Sony DADC, Southwater refers to Sony DADC's optical disc manufacturing plant in Southwater, West Sussex, UK, which was operational from July 2006 to March 2018. Associated business entity: Sony DADC UK Ltd.
This manufacturing plant was originally opened in 1986 by Disctec. In July 1987 the plant was acquired by Disctronics Limited and eventually became known as Disctronics S. It was then acquired in June 2003 by Deluxe (7) when that company purchased all European operations of Disctronics. The plant was finally sold to Sony DADC by Deluxe's parent company The Rank Group in July 2006. Sony DADC ceased manufacturing at the plant in March 2018 in order to concentrate manufacturing operations at its remaining plants in Austria at the time: one in Anif (glass mastering/stamper production; shut down in 2019) and one in Thalgau (disc replication). Sony DADC continued to use the Southwater facility for distribution and warehousing purposes until 2022, when the plant was shuttered and subsequently demolished in 2023.
Sony DADC, Southwater can be identified and credited in the LCCN with the Glass Mastered At role when one of the mastering SID codes IFPI LY33/LY34 appears in the matrix mirror band.
Do not credit Sony DADC, Southwater with the Manufactured By role unless stated on the release. Please note the 'W' in the Mould SID combination IFPI AEWxx is often obscured and can be misread as another letter.
The matrix may or may not name 'Sony DADC' (without specifying the Southwater location), and will either contain the client catalogue number (and in the case of Universal, its own logo) or a Sony DADC job number in the format A010xxxxxxx-yyzz. When present, the job number can be entered as a catalogue number for Sony DADC, Southwater.
Rarely, a Sxxxxxxxxxx-yyzz code may also be present (in these cases, please only enter this catalogue number if it appears in the S0100xxxxxx-yyzz pattern).
A number of broker companies have manufactured through Sony DADC and may be named in the disc matrix. In such cases, please enter LCCN as follows:
Manufactured By - [broker company, eg Key Production (shown in matrix as www.keyproduction.co.uk) or www.Noisebox.co.uk]
Glass Mastered At - Sony DADC, Southwater
Examples of such brokered discs are Rehabilitated (The Massachusetts Broadcast, 1986) and Ten.
