Paramount Pressing

Canadian pressing plant in Markham, Ontario active May 1978 to late 1981. The facility had eight 12" Hamilton presses and two double cavity 7" Hamilton presses and pressed mainly for A&M Records Of Canada Limited (who had a 3-year contract for pressing), MCA Records (Canada), Phonodisc Limited, GRT Of Canada Ltd. and smaller independent labels (many from Québec). It was raided in late 1981 for counterfeiting. Releases pressed by Paramount Pressing can be identified by PARA or Para (sometimes stylized as 𝒫𝒶𝓇𝒶) in the runouts. 12" releases have a 1.25" inner ring and a 5" chamfered outer ring. It did not have lacquer cutting facilities and most releases will have identifiers for J.A.M.F., The Lacquer Channel Limited, Disques SNB Ltée., McClear Place, Frankford/Wayne Mastering Labs, Sterling Sound, and other lacquering facilities. It is believed the plant did not have electroplating facilities. Often runouts include a Cinram CR, a Quality Records Limited Q, a Gloversville ⧈-G-⧈ (on MCA releases), or a Sheffield Lab Matrix identifier (on A&M releases) for metal parts used. These can be entered as Mastered At in LCCN until a plating credit is available. It is not known if the plant produced stampers or if those were provided by clients. The plant was founded by ex-Precision records VP Bill Ronkin and ex-Quality Records Limited executive Jack Vermeer, who was criminally charged for counterfeiting in 1981. Vermeer would then found Concord Pressing in 1983 (which was also shut down for counterfeiting in 1985) and would later go on to be a founding partner of Canada's first CD plant, Praxis Technologies Inc.