EMI Custom Records

Please only use this label or company if it is specifically branded or mentioned on the release. A catalogue number or matrix number does not denote this label unless branded. EMI Custom Records was not a pressing plant and should not be credited as such.

For the pressing plant used to manufacture these please use Columbia / EMI Records, Homebush.

For the earlier labels to approximately 1980 please use EMI Custom when branded.

EMI Custom Records was a brand used for a custom pressing service by EMI which continued a pre-existing service established soon after the first Columbia factory was set up in Australia in 1926. Starting in 1928 Columbia began producing 78rpm shellac private or personal records using a PR prefix for 10" records and a PRX prefix for 12" records. Initially there was no specific name for these records, but in 1937 the Process Recording name began to be used. Many recordings of radio serials, theme songs and ments for airplay on radio stations as well as a few "private" recordings were released in these PR & PRX series up into the 1950s.

With the introduction of vinyl pressings in the 1950s there were new prefixes introduced including PRS for 7" records, PRX for 10" records, and YRPX for 12" records. Other prefixes were also used at various times (including & LP for 10" records, APLPA, X & XLP for 12" records, and Z for 16" records).

In 1959 the EMI Custom, then His Master's Voice and finally EMI Custom Records.

The main catalog prefixes used were:

PR-1-3500s (1928-1960s) - 10" 78s and later 10" LPs
PRS-1-2999 (1953-1980) - 7" 45s
PRS-13000-13800s (1980-1986) - 7" 45s (NOTE that many records show only the 13000 catalog number without the PRS prefix).
PRX-1-6100s (1928-1976) - 12" 78s and later 12" LPs
PRZ-1-6600s (1935-1960s) - 16" 33rpm discs
YPRX-1001-2399 (1971-1986) - 12" LPs

The above is a general outline only, and there may be other prefixes and catalog number ranges besides those mentioned above. Single-sided discs were generally not allocated catalog numbers and show the matrix # only.

The following matrix # prefixes were used on EMI Custom Records pressings or earlier iterations (Process Recording, EMI Custom Service, etc.):

ABX - 12" 78s
ABZ - 16" 78s
CTX - 12" 78s
CTZ - 16" 78s
FS - 10" 78s
FSX - 12" 78s
FSZ - 16" 78s
OXS - 10" mono LPs
OYS - 10" stereo LPs
S - 10" 78s
SX - 12" 78s (also used for 10" & 16" 78s before 1937)
SZ - 16" 78s
XFS - 10" mono LPs
2XS - 12" mono LPs
2XFS - 12" mono LPs
2YS - 12" stereo LPs
7XS - 7" mono 45s
7XFS - 7" mono 45s
7YS - 7" stereo 45s

Some of the above matrix # prefixes were also used for EMI commercial recordings. Up until the 1950s Columbia/EMI commercial recordings mainly used T & TX matrix # prefixes but these prefixes were also occasional used for private/custom recordings.

Many records were radio themes and advertising material for airplay on radio stations, sound effects records or various types of promotional records. Only about 30% of releases were "personal" records by individual artists or bands.

Many of the records made for private individuals used a label name preferred by the client rather than EMI Custom Records. As part of the custom record service a client could opt to have their own label name and catalog # appear on the label and/or sleeves. Some releases show a catalog # unique to that specific record instead of (or as well as) the EMI catalog number.

Pressing figures for pre-1970s releases are mostly unknown, but certainly the many radio station only items were produced in very limited numbers. By the 1970s some of the private recordings are known to have been pressed in numbers of 500 to 1,000 - although in some cases the number pressed was much lower (100 to 250) or even fewer.