental tracks I started building the remix.
Guitars
Guitar 1
The original songs Guitar was a little to raw for my tastes. I didn’t like the pitch range it sat in so I increased it by an octave. After it was sitting an octave up it gave me an early 2000s alternative vibe similar to The Killers Mr.Brightside. To add Some Variation I panned the guitar to opposite ears each bar and added FL Studio’s new Hyper Chorus plugin.
The This Track is only active during the break’s of the Song
Guitar 2
Because Electronic music likes to use almost all of the entire audible spectrum of sound I wanted to add an element that sounded more ethereal and magical. I took the Mid guitar sound above and increased it by another 12 semitones it created this magical sparkle sound that sounded almost nothing like a guitar.
This second guitar has some effects stacked on it to help boost that ethereal magic tone and signature. I also automated the panning to keep that musical interest and variation.
Here’s what that sounds like.
Guitar 3
I threw a little bit of the original instrumental back into the mix, but very faintly as I didn’t want to overpower my additions to the song. All together the mix is sounding a lot more full and magical than before.
Bringing the Bass
After I cleared the lower frequencies cleared out of the original mix, I added a stab bass to give it an electronic sound. The bass I used was part of a MitiS sylenth pack he released a long time a go.
The bass effects and automation are built into the Sylenth and the DAW. I added a gross beat to emphasize the stab sound, an EQ to build tension before the drop, and finally a peak controller. A peak controller allows you to use EQ sidechaining on clashing sounds.
Here’s what the bass sounds like.
Time to Add Vocals
Now that we have our base instrumental. It was time to add the vocals. I’m reading a book called The Creative Act a Way of Being by Rick Rubin. He said that sometimes it good to pretend as if you were singing to someone other then what the lyrics may suggest. Instead of signing to a Lover, I pretended I was singing to my father. As the themes of love affected by drug use hit home for me in this way.
I’m not a strong vocalist so I required multiple takes, a lot of effects, and autotune to get it right. Right before the drop I went for a punk scream radio sound. At some parts throughout the song I take my AutoTune plugin and pitched it down by 12 semitones to get a dark robotic sound.
AI Era
People are still hesitant and apprehensive to use AI I’m one of them when it comes to art, but I used AI in this song. AI has come a long way in various areas of life and I’ve started to adapt various tools here and there. I’m sure it won’t be long before I have an AI girlfriend, which is sad, but it beats dying single.
The ability to replicate a person’s speech, image, and personality are scarily within grasp. They have made a great Black Mirror episode which warns about the implementations of these technologies. Due to a lack of confidence in my own vocals I used an AI tool called RVC to change the vocals into Selena Gomez’s and I had a duet on my hands.
Drop
Duh Duh DUh Drop the BASS
The BASS is actually a combination of three Basses. It made sense to pan the original stab bass to one side when I added the other two basses. Because I panned the original stab bass to the left I panned a new DnB saw bass to the right. Because the future bass sound I was going for used the mid frequencies a lot I wanted to add some variation. The variation happened with both midi note arpeggios as well as automating the pitchbend in sylenth.
The big fatty bass is a square bass with a little bit of triangle wave to soften the sound and round it out a bit. I got this sound idea from a Marshmello Tutorial I followed a long time ago.
Adding Harmonies
I used to think making cool sounds was all about plugins, but even with stock FL Studio Plugins you can make some amazing soundscapes. I have no idea what the chords are, but I just added layers to the original 3xOSC sound until it sounded good. The sounds are a combination of SuperSaws that have different signatures. To get that FutureBass stutter sound I used a Grossbeat and lfo pannings.
Like Avicii I added some note melodies and variations throughout the chords to give it some extra emotional impact.
Drop Drums
Sometimes simple answers are the best answers. I had this loop from a free cymantics sample pack and I thought it sounded good enough to live in the mix with little to no attention so I just used it.
Flavor
This is the part that’s personal. Add sounds that you think are interesting. For me this meant adding vocal chops, reverse woosh sounds, and recording things and playing them backwards. I put them low in the mix so it’s hardly noticeable at a conscious level, but the subconscious part of the brain will understand them.
Final Full Song
Finally this is the full song
In the intricate dance between melody and memory, music has the power to evoke our deepest emotions, reminding us of forgotten moments and bridging our past and present. Through the process of remixing “High” by The Chainsmokers, I was able to journey through my personal history, licking my past wounds and celebrating the beauty of cherished memories. This remix stands as a testament to the therapeutic and transformative power of music. It’s not just a song; it’s a chapter of my story, reborn and resonating in every beat.
