CONTEMPORARY RECORDS
Pressing Plants & Pressing History.
“Vinyl pressing plant”
is a complicated term. Often these plants, which define themselves and invest most their real estate in pressing, are also fully capable of additional upstream steps, namely mastering and/or plating. As a result, the marks and inscriptions made in those earlier processes trickle down to a large subset of the LPs pressed there.
Those marks — visible in the runouts — are then deciphered by vinyl freaks (like me) as evidence of pressing plant. However, if the metal prepared by one plating facility (with that firm’s inscriptions or marks made in the runouts) is passed to a separate plant for the actual pressing run, confusion ensues.
For example, Monarch (a plating/pressing plant in the Crenshaw area of LA) stamped its MR logo into numerous Contemporary Records metal parts, all of which passed to CBS Santa Maria in 1975. CBS then used or re-plated these leftover parts for their own pressing runs. So there exist a bunch of CBS pressings with Monarch stamps in the runouts.
So, while runouts can often point to pressing plant, they often don’t. This goes doubly with the late-70s push for dedicated plating firms (like Sheffield Lab Matrix) which segregated the clean lab work of plating from the “heavy industry”¹ of pressing.
We need a better indicator
of where a record was actually pressed, which mean means narrowing evidence down to the actual moment of pressing, and finding the idiosyncratic characteristics — if any — that those plants left behind in that moment.
If this sounds complicated, it’s not— primarily I’m talking about pressing rings, the circular indentations left in the center label from the dies which hold the metal stampers in the press. A single plant could use multiple sizes or styles of die, but with the volume of LPs each plant put out daily for years on end, patterns are pretty easy to find.
And those patterns are important, because 1) pressing ring is usually the only identifier which points to the actual moment of pressing and 2) pressing is generally the last step before a delivery goes to market. So, for the purpose of timing a specific record you hold in your hands, no piece of data is more consistently powerful than the pressing ring.
Handy here is Tom Skipper’s guide to LP pressing rings, the most complete and clear repository of this data I’ve ever encountered. Using his work alongside my own, with a few assists from other soft identifiers like vinyl formula and vinyl weight, we can establish a coherent framework around Contemporary’s pressing history.
RCA Hollywood Deep Groove
(1954 — 1970)
“Deep groove” pressing dies were a vestige of the 78rpm days. Most plants moved beyond these dies in the early-to-mid 1960s, but RCA’s plant in Hollywood continued using them into 1970. Every Contemporary Records pressing between 1955 and 1970 bears the same deep groove impression with an inner diameter of roughly 69mm.
the deep groove.
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962 WLP
1963 WLP
1964 WLP
1966 WLP
c. 1968
1969 WLP
1969 WLP
1970
WLP = White Label Promo.
WLPs were — as the story goes and logic dictates — part of the very first pressing run for any title. With the white label exclusive to that first run and also manufactured into the record (it isn’t stamped or something post-manufacture), it becomes a measurable time capsule for pressing rings and vinyl quality.
Contemporary created WLPs from 1962 to 1973. Tracing the pressing rings through these promos shows us the last Contemporary title to bear the deep groove was S7624 Outside, recorded in 1969 and released in mid-1970.
RCA Hollywood 26mm ring
(1970 — 1973)
RCA Hollywood swapped out the old deep groove dies in 1970 and in came a new type bearing a 26mm ring. They’d use exclusively these for the next six years, until the plant’s closing in 1976. Contemporary pressed with RCA until 1973, so the 26mm ring isolates a pressing in the 1970-73 timeframe.
RCA's 26mm ring, 1970-73.
Dynaflex (c. 1972-73)
RCA introduced its lightweight vinyl compound Dynaflex in the early 1970s. Pitched as a solve for several fundamental problems associated with vinyl playback, Dynaflex shaved LP weight by roughly 25 percent, achieving a per-disc mass of 80-100 grams versus the previous norm of 120-140g.
Billboard, January 30, 1971
1971 marketing language touted the supposed benefits of Dynaflex.
RCA kept Dynaflex exclusive to their plants but offered it to other labels pressing there. Or it forced it on them; it’s not clear if labels had a choice to participate or not.
RCA of course marketed Dynaflex as the new hotness, but most people hated it. Dynaflex vinyl was paperlight. It feels weird in the hands. It is not comforting to handle these disks, to play them, to clean them, or do anything with them. As reported in Billboard in 1972, “many authorities believe[d] that the change from fat LP’s to thin LP’s was a little too sudden for the public” (Hall).
So listeners turned their noses up on the initiative. Were they correct? The physical discomfort is real, but — in context — it’s hard to not see Dynaflex as an improvement. For a few years prior to this, RCA had been cutting puck costs by turning to recycled vinyl, and almost every pressing out of the plant in 1970-71 was some level of compromised by surface noise. RCA probably clocked the downturn in quality and developed Dynaflex to improve its plastic without boosting costs.
All that aside, how did this affect Contemporary? Well, it seems that RCA began running Contemporary titles on Dynaflex around 1972. So there was a year or two of 26mm-ring pressings on regular weight vinyl before the Dynaflex stuff started to appear. In some cases, though examples are few and hard to find, there were both regular weight and Dynaflex runs of the same title conducted on either side of the switch.
We can look at Contemporary’s white label promos to gauge when Dynaflex was actually adopted (insofar as contract pressings for Contemporary, at least).
1971 114g — NOT Dynaflex
1972 104g — Dynaflex.
1973 102g — Dynaflex.
Dynaflex occupied the wide range 80-100g but also spilled out above that, as seen in the S7630 and S7631 white label promos above. Identifying a Dynaflex LP is not just a question of weight, as accommodation was (seemingly) made in the press to handle these thin pucks, leaving visual evidence on the record itself.
You’ll find two indentations around the Dynaflex surface, one near the runout area and the other near the edge. These seem to give the label and edge the additional thickness needed to protect the playing surface in the “groove guard” tradition. The lighter the LP, the more sharp and dramatic these seem to appear; the pictured LP is a light one at 88 grams:
We are inferring a hard break was made from regular-weight to Dynaflex vinyl, which — based on the pressings I’ve seen and accompanying data — seems accurate if not exact.
Additionally, the indentations pressed into Dynaflex LPs eliminate the idea of hybrid runs; it’s clear that an entire pressing run would be Dynaflex, or not.
Early 1970s represses & reissues
Numerous other Contemporary titles received fresh pressing runs using new or old metal. If old, the metal likely stemmed from pre-1970 cuts, so you’ll often find deep groove pressings and 26mm ring pressings bearing the exact same runouts. In these cases, the pressing ring (and, to some extent, whether the LP is Dynaflex puck or not) is critical timing data.
128g (not Dynaflex)
98g (Dynaflex)
92g (Dynaflex)
92g (Dynaflex)
88g (Dynaflex)
Monarch Mfg. Co. 73mm ring
(1973 to 1975)
Contemporary moved its plating and pressing business to Monarch in 1973 and stayed there for less than two years. Monarch used a distinctive die which left a 73mm pressing ring which sort of “pinched” the label, leaving some convexity on both sides.
Monarch represses of RCA metal
The vast majority of Contemporary’s Monarch runs used metal originating from RCA. It’s difficult to miss the runout markings Monarch left in this metal, but to gauge if a record was actually pressed at Monarch, pressing ring is the key identifier.
CBS Santa Maria 69mm ring
(1975 to 1981)
Contemporary moved again in 1975, to Columbia’s SoCal operation in Santa Maria. This relationship would last for more than a half-decade, until CBS closed doors in late 1981. Throughout that period they pressed numerous reissues and new titles, both for Lester Koenig and John Koenig after he took the reigns.
1976
1977
1980 (S7642)
1980
1981
1981
CBS-era reissues, 1975-81
The six or seven years Contemporary spent with CBS Santa Maria saw hundreds of pressing runs, most of them for older catalog titles still in print. In 1980-81, John Koenig brought several additional titles back into print, the first of these arriving soon enough to be pressed at CBS before its closing in late 1981.
Collector confusion: Monarch vs. CBS
Monarch and CBS pressings can often be difficult to separate, for a few reasons. Their pressing rings are only 4mm different, which from hard to gauge from afar. More confusing, though, is that several mid-70s CBS runs were actually represses of Contemporary’s old metal stamped with Monarch’s logo and delta codes. CBS often left no mark of their own in the deadwax of this existing metal, so relying on runouts alone won’t do.
So, again, pressing rings show you where an LP was actually pressed. In this case, the 4mm difference is more than enough to be outside margins of error; moreover there are textural differences to the finished label:
Monarch
CBS Santa Maria
The surface finish on the two are different (which could have multiple causes), but the more reliable giveaway is the topography. The CBS label is distinctly flat with a raised outer ring, while the Monarch’s “pinched” ring creates subtle convexity on both inner and outer land. This gives the Monarch ring the illusion of width, making it look half-way like a deep groove.
A different 69:
post-1984 Fantasy/CBS pressings
After the sale of Contemporary to Fantasy in October 1984, rights to Contemporary’s old metal and materials went north to the Berkeley conglomerate, who quickly went about mining the catalog for reissue. Fantasy was a larger operation with more national tentacles, and worked for more than one pressing plant. Among those plants were a couple Columbia outposts, in Pitman, New Jersey and Carrolton, Georgia— which both used the 69mm ring we saw at Santa Maria.
Now, Fantasy-era Contemporary pressings can usually be identified by the distinctly Fantasy-ized label design. In some cases, though, old center labels were used, which could result in a Contemporary LP with 69mm ring that — if you don’t look at the runouts — looks exactly like something presses at CBS Santa Maria several years earlier.
As an example, this copy of S7643 Friday Night at the Village Vanguard. CBS pressing ring, Koenig Contemporary labels… 1984+ Fantasy Studios lacquers showing Pitman plating. Without access to the runouts, it would be very easy to mistake this as an original from 1980.
Mystery Pressing(s)… RTI?
(late 1970s…?)
A 1970s reissue run of C3552 New York Scene was pressed somewhere unknown, with a unique 1.25”/31.75mm pressing ring. This could point to a small handful of plants in the region— Alshire, RTI, Rainbo (Santa Monica), or Waddell… perhaps I’m biased, but I choose you, RTI. Yes, the RTI that’s still killing the game to this day.
This used old RCA-era metal (D5/D8) with stamps and delta codes pointing to 1974 re-plating by Monarch. A separate delivery was pressed with the Monarch 73mm ring, so I’d wager this mystery version came after the MR relationship ended in 1975.
New lacquers were cut for this title in 1979 (D6/D11 cuts, SLM Δ50). I’d say that puts a ceiling on this one… so mystery LP is from the mid-late 1970s.
I don’t know how to explain the one-off Golson LP. Whether other Contemporary LPs exist with the 1.25”/31.75mm ring, I don’t know. But I’d love to see it if you have one.
KM Records 28mm ring
(1979 new titles)
Lester Koenig left several titles unfinished at the time of his death in 1977. Most of these were later packaged by John Koenig and released in 1979 as the first new drops of his tenure. Interestingly, though the label had many titles still in print at CBS Santa Maria, he pointed this batch of five elsewhere.
These lacquers were all plated by SLM with no additional plating marks made downstream. So a 28mm pressing ring with sunken center is the only hard evidence we have, but that leaves just one candidate from the SoCal area: KM Records in Burbank.
Five titles were in this 1979 drop, and they are the only five Contemporary titles I’ve seen with the 28mm ring: S7634 Harlem Blues, S7637 Hampton Hawes at the Piano, S7639 No Limit, S7640 Beyond the Rain, and S7641 Something For Lester.
Wakefield 33mm ring & “muffin top”
(1981 — 1984)
With CBS Santa Maria closing its doors, Contemporary looked out of state for its new pressing partner, Wakefield Manufacturing in Phoenix. Pressing rings took a few forms there; most will sport a ~33.3mm center ring with an outer “muffin” or “pudding” top that reveals a diffuse, gradual slope. There was some slight variation in this outer imprint, and its diffusion makes getting a straight-on photo a bit of a battle.
Wakefield TYPE 1 pressings have a relatively wide outer slope (like 0.2” LOL) with a gradual grade that lifts from center to the outer ring of the label. TYPE 2 slopes a tad more dramatically, leaving a smaller footprint in its incline.
Wakefield type 1
Wakefield type 2
Yes, I know.
It’s a very subtle difference, okay! But it’s there.
What explains it? I’d guess it comes down to how the stamper was “coined” to grasp the center die. Both muffins are roughly centered around a 70mm diameter, so it’s possible these were just fluid variations created by the downward pressure on the stamper when being prepped/coined.
Anyway, Wakefield was the pressing plant of record for the last three new titles to come out of Contemporary under Koenig ownership: S7644 Saturday Night at the Village Vanguard, 14008 Destiny’s Dance, 14009 Solo/Quartet, and 14010 Peter Erskine.
late 1981
1982
Numerous reissues were also done in this period.
Audiophile Vinyl Compounds:
Keysor KC-600 & Vitec Quiex
The growth of the audiophile vinyl sect in the late 1970s drove development of premium vinyl compounds, such as JVC SuperVinyl out of Japan or German Teldec. Of interest to us here are two US competitors from the early 1980s: Keysor-Century’s KC-600 compound and Vitec’s Quiex. Both altered dye chemistry (among other things) to achieve a lower noise floor, so both are identifiable by a level of translucency in the final disc.
Keysor became known by partnering with A&M on several titles, whereas Vitec got some notoriety with the black-and-white “Quiex II” hype stickers affixed to some Warner LPs. (The Quiex name was resurrected by Classic Records in the 2000s using similar hype stickers.)
This all comes into play with Contemporary because Wakefield worked with both suppliers. As noted in Billboard, the plant’s business skewed towards audiophiles who demanded the best:
I’d think Wakefield offered multiple tiers and prices, leaving it up to customer to spring for the premium compounds. It’s not surprising that John Koenig would make the additional investment if given that choice; indeed, all of Contemporary’s Wakefield pressings are on some sort of translucent vinyl.
Put the Wakefield records up to the light. You’ll likely see one of two things— a strong purplish blue tint or a more opaque smokey-gray-brown:
KC-600?
Quiex?
My vague understanding is that the Keysor compound was blue-purple and the Quiex brown. At least that’s what a few confirmed pressings on these compounds suggest:
Quiex II promo copy of Dire Straits' Love Over Gold (1982)
Keysor KC-600 pressing of The Police Synchronicity (1983)
Was there a time relationship between the compounds? Did Wakefield/Contemporary switch from one compound to the other somewhere in this 1981-84 stretch? Could vinyl color become an identifier??
I don’t know. Probably. Wakefield pressings with 1982+ lacquers all seem to be on the brown compound. The handful of purpley-blue LPs I’ve encountered are all 1981-or-earlier lacquers, so maybe we can hypothesize the Keysor compound was only used early on. Not that the switch means much for the listener, methinks— both compounds are pretty damn clean.
A more comprehensive data analysis is probably needed here, though it might of limited use. We’re talking about the difference between 1981 and 1983. It really does not matter. Then again, that’s never stopped me before.
Wakefield Type 3
Types 1 and 2 cover pretty much the entire Wakefield run, but an isolated few titles show a different center ring, roughly 36mm. I’ve seen this on 3 sides across two titles: C3513 To Swing or Not to Swing and S7514 Green Leaves of Summer, both of which were reissued in the Fall of 1983, per a Contemporary insert from the period. Another release listed on that flyer, S8502 Spanish Guitar Music, sports the common 33mm ring (or at least my copy does).
The muffin top recurs here, but it’s pretty light and hard to capture.
Other pressings from the same rough time period (some of which we can isolate using SLM delta codes; see Reading Runouts Pt. 2) show the more common 33.3mm ring.
I’d guess the 36mm was just a slightly different die thrown in among the rest. Such is the inexactitude of “heavy industry.”¹
Sources
¹Europadisk Plating Company. "Record-Plating Process: The need for controlled conditions and expertise could trigger a whole new industry." Basic Disc Mastering, edited by Larry Boden, 3rd ed., 2022, Appendix U.
Skipper, Tom. “LP Pressing Rings and the Mystery of the Deep Groove.” Vinyldiscovery, 13 Apr. 2021, vinyldiscovery.blogspot.com/2018/02/lp-pressing-rings.html. Accessed 2023.
Sutherland, Sam, and Roman Kozak. “Report Pressing Outlook Solid.” Billboard, vol. 93, no. 32, Aug. 1981, pp. 1, 11, 88. Google Books.