Pathé Marconi, Chatou

French shellac and vinyl pressing plant, located in the Yvelines departement, near Paris, . Operating under this name from 1936 until the end of 1971.
"Registre du Commerce" R.C. Seine 74.361.

Shellac and vinyl matrix scheme: Mx ######, where x is the format identifier:
'1' for 7" / 17 cm (vinyl, 33 1/3 RPM)
'3' for 7" / 17 cm (vinyl) and for 10" / 25 cm (shellac and vinyl)
'6' for 12" / 30 cm (shellac and vinyl).

The 6 digit numeral code is a unique plant identifier and can normally be added as LCCN number with Pressed By. However, it should be noted that Pathé Marconi also serviced foreign sister companies from the Electric & Musical Industries Ltd. group who did not (yet) have full manufacturing capacities. When a release explicitly states it was made outside of , this indicates a local pressing using Chatou plates, in those cases please credit with Mastered At.

Usually (but not always) both runouts share the first 5 digits and the last one is incremented.
Example: Deep Purple - Fireball
280700
280701

Only enter the 6 digits, without the Mx, commas, dashes or blanks.

Previously operating as Cie Française Du Gramophone - matrix numbers lower than 83071 belong there.
From 1972 onwards operating as Pathé Marconi EMI, Chatou - matrix numbers higher than 282850 belong there.

Various other strings can be found beside this matrix scheme, referring to the label's cat# or other mastering information. They shall not be entered as LCCN information.
Note on PART:
The actual meaning of this string is not yet clear but the strings allow to further identify the medium, format, and other information.
1. PART, PARTE and PARTX are for shellac (PART also is found on early vinyl records ca. mid 1950's)
2. XPART indicates Vinyl mono
3. YPART indicates Vinyl stereo
4. PARTX indicates 30 cm

There are:
PART = Shellac 10" / also is found on early 10" mono LP's in vinyl ca. mid 1950's
PARTX = Shellac 12"
PARTE = Shellac EP 8"
X PART = Mono Vinyl 10" LP
X PARTE = Mono Vinyl 7" LP
45 PART = Mono Vinyl 7" 45rpm (4 tracks)
7 PART = Mono Vinyl 7" 45rpm (2 tracks)
7E PART = Mono Vinyl 7" EP 45rpm (2 to 7 tracks)
7X PART = Mono Vinyl 7" 45rpm (2 tracks)
7Y PART = Stereo Vinyl 7" 45rpm (2 tracks)
7YE PART = Stereo Vinyl 7" EP 45rpm (4 tracks)
Y PARTE = Vinyl Stereo 7" 33⅓rpm EP (more than 2 tracks)
X PARTX = Mono Vinyl 12" LP
Y PARTX = Stereo Vinyl 12" LP

Pressing rings of their 10” formats: 28,5 mm to 31 mm diameter.

History:
The first factory dates back to the year 1894, producing recording cylinder blanks.
1906: First shellacs produced (vertical cut).
1929-1931: New factory built as landmark art-deco building.
1936: All shellac facilities are centralized in Chatou.
1951: The micro-groove ("microsillon") technology is implemented for 45 and 33 rpm records.
1953: The first 45 rpm EP (longue durée) with 4 tracks are pressed.
1957: Last shellac 78 rpm pressed.
1958: First stereo records are pressed.

In 1957, The Chatou factory, which had 75 presses, employed 400 people for the sole manufacture of the disc and 2.000 people in total. The production reached 54.000 records per day.