SOUND NEWS PRODUCTIONS / STUDIOS / SNP

       

Sound News Productions was a London-based custom recording firm.  It was active from the 1950s into at least the 1970s, and it seems to have specialised in private recordings of performances and broadcasts, which in some cases were cut directly to disc.  Its products covered a wide spectrum of recorded sound, ranging from a sung Mass through Classical music, Gospel and Folk to such oddities as an album entitled 'Elvis Talks Back' and recordings of the Congress of the International Psycho-Analytical Association.  Some of its output was available for the general public, some was not.  Numbering appears to have been in the SNP-0s for the most part; it seems to have got into the SNP-200s before undergoing a slight hiatus, from which it eventually emerged with a different set of numbers, SM-0.  Until some point in 1975 the labels had 'Sound News Productions' on them (1, 2, 3, 4, 5); from around SM-65 this became 'Sound News Studios' (6, 8).  The labels can also be found in other colours.  At least one single made as a promotional tool for a business, George Fenton's 'Club 18-30's Holiday' (SM-141; 1977), had labels with that business's name and logo on it (7); thanks to Graham7 of the 45cat site for permission to use his scan here.  A couple more had basic Sound News Studios labels with a record company name added to them: see 'Noisy Record Company' and 'Reel'.  The style of the matrix number on the run-off of the Wild Geese Folk Group EP shown above (5) suggests that it was pressed by Pye, and the Noisy and Reel singles were made by Sound Manufacturing, so it looks as though Sound News may not have done at least a proportion of their own 7" pressings.  Thanks to Robert Bowes for the first scan, to John Timmis for the second, and to Sam Mauger for the fourth.  The discography below lists such Sound News items from the '70s as I have been able to trace.  Most are LPs, so for the sake of 7" enthusiasts I've listed them separately.

Copyright 2007 Robert Lyons.