Here's some terms and definitions....I posted them on the soul talk mailing list some years ago and on the RSF....can't remember who I got them off??? 
 
 
TERMS AND DEFINITIONS  
These are terms and definitions that are common and not so common to the 
record collecting and record selling community.  
 
Styrene (properly, Polystyrene).  
Hard, relatively inflexible plastic used to press records, mainly 7-inch 
singles, mainly using the Injection Moulding process. The material is heated 
to a liquid form and is then squirted or injected into the closed stampers 
in the press. This requires that the labels be either glued or painted on 
after the record leaves the press. The cost savings to the manufacturer 
comes from the extended life of the stampers because of the lack of a 
heating cycle to the stampers. The material can also be reused without 
noticeable change to its moulding properties. Styrene records will therefore 
usually have very quiet surfaces when found in an UNPLAYED Mint condition, 
but unfortunately they will wear to a noisy condition rapidly, especially if 
played with a bad stylus or an improperly tracking tonearm. They also are 
more prone to Cue Burn. The Columbia Records Pittman, New Jersey pressing 
plant was once the major source of Injection Moulded Styrene pressings, and 
pressings from this plant are found on MANY small labels. Look for the 
glued-on labels. Painted-on labels can be found on records from the 
Amy/Bell/Mala group.  
 
Vinyl (properly Polyvinyl Chloride).  
Relatively flexible material used since the early 1930s to make 
non-breakable records. Its fumes are an acknowledged carcinogen, so don't 
breathe in deeply when you have your next holy burning of Beatles or 
back-masked devil-worship records. :-) Usually pressed by Compression 
Moulding which allows the label to be an integral part of the pressing 
itself. This process also requires that there be extra material which spills 
out the sides of the press, therefore this extra material is routinely 
ground up and re-used. Because vinyl does not re-heat and re-cool to a 
smooth, glossy surface, the excessive use of  re-grind mixed in with Virgin 
Vinyl can account for the inherently noisy surface of even unplayed Mint 
examples of the cheap pressings that some record companies used. Noise can 
be seen AND HEARD by looking at and/or playing the un-grooved surface of the 
lead-in and lead-out areas. If this area looks or sounds grainy, then the 
grooves will also have some of this grainy background sound. The stampers 
used for the compression moulding process will start to break down after 
only 1,000 pressings because they are forced to expand and contract when 
heated by steam at the start of the pressing cycle and then cooled to 
solidify the record. Some companies routinely overused their stampers for 
their pop record series.  
 
Dynaflex. 
Ultra-thin pressings of high-grade Virgin Vinyl introduced by RCA Victor in 
late 1969. Although considered crap by most collectors because they do not 
seem flat when held, they actually have much quieter surfaces then most of 
the popular records pressed by RCA in the mid-to-late-1960s due to the 
extraordinarily high percentage of Re-grind Vinyl used in all but it's Red 
Seal, Vintage Series, and Original Cast pressings. Dynaflex was also less 
prone to breakage and permanent warp-age in shipment. Its lighter weight 
reduced shipping costs and allowed for the use of a higher grade of Vinyl 
because less material was required. They were supposed to lie flat on the 
turntable due to their own weight, but RCA forgot that many people had 
changers with 8-inch turntables!  
 
Dynagroove. 
Record cutting system introduced by RCA Victor in 1962 that supposedly 
reduced tracking distortion by computer controlling cutting characteristics 
to overcome the imagined faults of playback equipment. Considered a disaster 
by everyone except the New York Times writer Hans Fantel who wrote the blurb 
inserted in all of the early pressings, it brought the golden age of RCA 
Victor Living Stereo to a screeching halt. Because there is a possibility 
that this system was used on later re-masterings of the early Living Stereo 
records, collectors try to obtain only early pressings of these 
masterpieces--usually called Shaded Dogs. The words Stereo-Orthophonic 
are on the record label and sometimes the cover of the good Living Stereo 
albums.  
 
Acetate/Lacquer 
Is usually a reference cut that is made on ultra high-grade methyl cellulose 
sprayed onto thick aluminium discs. Reference acetates are primarily to make 
certain the record will sound somewhat like the tape. Often they are also 
made to allow a club or radio disc-jockey to play the music on turntables 
before it has been pressed as a normal record. Acetate is a misnomer. It is 
actually a Lacquer, but since so many people call these acetates, both will 
be used here.  
 
Alternate take 
At a recording session more than one take (recorded version) may be kept on 
file for future use. What is considered the best take at the time is usually 
used for the commercial release. Sometimes a different take is used for a 
compilation album or in really rare cases the first recording that was 
issued is pulled and an alternate take from the same session is used. When 
this happens a lot of people will think there is something different about 
that song. This was done with a 50s record from Whirling Disc records. It 
was Whirling Disc 107 and the songs were I Really Love You/What Do You 
Do by The Channels. After a couple of months in release, Bobby Robinson 
(the owner) for whatever reason, used two different takes (one for each 
side) from the same session for subsequent releases. Anyone that has heard 
both records (I have both) can tell the difference between the two in a 
minute. The most famous of all is the Bob Dylan, Positively 4th Street 45 
on Columbia. For some reason, some copies of the commercial 45 were issued 
with a version of Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window instead of Positively 4th Street The funny thing is that Dylan's next release on 
Columbia  Can you please crawl out your window was a different take than 
the mistake on Positively.... 
 
Test pressing 
A test pressing is sent back to the cutting engineer, producer and 
sometimes the performer, to confirm that the pressings will sound as 
intended. Most TP's are really just early pressings, frequently without 
artwork of any kind, and they are serviced to whoever as early promo's. In 
many cases this was done to rush the record out to radio stations to try and 
get immediate airplay before the complete label could be finished.  
 
Original Label 
This refers to the company that first issued a certain record. A lot of 
times small labels will have a record that will become very popular and they 
cannot meet the sales demand. In a lot of cases the master is sold or leased 
to a larger record company and the record is released on the larger 
company's own label. Also look at the small label examples under Reissue. 
All of these fall under Original label. 
 
First Pressing 
The way the record first came out on a certain label. Examples: The first 
pressing of Sixty Minute Man by the Dominoes came out on Gold top Federal. 
The first pressing of Church Bells May Ring by the Willows came out as 
Church Bells Are Ringing and all that was changed a few weeks later was 
the title. The label design and color remained the same.  
 
Reissue 
There are several types of reissues. There is the budget reissue. This falls 
into the K-tell, design, forum and etc labels. These are discount labels 
that got the permission to use the original master to issue songs (usually 
hits) later as discount compilations. Then there is the reissue that is just 
a later issue that isn't a budget item. Labels that can fit here are: 
Collectibles, Eric, Rhino and etc. And then there is the other type reissue. 
A record that was originally pressed on a small label (see Original label 
above) and then was picked up by a major or by a big independent. Examples: 
Question Mark & The Mysterians--96 Tears. First recorded for Pa-go-go. It 
was picked up by Cameo/Parkway and reissued on Cameo. At The Hop, Danny 
and the Juniors--original on Singular with a count-off intro. It was then 
picked up by ABC Paramount and the intro was deleted. Short Shorts, the 
Royal Teens--original on Power but the hit was on ABC Paramount after ABC 
picked it up from Power and reissued it on their own label. The Motley 
Crue's first album originally came out on Leather and then was picked up and 
reissued on Elektra. 
 
Re-release 
A record that was out of print for a certain period of time and the original 
company decides to put it back into their catalog of available items.  
 
Re-number 
Taking a currently available record and re-numbering it. 
 
Re-recording 
A song that was originally recorded by an artist for one label and then was 
re-recorded and issued later by another label (Sometimes the original label 
will record the same song by the artist years later). Examples: Roy Orbison 
and the Teen Kings. Ooby Dooby--originally recorded for Je-wel records and 
was later re-recorded and issued on Sun. Penguins--Earth Angel (Will You Be 
Mine)--Originally recorded by the Penguins and released by Dootone records. 
Re-recorded and issued later on Mercury. 
 
Revision/RE 
To RCA Victor it means that something was revised, a credit was changed, the 
layout of the cover was changed, something simple like that. Sometimes the 
first pressings of the record has an RE. They did their changes even before 
issuing and felt it important enough to note it. You see things like this in 
the RCA files. This is the meaning of RE on the back of some of the RCA 
albums. 
 
Cover 
The same song issued by another artist at about the same time as the first 
record. This was done to  cover up or take away sales from the first 
record. Timeliness was important in issuing cover records. Many times in 
the 50s the cover record was by a white artist covering a song by a 
black artist or black group. If the white artist or group was successful, 
the black artists record either died, or did not sell very well outside R & 
B circles. Examples: are: Sh-boom The Chords covered by the Crew-Cuts. The 
Crew-Cuts far outsold The Chords. Wheel Of Fortune by the Cardinals was 
covered by Kay Starr. Starr far outsold the Cardinals. Remake--A song done 
later-on by another artist. This was not timely enough to be called a 
cover record. Examples: Hound Dog Big Mama Thornton remade a few years 
later by Elvis. The Train Kept a-Rollin', orignally by Tiny Bradshaw. 
Remade a few years later by the Rock'n Roll Trio. Remade again in the mid 
60s by The Yardbirds. Louie Louie Richard Berry in the mid 50s. Remade by 
the Kingsmen in the early 60s and then by 9 million other artists.  
 
Master Numbers/Matrix Numbers. 
These terms (interchangeable) are used for the side identification number 
for each side of a record. It is usually printed on the label and is also in 
the dead wax of a record. I think it was also the catalog number given to 
each recorded song of a record label. RCA, Columbia and Epic had special 
alphabetical prefixes for their master numbers. Dated master numbers. Some 
labels for a time put a date at the beginning of their master numbers. This 
would show the releases for that year. The next year would start at the 
bottom of the numbering sequence. Labels that did this were: VJ, Tollie, 
M-G-M and Cub. RCA also did this from the late 40 to the early 60s. They 
used a letter and a number to denote the date. D8 would be 1948; E4 was 
1954. In 1956 they changed again with F being 1956, G being 1957 and H being 
1958. And they skipped I for 1959.  
 
Machine Stamped 
A lot of labels used perfect die cut letters to put the master numbers and 
pressing numbers in the dead wax of their records. This is different than 
the hand written numbers that some companies used. In a lot of cases this 
can be used to a certain degree of certainty in determining a counterfeit 
with U. S. pressings. Some companies that had machine stamped master numbers 
were: RCA, Decca, Coral, Brunswick, Capitol. Columbia, Liberty, Laurie and 
Rust. Atlantic had the numbers usually hand written, but somewhere in the 
dead wax had AT---machine stamped, but once in awhile it was handwritten.  
 
Lead-in groove.  
This is the silent area at the beginning of a record.  
 
Cue-up area 
This is the area where a disc jockey cues up the record so that the music 
will start as soon as he starts the turntable. With the stylus on the record 
the disc jockey moves the record back and forth over the same area to get 
the desired start-up point.  
 
Cueing scratch/Cue burn 
A common phenomenon with 45s that were cued-up by disc jockeys. In most 
cases there is either a hiss or a loss of fidelity in the first few 
revolutions of the record. Dead Wax--Also known as the trail-off groove and 
lead-out area. Also known as the run-off area. The area between the end of 
the recording and the label.  
 
Delta number 
In July of 1954 an independent pressing plant in Los Angeles, called Monarch 
Records started putting a Delta (triangle) with a number next to it in the 
dead wax of each record that they pressed. This is the way that they kept 
track of the order of items pressed. Each side had it's own Delta number.  
 
Repaired Seam 
In a lot of cases the edge seam on album covers, EP covers and picture 
sleeves become split. This is a designation to show that this has been 
repaired. Sometimes this is done by gluing the ends together and sometimes 
tape is used to close the split.  
 
Colored wax (this is actually colored vinyl) 
Several companies in the early 50s used color vinyl on some of their 45 
issues. These are normally a lot rarer and more sought after than the normal 
black vinyl release. Some examples: King--Blueish green for its R&B series, 
and red vinylfor its maroon label country series. Federal--Same blueish 
green vinyl as King Chance--Red vinyl Vee Jay--Red vinyl Gotham--Pink vinyl 
Jubilee--Red vinyl Imperial--purple vinyl And the most famous of the 60s 
labels to issue white label promos on colored wax. Columbia with the 
following known colors: Red vinyl, green vinyl, blue vinyl, yellow vinyl and 
purple vinyl.  
 
Timing strip 
 
This is usually found glued to the front of promo copies of albums. This 
shows the song titles and playing times for each cut on the album. These can 
take up a small space at the bottom of an album or can take up to half of 
the album cover at the bottom. Gatefold--An album cover, EP cover or Picture 
sleeve that opens up like a gate. Sometimes has records that fit in both 
open ends.  
 
Vinyl Junkie 
A record collector that has the collecting fever so bad that nothing else 
really matters. He/she plans his/her vacations around looking for records. 
He/she spends his/her weekends going to the usual swap meets, garage sales 
and record meets. He/she spends hours on the phone and internet with fellow 
record collectors.  
 
Lunched 
A term used by the old time R & B collectors to denote a record that is so 
beat up that it has no redeeming value. This came from seeing a record that 
was so trashed that you thought somebody tried eating it for lunch.  
 
Break-in record 
A record that usually has a story line and has a lot of segments of 
different records mixed in. In most cases the records used are current of 
that time period. This form was first popularlized by Bill Buchanan and 
Dicke Goodman otherwise known as Buchanan and Goodman.  
 
Answer record 
A record that is usually a response to another record, usually a hit. This 
is usually done by a different artist, not by the original artist. Examples: 
Duke of Earl, Duchess of Earl, Mother in-law---Son in-law Oh Carol;Oh Neil,A Boy Named Sue;A Girl Named Johnny Cash and so on. 
 
Kiddie Record 
These were usually records that were put out for children by the big labels. 
In the early 50s they came out in both 45 and 78 form. RCA had the Little 
Nipper Series. Decca had theChildren's Series and Capitol had the Bozo Approved series and the Record Reader series where you followed along in 
a booklet attached between the covers, and read along while the record 
played. RCA also had versions of this.  
 
Bootleg 
(Bootleg is also incorrectly and improperly used as a synonym of counterfeit 
and reproduction). An illegal pressing of a record that was recorded at a 
concert and does not have the band or record company's permission to do so. 
Can also be used to describe illegally pressed music from a company's vaults 
that was acquired without the record company's permission. The term was also 
used with 50s and 60s 45 rpm collectors as exact reproduction and forgery.  
 
Counterfeit 
Aalso known as bootleg, also known as a repro--(Bootleg and Repro are 
commonly used but wrongly used terms)This is a record that was illegally 
remade to look and sound like the original issue. This is usually done by 
making a tape of a regular pressing of an original copy of one of the 
records and then pressing this up on vinyl. Most of these types are made up 
to look exactly like the original with the same artwork and label design. 
The counterfeiter does not show any distinction between his forgery and the 
original (Once in awhile the bootlegger will make a subtle change to the 
label to let collectors know his record is in fact a counterfeit--Henry 
Mariano used to scratch in the current year into the deadwax of his 
counterfeits).  
 
Repro 
Reproduction--Same as Counterfeit. An exact copy of a record done without 
permission of the original record company or without permission of the owner 
of the master recording. 
 
Radio Spots 
Promotional Adverstising records that went to radio stations. These were 
mainly records that had a few one minute (or so) spots plugging a product or 
even a current movie. 
 
Studio Tracks 
Film or cast music which has been re-recorded [i. e. not an original 
soundtrack taken directly from the film/cast, even if featuring the same 
cast, musicians or orchestra