CBS / Sony (pressed the entire Columbia Records catalog, classical, jazz and pop/rock).ħ. Nippon Phonogram (pressed the Philips catalog from Europe, and many of the earlier Atlantic Records pressings before Atlantic was bought out by the Warner group).Ħ. Warner - Pioneer (pressed everything issued in the US by Warner Bros, Atlantic records, Elektra, etc).ĥ. Victor Music Japan - (pressed the entire Fantasy Jazz catalog, which blow away any of the US pressings, and pressed most of the RCA classical, pop, rock and jazz catalogs).Ĥ. Toshiba - EMI (pressed the EMI, Capitol catalogs and other titles)ģ. King Record - (some of the best sounding pressings ever produced - and King did the Super Analogue series)Ģ. There were 6-8 big pressing plants in Japan back before CDs took over. But they do turn up now on the used market in Japan. None of these special titles were ever offered to the rest of the world, so only offered in the Japan market. Many of these titles were specially cut hot at 45 RPM with no compression and no limiting, and pressed on 160 and 180 gram virgin vinyl, so direct from tape. There are roughly 150 -200 titles that make up the DAM special pressing runs. Their membership would sign up for special pressing runs of many popular titles from the big pressing houses in Japan. DAM was an audiophile club formed in Japan in the late 1970s and early 1980s. If you are looking for a specific title and it was pressed in the US, or the UK, then its likely there is a 99.99999% chance it was also pressed in Japan.Īs House noted, 'two words' is correct, but there is a third word many are not familiar with called DAM (Daiichi Audio Members) Club. Once an album became a hit in the US, or the UK, Japan was usually the next market the record producers went to. If you remove the 'per capita qualifier', Japan is second only to the US on pure total volume, so a huge market for record companies. On a per capita basis the Japanese music market is the largest in the world. There are so many more offerings in Japan and ALL the pressing plants in Japan were/are extremely good. These were pressed by JVC (Japan Victor Company) in Japan, but those MOFI titles are just the tiny tip of the iceberg. Most vinyl collectors are familiar with the 1970s and 1980s MOFI pressings which are highly sought after. If you like jazz, pop and rock there is a real MONSTER treasure trove of pressings offered in Japan. And their presses were finely maintained. So virgin vinyl was used by all Japanese pressing plants, regardless of title. SQ (sound quality) was way down the list of importance.

For perspective, you have to remember for rock and pop US pressings, volume and cheap production costs were the rule of the day for US pressing plants. Those Japan pressings totally smoke the US pressings. Better than anything pressed in the US, except the early US pressed RCA shaded Dogs.īut Jazz, Rock, Pop, blues, etc are a completely different matter. As far as SQ (sound quality) goes, Classical titles are on par to slightly better than the best pressings out of the UK. The few became an avalanche of Japan pressings. At first started buying just a few to dip my toes in the water. I got hooked on Japanese vinyl about 3 years ago.

Quality of flume vinyl pressing