Cinram GmbH Alsdorf

German vinyl pressing, cassette and CD manufacturing plant, located in Alsdorf, founded 1975, operative from 1976 to 2017.

History

Record Service Schallplatten-Herstellungs-Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH, Alsdorf was founded in 1975 as a facility for the manufacturing and distribution of Warner, Elektra & Atlantic records. The company, equipped with a pressing plant, a large mastering and offset printing facility, employed more than 1200 staff and began pressing vinyl records in 1976, manufacturing cassettes in 1977 and compact-discs since 14 May 1986.
After Warner Communications' acquisition of TELDEC Schallplatten GmbH in 1988, Record Service GmbH was renamed to Record Service in May 1988 and became a division of TELDEC Record Service GmbH.
In November 1990 the company was renamed to Warner Music Manufacturing Europe GmbH.

Warner Music Manufacturing Europe was sold by AOL Time Warner in July 2003 to the Canadian company Cinram. The renaming of WMME to Cinram GmbH was effective 01 November 2003 and registered on 24 November 2003.
Due to insolvency the production of CDs, DVD and Blu-rays stopped 31 July 2017.

Identification

The plant may be mentioned on artwork by one of its company names:
1976–1988: Record Service GmbH
1988–1991: Record Service Alsdorf, a division of TELDEC Record Service GmbH
1991–2003: Warner Music Manufacturing Europe GmbH (or WMME Alsdorf)
2003–2017: Cinram GmbH

• Vinyl Records¹ (1976 to 1998)

1976 to 1980:
Many 7"s manufactured between 1976 and 1980 show a characteristic immersion around the centre hole and were predominantly mastered at Tonstudio Pfanz. Until the late 1970s WEA Musik GmbH ordered vinyl records at Alsdorf but in a large amount also at Teldec-Press GmbH. Alsdorf 12" records show a wider pressing ring than late 1970s TELDEC pressings and usually do not show a 'Manufactured in Germany'-stamp.
Until 1980 WEA Musik GmbH releases were almost exclusively cut at Tonstudio Pfanz. If not identical to the matrix number used there, the European WEA catalog number can be found additionally etched into the mothers.

1980 to 1991:
Between 1979/80 and 1981 indicators for galvanization at Sonopress (etched 020) can frequently be found in the runout area.
In this period capacities were massively expanded. The standard LP cover finish turned glossy around 1980/81 and the characteristic Warner-logo embossment on the cover rear was introduced. TELDEC-Press GmbH order pressings for WEA Musik GmbH virtually disappear.

Alsdorf vinyl pressings manufactured from 1981 until 1991 can be identified by an R / S Alsdorf stamp in the runout area. 1981 pressings can also show R / S exclusively.

More or less coinciding with the introduction of the 'R / S Alsdorf' stamp, a STRAWBERRY (G) (scarcely STRAWBERRY (E)) stamp can be found on lacquers cut by Strawberry Mastering for Alsdorf between 1981 and 1983. These cuts certainly were used for represses until the later 1980s.

In the mid-1980s Alsdorf often used US mothers, galvanized by Sheffield Lab Matrix for Allied Record Company which can be identified by the appearance of a long etched string including '△ 00000-X' and the <Allied 'ɑ' logo>-stamp.

1991 to 1998:
Vinyl pressings from Alsdorf can be identified by WMME Alsdorf stamped into the runout area.

WMME Alsdorf manufactured both small and large centre hole editions of 7"s and used the same label layout for both editions. This procedure partially affected the layout of the large centre hole editions and the record appears to be 'dinked'. Actually the record was manufactured and sold in this form. Alsdorf 7" editions with large centre hole were exclusively distributed within Continental Europe.

Country Codes:
The countries the pressed edition was destined for is often indicated by country codes in the runouts.

A = Austria (occasionally until 1983)
BE = Benelux
D = Germany
F = France
GAS = Germany, Austria and Switzerland
IR = Ireland
S = Scandinavia
UK or GB = United Kingdom

¹) Information from Discogs

• CD (1986 to 2017)

1986 to 1991: <cat#> RSA

<cat#> is usually (up to) 9 digits without spaces, followed by '-2' indicating format
('/#' or '.#' may have been added to the cat# string, indicating a disc number on a multi-disc release or a second, third, etc. glass master version)

Examples: 257672-2 RSA, 755960956-2 RSA

1991 to 1996/97: <cat#>[/X][.Y] WME

<cat#> is usually #########-# (9 digits catalog number, a hyphen and 1 digit format identifier, '2' for CD)
/X is the disc number on multi-disc releases
.Y is the glass master version number starting for second version: '.2', '.3', '.4', etc.

Examples: 756792112-2 WME, 954831909-2/1 WME, 450998581-2.2 WME

(There are reported discs with 'WMME' instead of 'WME')

1996/97 to Sep 2002: <cat#>[/X][.Y] MM/YY

<cat#>, /X, .Y same as above, but no 'WME' credit.
MM/YY is the month and year of manufacturing

Examples: <Warner Music logo> 755962308-2/1 09/98, <Warner 'W' logo> 857383438-2 05/00, 755962836-2 09/02

NOTE: a Warner logo does not indicate a specific plant, but a Warner related artist!

Sep 2002 to Oct 2004: <cat#>[/X][.Y] MM/YY V01

'V01' added, otherwise unchanged, except there are documented discs with a 13-digit catalog number replacing the usual 9+1-digit number plus date.

Examples: <Warner 'W' logo> 812273635-2.2 09/02 V01, <Warner 'W' logo> 756783758-2 10/04 V01, <Warner 'W' logo> 5050466532626 V01

Oct 2004 to 2007: CD <cat#>[/X][.Y] V01

The code is preceded by 'CD' and the date is dropped. 13-digit catalog numbers are possible.

Examples: CD 936242769-2 V01, <Warner 'W' logo> CD 5051011945120 V01

2007 to 2017: <cat#>[/X][.Y] V01 ZZZ

ZZZ is a 3-letter code. No 'CD', otherwise unchanged.

Examples: <Warner 'W' logo> 755962308-2/1.2 V01 WWI, <Warner 'W' logo> 756786685-7 V01 MDZ

NOTE: '-7' was used for a CD release (second example)

Manufacture for other companies or plants: The catalog number or the whole string may be different, but since 1994 SID codes can be used to identify discs manufactured in Alsdorf.

SID Codes:
In 1994 IFPI was implemented in Alsdorf:
Discs glass mastered at this plant have mastering SID codes IFPI L011 to L017

Discs pressed there have assigned mould SID codes IFPI 05** and IFPI 06**
(without mould SID code it is hardly possible to identify the pressing plant)