So when do we get the 'list' ? . . . tons of great info here, but say I was curious what LA meant as far as a plant code on an Atlantic lp . .I've already scanned this thread for 20 minutes and another major thread on the subject. That one does have a specific list, but no LA. I suppose when I have some more time to kill I will stumble on the answer at some point. Excuse my ignorance but a sticky thread for plant codes would be an obvious hot item, add notations for opinion consensus of quality (MO = typically exceptional, etc.) and you would have a popular and useful tool. I know finding out for yourself is a good portion of the fun, although having solid mile markers along the way would I think add to the knowledge base by helping people to go from what is known to the point of learning something new. Examples: (1)I recently scored a bold font Broadway, Sonic press (SO) Sticky Fingers -and yes, it does wipe the floor with any pressing I've ever heard -maybe not an early UK og (haven't heard one) but good enough you can't imagine better! (2)A bold font Broadway Goats Head Soup from CSM -killer pressing that bests at least 3 MOs and 4 RIs that I have gone through, and I have heard an MO and an RI that were beautiful sounding (lame condition though) -and I have a nice German pressing. example one I did read some SF threads where SO was discussed, so I knew that chances are it would sound nice. Example two, I gambled, as I knew what CSM meant but had no clue as to what to expect soundwise. SHMF is an important resource for my learning curve of recent years as I always knew some discs were magic and some were just duds. As far as wading through the Atlantic/Cotillion/Atco family of titles from the early to mid seventies, my opinion so far is that RIs and MOs often sound amazing , but can also be plain jane sounding. PRs often sound very boring and dull. SPs I have heard are great, I did also briefly own a SO LZ Houses of the Holy that sounded amazing -so I know so far that SO pressings are a solid thumbs up, ditto with CSM (only one example so far, though).
I can't tell you what LA means either, I'd love to know too. Also.. In the rest of your post, you mention that CSM (Columbia Santa Maria) pressings are really great on some Atlantic titles. I don't think I have anything from the Atlantic family pressed at CSM. I've got a few Monarchs and plenty of Presswell & Phillips pressings, a few Columbia Pittmans, etc. I will say the general consensus with many Columbia titles is that the CSM plant is the more desired of the three. This is especially true of West Coast bands because of the mastering facility. Many people on here swear by Columbia titles with the hand written matrices instead of the machine pressed ones common to Pittman and Terre Haute. It has been said that those handwritten ones are 'West Coast' lacquers and they are often from an earlier generation tape or Columbia's more desired West Coast mastering facility. I've begun to re-catalog my LPs to distinguish between stamped and hand written deadwax because, at least in the case with Columbia, it makes a difference. This same 'west coast' mastering goes for Decca titles (see threads about Who's Next and the difference between W and E lacquer cuts) as well.
Has anyone noticed that late `60's & early 70's Mercury albums tend to sound dull and dead? Blues Magoos, H. P. Lovecraft, Uriah Heep, The McCoys, etc..
I was reading on wikipedia about Mercury Records. The description says that early in Mercury's history in the late 40's that Mercury opened 2 pressing plants in Chicago and St. Louis. Does anyone know where these were ? Were the only for 78's ? How long were they in existence ?
I have a question about an Elvis' RCA Collectors Series 7" release: All Shook Up. I have 2, of what seem to be exact copies of this record. however, my question pertains to the runout/matrix differences: My Copy #1: Exact Same Sleeve and 3.625" Label Matrix / Runout (Side A): PB-11106-A J2PW-6015-10F up Matrix / Runout (Side B): PB-11106-B J2PW-6016-10F up with copy 1, the J2PW-XXXX are both stamped My Copy #2: Exact Same Sleeve and 3.5" Label Matrix / Runout (Side A): J2PW-6015-15-C TI Matrix / Runout (Side B): J2PW-6016-12-CRPC TII with copy 2, the J2PW-XXXX are both etched I am pretty sure that the TI refers to Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Terre Haute. In my research I have seen that they also pressed for RCA, and since these records are the 1977 collectors series reissues...I figured RCA had a lot of demand for them after his passing and had to move some pressing to the Columbia plant. My question is about the "up" etching on copy 1, does anyone know what it refers to? Any help would be greatly appreciated, I have a few Elvis 45s that I have this etching and am wondering if it refers to mastering engineer or pressing plant, or something else.
"up" (or would it be "dn"?) may be either the pressing plant or plating plant, who knows. But Columbia's Terre Haute plant would have indeed pressed that Elvis single with the "TI" and "TII" markings. Every plant, it seems, was pressing Elvis product upon his death to meet the massive demand that sprung up thereafter. Unlike the advent of Elvismania in 1956, this was especially acute for RCA as unlike when he first burst on the scene, by his death they only had one pressing plant, in Indianapolis. Unless the vinyl pressing had a signature from Don Holden ('dh' whose etched signature, turned upside down, looked almost like Columbia's 'Lp' symbol) who had been a mastering engineer for RCA at both their Chicago and Hollywood studios, but had moved on to another studio after Hollywood closed in early '77 a few months prior to Mr. Presley's death.
My faves are Columbia Santa Maria, RCA Hollywood, Capitol Hollywood, and anything that "Monarch" pressed. Presswells are good also, but I seem to have a lot of CTH in my reject box.
I recently got this Stax album. W.B., can you identify the fonts on this label? Was this record mastered and pressed at RCA or was it pressed somewhere else? Opposite the matrix number a cross can be seen with either a letter “I” or a number “1”. What is the meaning of that cross? If that is a letter “I” I suppose it stands for Indianapolis. Just between this sign and the matrix number there is another number: A1 in this case. Meaning? I also have in my collection a Columbia version: the sound is completely different from the RCA version. Needlles to say that the Atlantic version sounded again different from as well as the RCA as the Columbia versions. Bob Olhsson gave in the past a possible explanation for the differencies. But why should Atlantic sent eq copies to Columbia and RCA? Maybe just for their record clubs?
I think it's the case of this board no longer allowing uploading of images directly to the site. But Atlantic and sublabels had their product pressed via the RCA record club, with RCA's studios doing their own mastering. Indianapolis had 'A1' markings which designated the mother (mold) number. Does this LP have the old-style deep groove, or the 1" pressing ring that began to show up on Indy pressings around mid-'68? I do know Atlantic releases issued via the RCA club were notorious, pre-1969, for using Atco's color scheme on their LP labels. And when they switched to the post-1968 label design, initially they had the position of "STEREO" and "ONE" / "TWO" reversed a la Atco. I can say, though, that Varityper fonts would have been used by RCA for Atlantic and sublabels. As for Columbia (pressing ring 2.703125" diameter), they often did lacquer mastering of Atlantic product - not just for the record club, but also some stock pressings (notably late 1960's 45's).
That's a pity! Anyway, yes it has the 1" pressing ring. This is the cross "+" before or after the “I”. The same symbols can be seen on the Aretha Franklin's Lady Soul album. The matrix numbers are ST-STX-671065-2s and 671066-2s (Stax S720). For the Lady Soul: STA-681207-2s/681208-6s. What is the meaning of the letter "s"? lady Soul also has the 1"pressing ring. Rene
"S" after a number (as in -1S or -2S) was RCA's code for "stamper." In any case, RCA handled its own mastering on these records.
A question about matrix numbers on two different pressings of the same LP: Country Joe & The Fish, "Electric Music..." mono version, Vanguard 1967. Matrix numbers are identical on Side 1 of each pressing. Version 1, Side 2: XTV123839-2E VRS 9244 B Version 2, Side 2: XTV123839-5C2 VRS 9244 B Bass seems to be weaker on pressing Version 2, on Side 2 only. Would I be correct to say that Version 1 is a 2nd pressing, 5th lacquer? - and that Version 2 is a 5th pressing, 3rd lacquer? - and if that is the case, could the number 2 in "5C2" on Version 2 indicate that a different mix was used? Thanks for any help.
I ha a question about a symbol in a Rounder record from Norman Blake. It looks like Bart Simpson's head atop a half-circle. Thanks!
Now, another kettle o' fish for identifying where pressed is with K-Tel compilation albums. Starting in 1974-75 they began showing number codes on the labels that anticipated, but at the same time differed significantly from, PolyGram in what number signified which plant. From what I've seen of some pressings, I've gauged the following: - 01 / 001 = Specialty Records Corp. (on Warner Special Products releases issued via K-Tel) - 07 = Custom Record Mfg. (United/Superior) - 09 = MCA pressing plant, Gloversville, NY - 11 = Monarch - 12 = PRC, Richmond, IN - 15 = MCA pressing plant, Pinckneyville, IL - 16 = Columbia pressing plant, Pitman, NJ - 17 = Columbia pressing plant, Santa Maria, CA - 18 = Goldisc Record Mfg., Holbrook, NY - 19 = Columbia pressing plant, Terre Haute, IN - 44 = RCA pressing plant, Indianapolis, IN (their pressings used RCA Custom's Byzantine matrix numbering system) - 70 = Columbia pressing plant, Carrollton, GA - 74 = ElectroSound Group Midwest - 91 = Hub-Servall Record Mfg. - 95 = Wakefield Manufacturing A few question marks include: - 29 (possibly Keel Mfg. Co./Hauppauge Record Mfg.) - 66 (possibly H.V. Waddell Co.) Definite unknowns at this point: 02 / 002, 29, 47, 55, 56, 61 (appears to be same plant as PolyGram's '30' if label fonts are of any indication), and 69.
I believe K-Tel had it's origins in Canada. I wonder if it's possible these are Canadian manufacturing facilities? I still have some of these buried deep but I'm sure they're all CDN. I'll try to post the next time I go digging, if you think it might shed some light.
I have a couple/3 London U.S. LPs in my collection, stereo, blue labels from the mid to late 1960s and early to mid 1970s. Was wondering where London U.S. LP were pressed at that time? I was able to figure out one of the LPs myself, but I'm not sure of the others. ZZ Top - ZZ Top's First Album. The copy I have has machine stamped matrix numbers ending in W. That would have been H.V. Waddell Co., Burbank, CA. ?? SAHS 1586 W / SAHS 1587 W The 2nd LP in question is ZZ Top - Tres Hombres. The runout grooves have Bell Sound sf (Sam Feldman). The matrix numbers are etched ending in -AL. Here's a photo of the label? What pressing plant is that LP from? Thanks.
