Here's some terms and definitions....I posted them on the soul talk mailing list some years ago and on the RSF....can't remember who I got them off???
TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
These are terms and definitions that are common and not so common to the
record collecting and record selling community.
Styrene (properly, Polystyrene).
Hard, relatively inflexible plastic used to press records, mainly 7-inch
singles, mainly using the Injection Moulding process. The material is heated
to a liquid form and is then squirted or injected into the closed stampers
in the press. This requires that the labels be either glued or painted on
after the record leaves the press. The cost savings to the manufacturer
comes from the extended life of the stampers because of the lack of a
heating cycle to the stampers. The material can also be reused without
noticeable change to its moulding properties. Styrene records will therefore
usually have very quiet surfaces when found in an UNPLAYED Mint condition,
but unfortunately they will wear to a noisy condition rapidly, especially if
played with a bad stylus or an improperly tracking tonearm. They also are
more prone to Cue Burn. The Columbia Records Pittman, New Jersey pressing
plant was once the major source of Injection Moulded Styrene pressings, and
pressings from this plant are found on MANY small labels. Look for the
glued-on labels. Painted-on labels can be found on records from the
Amy/Bell/Mala group.
Vinyl (properly Polyvinyl Chloride).
Relatively flexible material used since the early 1930s to make
non-breakable records. Its fumes are an acknowledged carcinogen, so don't
breathe in deeply when you have your next holy burning of Beatles or
back-masked devil-worship records. :-) Usually pressed by Compression
Moulding which allows the label to be an integral part of the pressing
itself. This process also requires that there be extra material which spills
out the sides of the press, therefore this extra material is routinely
ground up and re-used. Because vinyl does not re-heat and re-cool to a
smooth, glossy surface, the excessive use of re-grind mixed in with Virgin
Vinyl can account for the inherently noisy surface of even unplayed Mint
examples of the cheap pressings that some record companies used. Noise can
be seen AND HEARD by looking at and/or playing the un-grooved surface of the
lead-in and lead-out areas. If this area looks or sounds grainy, then the
grooves will also have some of this grainy background sound. The stampers
used for the compression moulding process will start to break down after
only 1,000 pressings because they are forced to expand and contract when
heated by steam at the start of the pressing cycle and then cooled to
solidify the record. Some companies routinely overused their stampers for
their pop record series.
Dynaflex.
Ultra-thin pressings of high-grade Virgin Vinyl introduced by RCA Victor in
late 1969. Although considered crap by most collectors because they do not
seem flat when held, they actually have much quieter surfaces then most of
the popular records pressed by RCA in the mid-to-late-1960s due to the
extraordinarily high percentage of Re-grind Vinyl used in all but it's Red
Seal, Vintage Series, and Original Cast pressings. Dynaflex was also less
prone to breakage and permanent warp-age in shipment. Its lighter weight
reduced shipping costs and allowed for the use of a higher grade of Vinyl
because less material was required. They were supposed to lie flat on the
turntable due to their own weight, but RCA forgot that many people had
changers with 8-inch turntables!
Dynagroove.
Record cutting system introduced by RCA Victor in 1962 that supposedly
reduced tracking distortion by computer controlling cutting characteristics
to overcome the imagined faults of playback equipment. Considered a disaster
by everyone except the New York Times writer Hans Fantel who wrote the blurb
inserted in all of the early pressings, it brought the golden age of RCA
Victor Living Stereo to a screeching halt. Because there is a possibility
that this system was used on later re-masterings of the early Living Stereo
records, collectors try to obtain only early pressings of these
masterpieces--usually called Shaded Dogs. The words Stereo-Orthophonic
are on the record label and sometimes the cover of the good Living Stereo
albums.
Acetate/Lacquer
Is usually a reference cut that is made on ultra high-grade methyl cellulose
sprayed onto thick aluminium discs. Reference acetates are primarily to make
certain the record will sound somewhat like the tape. Often they are also
made to allow a club or radio disc-jockey to play the music on turntables
before it has been pressed as a normal record. Acetate is a misnomer. It is
actually a Lacquer, but since so many people call these acetates, both will
be used here.
Alternate take
At a recording session more than one take (recorded version) may be kept on
file for future use. What is considered the best take at the time is usually
used for the commercial release. Sometimes a different take is used for a
compilation album or in really rare cases the first recording that was
issued is pulled and an alternate take from the same session is used. When
this happens a lot of people will think there is something different about
that song. This was done with a 50s record from Whirling Disc records. It
was Whirling Disc 107 and the songs were I Really Love You/What Do You
Do by The Channels. After a couple of months in release, Bobby Robinson
(the owner) for whatever reason, used two different takes (one for each
side) from the same session for subsequent releases. Anyone that has heard
both records (I have both) can tell the difference between the two in a
minute. The most famous of all is the Bob Dylan, Positively 4th Street 45
on Columbia. For some reason, some copies of the commercial 45 were issued
with a version of Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window instead of Positively 4th Street The funny thing is that Dylan's next release on
Columbia Can you please crawl out your window was a different take than
the mistake on Positively....
Test pressing
A test pressing is sent back to the cutting engineer, producer and
sometimes the performer, to confirm that the pressings will sound as
intended. Most TP's are really just early pressings, frequently without
artwork of any kind, and they are serviced to whoever as early promo's. In
many cases this was done to rush the record out to radio stations to try and
get immediate airplay before the complete label could be finished.
Original Label
This refers to the company that first issued a certain record. A lot of
times small labels will have a record that will become very popular and they
cannot meet the sales demand. In a lot of cases the master is sold or leased
to a larger record company and the record is released on the larger
company's own label. Also look at the small label examples under Reissue.
All of these fall under Original label.
First Pressing
The way the record first came out on a certain label. Examples: The first
pressing of Sixty Minute Man by the Dominoes came out on Gold top Federal.
The first pressing of Church Bells May Ring by the Willows came out as
Church Bells Are Ringing and all that was changed a few weeks later was
the title. The label design and color remained the same.
Reissue
There are several types of reissues. There is the budget reissue. This falls
into the K-tell, design, forum and etc labels. These are discount labels
that got the permission to use the original master to issue songs (usually
hits) later as discount compilations. Then there is the reissue that is just
a later issue that isn't a budget item. Labels that can fit here are:
Collectibles, Eric, Rhino and etc. And then there is the other type reissue.
A record that was originally pressed on a small label (see Original label
above) and then was picked up by a major or by a big independent. Examples:
Question Mark & The Mysterians--96 Tears. First recorded for Pa-go-go. It
was picked up by Cameo/Parkway and reissued on Cameo. At The Hop, Danny
and the Juniors--original on Singular with a count-off intro. It was then
picked up by ABC Paramount and the intro was deleted. Short Shorts, the
Royal Teens--original on Power but the hit was on ABC Paramount after ABC
picked it up from Power and reissued it on their own label. The Motley
Crue's first album originally came out on Leather and then was picked up and
reissued on Elektra.
Re-release
A record that was out of print for a certain period of time and the original
company decides to put it back into their catalog of available items.
Re-number
Taking a currently available record and re-numbering it.
Re-recording
A song that was originally recorded by an artist for one label and then was
re-recorded and issued later by another label (Sometimes the original label
will record the same song by the artist years later). Examples: Roy Orbison
and the Teen Kings. Ooby Dooby--originally recorded for Je-wel records and
was later re-recorded and issued on Sun. Penguins--Earth Angel (Will You Be
Mine)--Originally recorded by the Penguins and released by Dootone records.
Re-recorded and issued later on Mercury.
Revision/RE
To RCA Victor it means that something was revised, a credit was changed, the
layout of the cover was changed, something simple like that. Sometimes the
first pressings of the record has an RE. They did their changes even before
issuing and felt it important enough to note it. You see things like this in
the RCA files. This is the meaning of RE on the back of some of the RCA
albums.
Cover
The same song issued by another artist at about the same time as the first
record. This was done to cover up or take away sales from the first
record. Timeliness was important in issuing cover records. Many times in
the 50s the cover record was by a white artist covering a song by a
black artist or black group. If the white artist or group was successful,
the black artists record either died, or did not sell very well outside R &
B circles. Examples: are: Sh-boom The Chords covered by the Crew-Cuts. The
Crew-Cuts far outsold The Chords. Wheel Of Fortune by the Cardinals was
covered by Kay Starr. Starr far outsold the Cardinals. Remake--A song done
later-on by another artist. This was not timely enough to be called a
cover record. Examples: Hound Dog Big Mama Thornton remade a few years
later by Elvis. The Train Kept a-Rollin', orignally by Tiny Bradshaw.
Remade a few years later by the Rock'n Roll Trio. Remade again in the mid
60s by The Yardbirds. Louie Louie Richard Berry in the mid 50s. Remade by
the Kingsmen in the early 60s and then by 9 million other artists.
Master Numbers/Matrix Numbers.
These terms (interchangeable) are used for the side identification number
for each side of a record. It is usually printed on the label and is also in
the dead wax of a record. I think it was also the catalog number given to
each recorded song of a record label. RCA, Columbia and Epic had special
alphabetical prefixes for their master numbers. Dated master numbers. Some
labels for a time put a date at the beginning of their master numbers. This
would show the releases for that year. The next year would start at the
bottom of the numbering sequence. Labels that did this were: VJ, Tollie,
M-G-M and Cub. RCA also did this from the late 40 to the early 60s. They
used a letter and a number to denote the date. D8 would be 1948; E4 was
1954. In 1956 they changed again with F being 1956, G being 1957 and H being
1958. And they skipped I for 1959.
Machine Stamped
A lot of labels used perfect die cut letters to put the master numbers and
pressing numbers in the dead wax of their records. This is different than
the hand written numbers that some companies used. In a lot of cases this
can be used to a certain degree of certainty in determining a counterfeit
with U. S. pressings. Some companies that had machine stamped master numbers
were: RCA, Decca, Coral, Brunswick, Capitol. Columbia, Liberty, Laurie and
Rust. Atlantic had the numbers usually hand written, but somewhere in the
dead wax had AT---machine stamped, but once in awhile it was handwritten.
Lead-in groove.
This is the silent area at the beginning of a record.
Cue-up area
This is the area where a disc jockey cues up the record so that the music
will start as soon as he starts the turntable. With the stylus on the record
the disc jockey moves the record back and forth over the same area to get
the desired start-up point.
Cueing scratch/Cue burn
A common phenomenon with 45s that were cued-up by disc jockeys. In most
cases there is either a hiss or a loss of fidelity in the first few
revolutions of the record. Dead Wax--Also known as the trail-off groove and
lead-out area. Also known as the run-off area. The area between the end of
the recording and the label.
Delta number
In July of 1954 an independent pressing plant in Los Angeles, called Monarch
Records started putting a Delta (triangle) with a number next to it in the
dead wax of each record that they pressed. This is the way that they kept
track of the order of items pressed. Each side had it's own Delta number.
Repaired Seam
In a lot of cases the edge seam on album covers, EP covers and picture
sleeves become split. This is a designation to show that this has been
repaired. Sometimes this is done by gluing the ends together and sometimes
tape is used to close the split.
Colored wax (this is actually colored vinyl)
Several companies in the early 50s used color vinyl on some of their 45
issues. These are normally a lot rarer and more sought after than the normal
black vinyl release. Some examples: King--Blueish green for its R&B series,
and red vinylfor its maroon label country series. Federal--Same blueish
green vinyl as King Chance--Red vinyl Vee Jay--Red vinyl Gotham--Pink vinyl
Jubilee--Red vinyl Imperial--purple vinyl And the most famous of the 60s
labels to issue white label promos on colored wax. Columbia with the
following known colors: Red vinyl, green vinyl, blue vinyl, yellow vinyl and
purple vinyl.
Timing strip
This is usually found glued to the front of promo copies of albums. This
shows the song titles and playing times for each cut on the album. These can
take up a small space at the bottom of an album or can take up to half of
the album cover at the bottom. Gatefold--An album cover, EP cover or Picture
sleeve that opens up like a gate. Sometimes has records that fit in both
open ends.
Vinyl Junkie
A record collector that has the collecting fever so bad that nothing else
really matters. He/she plans his/her vacations around looking for records.
He/she spends his/her weekends going to the usual swap meets, garage sales
and record meets. He/she spends hours on the phone and internet with fellow
record collectors.
Lunched
A term used by the old time R & B collectors to denote a record that is so
beat up that it has no redeeming value. This came from seeing a record that
was so trashed that you thought somebody tried eating it for lunch.
Break-in record
A record that usually has a story line and has a lot of segments of
different records mixed in. In most cases the records used are current of
that time period. This form was first popularlized by Bill Buchanan and
Dicke Goodman otherwise known as Buchanan and Goodman.
Answer record
A record that is usually a response to another record, usually a hit. This
is usually done by a different artist, not by the original artist. Examples:
Duke of Earl, Duchess of Earl, Mother in-law---Son in-law Oh Carol;Oh Neil,A Boy Named Sue;A Girl Named Johnny Cash and so on.
Kiddie Record
These were usually records that were put out for children by the big labels.
In the early 50s they came out in both 45 and 78 form. RCA had the Little
Nipper Series. Decca had theChildren's Series and Capitol had the Bozo Approved series and the Record Reader series where you followed along in
a booklet attached between the covers, and read along while the record
played. RCA also had versions of this.
Bootleg
(Bootleg is also incorrectly and improperly used as a synonym of counterfeit
and reproduction). An illegal pressing of a record that was recorded at a
concert and does not have the band or record company's permission to do so.
Can also be used to describe illegally pressed music from a company's vaults
that was acquired without the record company's permission. The term was also
used with 50s and 60s 45 rpm collectors as exact reproduction and forgery.
Counterfeit
Aalso known as bootleg, also known as a repro--(Bootleg and Repro are
commonly used but wrongly used terms)This is a record that was illegally
remade to look and sound like the original issue. This is usually done by
making a tape of a regular pressing of an original copy of one of the
records and then pressing this up on vinyl. Most of these types are made up
to look exactly like the original with the same artwork and label design.
The counterfeiter does not show any distinction between his forgery and the
original (Once in awhile the bootlegger will make a subtle change to the
label to let collectors know his record is in fact a counterfeit--Henry
Mariano used to scratch in the current year into the deadwax of his
counterfeits).
Repro
Reproduction--Same as Counterfeit. An exact copy of a record done without
permission of the original record company or without permission of the owner
of the master recording.
Radio Spots
Promotional Adverstising records that went to radio stations. These were
mainly records that had a few one minute (or so) spots plugging a product or
even a current movie.
Studio Tracks
Film or cast music which has been re-recorded [i. e. not an original
soundtrack taken directly from the film/cast, even if featuring the same
cast, musicians or orchestra
