FabelSound = Factory of Belgique Sound.
Defunct record, cassette and later CD manufacturer in Athens, Greece. Established in 1974 by E. W. Pelgrims de Begard's S.A. Fabeldis of Belgium and co-owned and managed by his nephew, Mr. Alain Zan, after Μάκης Μάτσας proposal, in order to break the -until then- Columbia, Athens' manufacturing monopoly. Fabeldis established many joint venture record plants in Europe and Africa, outfitting them with semi-automatic Fabel presses and other equipment made by Fabeldis. Initially, the plant was equipped with 10-12 presses. After the demise of Fabeldis, Fabelsound installed fully automatic presses acquired from a closed down Dutch plant in the early '90s. When EMI Greece, ceased record pressing in 1991, all EMI product was pressed by Fabelsound.
The plant included a transfer department headed by Θοδωρής Χρυσανθόπουλος and an electroplating/galvanoplastics department. In addition, in a different, nearby location, a cassette department also operated. Μίμης Καντός was in charge of the cassette department from 1990 onwards.
CDs were initially made for Fabelsound by Dureco, Holland, another Pelgrims de Bigard company until Fabelsound Greece could justify installing CD manufacturing equipment. While still operating three shifts 7 days per week, the company was suddenly bankrupted in 2011 without notice.
While Fabelsound had the best disc cutting system available, the Neumann VMS80, the company's disc mastering does not exactly stand out. It is considered records were generally cut 'conservatively' to avoid track jumping and distortion when played back on the average turntables that were predominant in the region.
Its shareholders were Alain Zan, his son Petros Zan (together they held 75% of the shares) and Μάκης Μάτσας (with 25%) whose label Minos (2) was probably Febelsound's largest customer.
Records pressed by Fabelsound often have an f, F, fabel, FS, FN or YGOX etched in the runout grooves. F, f or fabel can be added as Pressing Plant Identifier.
SID codes associated with this plant:
IFPI 2B** IFPI L061
IFPI 2B** IFPI LH01
