Home New Age music history Emerald Web – Valley of the Birds (Remastered)

Emerald Web – Valley of the Birds (Remastered)

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“Valley of the Birds (Remastered),” is the authorized version of the fourth album by vintage synthesizer duo Emerald Web. Originally released in 1981, this classic space music album is a rarefied blend of analog synthesizers, flutes and Lyricon by Bob Stohl and Kat Epple, who were pioneers in electronic music, New Age music, and audio technology.

The original reel-to-reel master tapes were baked for “sticky shed syndrome,” transferred to digital, and remastered for this official remastered album release. Beware of the pirated version on DUST Records which is inferior audio quality. Here is the original, remastered version:

Recorded and composed in their 4-track reel-to-reel home studio, and released as a cassette on “Stargate,” Emerald Web’s own record label, “Valley of the Birds” became one of the band’s best-known albums. In order to create their signature thickly-layered timbres, the husband and wife duo served as their own recording engineers, while simultaneously playing an array of monophonic synthesizers, sequencers, and acoustic instruments.

The melodic brew of Fantasy, Space and New Age music features now-vintage analog synths including the Lyricon, a ground-breaking synthesizer/woodwind instrument developed in the early 70’s. The mouthpiece of this unique hybrid wind instrument reacts to lip and wind pressure to control additive synthesis which can be programmed to create a myriad of unique dynamic sounds.

The album is also on Spotify:

For more information and music samples, see katepple.com/emerald-web