Date:         Wed, 4 Jul 2007 01:42:06 -0600
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
              <[log in to unmask]>
Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
              <[log in to unmask]>
From:         phillip holmes <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: LP pressing question
Comments: To: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
In-Reply-To:  <002b01c7bdcd$dbf6d300$6801a8c0@TOMOFFICE>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

I know that Piros scribed "P13" and "P17".  I think the P17 sound a 
little punchier to me.  Were there any other common PXX combinations you 
can recall?  Also, I was playing a Mercury Wing, one that didn't suck, 
and "MR" was in the deadwax.  Who is "MR"?
Phillip

Tom Fine wrote:
> I think all sorts of strange stuff took place with cutting guys in the 
> 60's, 70's and at th end of the LP era.  Stan Ricker had some quite 
> original stuff in his Mobile Fidelity cuts of the 70's. In earlier 
> times, too much fanciful stuff was frowned on but every cutter had his 
> "maker's mark" that he would inscribe. At Fine Sound in the 50's, most 
> cuts would just have the catalog number stamped in the dead wax like 
> early Mercury MG series. Same for Verve, Kapp and Grand Award cut 
> there. This might have been a practice my father picked up at Reeves 
> in the late 40's or Majestic before that. When Fine Recording opened 
> up, George Piros was dealing with more lathes and more cutter heads 
> --  certain combinations preferred by certain producers -- so he 
> started a code of "PXX" with XX being a number representing a lathe 
> and cutter head. He would hand-scribe his mark plus the catalog number 
> and side a or b into the dead wax. John Johnson would scribe JJ. Once 
> dedicated mastering houses sprung up, you'd see a stamp imprint of, 
> for instance, "Mastered by MasterDisc". I'm not sure if guys at the 
> pressing plant would further scribe the dead wax to indicate a 
> replacement part or later replacement master. I would imagine a major 
> label's mastering department, like Columbia, would some pretty complex 
> codes to follow in the interest of uniformity.
>
> Bob, how many cutters were there at Motown and what was your system?
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frank Wylie" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2007 6:53 PM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] LP pressing question
>
>
>