Customatrix

Customatrix was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Columbia Records and CBS, Inc. that produced masters, mothers and stampers for all of the regional pressing plants that were part of Columbia's North American operation (Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Terre Haute, Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Pitman, Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Santa Maria, Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Carrollton, GA, Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Bridgeport in the US; and Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Don Mills, ON in Canada). Please use "Mastered At" until additional drop-down menu items are available for the LCCN field (e.g. "Metalwork"). Also, Customatrix is not necessarily associated with any specific matrix prefix such as XSM. Since Columbia Records also pressed records for many other major record labels besides Columbia, including Elektra, Reprise Records, A&M Records, Epic, Warner Bros. Records, Harmony (4), Blue Thumb Records, and many more, the Customatrix stamp can be found on those pressings as well. Identifying Customatrix metalwork on vinyl pressings from any of Columbia's pressing plants is accomplished by locating a small stamped o or º or °, not be to confused with the "0" used by Capitol Records Pressing Plant, Jacksonville; and not to be confused with the large "ᾳ" of Allied Record Company. It is often positioned either directly before or after the matrix number. Sometimes it will be stamped in any location within the runout area. It's worth noting that this o or º or ° stamp varies in size. And, as with some of the images, it sometimes is oval in shape and looks like 0. The design tended to fluctuate over time and varied in subtle ways from plant to plant. It should be noted that in many cases, locating the Customatrix stamp can be rather difficult, requiring the aid of a good magnification tool and strong lighting conditions. Often the stamping will be so faint that it looks more like a "C", "G", "J", "D", or a tight spiral; often, the mark appears to be made of tiny linear dots. In some cases the stamping can be so vague that it's just not possible to detect it at all. Since many contributors overlook this mark when entering the runout data from their copy into the BAOI, it's a good idea to mention it in the submission notes when the marking can't be found. That way others will know it's not just an oversight.