Billie Eilish gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single "Ocean Eyes". Eilish has received multiple accolades, including nine Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, two Guinness World Records, three MTV Video Music Awards, three Brit Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Academy Awards.

Billie released her last album in 2024. The goal for HIT ME HARD AND SOFT was making an “album-ass album,” citing Coldplay’s Viva La Vida and Vince Staples’ Big Fish Theory as influences. Those records are also ambitious pop mini-epics where established artists show off their range, but there’s usually an outsider like Brian Eno or SOPHIE to get the musician out of their comfort zone.

Thematically, HMHAS focuses mostly on falling out of love with a narcissist (as documented on “Blue”) and falling in love with a woman for the first time. From this last album, we are gonna explore the single “Chihiro”, an electronic-ballad with funky bass. Eilish recently told Rolling Stone how Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away — and its main character, Chihiro — inspired this song.

Here is my remake, keep reading to learn step by step all the process!

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CHIHIRO SYNTHS

The song is quite minimalist, so there aren't many elements. We only find the drums, a pad, the bass, and the vocals at the beginning.

The first sound is a pad that I have recreated with the following parameters using the Arturia MiniFreak. It is important to note that I have used the Waves OneKnob Pumper to automate the volume with the kick hits and give it that “pumpy” touch of electronic music. Listen to the result here.

Pad - Chihiro

Later, in the higher voice parts, a key sound appears making the voice melody, which I have recreated in this way. Remember that you can download all these presets directly from my patreon to use them in your music!

Keys - Chihiro

Later in the chorus, there begins to be a crescendo of a lead arpeggio, which I have recreated with the TAL-U-NO this time in this way.

Arp - Chihiro

In this same part, I have added 2 more new pads to reinforce the power of the chorus, also with the OneKnob Pumper to give it more electronic vibe. The two sounds have the following presets, listen to them together below.

Chorus pads - Chihiro

In the final chorus, when the female and male voice appear together, I have also put an extra lead arpeggio in lower octaves, listen to it alone, and with the song, do you appreciate it?

Arp bass - Chihiro

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BILLIE EILISH VOCAL PRODUCTION

Billie Eilish has always stood out for her elaborate vocal production, with her own techniques. Billie usually sings whispering at a very low volume and very close to the microphone, to give her that intimate sound that characterizes her. Perhaps the most important thing about the song is good vocal production.

Throughout the song, I have recorded a single vocal track, and in the high parts an additional track with an octave lower, in collaboration with the amazing voice from Devon García (thanks a lot!).

In addition, there are parts with a duplicate track making a lower or higher harmony. First, the effects chain I use on lead vocals is made up of EQ, compressors, DeEsser and Doubler. Additionally, this track has sends to reverbs, delays and shimmer. Listen to the result below.

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Verse vocals - Chihiro

Also in the original song there is a track making a melody of “mmm” “mmm”, listen to it alone here.

Mmm vocals - Chihiro

In the high parts, you can see how there is one more track making a harmony in another key, and later two more harmonies.

High vocals - Chihiro

At the end of the song there is a part where a male voice also appears. I have filtered this voice by removing treble so that it fits better.

Both vocals - Chihiro

Finally, in the choruses I have applied a shimmer and more reverb than normal to give that stereo and more diffuse touch to the voice, which fits with the rise of the instrumental.

Chorus vocals - Chihiro

Maybe I'll do another dedicated article or video talking in more depth about this vocal production, stay tuned!

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CHIHIRO BASS TONE

Probably the most identifying thing about the song is the bass line that leads from beginning to end with a groove and funky sound.

To recreate it I recorded the line with a Höfner viola bass doing palm-mute and hitting hard to give it that aggressive touch. Then I simply used the Waves JJP-Bass plugin to amplify the bass as a DI with the following preset. Listen to it below.

Bass tone - Chihiro

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CHIHIRO GUITAR TONE

Finally, there are a few guitars at the end of the song. You can hear some guitar plucking in the background, which I recreated with a simple Guitar Rig 5 preset with chorus and playing with palm-mute, there are two tracks, each panned to one side, listen to it below!

Guitar tone - Chihiro

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That's all! We put a lot of effort on this song and we are so glad of the result, we hope you liked it!

Remember you can support this work on my patreon and download bonus content!

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