just re-mastered this. backed off the 'as per genre' high compression a bit to give it a tad more air and headroom. stereo imaged things around 3-5k for a wider spread and allow the snare to breathe more. dialed in the mids better to marinate the guitar tones esp the Andy Summers-ish sus2 guitar vamps on the left. this is one of the few songs where instead of using mainly Mesa Boogie/Marshall heads i'm employing a Roland JC120 Jazz Chorus on 2 of the 3 distortion guitar tracks, an odd choice for an alt rock song, but the mellower, smoother chorused distortion created the ambiance i wanted for the tune. those vamps are triple tracked using different pickup selection on a Strat for each track. the third track is a Mesa Boogie Dual Rect clean channel with some gain. also i flattened the parametric some and low shelfed things below 100 to tighten this up. added some harmonic sparkle around 8k to give the U2-ish delay guitar more presence. curious how this sounds now across various systems/speakers/headphones etc. 

http://soundcloud.com/abe...copter-head_remastered

Helicopter Head (demo)
© 2009-2012 MRI 
Words & Music by Daren Thomas Turner

---------------------------------
Turn Around
Can you see
Three hundred sixty- 
One degrees?

I walk through walls 
I jump through fire
I speak in tongues
I dress up nice
I twist my mind and 
Break my neck
To find my helicopter head
I walk on water
Melt the ice
I split the atoms
In my eye
I blow my mind and
Burn my bread 
To find my helicopter head

Turn your head around
All the way 
Like the kid in 
That possession movie 

Haven’t you heard only panoramic minds love helicopter heads? 
---------------------------------

Andy Summers is one of my favorite guitar players, and you captured his style very well.  The choice of the amp setting is perfect for this song.  As always, you write some of the best lyrics around, and I am happy to say that I could hear all of them without straining.  This song is one that I must listen to again and again because it blends so many different influences in one song.  Plus, I'm always impressed with how prolific you are.  This song is a success.

hey thanks Lynn.  I'm a huge Andy Summers fan as well.  Have you ever heard his Green Chimneys (the Thelonious Monk tribute) album? Has no parallel.  There's a version of Round Midnight on it too w/ Sting singing. truly awesome. 

I like this one a lot... love the lyrics...

notnat


I like this one a lot... love the lyrics...

cool. thanks- & yeah it's actually kinda about metaphysical enlightenment eg being able to see in all directions at all times, hence the metaphor 'Helicopter Head'  (some have joked it being about getting into the mile-high club in a Sikorsky) ;p

Man I dig this.... love the Layne Staley Vocal... Brilliant!

Verse vocals are indeed AIC-worthy. Then going to a more "normal" voice in the chorus kinda dulls the effect for me.

Listening on my Vaio unforgiving speakers, I can can barely hear the Summers guitar, as the distorted guitar is stepping all over it.

Drums are too dry and sound kinda small for this type of song.

That being said, a great song with a smart arrangement.

I think this is awesome.  I had to look at your profile to see that you are Darren.  Totally impressive on this end.  I would add Moody Blues to your list of influences on this.  All together, as with most songs, there is always a comparison to some body else, but you manage to make this yours, probably bedcause it is.  Impressive, Darren!  Oh, I loved the sound and the song.

I just had a listen since you remastered this, and I have to tell you that this is one of my favorite songs on the forum, at the moment.  That being said, this version seems to be panned heavily to the left channel, at least, according to my ears and VU meter.  Nevertheless, this is on its way to becoming a Sonar masterpiece.  I must share this with my friends.

STinGA


Man I dig this.... love the Layne Staley Vocal... Brilliant!

cool bro- thanks! :) yea was tricky to achieve. the verses are a triple harmony. i sang each track individually, 3 times per harmony, each with a different mic, using one up close, one about 3 feet away, and a hot AKG perception about 7 feet away in a large room to get natural reverb, doing the same for the 3rd harmony, then the 5th, which i placed below the root creating a 2nd inversion chord. so you are hearing 9 tracks of me mixed down into itself to create that lush 'larger than life' Staley-ish vocal.