Pathé Marconi, Chatou

French shellac and vinyl pressing plant. Operating under this name from 1936 until the end of 1971. From 1972 onwards operating as Pathé Marconi EMI, Chatou. Vinyl matrix scheme: Mx ###### where x is the format identifier: '1' for 7" (33 1/3 RPM) '3' for 7" and 10" '6' for 12" or LP The 6 digit numeral code is a unique plant identifier and can normally be added as LCCN number with Pressed By. However, it should be noted that Pathé Marconi also serviced foreign sister companies from the Electric & Musical Industries Ltd. group who did not (yet) have full manufacturing capacities. When a release explicitly states it was made outside of France, this indicates a local pressing using Chatou plates, in those cases please credit with Mastered At. Usually (but not always) both runouts share the first 5 digits and the last one is incremented. Example: Fireball 280700 280701 Only enter the 6 digits, without the Mx, commas, dashes or blanks. Various other strings can be found beside this matrix scheme, referring to the label's cat# or other mastering information. They shall not be entered as LCCN information. Note on PART: The actual meaning of this string is not yet clear but the strings allow to further identify the medium, format, and other information. 1. PART, PARTE and PARTX are for shellac (PART also is found on early vinyl records ca. mid 1950's) 2. XPART indicates Vinyl mono 3. YPART indicates Vinyl stereo 4. PARTX indicates 30 cm There are: PART = Shellac 10" / also is found on early 10" mono LP's in vinyl ca. mid 1950's PARTX = Shellac 12" PARTE = Shellac EP 8" X PART = Mono Vinyl 10" LP X PARTE = Mono Vinyl 7" LP 45 PART = Mono Vinyl 7" 45rpm (4 tracks) 7 PART = Mono Vinyl 7" 45rpm (2 tracks) 7E PART = Mono Vinyl 7" EP 45rpm (2 to 7 tracks) 7X PART = Mono Vinyl 7" 45rpm (2 tracks) 7Y PART = Stereo Vinyl 7" 45rpm (2 tracks) 7YE PART = Stereo Vinyl 7" EP 45rpm (4 tracks) Y PARTE = Vinyl Stereo 7" 33⅓rpm EP (more than 2 tracks) X PARTX = Mono Vinyl 12" LP Y PARTX = Stereo Vinyl 12" LP History: The first factory dates back to the year 1894, producing recording cylinder blanks. 1906: First shellacs produced (vertical cut). 1929-1931: New factory built as landmark art-deco building. 1951: The micro-groove ("microsillon") technology is implemented for 45 and 33 rpm records. 1953: The first 45 rpm EP (longue durée) with 4 tracks are pressed. 1957: Last shellac 78 rpm pressed. 1958: First stereo records are pressed. In 1957, The Chatou factory, which had 75 presses, employed 400 people for the sole manufacture of the disc and 2.000 people in total. The production reached 54.000 records per day.