What The Tiny Markings On Vinyl Records Can Tell You

Closely examine any vinyl record and you're likely to find a bunch of numbers, letters, or symbols etched into it. Those function as a language that may tell a collector all about how the record was made, including who made it and where, or if it's from a particular batch or special version. A vinyl record can last a long time with proper care, preserving those markings for decades, and they're a window into the history of the recording industry and a look at the classic technology used to commit music to wax. However, ignoring or misinterpreting those markings can be a common, classic-record-collecting mistake for beginners, because their meanings are so little-known that it still amounts to a secret code.

While the messages of those marks may vary widely, they're at least universally found in the same place: in the runout groove, also known as "dead wax." After a side of an LP has finished playing, there's a thin section of vinyl without grooves because there's nothing recorded there. Just before the needle would hit the center label, there's a mostly blank area — but for some curious etchings. Here's what many of those little scribblings or machine-written notes on a vinyl record actually mean.

Codes in the runout groove can tell you a lot, including whether or not a record is authentic. Bootleggers can't fake a matrix number and its brethren, because that's created by the machinery used to press the record. What makes it into the wax are letters and numbers that correspond to the site of the pressing (as major releases might be made at multiple locations to meet demand), the record company, and perhaps audio quality. Certain symbols indicate the location and technique of the record-pressing plant. An asterisk indicates the LP is of U.K. origin, an arrangement of four periods means it was made in Mexico, and a treble clef suggests Australia. If there's a square just after the matrix number on records produced in the 1930s and 1940s, then that's a piece made with the Blumlein cutting method, as opposed to a diamond, the calling card of a Western Electric cutting. Part of that alphanumeric soup may also include a prominent "S," "H," or "LE," which tells the listener how the etchings themselves were included: stamped, hand-etched, or laser-etched, respectively.

Recording engineers can also ensure that brief messages make it into the runout groove. For example, prolific '70s music-maker George Peckham got "PORKY" and "PECKO-DUCK" etched onto each side of T. Rex's "Electric Warrior," and he added to the history of Elvis Costello with a fake contest on 1978's "This Year's Model," imploring the keen-eyed to call the record company to collect a "prize."