American record plating and pressing plant established in 1974. From 1995 to 2010 RTI operated the joint venture disc cutting studio AcousTech Mastering at the same location.
It is sometimes listed as "RTI Record Technology Inc." on older test pressings and just "RTI" or "Record Technology Inc" in the regular print of some releases.
Matrix number scheme used for the processing:
Side A: xxxxx (2) or (3)
Side B: xxxxx (2) or (3)
Later adjusted to include the side identifiers (but not always):
Side A: xxxxx.1 (1) or (2) or (3)
Side B: xxxxx.2 (1) or (2) or (3)
Only the sequential numbers should be added for the role Plated At. See 178565 for an example.
Note: a new sequential number counting started in September 1995.
(1), (2) and (3) indicate the matrix process used:
The 3-step process means that the master lacquer disc is used to make negative fathers, positive mothers, and finally stampers.
The 2-step means that the master lacquer disc is used to make a negative father, a mother and then convert the father into a stamper. This is used for small runs and in the case that extra stampers a required, the mother is used to produce those stampers.
The newer 1-step process (often found on MOFI label records) means that the master lacquer disc is used to make a negative convert which is used to produce directly the vinyl (w/o using father, mother and stamper). The removal of two steps in plating process improves the sound quality.
A record plated by RTI doesn't necessarily mean the plant also pressed it, so please only use the Plated At role in LCCN field when the above scheme appears.
Use Pressed By only when it's credited on release and/or the information is taken from a reliable source. HQ-180 is an RTI trademark; hype stickers with HQ-180 denote an RTI pressing.
To distinguish RTI pressings from Rainbo pressings (both having a "muffin top", measuring 31.7mm inner ring, and a 70mm outer ring): RTI pressings tend to have light concentric rings on the labels and the muffin top is more pronounced (and Rainbo often has an additional 11mm inner ring).
They are known to have pressed for most Concord Jazz releases in the 80's.
Until 1983, RTI marked their stampers using a tally-mark system, featuring an etched "+" (plus or cross sign) with each quadrant sequentially filled in with a dot or scribble, beginning at the top left: the plus sign by itself (+) is the first stamper; the second stamper has the first top left quadrant filled; all four quadrants filled (⁜) is for the 5th stamper; a second, empty (⁜+) plus/cross stands for the 6th stamper; two filled crosses (⁜⁜) stand for the 10th stamper, etc. See Images.
In the cases of additional plus/cross signs, the records were also pressed by RTI.
Please note: the cross-and-dot tally-mark system is NOT unique to plates made at RTI. It can help to confirm an identification ONLY when known RTI markings are present. Cross-and-dots marks also appear on some Sheffield Lab Matrix plates and it is possible that they were used at other plating facilities as well.
They do NOT press 7" or 10" records, only 12."