Who wants to compile a list of pressing plant initials?

Apparently (and this is a long shot), "CL" was short for Columbia. I once saw a pre-1964 Columbia pressing for another label, emanating from their long-since defunct Bridgeport, CT plant, which had a "CLB" written on the dead wax. (Hope this is of help.) I have a couple Columbia-pressed Atlantic (and some Atco) 45's with those "CL" initials (all mastered by Columbia, by the way) in the dead wax - i.e. "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)" by Aretha Franklin (Atlantic A 2386) and "Sweet Soul Music" by Arthur Conley (Atco 45-6463). Needless to say, there was a small stamped "P" on the dead wax of these 45's in question. It was by the time of The Young Rascals' "Groovin'" (A-2401) and Aretha's "Respect" (A-2403) that they switched to "CP" and "CT" on the dead wax. (Anyone seen "CS" initials on Columbia-pressed Atlantic [or subsidiary or distributed label] LP's from '67-'68?)

 

That sort of explains that. I have a -1B/-1B mono copy of Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited LP pressed from stampers intended for the Bridgeport plant (note the etched horizontal line after the machine-stamped matrix info) -- but the actual pressing was made in Terre Haute, IN. (My mono pressing of Blonde On Blonde was also pressed from stampers intended for the Bridgeport plant on some of the sides -- but it, too, was actually pressed in Terre Haute.) This clearly indicated that the Bridgeport, CT plant was either winding down operations at that time or (more likely) had closed down in 1964 but Columbia Studios in NYC did not find that out until the middle of 1966.

And judging by the full Atlantic logo on that stereo copy of My Favorite Things, I'd say that it was a late '65 to mid '66 pressing, when Columbia Studios NY (which did the cutting) still listed Bridgeport, CT as a pressing plant to send lacquers to. (The lacquers were forwarded to Terre Haute or Pitman once the delivery people found out that the Bridgeport plant had closed down.) And since I saw no P on either side of that copy of MFT, that is a giveaway that it was pressed in Terre Haute.

 

Oh, by the way, I've gotten updated info on the Warner and EMI pressing plants which remain open:

In 2003, Warner sold its manufacturing facilities to Cinram. And with Cinram entering a multi-year agreement to manufacture CDs and DVDs for Capitol/EMI in North America (the Jacksonville, IL EMI plant was closed down), we get most Capitol/EMI CD releases for the US market pressed at the former PRC plant in Richmond, IN these days, with some Capitol/EMI product being pressed at the former Specialty/WEA Manufacturing plant in Olyphant, PA (where most WEA product for the USA is pressed).

 

The first Atlantic 45 that I know of to be pressed by Columbia was Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves A Woman" (45-2326, 1966); the first known Columbia-pressed Atco single was "Wild Thing" by The Troggs (45-6415). So that MFT must've been from that point. Also, Columbia began mastering lacquers for Atlantic and subsidiary 45's around early 1967 -- among the first being Wilson Pickett's "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" (Atlantic 45-2381) and "For What It's Worth" by The Buffalo Springfield (Atco ATC-6459); prior thereto Columbia pressings used Atlantic lacquers, probably from parts made by LongWear Stamper Co. (hence the "LW" initials). To my knowledge, all Atlantic, Atco and subsidiary/distributed 45's pressed by Columbia up to early spring 1969 (when such pressings inexplicably ceased) emanated from Pitman, NJ, the "CT" stamped on the dead wax of some lacquers of The Young Rascals' "A Girl Like You" (A-2424) notwithstanding. (The last known Columbia-pressed Atlantic 45 was "Breakfast In Bed"/"Don't Worry About Me" by Dusty Springfield, A-2606.)

 

I've come late to this thread but have a few related questions. In the '60s, my small Central Texas record company had laquers cut primarily at Houston Records (LH in the dead wax) or Stanley Wakefield in Phoenix (SJW in the dead wax). However, some of our records contain only LW in the dead wax, one contains IFM-NY, and still another contains NR5676-1 and NR5676-2. Questions:

Would LongWear Stamper's "LW" customarily appear alone in the dead wax?

I believe IFM-NY may have been Bob Fine's mastering facility in Manhattan. Can anyone confirm or correct that?

Finally, NR? Any idea where that lacquer was mastered?

Thanks very much for any answers you can provide.

 

Hi all,

I just found this thread!
I have done research from mainly Stax and Atlantic pressing plants etc.
Here is my first question: Atlantic started to do business with Long Wear (LW)in January 1965.At that time Jack Berman, the owner of Long Wear, suggested Specialty in stead of MGM.
Can anyone tell me about the MGM pressing plant (Bloomfield, NY) and the sign they engraved in the lacquer?

 

First, MGM's pressing plant was in Bloomfield, N.J., not N.Y. Also, around the time that Atlantic switched to Specialty for pressing 45's, coincided with the label copy typesetting switching from Queens Litho in Long Island City, NY to Keystone Printed Specialties of Scranton, PA (which, of course, did label copy for Capitol on the East Coast since the 1940's). I think it was also around the same time that Presswell Records of Ancora, NJ, started pressing Atlantic/Atco/Stax etc., LP's. I could see why LongWear's owner would've suggested the pressing change; many of MGM's pressings (if based on their own releases) were pretty noisy in certain spots, though not necessarily to the degree of, say, RCA.

Apparently, MGM's insignia looked like a block-shaped "S", stamped onto the lacquer. Before that, they had another symbol which I am at a loss to describe, had a half-circle on the top half, and what looked like a distorted square on the bottom part. The ring around the label area of MGM-pressed LP's was 1¼”.

B.T.W., I saw a few MGM-pressed Atlantic/Atco etc. LP's from 1968; I noticed such pressings had an "-MG" suffix at the end of the matrix number on the label.

Also, some Atlantic/Atco 45's of 1967-68 were pressed by the infamous American Record Pressing of Owosso, MI; these pressings bore an "-AM" suffix on the label.

Would you know who suggested Columbia's pressing plant(s) to Atlantic, given that from what I could tell, they started in or around spring 1966, and why Atlantic stopped using them (for 45's)?

 

Yes, MGM was located in N.J. , to be exact : 120 Arlington Ave. The director was Frank Cocchiaraley. I don’t know if he is still alive or not.
Attached are the 3 different MGM signs
It has probably another meaning than identification only because any two combination can be seen.
Sometimes a number above the matrix number (45’s and LP’s) and/or below the AT (LP’s only) can be found in the dead wax. I don’t know the meaning of thoes numbers.
I also had the feeling that as far as typesetting is concerned that MGM used the labels printed at Plastic Products.
Which LP’s from 1968 have you seen with the MG suffix printed on the label and what can be seen in the dead wax? According to Jack Berman, LW did send sometimes metal parts for albums only to MGM.
Yes, Atlantic sometimes used American Record Pressing Corp in Michigan (suffix of the matrix number -31 etc).
Another pressing plant that Atlantic used was Bestway (suffix of matrix number -1 etc, the same as for Specialty and Shelly).
I did ask Frank Tabino why Atlantic sometimes used the Columbia pressing plants. His answer was that in case the other plants were busy they used Columbia. However, they didn’t accept lacquers from other compagnies. That’s the reason why Columbia made their own lacquers. They don’t sound as good as the Atlantic ones : the level is lower and they sounded dull. ( maybe because of the copied master tape?)
Rene

 

Actually, for MGM's own releases they used label copy type from Pace Press in Manhattan. But that's neither here nor there. Pre-'65 pressings for Atlantic did indeed use Queens Litho type, on the 1968 pressings I'm not so sure. (Progressive Label Co. of Brooklyn, perhaps?)

Insofar as Columbia pressings were concerned: I did see a handful of Columbia-pressed Atlantic and Atco 45's (starting with the Sledge hit and The Troggs' "Wild Thing") with Atlantic lacquers used, though mostly Columbia lacquers prevailed. I thought the Columbia lacquers sounded somewhat better, probably due to the Westrex cutters they used as opposed to the Grampian feedback cutterheads in Atlantic's setup (though that the masters were dubbed seemed apparent in the added tape hiss). Grampians, from what I've heard, had a somewhat "grittier" sound to them than the Westrex's.

And as far as MGM-pressed Atlantic/Atco's of 1968: I saw a few, as I said, but one that sticks to my mind is Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. These pressings were after Atlantic and Atco changed their LP label designs. I may have also seen a copy from them of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown's album which contained his only U.S. hit "Fire." I.I.N.M., on Atlantic LP's, their positioning of the catalogue number was a little different from others, above the "STEREO" on the left side rather than to the right of the Atlantic logo.

 

When did MGM close down?
I had an album from 1967, pressed by Columbia that had no high frequencies at all!!.
In an earlier message you said that the Columbia pressings were only available via the Columbia Record Club, seems to me more logical than what Frank Tobino told me.In any case the Columbia pressings were not mentioned on the pressing sheet from Atlantic.Did you know that you can recognize a Columbia pressing by looking at the back cover?
Were those MGM signs the one you revere to?

 

First off, from what I've gathered in examining pressings, MGM's plant shut down around 1971 or so, with their releases using Pace Press typesetting on their labels through spring 1972 (the last known being the Donny Osmond single "Puppy Love").

Now let me clarify as to Columbia pressings of Atlantic releases: The 45's were pressed commercially to augment Specialty, Plastic Products et al (not unlike with Bestway). For the most part, it was the LP's that were via the Columbia Record Club. (Which only pressed 45's for members as an experiment in 1966, and such pressings originated from Terre Haute, IN, in many cases with label copy layout, typeset in Pitman, NJ, different from when they pressed for such labels on a "regular" basis; whereas all the Columbia-pressed Atlantic 45's I have are from Pitman.) Rarely have I seen a commercially available copy of an Atlantic/Atco etc. LP (as opposed to record club copy) that had been pressed by Columbia. And as for the back covers: I know what you mean, the "heart" signifying a Pitman pressing, an "A" for Terre Haute, and a rounded, thick "S" for Santa Maria, CA (a.k.a. the Michael Jackson trial venue) - all on the lower right-hand corner.

As to those dead wax signs: They indeed are my means of I.D.'ing MGM pressings. That and the 1¼” ring around the label area on LP's. B.T.W., MGM also pressed LP's for Columbia (and some of their custom clients, i.e. Dot, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts and A&M) on a contract basis in 1969; they also pressed some Columbia and Epic 45's in 1966.

 

I have a nice early copy of Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" LP with the purple and tan Atco label that has something in the dead wax that I haven't seen mentioned yet.

It has a "P" and "LW" on both sides, which I gather denotes a Columbia pressing from their Pitman, NJ plant using stampers made by LongWear, and obviously has a unique tape sequence number followed by a lacquer letter for each side (a letter "B" for both sides in this case). So we have...


A Side: STC-681329-B

B Side: STC-681330-B


Anyway, my question is about a "DT1" found on side one and a "DT2" found on side two. This is the only Atlantic/Atco LP I've seen like this and was wondering if anybody has any idea what the DT1 and DT2 refers to. BTW, everything is hand-scribed on this LP, and very neatly at that. The scribing is small and deep enough to *almost* look like it's stamped. Very nice work...

 

That's funny.

 

Very cool!
How was the building? Have you taken pictures?
I have somewhere an old Bestway ad. Will sent it to you if you want it but give me a few days
Rene

 

Is there anything else you can see in the dead wax? Look careful as it might be unclear.
Is there a pressing plant indication on the label (suffix matrix number)
LW didn't send metal works to Columbia so I don't think it's a Columbia pressing.

Rene

 

Attached is scan from a 1963 ad.
I have the following address : 1105 Globe Ave with the same phone number as in the ad.
How did the buildings look like?
If you ever had the change to take pictures please post them

Rene

 

I'm afraid that's it. There's no suffix for either tape sequence number on the labels. On the labels, they appear as:

Side A: ST-C-681329

Side B: ST-C-681330

In the dead wax, they appear as:

Side A: STC-681329-B

Side B: STC-681330-B

The only other information is a "P" and "LW" on each side and the "DT1" on side one and "DT2" on side 2. I was just curious about the "DT1" and "DT2", primarily.

Nice Bestway ad, BTW.

 

Ok, that will be great!
Thanks,

Rene

 

I am assisting Bruce Spizer with his latest Beatles book. We have determined that Atlantic Records used three factories to press their Atco Beatles singles in 1964. MGM Records in Bloomfield, NJ, and Monarch Records in Los Angeles have been identified. Can anyone here definitively identify who pressed the third variation?

Also, while we're on the subject of MGM/Bloomfield, we know that MGM Beatles singles in 1964 were pressed on the East Coast at the Bloomfield factory. So far, we have not determined which factory MGM used to press singles on the West Coast. Can anyone help us here?

Finally, we know that Swan Records used three factories to press the "She Loves You" single in 1963. Two of these factories are RCA Custom in Rockaway, NJ, and Monarch Records in LA. We have been told by people familiar with the Philly record scene that Swan most likely used a local (Philadelphia) plant as its third factory. So far, no one has been able to say for sure which factory that was. Can you help us?

Sincerely,

Frank Daniels (for Bruce Spizer)

 

Possible Answers from W.B.

The third main plant Atlantic used back then (besides the two mentioned) was Plastic Products in Memphis, TN (they of the -PL suffix on the labels of post-1968 Atlantic/Atco 45 pressings). I know that for East Coast pressings Atlantic/Atco used Queens Litho for their label copy artwork. As for Monarch, the label-copy type on their labels I also noticed on pressings from Rainbo Records (which did secondary pressings for Capitol subsidiaries such as Tower and Sidewalk). Who did that label copy typesetting, escapes me at this time. (And no, it wasn't Bert-Co, it was another company.)

For the West Coast, MGM primarily used the H.V. Waddell pressing plant in Burbank, CA (which closed in 1985); later in the decade they started using Monarch Record Mfg. On occasion they also used Southern Plastics in (I.I.N.M.) Memphis (also famous for some of the Vee-Jay Beatles pressings) and Midwest Record Pressings in Chicago, IL (which was associated with Chess). MGM's Bloomfield plant used label copy typesetting from Pace Press in New York (I.I.N.M., Bloomfield shut down around 1971, but Pace Press continued doing label copy typesetting for MGM through spring 1972, with one of the last bearing their fonts being Donny Osmond's cover of "Puppy Love," K14367).

On that last one, wish I could; the best bet, as I may have said before, would be to check c.1963-64 Billboard International Buyer's Guides, they have a list of pressing plants across the country and that may answer your question. They had quite a few plants out in Philly . . . one handled Jamie/Guyden, the other Cameo/Parkway. And there was a typesetting company that did label copy for both companies; I saw pressings with those groups of typefaces emanating therefrom as late as 1973. And as to RCA Custom . . . their Indianapolis plant, as you may know, also made copies of "She Loves You." (I don't know about their Hollywood factory; I suppose we'd've known if we saw "She Loves You" copies with Bert-Co fonts.) Their typesetting layout differed considerably from Rockaway's, though both utilized the same group of fonts as from a company (which, I.I.N.M., is now defunct) called Varitype.