German record company, established in June 1990 (ed on 19 July 1990), in Berlin.
Legal heir of the dissolved GDR company VEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin.
The catalogue was sold to BMG and Edel and the company was renamed Deutsche Schallplatten GmbH Berlin in June 1993.
The company owned and operated a pressing plant in Potsdam-Babelsberg until March 1992, also capable of lacquer and DMM cutting and plating.
Runout scheme:
# ## ### - YX XYY Z W(W)
Examples:
8 56 501 + 1B A90 I C
MA 6-6 A1 A91 E D
# ## ### is the cat. number (the format can be different according to the label)
YX: side and cut number, where
Y is the side number (1 = side A, 2 = side B) and X is the version number of the cut (A - Z).
This was soon changed to XY (A1 = side A, first cut)
XYY is the date of the cut, where
X stands for the month (A - M): A = January, B = February, C = March, D = April, E = May, F = June, G = July, H = August, J = September, K = October, L = November, M = December
(the letter "I" should be read as J, and the letter "O" should be read as D), and
YY stands for the year (e.g. 90 for 1990, 91 for 1991, 92 for 1992).
Z: one letter, indicating (probably) the cutting engineer, where
E (1990 - 1992), I (1990), N (1990 - 1991).
WW one or two letters indicating details of the vinyl cut, where
D: Direct Metal Mastering (DMM)
DT: meaning unknown
Notes:
The runouts are machine stamped.
There often are additional numbers, letters, or faintly inscribed "geometric" marks (e.g. IΛ) - these are stamper numbers added during pressing.
Do not derive a release year from the matrix date code. Please also note the printed information on the release and the center labels.