Friday, July 26, 2013

A Few Words from STEVEN COOPER!

Hey. I have some cool stuff to share today. Steven Cooper had came across this blog and had shared some interesting things with me, so I figured I'd share it here with everyone else to hear what one of the great New Age artists has to say about their music. Steven has also donated 2 digital remasters from the original master tapes of Key West Afternoon and the only Cooper album from Valley Of The Sun we don't have yet: Angels Of The Sun!


"Hello,
I accidently came across your site on the internet.
Thanks for all of the nice comments.
I have several of the releases you do not have...including some of the other artists.
All of my music is on CD - but has not been re-released.
I did most of the music for the "hypnosis tapes" released in 1985-1987.
I also did music for another company - Jonathan Parker's Gateways institute. 
These were all "self-help" releases - on cassette - in 1988-89. There were many.
I also have an unreleased project that was going to come out on the Synergy Label, Audion in 1990.
They went belly up - and so did it.......I re-mastered all of these releases several years ago - and the CD's sound great. I also have a release from "Valley of the Sun" so that I can release the music on my own.
I haven't had the time to do so, so they have languished in the vault so to speak.
The label was the brainchild of Richard and Scott Sutphen. Scott recruited me, and TRANSCENDENCE was the result. That was almost thirty years ago - hard to believe. I was one of their first artists - and remained with them until the label closed. 
I may have copies of some of the other releases you don't have - I worked with Robert Slapp some, and he sent me label releases in advance. 
At the time, I really wanted all of my releases out on CD. They were all originally mastered to SONY PCM - the original DAT. The quality has always been great, and they sound much better 
in digital. I had a high quality studio for the time, and made efforts to make the recordings as good as anything out there. BUT at the time, CD releases required "big" budgets - $15k per/release - and were beyond what the label wanted to spend.
The unreleased project was titled "Planet Earth" - and was a sonic history of the earth. It was pretty cool - and I developed all sorts of sounds for it - from atoms to volcanos to earthquakes to
insects and dinosaurs. It was the project Audion was interested in - and I never offered it to Vallery of the Sun. The friends I have shared it with always liked it - and it was perhaps the best thing I did.....I guess that is the story of life - the best efforts end up unheard."


5 comments:

  1. Wow....Thanks so much for this. It's a pleasure to hear from some of the artists/composers. I hope Steven Cooper does release the "Planet Earth" project some day; it sounds amazing and inspiring.

    I was thinking of trying to convert a few Valley of the Sun cassette tapes I have to digital, or possibly finding CD versions to replace old worn out tapes, but in looking up the artists I came across your Web site -- and you have it all here. Thanks for helping to preserve the music.

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  2. What tapes do you have, may I ask?

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  3. Im not a VOTS artist but I have been following the blog since discovery late last year.

    I mentioned/commented that you can re-release your old music on cd-r via Kunaki. Its inexpensive and the product looks professional i.e. full color on disc printing etc.

    You can also sell your music on Bandcamp.com and its way cheaper than you using CD Baby or I-Tunes.

    I am not affiliated with either company other than being an electronic musician myself and working mainly as an independent since the 1990's. You can check out my music here:
    http://hrresonance.bandcamp.com/

    Get the music out there the world needs good + instrumental music!

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  4. Great to get this information.

    It would be great to get some more, also.

    Spots by Dick Sutphen, Robert Slap, who knows? :)

    Tom (or Job) you've got officially the only Valley of the Sun (and Great American Audio, etc.) site in the internet, as far as I can see.

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  5. Hey Serveaux,
    I met with Dick Sutphen in Sedona a few weeks ago. He's amazing! I interviewed him for my radio show Healing Light Comfort Zone. He's restarting the label and plans on reissues and new issues. He'd really like to get in touch with Karl Schaffner, Steven Cooper, David Naegele, David Storrs and Robert Slap. Do you have email addresses for them? I forwarded him your blog and effused about how much so many people appreciate the music he put out. He was surprised and overjoyed.

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