A Short Film About How Records Are Made

[musicradio77]

If you are a Disney collectable of vinyl, you should check out this 20-minute film on "Command Performance". This was not made by, it was made by RCA where Milton Cross discuss how records are made, produced and manufactured. I have a collection of Disney LP's from both Disneyland and Buena Vista labels. Back in 1956 and right through the 70's, all the Disney LP's were pressed and of course it was pressed on hard wax and it manufactured by numerous pressing plants all around every state like New York, Los Angeles and other cities where the pressing plant took place. If you look up on a number of old Disneyland and Buena Vista LP's, the dead wax markings appeared on the tail end of a record. It had a lot of writing on it. Take for example like "Snow White", and the master number was "DQ-1201-A" and "DQ-1201-B" or the "Fantasia" soundtrack as I mentioned on another thread, the master number on the wax was "STER-101-A", "STER-101-B" and "STER-101-C". There was also a date on numerous Disney albums where it was mastered for example "Fantasia" was "2-12-71". That was the date when the master was made. They were put out by other plants like "Audio Matrix" out in New York City, "LW" where the initials used put out by a pressing plant and the initials "SS-BR". I don't really know what "SS-BR" stands for on numerous Disneyland & Buena Vista albums. You'll get the details after you watch this film. Enjoy!

"Command Performance" - How Records are Produced and Manufactured

If you have any questions, please post.

 

[Squalls Ahead]

Thanks for the information and the link musicradio77!

I downloaded the movie -- very interesting!

 

[Joseph]

I think "SS-BR" meant Sunset Sound, where most of the Disney Records were made, and the BR was the name of the engineer, like Bruce Botnick or somebody.

 

[musicradio77]

I think "SS-BR" meant Sunset Sound, where most of the Disney Records were made, and the BR was the name of the engineer, like Bruce Botnick or somebody.

You mean Brian Ross, the engineer at Sunset Sound? I've seen the "SS-BR" abbreviation used on numerous Disney LP's had written in dead wax. Sunset Sound was located in Hollywood, CA. But on the other hand, most of the Disneyland and Buena Vista albums are mastered at Audio Matrix in New York City. The labels were the same but the text are different. Here is an example from Side 2 of the "Alice in Wonderland" LP.

 

[musicradio77]

And here is another one from the same album with the label. You'll see the difference. But the text are the same, but it was a different font, but it has a LONG (33 1/3) PLAY on it without using a primeter where it says "Recorded by Walt Disney Music Co."

 

[narkspud]

I've seen the "SS-BR" abbreviation used on numerous Disney LP's had written in dead wax. Sunset Sound was located in Hollywood, CA. But on the other hand, most of the Disneyland and Buena Vista albums are mastered at Audio Matrix in New York City.

I think it depends largely on which coast you were nearest. It was pretty common for labels to use different manufacturers and distributors for different parts of the country. I've found the Audio Matrix versions to be almost nonexistent in California, but they were everywhere when I lived in North Carolina.

I doubt there are many significant-sized US plants Disney DIDN'T use at one time or another. Among the factories whose work I know on sight, I've seen Disney labels use Bestway, Keel, Capitol, Monarch, Polygram, CBS and RCA. (Get a nice stack of copies of just two titles--the Mary Poppins soundtrack, and Mickey Mouse Disco--and you'll probably have specimens from nearly every factory on that list!)

Someone with more time on their hands than I have can probably solve all these mysteries by rooting around for a few hours (days?) in the discussion boards of this site: http://www.stevehoffman.tv . Steve Hoffman is one of the best mastering engineers ever was, and his boards attract audiophiles from the world over. Some of them are pressing geeks who like to discuss how to ID record pressing plants.

 

[musicradio77]

I think it depends largely on which coast you were nearest. It was pretty common for labels to use different manufacturers and distributors for different parts of the country. I've found the Audio Matrix versions to be almost nonexistent in California, but they were everywhere when I lived in North Carolina.

I doubt there are many significant-sized US plants Disney DIDN'T use at one time or another. Among the factories whose work I know on sight, I've seen Disney labels use Bestway, Keel, Capitol, Monarch, Polygram, CBS and RCA. (Get a nice stack of copies of just two titles--the Mary Poppins soundtrack, and Mickey Mouse Disco--and you'll probably have specimens from nearly every factory on that list!)

I know it's a mystery. I have the 3-LP set of "Fantasia", they used the code on the dead wax that says "22". All Disney LP's have the number "22" written in wax since someone wrote it or stamped it at the mastering plant. The number "22" as a code when it was made by Allied Record Co. in Los Angeles. The number "44" in dead wax is from "Bedknobs & Broomsticks" LP. I knew that the dead wax had a code there. Maybe Steve Hoffman would know. He's a big expert on mastering and he has a big collection of dead wax used on albums.