Belinda Carlisle’s Heaven is a Place on Earth is one of the classic pop tracks of the Eighties. It was written by Ellen Shipley and Rick Nowels and went to number one in numerous countries.
When I first started making music (not long ago, actually) I decided to make remixing it my first project. I wanted to create a kind of modern epic club version of the track. Not with a hyper, sped up beat, but with atmosphere and depth. I used it as a testing ground to learn how to create various effects.
I changed the track a lot, but hopefully kept its essence intact! It starts quite dark but then “moves into the light”. You’ll hear by the end, if you listen that far. See what you think anyway, below. Maybe you can imagine it shaking a few clubs. If so, tweet Belinda!
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Martin Linek says
Gavin,
One of the coolest things I have ever stumbled across…ethereal and thunderous, hypnotic and stimulating, punchy and rhythmic, paradoxically beautiful.
Projected in a darkened room on a 100″ screen with the IMAX-at-home DIY sound system your creation is an awesome thing to experience!
Is it possible to download a high quality, uncompressed version of this remix, or even better a high quality sound and video file?
Congratulations for a fantastic job well done.
How many hours did you put into it and with what tools?
Thank you and best regards.
Martin (Calgary, AB, Canada)
Gavin says
Martin,
Thank you very much for letting me know your impressions! You message was so complimentary at first sight I thought it was spam! 😉
Sounds like a great way to listen to the track. I approached EMI to see if they wanted to release it, but nothing really happened. I thought it could reboot Ms Carlisle’s career!
As I say, it is actually my very first foray into making music – I used it to learn the software. There’s quite a lot going on in it and it took me about a week to make it, I think. I used Logic Pro 9 and a variety of software synths and sample sets. I think I used an Access Virus in there too.
I suppose I was slightly inspired by an old Orbital “mash-up” of the track, but I thought it really should be done as a big anthemic club track. I like how I did it but I think I could do it better now. After that one it only took me three days to do the Katy Perry one.
I’d love to do more, but it’s time consuming and one has to make ends meet. I will contact you by e-mail also.