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Phonodisc GmbH

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German manufacturing and distribution company. [b]Operating under this name from January 1973 until February 1978[/b]. Operated a vinyl mastering / pressing and cassette duplication plant in Hannover (Werk I - Podbielskistrasse) and a second 7" vinyl manufacturing plant in Langenhagen (Werk II - Klusriede). Werk I pressed all 10" and 12" records, while Werk II mastered all records and injection moulded all 7" records. Despite located on the same premises, the recording and the manufacturing lines were strictly separated. The Recording Department, also called "Recording Centre", was responsible for the recording, mastering and cutting of lacquers. The manufacturing department was responsible for galvanization, pressing, label and cover printing, as well as the cassette manufacturing. Phonodisc GmbH vinyl cuttings have a 320 (or 3 20) in the matrix. Please use Lacquer Cut At - Phonodisc GmbH for releases before 1978. See [l=PRS Hannover] for later releases. Phonodisc GmbH serviced the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft/Phonogram GmbH and all its subsidiaries as well as Polydor International. Phonodisc was a full service provider for the German market, i.e. the records were usually also pressed in Hannover ("Made in Germany", German copyright text, GEMA). However, exceptions exist and therefore the plant should not be credited if one of the three characteristics is missing. All injection moulded 7"s from the Polydor and Philips families of labels and carrying a Made in Germany, were manufactured in Langenhagen. LP and 12" pressings from this company always show a small diameter pressing ring, as introduced in summer 1972 by the predecessor, [l=Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft Pressing Plant]. So, sometimes it is difficult to differentiate pressings from late 1972 from those released in 1973. The same problem appears with the different pressing plant credit PRS Hannover in early 1978. It often is not possible to distinguish whether the pressing was done by the one or the other company. In these cases please explain your decision in the release notes or add the information just to the release notes. The small diameter pressing rings had different appearances. The version with the 3 dots was thought to only appear in between 1973 and 1975, however also versions with a Deutsche Grammophon, Hamburg credit at the bottom of the labels are known to show this pressing ring variation. Phonodisc continued what was started by the predecessor [l=Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft Pressing Plant] for contract pressings. The custom LP pressings for Metronome Records GmbH can be identified by the code string 0664.### that was used from 1972 until the end of 1975 (but also on later reissues of course). Thereafter the code changed to 0701.### until late 1977. Also the early numbers of the string 0702.### still belong to Phonodisc GmbH, but sometimes it is difficult to distinguish from the later PRS Hannover versions. For the LPs of BASF orders a similar string was used: 0666.###. These codes are not to be added as LCCN numbers. Another unique characteristic for this plant are the sideways arranged stamper letters, e.g. ᴒ. Usually, one or two letters, rotated 90°: A=1, B=2, C=3, ..., Z=26, AA=27, ..., AG=34, etc. Not to be confused: S1 and S2 are side identifiers, but S1=2 or S1=3 etc. stand for the number of transfers to tape, so S1 (without =) means original master tape, and S1=2 stands for a tape copy. In February 1978 renamed to [l339260]. Previously named [l463701].