Vinyl mastering credits and deadwax question

I've never been one to check out the deadwax on my vinyl records but a lot of people on this site are really up to speed on this stuff so I thought I'd ask a simple question. I recently bought a nice copy of Boston's Don't Look Back and I noticed that the liner notes said it was mastered by Wally Traugott at Capitol Studios. I decided to check out the dead wax and there was a stamped "MASTERED BY CAPITOL" followed by a handwritten "Wally". I assume that meant this really was mastered by Wally. I decided to check out some other albums that were mastered by Wally and I pulled out my copy of Bob Seger's Nightmoves, again supposedly mastered by Wally. It had the same "MASTERED BY CAPITOL" stamp but this time it had some other signature which I couldn't read. I'm assuming that this particular pressing wasn't really mastered by Wally.

This leads to a bigger question. I'm assuming the note called out on the liner notes for mastering on vinyl records is only for initial pressings and later pressings may be done by other people. Is this correct? I'm also assuming that the alpha-numeric codes have some meaning. Is there a magic decoder ring for these? I'm also guessing that each mastering engineer has his/her own special marks so they can be identified. I think Robert Ludwig uses his initials RL. I know some of you know a lot about this so if could help out a neophyte it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

Some well-known signatures:

Label/Mastering Houses

• AT = Atlantic
• CL = Columbia
• Capitol = Capitol
• Kendun = Kendun Recorders
• SS = Sterling Sound
• Sterling = Sterling Sound
• Masterdisk = Masterdisk
• TLM = The Mastering Lab
• SRC = Specialty Records Corp.
• Townhouse = Townhouse, London

Mastering Engineers:

• Masterdisk G.K. = Gilbert Kong at Masterdisk
• Masterdisk H.W. = Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk
• Masterdisk R.L. = Robert Ludwig at Masterdisk
• Az or AZ = Allen Zentz
• Az with a flower symbol or a seagull symbol = Brian Gardner at Allen Zentz mastering
• Sterling LH = Lee Hulko at Sterling Sound
• Sterling TJ = Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound
• Sterling RL = Robert Ludwig at Sterling Sound
• MCA SH = Steve Hall at MCA
• GP@AT = George Piros at Atlantic
• Pecko Duck = George Peckham
• Porky Prime Cut = George Peckham

Reading the following thread will help you a lot.

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=37991

 

Thanks for the link. Looks like a lot of information there.

 

Just to quickly add...

There are 2 separate running threads around here with lists of Wally Traugott cut LPs and Robert Ludwig cut LPs.

Early on, Wally signed his cuts with just "Wly", later he expanded to a full "Wally", although he reverted to "Wly" on some later era 45s.

It's also likely that you might find a "KP" after or somewhere around a "Mastered at Capitol" stamp. That would be Ken Perry - the guy who cut almost every copy of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours.

 

More:

• AZ CB = Chris Bellman at Allen Zentz
• MASTERDISK BK = Bill Kipper at Masterdisk
• KENDUN JG = John Golden at Kendun
• kdisc JG = John Golden at K-Disc
• STERLING with a star or baseball-looking symbol = Greg Calbi at Sterling
• Precision SM = Stephen Marcussen at Precision Lacquer
• [Criteria logo stamp] MF = Mike Fuller at Criteria
• FULLERSOUND MF = Mike Fuller at Fullersound
• AT/sf = Sam Feldman at Atlantic
• [Bell Sound stamp] sf =Sam Feldman at Bell Sound
• MASTERED BY EMI or MASTERED BY LIBERTY stamp with 'McM' handwritten = Ron McMaster at EMI NY

-Aaron

 

Thanks for the answers so far. Is the above statement correct about album credits and the actual mastering done on later pressings?

 

UFO looking symbol (almost like an LP with two tonearms) = Artisan Sound Recorders

 

Yep. Here it is with Greg Fulginiti's initials:


-Aaron

 

Yes.

 

Very informative...these guys were the masters of mastering

 

There is a ton of information in the deadwax area.

If you are serious about your vinyl, and obtaining the best possible pressing, it is essential to know what to look for.

Do your homework, and read up in the thread that Anselm (Ashlee5) provided. Once you start to get familiar with things, it will open a whole new world for you.

 

I have a copy of The Yes Album with the initials "E.F." (or "E.Z." or "E.J.") in the deadwax. I haven't found any info about who this is on the board. Anyone know?

The LP catalog no. is SD 19131.
Side One: ST-A-712139-E SRC E.F. 1-5
Side Two: ST-A-712140-E SRC E.F. 1-7

 

It's pretty funny that Ken cut all those because one sounds
ridiculously better than the other 3 cuts I've heard. Bizarre, eh?

 

Ed Feinblatt

Seriously, no idea.

 

"FUTURE DISC", "FUTURE DISC SYSTEMS", or a "FDS" followed by a "-1" or a "-2" in sort of a cursive writing style means that the record was mastered at Future Disc Systems in Hollywood.

P.S. my Canadian pressing of Bee Gees' "Children of the World" has a stamped "MASTERDISK" (we all know this means that it was mastered at Masterdisk, NYC, where Bob Ludwig worked) followed by some initials that look like an "A" crossed with an "S" sorta in the style of Allen Zentz. There are no mastering credits anywhere on the sleeve, so "AS" seems to be a mystery to me as I have never seen these initials on any other record. Have absolutely no idea about who mastered it. Any clues?

 

The loose, 'cursive' script would be Steve Hall.

If it is in a horizontally elongated 'block' lettering (similar to Greg Fulginiti's style but even more elongated) it was cut by Eddy Schreyer.

'FDS-x' would apply to pre Polygram-merger MCA, Uni, Decca, and post-MCA-acquisition Geffen product. After the merger Universal changed their matrix numbering system.

-Aaron

 

Here's some more mastering credits:

"F/W RCE": Rick Essig at Frankford/Wayne
"DMS Herbie Jr." followed by a smile: Herb Powers Jr. at Hit Factory, NYC
"RAYS": Ray Staff at Trident Studios, London
"RJ STERLING": Ray Janos at Sterling Sound, NYC
"BilBo Tape One": Denis Blackham at Tape One Studios
"Tippy-HFM" or "Tippy @ Hit Factory Mastering": Tony Tarochione at Hit Factory, NYC
"JAMF": Just Another Mastering Facility, Toronto
"TLC": The Lacquer Channel, Toronto
"SIMON - THE EXCHANGE": Simon Davey at The Exchange, London

 

"MASTERDISK TD" or "Precision TD": Tony Dawsey at Masterdisk, NYC, or in the case of his later years, Precision Lacquer, Hollywood.

 

Herbie also cut at Frankford/Wayne before moving to Hit Factory. He now runs his own mastering house: Powers Mastering/PM Entertainment.

-Aaron

 

dumbell symbol in the deadwax

Hey there..I'm new to all the deadwax info and i couldn't find any info on the dumbell looking symbol (looks like 2 square dumbells with another square or maybe a capitol G in the middle of the bar) any ideas? thks!

 

pressing plants

Thks very much for the reply! i know that some pressing plants are perferred over others...Is there a list anywhere in the forums that have a list of pressing plants in order of quality? How about a list of cutting engineers in order of preference? i know it's a matter of opinion but it would be a good start..

 

Welcome to the forum Those are pretty broad questions As to mastering engineers, a lot of favorites have threads dedicated to them that you can find with the search engine: Bob Ludwig, Wally Traugott, George Peckham, etc. Your best bet is to search for discussions of individual albums you are interested in. As long as it's a reasonably well known record, chances are it has been discussed and the identifying details of preferred pressings can be found.

 

thank very much for the advise..will do

 

Mastering Engineer Discography threads:

Bob Ludwig

Allen Zentz/Brian Gardner/Chris Bellman

Wally Traugott

Bernie Grundman