What is that red font on the CBS cassette and early CD spines?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by crapfromthepast, Dec 5, 2011.

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  1. crapfromthepast

    crapfromthepast Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Does anyone know what that distinctive red font is that CBS used on their cassette and early CD spines?

    For example, the "CHICAGO IX" in the picture below...

    [​IMG]
     
  2. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Some variant of the impact font?
     
  3. william shears

    william shears Senior Member

    Location:
    new zealand
    Custom font based on 'Superstar' by the looks of it.
     
  4. john lennonist

    john lennonist There ONCE was a NOTE, PURE and EASY...

    Calling W.B.!
    .
     
  5. hominy

    hominy Digital Drifter

    Location:
    Seattle-ish
    I believe it's a variation of "SF College". Here's an example from the webs. It's a little wider:

    [​IMG]
     
  6. william shears

    william shears Senior Member

    Location:
    new zealand
  7. Kym

    Kym Former Resident

    ITC Machine, perhaps?
     
  8. ricks

    ricks Senior Member

    Location:
    127.0.0.1:443
    Correct! AKA ITC Machine Standard, AKA MachineStd


    When I was really young back in the day I hated the look of that font in red on a solid white background of a CD spine. I think differently now, it is so easy to read and really sticks out. I wish all my CD's used it. Of course if one has a beef with the red fading I certainly understand.
     
  9. JPagan

    JPagan Generation 13

    Location:
    South Florida
  10. Mal

    Mal Phorum Physicist

    I sure do - it's UGLY!

    :)
     
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  11. scott palmiter

    scott palmiter Senior Member

    Location:
    joliet il
    yep, but they are certainly easy to spot on the shelf, or a used cd shop.
     
  12. Taxman

    Taxman Senior Member

    Location:
    Fayetteville, NY
    More than any other, the red ink tends to fade.
     
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  13. Mal

    Mal Phorum Physicist

    True, better than those spines you can't even read on the shelf :agree:
     
  14. scott palmiter

    scott palmiter Senior Member

    Location:
    joliet il
    although taxman's right. it's murder when they start to fade on my shelf at home.:sigh:
     
  15. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    What is the font that the catalog number and record label called on the early CBS CD spines
     
  16. Kym

    Kym Former Resident

    I think it's Univers Roman.
     
  17. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
  18. 1970

    1970 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oregon USA
    FADEAWAY RED, 12 pt bold.
     
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  19. I believe nearly all the CBS and associated labels used the same Red font on White background, on the 8 Track cartridges as well. For several years in the mid to late 70's, I bought nearly every album I owned, on 8 Track, and I hated the Red font on White background. I always liked the Warner labels, which mostly used White font, on Black background. Then there were the Chrysalis 8 Track cartridges that were made out of Green, or Blue plastic (talk about easy to spot on a shelf!)...but we won't go there right now. :laugh:
     
  20. Downsampled

    Downsampled Senior Member

    Actually, to be precise, the typeface design is ITC Machine, and the currently-available font family is ITC Machine Std. (The "Std" is never spelled-out, and is just a suffix for the OpenType version -- as opposed to "Pro" -- as an indication of the font's basic character set.) :)
     
  21. Ramos Pinto

    Ramos Pinto New Member

    Location:
    Southeast US
    I see that font as a trademark of quality, as the Columbia cds old enough to have those spines sound 3x better than the reissues that replaced them due to the loudness war and most modern mastering engineers' inability to leave well enough alone.
     
  22. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    The actual weight was ITC Machine Bold, as seen here:

    http://www.whatfontis.com/ITC-Machine-Bold-OT-52129.font

    Before they started using this typeface, artists and titles on the spines of Columbia/Epic/etc. cassettes were set in the same exact typeface (and size) - 10 point Intertype Franklin Gothic.
     
  23. tremspeed

    tremspeed Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    There's a Silver Jews (Pavement related sloppy indie rock) CD that apes the Columbia spine look. I always thought that was REALLY funny for some reason.
     
  24. JPagan

    JPagan Generation 13

    Location:
    South Florida
    On the US versions, Univers (as Kym suggested) seems to be the best match.
     
  25. GLENN

    GLENN Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kingsport,TN, USA
    Sound quality aside, I was overjoyed when Columbia finally stopped using that typeface.
     
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