Elaborate Script Writing In The Vinyl ,what Is It ?

[Sceneman]

if you get a 45 at the right angle you see these curious nicely scripted words ,etched in with a pointed device in the plain area around the spindle hole .they must have taken skill to do these on every record they pressed and it must have been mega boring too.

i have always been curious who's job it was to write in these codes or scripts and what do they mean ?

what was their title ? not all records have them but quite a few do .when did they put them on ,when the material was still soft ?

who knows the answer ??

[Guest Matt Male]

They are matrix numbers, usually pressing plant details, the initials of the disc cutter (probably for quality control), the cut or take number etc...

I'm assuming that's what you mean.

Edited March 1, 2013 by Matt Male

[Pete S]

That's right.

The script usually reads Nashville Matrix (or Nashville Mains) or Bell Sound.

Pressing plants.

[Tiberius]

I guess the best known examples here in the UK are the work of George "Porky" Peckham - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Peckham

How many times have we picked up a record and thought "another "Porky Prime Cut""......!

[Pete S]

I guess the best known examples here in the UK are the work of George "Porky" Peckham - https://en.wikipedia..../George_Peckham

How many times have we picked up a record and thought "another "Porky Prime Cut""......!

Oh didn't realise he meant UK records.

I think the artists must have been present at a lot of these master cutting sessions as the messages probably only make sense to them.

On one of the Bowie singles from 79, might be "DJ" it says "My bicameral mind" on one side and "mind my bicameral" on the other?

[Tiberius]

Oh didn't realise he meant UK records.

I think the artists must have been present at a lot of these master cutting sessions as the messages probably only make sense to them.

On one of the Bowie singles from 79, might be "DJ" it says "My bicameral mind" on one side and "mind my bicameral" on the other?

I'm not sure he meant UK records, I just used George Peckhams work as a good example of what was possible. There are tons of examples of his handy work......I guess you'll have seen more than most.

Edit - Not sure the artists were involved in most cases. I think it was usually his own words sometimes taken from the songs/albums title or subject matter, or relating to the artist in some way......but not always.

The man himself -

Edited March 2, 2013 by tiberius

[Ian Dewhirst]

I'm not sure he meant UK records, I just used George Peckhams work as a good example of what was possible. There are tons of examples of his handy work......I guess you'll have seen more than most.

Edit - Not sure the artists were involved in most cases. I think it was usually his own words sometimes taken from the songs/albums title or subject matter, or relating to the artist in some way......but not always.

The man himself -

I used Porky's on every Mastercuts album I released. The "Porky's Prime Cut" signature was always written onto the lacquer by either Porky or Dennis, right before they were sent off to the pressing plant. Their mastering was fantastic. They had a secret weapon in there with the particular version of a mixing desk they owned!

Ian D

[Pete S]

I'm not sure he meant UK records, I just used George Peckhams work as a good example of what was possible. There are tons of examples of his handy work......I guess you'll have seen more than most.

Edit - Not sure the artists were involved in most cases. I think it was usually his own words sometimes taken from the songs/albums title or subject matter, or relating to the artist in some way......but not always.

No I wasn't referring to Porkys, I know he did thousands (they were signed Peko or Pecko to start with for some reason, 72-73, I remember scratching that onto every one of my singles in 1973/74 so that they couldn't be nicked at parties!)

[Len]

I'm not sure he meant UK records, I just used George Peckhams work as a good example of what was possible. There are tons of examples of his handy work......I guess you'll have seen more than most.

Edit - Not sure the artists were involved in most cases. I think it was usually his own words sometimes taken from the songs/albums title or subject matter, or relating to the artist in some way......but not always.

The man himself -

 

What a lovely sentiment he makes at the very end with ref people should make records for the love of music and to give others pleasure, if there's any money to be made - well that's a bonus.

 

Great stuff.

 

Len  

 

 

[Sebastian]

.they must have taken skill to do these on every record they pressed and it must have been mega boring too.

Just thought I'd highlight the the writing in the run-out groove that you mention was written/etched ONCE onto the lacquer/mother stamper that was used to press the records.