Es gibt den Spruch, das Internet vergesse nichts. Das ist leider nur bedingt wahr. Hier ist ein Beispiel, daß das Internet doch Webseiten vergessen kann. Es gab da in Honolulu einen Magnetband Experten, der sein Wissen auf seine Webseite geschrieben hatte. Dann ist er im February 2008 im Alter von 80 gestorben und die Website ist verschollen. Alle Recherchen verliefen bislang im Sand.
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Magnetic Media Information Services ("MMIS") was organized in late 1965 in Tokyo, Japan, to provide the then-nascent Japanese magnetic tape industry with help in securing needed technology, factory-design assistance, material sourcing, and marketing expertise. Over the ensuing 35 years, MMIS has grown to cover the entire world, with staffed offices in Tokyo and Honolulu, and representatives in 12 other locations. Its business is MEDIA of all kinds, both recorded and recordable, and (despite the company's name) optical as well as magnetic. Today, MMIS is a consortium of consultants, marketing professionals, and technologists, providing services and assistance to manufacturers and resellers of media, analyses and trends forecasts for the media industry and its participants, and technical inputs to both new and well-established producers.

MMIS was originally organized, and is headed today, by the husband-wife team of Laurence and Kiyomi Lueck. "Larry" Lueck has been involved in the magnetic media industry since 1948, when he joined the 3M company upon graduation from the University of Minnesota, and became the sixth member of the company's magnetic tape laboratory. In 1954, he formed his own consulting company to produce magnetic coatings for data-storage drums and disks, and in 1964 took this business to Japan. He and his wife Kiyomi reside in Tokyo part of each year, and also in Honolulu, where the company's data base is located.

MMIS also publishes "MMIS Commentator", the successor to its well-known "Magnetic Media International Newsletter", which provides subscribers with a wealth of information and data on all aspects of the recordable and recorded media industries and the companies involved. Special reports are also issued on topics of importance to the industry. For more detailed information on these publications, see: MMIS Commentator.

The last known address before 2008 was :
"Magnetic Media Information Services "
841 Ikena Circle - Honolulu, HI 96821
Phone: (808)373-5330

Und jetzt in 2010 ist alles weg - überall weg ?????????
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At a time when many once-important manufacturers of magnetic tape are ceasing production, it is refreshing to note that a new company is currently in the process of starting up production, and expects to be in full production by mid-year. The company is called "Recordable Media Group International" ("RMGI" for short), is located in Oosterhout, Holland (near Breda), and will produce analog audio tape products for both consumer and professional applications.

Although the use of all forms of analog audio tape is in decline, there remains sufficient demand, especially for music duplication on cassette tape and analog mastering of music for release on CDs, to support an operation like RMGI, at least for the next several years.
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In recent years, most of the tape used in analog mastering applications has been supplied by EMTEC (located in Germany) or Quantegy (located in Alabama).
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However, EMTEC is no longer in business, and Quantegy is currently not in production, having been forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the end of December by its bankers and creditors.

Many musicians still believe that analog recording on tape produces better sounding masters than recordings made in any digital format, and often even insist that a specific brand and type of analog tape be used in their master recording session. (Most master recordings are now made on digital recorders, a growing number of which use hard-disk drives rather than tape of any kind.)

Recording studios must of course respond to the requirements of their clients, and with the failure of EMTEC and possibly now Quantegy, their ability to satisfy those desiring to use analog mastering has been threatened. Ever since EMTEC ceased production, MMIS has been inundated with e-mails from worried studios and professional suppliers of recording products, all of them wanting to know where to go to purchase their analog tape needs. Unfortunately, there are not many alternatives, and none that would be readily accepted by most recording studios.
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While several companies around the world are still producing analog cassette tape for duplication purposes, none remains in Western Europe, and RMGI will also strive to fill this void. Its market will in fact extend to Africa and the Middle East, where analog duplication tape remains in considerable demand, and over time could also expand into Asia and North America. RMGI may have an advantage over other suppliers in certain of these markets, in that EMTEC was the dominant brand there in the past, and many of RMGI’s technical, production, and marketing advisors are ex-EMTEC employees. These professionals have a thorough understanding of the audio tape business, and it is their intention to produce audio tape products that duplicate to the greatest degree possible the quality and performance of those previously offered by EMTEC. For this purpose, RMGI has acquired not only the necessary equipment to update the Oosterhout plant, but rights to use EMTEC formulations and the ownership of pertinent patents.
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The Oosterhout factory has a long history, being one of the first facilities in Europe to produce audio tape of any kind. Its history is explained in a recent announcement published by RMGI, which is reproduced in its entirety below. MMIS is publishing this announcement in the hope that it will help acquaint those interested in sources for analog cassette and professional audio tape media with the existence and capabilities of this new company, and bring much needed business to it. Interested readers should contact RMGI directly, as shown in its announcement; please do NOT contact MMIS on matters relating to prices, delivery etc! The RMGI announcement follows:

RMG International is pleased to announce the availability of EMTEC- Quality audio pancake and studio tapes:

Sample quantities will be available at the end of February or beginning of March 2005. Production quantities are scheduled for April 2005.
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Samples of all studio tape products will be available in May 2005. Continuous supply starts in June 2005.
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The Oosterhout site now under the direction of RMG International has been used continuously for the past 37 years for the production of magnetic tape. With its highly skilled and experienced personnel and management, RMG International is fully dedicated to produce the highest quality magnetic tape products. A slim organizational structure assures low overhead. When EMTEC closed down, RMG International acquired the EMTEC production and quality assurance equipment necessary to convert and update the Oosterhout production lines to EMTEC standards for audio tape production.

RMG International has EMTEC’s

1. Production know-how
2. Formulations, and
3. Patents

Former EMTEC key personnel are assisting the Oosterhout staff in order to maintain the EMTEC standards of quality and performance. Following the installation of the EMTEC equipment and confirmation of the availability of all necessary raw materials, RMG International has begun initial test-coating runs for audio pancake tape and is now preparing for the start-up of coating studio tape products.

Quantegy, as noted earlier, is now operating under the guidance and jurisdiction of appointed representatives of the Opelika bankruptcy court.

Actually, a total of eight different Quantegy-related companies are now under Chapter 11 protection; these include the main company, as well as Quantegy International, several European-based subsidiaries, and a joint operation Quantegy had with Imation (Anmerkung : auch ein amerikanischer "Hersteller" oder Vertrieb, der dort Magnetbandprodukte unter eigenem Namen produzieren ließ).

There are at least two parties said to be interested in rescuing Quantegy and operating it as a producer of professional magnetic tape products, as well as several others whose interests are less clear, but are not believed to include ongoing operation of the plant.

Local legal advisors believe that it will be late March at the earliest before anything is resolved, and there is hope that the company can survive this latest setback and be restored to financial health by its new owners.

Some 160 employees have already lost their jobs bereits 1945 als ORRADIO, also nicht est 1950 !!, and everyone in Opelika is hoping that the company can be rescued, since it has been in business there since 1950 (Anmerkung: Major J. Herbert Orr baute die Magnetband-Fabrik).

However, one would have to judge Quantegy’s chances of survival at less than 50/50, largely because of the size of its debt and the ongoing decline in demand for the products (Anmerkung : der Niedergang des Bedarfs an Magnetband- Produkten, die dort produziert wurden) the company can manufacture.
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This ongoing decline in demand for professional analog tape products is more than amply illustrated by the revenues Quantegy has been able to generate over the past several years. Not all of its revenues of course have come from analog audio products; over the past three years, for example, the company has generated almost $45 million from the sale of data-tape products supplied under a contract with Imation. However, that business came to an end in 2004, and it is unlikely that the company, if it continues to operate under new owners, could regain a position of any consequence in the data-tape business.
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On the other hand, Quantegy has for the past ten years or more been a competent producer of various professional video tape formats, and is one of the few smaller tape manufacturers that has mastered the technology needed to produce tape products based on metal pigments. Technologically, Quantegy has demonstrated surprisingly high capabilities, accomplishing much more with much less in facilities and personnel than many much larger producers.

Quantegy’s product lineup over the years has included

1. professional video products,
2. professional audio products,
3. instrumentation tape products, and
4. contract manufacturing for other tape producers.

In 1998, company audio tape sales were about $50 million, and accounted for 30 percent of total sales. In 2004, these audio-related sales had fallen to just $11 million. In 1998, Quantegy enjoyed sales of over $93 million in professional video tape products; in 2004 video revenues had declined to just less than $20 million. Instrumentation tape sales, once the company’s "cash-cow" due to the high margins generated, have declined by 75 percent since 1998, and are no longer of much significance. Total sales in 1998 were almost $167 million, but, if we subtract out the Imation contract work, had declined to just $37 million in 2004. High administrative costs, coupled with heavy interest payments, have kept the company in red ink every year except 1999.

Actually, Quantegy’s manufacturing gross margins were always very acceptable, indicating competent manufacturing controls, high yields, and good throughput. Its troubles have therefore been mostly on the administrative side, along with the costs of servicing accumulated debt. In its heyday in the 1980s, Ampex Corporation (the company that then operated the Opelika plant) enjoyed annual tape sales approaching $600 million, and was a major player in the overall tape business.

Given its long history in the industry, MMIS would like to believe Quantegy can survive its current financial crisis and live on as a producer of advanced professional tape products. This can happen only if some very capable investors are willing to accept the considerable risks involved, and dedicate themselves to putting to work the sizeable human assets this company has in the magnetic tape business.

Quantegy is not the only magnetic tape producer whose future is in some doubt at this time. The future viability of Saehan Media, the world’s largest VHS tape producer, is also in question. An American company, Lone Star Equity Group, is in the process of negotiating the purchase of Saehan from its banks and creditors. Even if the negotiations are successful, the intentions of Lone Star remain unclear, and liquidation could be its objective.

The Seoul newspapers seem to believe that a decision will come sometime before the end of March. It is possible of course that Lone Star would choose to operate Saehan as a magnetic tape producer, but here too the odds seem heavily against such a happy outcome.
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If Saehan suffers the same fate as EMTEC, and is no longer in production by the end of this year, this would leave SKC as the most important remaining VHS tape producer serving the industry. SKC company officials have confirmed directly to MMIS that they have every intention of continuing production of magnetic tape products, believing that there is more than enough business remaining during the next several years to justify their doing so.

These same officials have also confirmed that the company has recently purchased the tape-coating facilities at Fujifilm’s Greenwood, South Carolina plant, but have provided no further details. Since SKC already has more than sufficient coating capacity in Korea to meet expected demands, MMIS wonders what prompted the purchase of the Fujifilm facilities. All we can do now is wait and see what happens next. SKC has always been considered to be the most technically advanced of the several Korean magnetic tape producers, and the company may have purchased the Fujifilm coaters in order to undertake the production of more advanced tape formats.
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Unlike analog audio mastering tapes, demand for which is kept alive by people who prefer not to accept digital recording because they dislike the quality of the digitized sound, professional video recording is already predominantly digital; there is no "cult" group that insists on keeping analog video alive. DVDs now account for 80 percent or more of all the video recordings sold, and DVD-recordable disc recorders are beginning to replace VCRs everywhere. However, there will certainly remain sufficient business in both professional and consumer tape formats to support one or two tape manufacturers for several years to come.

February 12, 2005
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Die Nachricht : From April 27th 2012 the RMGI production plant will be closed.
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Eine Zusammefassung aus Okt. 2017
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1. Die Magnetbandfabrik in Oosterhout wurde ursprünglich von Philips in 1968 errichtet. Später wurde sie in eine Koperation mit Dupont eingebracht, die bis 1993 dauerte.
2. Philips hatte inzwischen die gesamte Schallplattenfertigung nahezu ganz Europas aufgekauft und nahezu auch die CD Produktion Europas unter Kontrolle.
3. Dann wurde die Philips/Dupont Magnetband-Fabrik verkauft und in "Magnetic Products Oosterhout B.V" umbenannt.
4. In 2004 kaufte die jetzt neue MPO die Reste der EMTEC München aus der Konkursmasse und übernahm auch einige EMTEC Spezialisten.
5. In 2012 übernahm die französische Firma Pyral die in Turbolenzen gekommene "belgische" RMGI (wieso jetzt belgisch??) und verlegte die gesamte Produktion nach Avranches, France.
6. Als Pyral dann im Oktober 2013 auch in Konkurs ging, kaufte angeblich die Firma Mulann im Januar 2015 die Reste aus der Konkursmasse und nahm angeblich die Produktion wieder auf.
7. Die Magnetband-Produkte werden angeblich unter "The Masters" vertrieben.

• Anmerkung : Alleine mir fehlt der Glaube.

Wenn man weiter liest, kommt man auf Fragmente der Historie von Pyral.
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1. Pyral hatte 1934 mit Lack beschichteten Alumminium Scheiben als Schallplatten Folien zum Schneiden der 78er Platten angefangen,
2. Bis 2004 war Pyral dann eine Tochter von EMTEC, BASF und Rhone-Paulenc, danach eine eigenständige Firma
3. bis 2007 wurde noch hauptsächlich "Cord"-Magnetfilm produziert
4. In 2012 kaufte man die Reste von RMGI (ehemals EMTEC) und ging pleite.
5. In 2015 wurden sie von Mulann gekauft. Mulann ist ein Hersteller von Kreditkarten und sonstigen Magnetkarten, darum paßte das vermutlich ins Produktpsektrum und die Pyral Konkursmasse war so ziemlich unverkäuflich und darum sehr billig.

Schaun Sie mal hier rein http://www.recordingthemasters.com

Stand Okt 2017
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