F.A.S.

Former Philippine CD and DVD manufacturer, established in May 1993. The company still exists (as a plastic mouldings company making plastic food containers, plastic wrappers, etc.) but no longer manufactures optical media. Can be identified by a "F.A.S." logo in the matrix area, or by the F.A.S. matrix pattern with IFPI 21** Mould SID Codes and/or the Mastering SID Code IFPI L101. The YNNNNNN (or YYNNNNNN) in the matrix can be added as F.A.S.' catalog number. Example: Glass Mastered By - F.A.S. - YNNNNNN F.A.S. matrices have a very simple matrix pattern. CCCCCCCC /L [F.A.S. logo] [YNNNNNN or YYNNNNNN] 'CCCCCCCC' is the release's label catalog number. The label catalog number seems to be masked, in that the spaces and punctuation are normally removed. Also, for label catalog numbers longer than 8 characters, the 'CCCCCCCC' is normally truncated to the last 8 characters. '/L' is a '/' with a lowercase letter (the 'L' is a placeholder). Multiple letters were used (e, m, a, s, r, etc), and the meaning/purpose of the letter is currently unknown. '[F.A.S. logo]': self-explanatory. As a note, the mastering SID (normally 'ifpi L101') is within the logo. (Y)YNNNNNN is the catalog number, starting with the year of glass mastering. Discs glass mastered from 2000 to 2009 have 7 digits (a single Y), while 2010 and later discs are 8 digits (two Y's). Thus, represses and reissues are easily identified.