1950s Capitol Records D and N vinyl Stampers: What's the Real Deal?

Was listening to Only The Lonely and surprised and confused that side A has a D in the deadwax and side B is an N.
It's my understanding that D is west coast master tape and N is an east coast dub pressing. Why would one side be D and the other N? It's an early 9 pm Capitol logo pressing. Thanks

 

It's a shame because side 1 D sounds tremendous whereas side 2 N sounds a generation down.

 

The Z is even printed on the label. How does it sound?

 

First up, in the early years of Scranton pressing LP's (up to circa 1954), they had the same type of "deep groove" whose dimensions had somewhat more in common with Columbia LP's of the period than those of RCA Victor; Capitol didn't retool their pressing dies towards the more iconic 1.5" pressing ring until about 1954 or so (one of the first I have in this vein being a 10" LP of Kenton Presents Jazz: Frank Rosolino). Secondly, though no 'D' was in evidence in the deadwax, there'd be no doubt that at that point, all lacquers for Capitol product emanated from their Melrose studios. It also cinches that "Y" signified an A side and "Z" a B side, as was also on 45's and 78's after the matrix numbers in this period.
As far as sound quality goes, I seem to recall Capitol in those days using Presto cutterheads, which I heard someone compare to something being transmitted through a phone line.
The next part: how long, on LP's, did Capitol signify track numbers with Roman numerals (I, II, III, IV) before switching to the more conventional Arabic numbering system?

 

On 1 out of 2 copies of Close to You (mono) and 2 out of 3 copies of Where Are You (both mono) there's a "1S" that precedes everything in the run-off groove. It's not any other Sinatra LPs I have here. What does it mean?

 

I've seen the 1S, 2S, etc. (or was it S1, S2, ?) on a few occasions. I've taken it to indicate the stamper used for that side - maybe Capitol only did it for the earliest stampers, and only sometimes? All totally a guess...

 

I know you've identified the "mark" for the Scranton plant (I call it the little house), but does anyone know what the other marks mean? I have 1 LP that has a "V" (or 2/3 of a triangle) and 1 with a triangle with 2 or 3 letters in it. Do you know what these signify?

 

The triangle containing 3 letters - IAM - stands for the International Association of Machinists group that worked there. IAM came to be seen on the pressings a few years into the 60's.

Not sure what you mean by the other mark, the "V"...

 

I would post a pic of it but I can't figure out how to do it.

 

At the close of the decade, whoever wrote the copy in this ad promoting Capitol facilities trumpeted studios and manufacturing plants on both coasts. They didn't specify lacquer mastering in two locations. By September of 1963, another Capitol ad in Billboard included this: "...lacquers can be produced in New York and Hollywood simultaneously to save time."


Billboard June 22, 1959 (ad ran more than once)

 

Billboard September 7, 1963

 

Ah, but the 1959 ad clearly said: "Modern and completely equipped studios in Hollywood and New York for live recording, editing, tape dubbing and transfer work, in monophonic and stereophonic." "Transfer work," as I read it, meant lacquer mastering, i.e. "transfer from tape to disc." And Capitol Custom had two sets of master number blocks - three-digit for East Coast (i.e. JB-159 for a 1959 master) and four-digit for West Coast (e.g. JB-2122). 1963 was when some Capitol Custom clients had lacquers produced on both coasts; I saw a Los Angeles pressing of the Premier Albums' John Fitzgerald Kennedy: A Memorial Album (2099) where the deadwax had 'F' and 'G' codes indicating Hollywood lacquer mastering - whereas the firm was based in New York and Scranton's own pressings used New York 'P' and 'T' lacquers (mx. #'s PB-1423 / 1424). That may explain, in the 1963 ad, the sentence "If your distribution needs twin-coast production, lacquers can be produced in New York and Hollywood simultaneously to save time." That album was a prime example of that principle. No, 'N' codes were strictly New York lacquers whose lead-out spacing by 1962-63 was identical to post-'63 P, T, W and X lacquers.

 

Our readings differ, as I think they meant tape to tape transfer work. The copy between the two ads - composed three years apart - is so similar, yet the newer one is quite explicit in promoting lacquer production in two locations.

 

Sorry, this is the best I can do. Has anyone ever seen this on a record? It plays fine, but I've handled, literally, 10s of thousands of records, most of them promos and I've never seen anything like this..

http://s24.photobucket.com/user/marmilmjd66/media/c_zpsxzvdciq5.jpg.html

 

Wow that's weird. And really cool.

 

after much trial & error, I was able to post this. Has anyone seen anything like it?

 

And here's an early Capitol/Telefunken P8040. This was pre-EMI, so no Angel. And the whole run-off is just P 8040 Z2. Cool label, though...

 

And thanks to the part-Asian member of our happy crew for helping me w/ uploading!

 

That's a new one on me!!

 

Here's something I've just come upon: A 10" Capitol of Bartok's "Music For String Instruments Percussion and Celesta. Los Angeles Chamber Symphony Conducted by Harold Evans. Maroon label, "Long Playing 33 2/3 RPM Microgroove" runs from 8 o'clock to 4 o'clock on the label. The matrices are L-8048 Y-2 @ 6 o'clock; "1149" @ 11 o'clock (A side), (same) Z-2 @ 12 o'clock; "1149" @ 6 o'clock (B side). And the "Scranton house" @ 3'o'clock/9 o'clock. The "1149" doesn't appear anywhere on the label. So what do the Y, Z and 1149 denote? Anyone know?

 

More Captiol matrix trivia:



This should be the "block" type, no? It's on the '56 turquoise label. There's the anvil symbol too. I've actually seen more LPs with the "scroll" type matrix, though... I think I've seen the same LP with the scroll type matrices...


Next one:





An LP from '59. Side 1 has what looks like handwritten matrix numbers.

Side 2:



A machine stamped matrix, but not the "block" type - a different font and smaller.
Looks like an RCA pressing, but where have both sides been cut?


Another one, which was mentioned on a previous page:



This is a '59 UK pressing of Jack Marshall's "Soundsville" in stereo. What's the consolidated opinion on this strange matrix? It's neither typical EMI, nor a typical US Capitol from the time... It's a hybrid. Is it a US metal master prepared and sent to EMI UK?

An interesting observation - I've seen only UK stereo albums with that type of matrix. Not a single mono pressing using such matrix numbering. Which may indicate that if a true stereo master was sent from the USA (for albums released in stereo and on the UK LPs they are all indeed the true stereo mixes), a mono mix may have never been sent and UK mono releases may be fold downs...