Yarlung Records takes its name from the Yarlung Valley in Central Tibet, where the royal houses buried Songtsen Gampo and Trisong Detsen (two of the great early Kings in the historical record) in the Tibetan “Valley of the Kings.” Legends claim the Yarlung Valley as the magical birthplace of the Tibetan people and as a meeting place between heaven and earth. It is in this valley, at the site of Yambulakhang Castle in our Yarlung Records logo, where Heaven and Earth touched in order to transform humanity. What could be a better metaphor for the transformative power of great music?
CDs
In the world of ubiquitous high resolution downloads and streaming, Yarlung Records still makes CDs because we have found ways to make them sound good using virgin polycarbonate and special alloys, and more importantly, because our musicians and composers use them to increase their connection with audiences at concerts. It is much more fun for a fan to buy a CD for a fabulous musician to sign, than to get a throwaway download chit and ask for an autograph. On numerous occasions, our musicians have been hired to make important debuts with orchestras and in concert halls around the world after sending their Yarlung CD to a conductor or music director. We like this! See Yarlung’s CD’s.
Vinyl
Making 180-gram vinyl records is a labor of love. It is an art, not a science. Sometimes the first time Bernie Grundman and I cut a lacquer and ship it to Europe for plating and eventual pressing, we get an album we love. Other times, it has taken us 5 or 6 times before the test pressings make our ears happy. Our extremely successful 45RPM pressing for Smoke & Mirrors percussion ensemble is one of those on which we had to work hard before the results made us smile. Smoke & Mirrors was worth the wait! As were our others. See our See our Vinyl releases.
Analog Tape
Analog tape has always been my favorite medium. So when Greg Beron of United Home Audio and Jim Hannon and Jonathan Valin from The Absolute Sound encouraged and cajoled Yarlung Records to make our analog tape available, I was delighted. Yarlung Records supports the Renaissance in listening to audiophile tape started by the valiant Tape Project.
“Your tapes are, IMO, the best of a surprisingly large lot of brand-new R2Rs, both in sound and musicianship. You, your artists, and your mastering team are to be commended on superlative work….”
–from a letter from Jonathan Valin
We make tapes individually for each order, so please allow a few weeks for delivery. The SonoruS Series of analog tapes from Yarlung Records is graciously underwritten by SonoruS Audio.
See Analog Tape.