Songwriting Notes: Hypernormalization (Part 1 of 2)

Change is inevitable.

But how do we measure change?

On a larger scale, it's easy to gauge: First, a plate is full of food. Later, it isn't. Over time the plate is cleared. But when does it go from 'full' to 'empty'? When is the exact moment that it happens? When someone starts eating? When they've finished? When the plate is less than 50% covered with food? When the plate is literally emtpy?

In other words: How do we measure small changes?

Very poorly.

Regardless of your age, think of your favourite treat, like a Mars bar or whatever. How much has the price changed in your lifetime? How many times did it rise before you stopped counting? How many times did it rise before you stopped caring? And a far better question: How many times did it rise BECAUSE you stopped caring?

Well, we have no way to know that, because it's a very complex question, but it's an interesting one.

If you're a smoker over 35 years of age, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.

If you're a Left4Dead fan, you get this joke.
If not, don't worry - it's not that funny.

It brings to mind the thought experiment of Grandfather's Axe, which is NOT a paradox no matter how many different websites say it is.

Let's say your grandfather gives you an axe, because that's totally an appropriate gift for a grandchild.

Over time, the handle wears away, and you have to replace it.

The head is the original, but the handle is not.

Is it still your grandfather's axe?

What if the head is replaced? Then the axe contains no original parts at all.

Can it still be considered your grandfather's axe?

Thanks, Pop - just what I always wanted!

The reason that the thought experiment DOESN'T WORK, that nobody seems to mention, is that it ceased to be your grandfather's axe the MOMENT HE GAVE IT TO YOU.

All versions of it are YOUR axe.

Obviously, I am being a pedantic sophist.

But does that make me wrong?

And it is in the spirit of this that I state unequivocally that society is demonstrably evil, because the best versions of us have all been hypernormalised into being, at least partly, selfish version of ourselves. And it's getting worse. We're watching it get worse.

Or are people going to suddenly stop lying and making excuses about making money doing bullshit that they know is wrong?

I have been trying to figure out how to put that into words for years.

I thought I'd feel better once I did.

I don't.

So I wrote a song about it.

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This song is BY FAR the most difficult thing I've ever laid down. Not the most frustrating, and not the most intricate, but definitely the most difficult.

See, this is where I started mixing my work differently with a new streamlined process. And thank Lemmy that I did, because otherwise I would probably STILL be going.

Here is how the process manifested itself on this song:

- write the song in FL Studio
- record the guitar parts for the acoustic version
- record the guitar parts for the electric version
- mixdown the acoustic version
- mixdown electric version
- crossfade both versions (i.e. fade the acoustic version out while the electric version fades in)

That's pretty complex, but that's not where the issue was.

For some reason I will never understand, the mixdowns are not indicative of their actual quality. So, you can add:

- listen to each and every single mixdown at least once, and make the necessary changes, then listen again.

Which is fine, because that's fun and doesn't get old super quick /sarcasm. Anyway, that means we need to add:

- mix every version until it's perfect, so that the crossfade works.

Now, there was an issue with both versions, where everything was perfect except the hihats were too loud.

By this point, I'd been doing the song and little else for 2 weeks, so I took a break because hypernormalisation itself is actually a very real issue when it comes to sound engineering. In other words, you get used to hearing the bad mix, so when you get the mix RIGHT, it sounds WRONG.

So, you need to add in:

- take a break for a week or so

But then when you get back, you're still in the exact same boat. But at least you can hear it with fresh ears. So, that brings us to:

- remix the hihats

Oh and look, now that's thrown all the frequencies out of whack, and you have to remix everything all over again, from scratch. Which eventually brings us back around to:

- remix the hihats again

DAMMIT I JUST DID THAT. Which brings us to:

- remix the whole thing again.

Look, I'm about a third of the way through this process. By now, it would have taken you longer to read about the song than to just listen to it. So I'll shorten the rest of the piece by summarising.

JUST PICK THE DAMN THING UP!
JUST RECORD THE DAMN SONG!
Meh.

- spend about 3 days on one bloody single instrument (the hihats)
- THEN DO ALL OF THAT ALL OVER AGAIN FOR THE ELECTRIC VERSION
- Then you have to worry about vocals, writing and recording
- Then you have to nearly get booted from your distributor for using the line 'All Too Easy' because some movie used it literally decades ago, even though the phrase doesn't contain trademarked words, isn't the damn song title (or even in the chorus at all) and you only use it once 
- remove the sample "Expect something fiercer, more cruel and deadly than anything that ever walked the earth" from the end, because that's actually fair enough because it's a literal audio sample lifted from the film, TARANTULA! which is still in copyright.
- ask if you can just say the line "Expect something fiercer, more cruel and deadly than anything that ever walked the earth" and be basically laughed at by your distributor. Because 'ya basic', I guess.
- write to both studios asking permission to use 'their' lines.
- wonder what happened to the 'making music' part of being a musician.
- realise that the studios won't reply to you because you're just some little pissant hobbyist musician.
- replace the line 'All Too Easy' with you saying "Cool, man - real cool"
- replace the TARANTULA! line with you saying 'Expect nothing' and stretch the sample out without appropriate defaults so it sounds 'interesting', and also fills up the same amount of space.
- realise it's well past the date you wanted to release it, and decide that nobody really cares anyway, and that all you wanted was proof you could produce the song at all.
- set it to launch on Jan 26th, thereby turning Jan 26th from 'a day you hate', into 'a day you can celebrate'. Everyone else can celebrate their lame thing, and you can celebrate your lame thing. Everybody wins!
- type up a whole long bunch of notes that very few people are ever going to read, because you're COMMITTED TO THIS THING NOW (tm)

In closing, the next song I release will be one acoustic guitar track, one vocal track, and MAYBE some harmonies and a lead break. MAYBE.

I think I've earnt that much.