Wakefield Manufacturing

Defunct US Pressing Plant / Mastering House owned by Sidney J. Wakefield. (Deceased in 1983.) Also credited as: · Wakefield Mfg. · Wakefield Mfg., Inc. Richard Wakefield, his son, was president and CEO according to a 1981 Billboard article. Closed in 1989. Engineers known to have worked here; Plating supervisor was Gary Salstrom. Mastering engineer Roger Seibel, initials 'RS' or signature 'Roger' Mastering engineer Tim Hines (4), initials 'TPH'. Past mastering engineer John Bittner (early 70's to the early 80's), initials 'JB'. Wakefield Manufacturing was chronicled as a high quality pressing operation and weighed heavily with Jazz and Classical recordings. Their annual production at one point reached 4.5 Million. Prior to establishing "Wakefield Manufacturing", Sidney Wakefield operated another Record Processing and Pressing facility also in Phoenix, AZ; "Sidney J. Wakefield:" is listed as the name in the Billboard article. It is currently unknown when the "Sidney J. Wakefield" facility became "Wakefield Manufacturing" although the timing appears to coincide with the "SJW" deadwax matrix prefix changes found on early 1960's pressings. Known to have pressed for ECM Records, Angel Records, and so many others, well known and obscure. From 1985-1987, when Blue Note released were manufactured by Manhattan Records, they were all pressed by Wakefield but they did not use the WM logo. So, the pressing ring size along with the 5 digit catalog number (XXXXX-A/XXXXX-B) must be used. Identifying Wakefield Pressings; (This is not a complete list and under research) Circa Pre-1968 SJW-xxxx See [r4598034] Circa 1979. (ᵛᵛ) XXXXX See [r1234170] Circa 1979 WA XXXXX suffix to Cat# and ( ' ) See [r3875598] Circa 1981 WM (W over M) XXXXX See [r4619581] Circa 1986 WA3 WAKEFIELD CO. and WM (W Over M) XXXXX See Song X Circa 1988 A WAKEFIELD PRESSING XXXXX see Mbongeni Ngema's Sarafina! Note: (ᵛᵛ) This has most commonly described as a "Tulip", which matches the Wakefield logo image although "Diamond Ring" or "Leaf" description has been used. Pressing ring sizes: 73mm (1963-64) 33mm (1964-81) 33/70mm double ring (1980-89) Other double rings also seen: 34/63mm, 33/72mm, 33/84mm. In addition to logo and/or pressing ring size, Wakefield often used a stamper # (i.e., #3) and it's typically placed before the Wakefield catalog number.