- European Union
Since the formation of the E.U. in 1993, many of the compact discs that
are made for the European market are listed as being made by the E.U.,
and are distributed in each of the E.U. states. As a result, many
European-made CDs no longer have specific country designations on them,
and instead may say "Made in the EU," and / or "Printed in the EU" on
them. Nevertheless, they are produced in the EU and most of the time, the matrix expresses where the CD comes from.
Pressing History:
1994-2007: Most Pink Floyd CDs that were made for the E.U.
were manufactured in either the Netherlands (EMI Compact Disc BV) or
the U.K. (EMI Swindon), so designations such as "Made in Holland," or
"Made in the U.K. " are found on many E.U. releases. But most of the
time only Made in EU, Made in the EU can be found, without naming the
explicite country. In 2002, the plant in Swindon (EMI SWINDON) closed.
The CDs are realesed in the Netherlands (EMI UDEN) or in Italy.
2007: MediaMotion Manufacturing, aka EMI Uden, began manufacturing EMI releases.
2008: MediaMotion Manufacturing was closed in February of 2008. CD manufacturing for EMI was taken over by MediaMotion Disk, also located in Uden, Netherlands.
2009: MediaMotion Disk manufacturing was closed on December 31, 2008. CD manufacturing was moved to EMI Operations Italy S.p.A. in Caronno Pertusella, near Milan, Italy.
2011: TAKT in Boleslaw, Poland now presses EMI CD releases for the EU.
2014-2016 : In 2014, Parlophone Records Ltd., A Warner Music Group Company, took over the Pink Floyd catalog, and began selling the 2011 European Union CD releases in Europe (Italy and Poland). These issues were the same as the EMI Records Ltd. E.U. issues. New Pink Floyd issues pressed from 2014 on (from The Endless River on) are produced in Poland and in Germany (Warner Music Company plant in Europe). TAKT continued the pressing of Pink Floyd CDs till its closure in 2016. Optimal Media Production GmbH took the production over.
2016 - 2024 : All Pink Floyd Records, under licence to Warner Music Company, are pressed by Optimal Media Production GmbH in Germany.
Austria
In July 1987, Sony Corporation opened a CD pressing plant in Salzburg, Austria. Known as DADC Austria (this can be found in the matrix number of each one of the CDs made in that plant), this pressing plant was used to press Pink Floyd CDs for CBS Records, as well as EMI Records. These pressings were only made for a few years, from approximately 1987-1993.
Germany
Polygram - The first CD pressing plant in West Germany was owned by Polygram Records. This plant, which opened in August 1982, was located in Hannover, West Germany. CDs that were pressed by Polygram had "Made in West Germany by Polygram" on the label. By 1984, the Polygram plant was the largest CD pressing plant in the world, pressing apx. 80,000 discs a day, but there were no Pink Floyd CDs of this type.
BMG Sonopress - The earliest Pink Floyd CDs pressed in Europe were pressed in West Germany by BMG Sonopress in 1985-1986. These early West German CDs have distinctive black Harvest labels (Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Wish You Were Here, and Meddle). Although the black Harvest label issues are the earliest Sonopress pressings, Sonopress also pressed some of the very first copies of other Pink Floyd compact discs. For example, the West German Sonopress pressing of the Pink Floyd CD. "Obscured by Clouds" is believed to be the first compact disc pressings of that particular Pink Floyd album anywhere in the world.
Philips DuPont Optical - Polygram transferred control of their West German pressing plant to a joint venture between Philips and DuPont Optical that was formed in October 1985 to manufacture compact discs. This company, Philips DuPont Optical or "PDO," was used to press CDs for a number of companies, one of which was EMI/Harvest Records, and in 1986, PDO began pressing the Pink Floyd CD Ummagumma. One distinguishing feature of these early PDO pressed discs is that there is no clear plastic hub around the centre hole. The aluminium disc goes all the way to the centre hole. Pink Floyd CDs that were pressed at the Hannover plant and have PDO in the matrix were made between 1986-1991.
In the late 1980s, PDO opened additional CD pressing plants in the U.S. (Kings Mt., North Carolina), as well as in the U.K. (Blackburn, Lancashire), and in France. The PDO plant in North carolina pressed some copies of the Dark Side of the Moon CD in late 1986/early 1987.
In the early 1990s, PDO was dissolved and control of the pressing plants was transferred back to Polygram, which then became Polygram Music Distribution Co. (PMDC). PMDC has since sold their German and U.S. plants.
FRANCE
France has a small CD pressing plant in Averton (in the West of France), that produces CDs for French bands, as well as (mostly) limited promotional issues for EMI France / Pathé Marconi. This plant, called MPO, is a branch of the MPO Company (which also has plants in the U.S.A. and Canada).
Italy
Compact Disc Pressing History (EMI Records)
On April 1, 1999, EMI Italy split off its CD manufacturing and distribution into a new unit, called EMI Operations Italy Spa. EMI's CD plant and distribution centre is located at Caronno Pertusella on the outskirts of Milan.
After closing of MediaMotion in Holland all Pink Floyd CDs (from 2009 and on) for the European market are being pressed in Italy, by the ims group, according to the contract between EMI and IMS Manufacturing
Counterfeit European Compact Discs
In the mid-1990s, when the remastered Pink Floyd CDs were reissued, counterfeits of these CDs appeared in Europe. These illegal CDs are believed to have been pressed in Russia, and look almost identical to the real Italian ones, with "Printed in Italy" in the bar code box on the back covers. Most of them have the original matrix numbers. However, counterfeit CDs can be identified in a number of ways. Some of them have the album title added to the cover (when the original does not have a title on the cover). All of them have booklets that are reduced in size (for example, the Atom Heart Mother counterfeit CD has an 8-page booklet, while the official releases have a 24 page booklet). Also, some counterfeits have a rear cover with art printed on both sides so that album art can be seen through a clear plastic tray inside the CD.
Japan
The very first Pink Floyd CD pressed anywhere in the world was Wish You Were Here (35DP 4). This CD was pressed in Japan by CBS / Sony Records and released in October 1982.
Manufacturing Information - Record
Companies
CBS
/ Sony Records :
1982 /1983 - Sony Records opened the first commercial compact disc
pressing plant in April 1982 in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Production of
commercial CDs got underway in mid-September, and the compact disc was launched
in Japan on October 1, 1982. Since it was the only compact disc manufacturing
plant operating at the time, all the early Pink Floyd CDs released in Japan
were pressed by Sony, including some that were made by Sony for Toshiba-EMI
Records. The earliest Pink Floyd compact disc Japanese pressings were Wish You
Were Here (October 1982), Dark Side of the Moon (May 1983), and The Final Cut
(1983). Those were sold all over the world and not only in Japan.
Toshiba-EMI
Records
1986 -
Toshiba-EMI Records began manufacturing their own Pink Floyd compact discs in
Japan in 1986. These Toshiba-EMI pressings can be identified by a
"TO" in the matrix portion of the disc.
2005 -
Toshiba-EMI sold it's CD pressing plant in Gotemba (located 100km southwest of
Tokyo) on December 26, 2005 to Memory Tech Corporation, who then took over the
manufacturing of CDs for EMI in Japan.
2007 - The
business partnership in Japan between Toshiba Corporation and EMI Records,
which began in 1971, ended in the summer of 2007 when Britain's EMI Group plc
purchased Toshiba's share of Toshiba-EMI Limited (TOEMI).
Timeline
October
1982 - 35DP (Wish
You Were Here CD issued by CBS / Sony)
May
1983 - CP35 (Dark
Side of the Moon issued by EMI-Toshiba Records)
1985 - CP32 & 32DP (catalog number
prefix changes)
1986 - bar codes added to obi strips,
and Sony began using +++++ in their matrix codes
Holland
Compact Disc Pressing History (EMI Records)
1983 - CDs that were made in
Japan for export were sold in Europe through the Netherlands. These Japanese CDs had black
labels with silver text.
2002 - In March, EMI announced that it was closing its CD manufacturing plant in Swindon, England and was switching its CD manufacturing for Europe to its Uden, Netherlands plant.
2004 - In March, MediaMotion, a member of the Dutch ECF Group, purchased EMI's Uden manufacturing facility and entered into a long term agreement to exclusively manufacture all of EMI's CDs for the European market.
2009
- At the end of 2008 the manufacturing of the CDs was moved to Italy.
Pressings of MediaMotion Discs ceased and the pressing plant closed at
the end of 2008. MediaMotion’s Logistics closed in January 2009.
Poland
Polish TAKT Sp. z o.o. was established in 1991. The central facility in Bolesław, Poland produces all CD and DVD formats with the monthly capacity of 16 million CDs and over 8 million DVDs. EMI Germany produced a small series of the 2006 re-mastered albums David Gilmour and About the Face in the Polish pressing plant Takt. In 2010 the CD "An Introduction to Syd Barrett" was also pressed by TAKT.
From now (2011) on, all EMI CDs are made in Poland (for the Discovery box, Immersion boxes etc ...)
U.K
Compact Disc Pressing History (EMI Records)
2008: MediaMotion Manufacturing was closed in February of 2008. CD manufacturing for EMI was taken over by MediaMotion Disk, also located in Uden, Netherlands.
2009: MediaMotion Disk manufacturing was closed on December 31, 2008. CD manufacturing was moved to EMI Operations Italy S.p.A. in Caronno Pertusella, near Milan, Italy.
2011: TAKT in Boleslaw, Poland now presses EMI CD releases for the EU.
2013: EMI is sold. Pink Floyd being a part of the Parlophone Records Ltd, has been taken over by the Warner Music Group Company.
Label Codes
Label codes are the 4 digit numbers that are
found on the labels on most CDs. These label codes are designated by the IFPI
to indicate the company that owns the rights to the property on the CD.
Some of
the relevant registered label codes are :
LC 0149 - CBS Records
LC 0162 - Columbia Records
LC 0542 - EMI Records
LC 1305 - Harvest Records
LC 1331 - EMIDisc Records
Matrix Information
Matrix information is the letters and
numbers printed on a compact disc in the mirror band near the centre hole of a
compact disc. (matrix information may be read either from the top side, or
label side, of a CD, or from the bottom side of the CD). The matrix information
tells a lot about the pressing history of the particular CD. The following
matrix information can be found on many U.K. compact discs:
- Manufacturer's Work Order Number - This often is in the form of a bar code.
- Mastering Information - On some CDs there are three numbers separated by dashes, such as 2-2-1. These numbers refer to the father, the mother, and the stamper. In the example given, 2-2-1, the first 2 indicates that the CD was made from the second father, the second 2 indicates that the CD was made from the second mother made from the second father, and the third number, 1, means that the CD was made using the first stamper made from the second mother (The stamper is what is installed in the mold machine).
- Pressing Plant - Pressing plant information is often found in the matrix. For example, the words "MASTERED BY NIMBUS" in a matrix indicate that the CD was mastered and pressed at the Nimbus Records CD pressing plant.
- SID Codes - On many CDs, there are two Source Identification Codes (SID Code) in the matrix band. The SID Code, which was introduced in April 1994, consists of the letters IFPI (which stands for the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), followed by 4 or 5 additional characters. There are two different SID Codes found on CDs:
- Mastering Code - The first SID Code in the
matrix band is the "Mastering Code." The Mastering Code begins
with "IFPI" followed by a sequence of digits beginning with the
letter L, followed by two numbers that indicate the pressing plant, and
then 1 or 2 additional digits that indicate the Laser Beam Recorder (LBR)
that cut the glass master. The Mastering Code is put on the CD at the
time the glass master of the CD is cut by the LBR, and it appears on all
subsequent pressings of the CD sourced from that specific glass master.
- Mould Code - The second Sid Code on a CD is the
"Mould Code." The Mould Code begins with "ifpi"
followed by two digits that indicate the specific pressing plant that
pressed the disc, and two or three additional digits that indicate the
unique mould or stamper that pressed the CD.
SID Mould Codes include:
14 - EMI Records pressing plant, Greenbridge, Swindon, England
15 - EMI Compact Disc BV pressing plant, Uden, Netherlands
25 - EMI Operations Italy S.p.A.
45 - Sony Records pressing plant, Japan
94 - Sony DADC, Austria AG
9R - TAKT, Boleslaw, Poland
AAH - MediaMotion Manufacturing BV, Uden, Netherlands
AAJ - MediaMotion Disk, Uden, Netherlands
Total Time: The total time for each CD is provided in minutes and seconds. Total time readings can vary by a second or two depending on the CD player or software program used to do the readings.
Track Peak Levels: The peak volume levels for each song on a particular CD release have been noted in this discography. These peak volume levels are measured as percentages, with the maximum possible peak level being 100%. CDs that have differing peak levels from one issue to the next reveal that the CDs were made from different masters.