Sound-on-Sound is the sole album by English new wave band Bill Nelson's Red Noise, released in February 1979 by record label Harvest.

He described the decision to form a band, rather than present himself as a solo musician with "an anonymous backing group", as a way of "hiding" and avoid being trapped "in a specific mould" if he achieved major success, saying: "This way I can change whatever cover I have to work under when my ideas alter or develop.

"[4] Be-Bop Deluxe keyboardist Andy Clark joined Nelson in Red Noise, with the line-up completed by Bill's brother Ian on saxophone and jazz bassist Rick Ford.

"[4] The influence of electronic music on Nelson in the period, including groups like the Residents, led him to begin using a synthesizer guitar instead of an ordinary one, and processing snare drums through fuzzboxes, among other experimentation.

"[6] Nelson wrote the songs on Sound-on-Sound about "mundane, domestic things," citing "electronic appliances, factories...the paraphernalia of the times," and commenting that the album's instrumentation and arrangements reflect this.

"[4] He wrote "Stop/Go/Stop" – which features the line "To Central Information, from Intelligence Patrol/We all must follow orders, obey remote control" – in 1977 about his future-wife Jan while he was still married to his first wife.

"[4] The sleeve of Sound-on-Sound was designed by Japanese artist Bishin Jumonji,[11] and depicts a bed-ridden robot constructed of both electronic and electromechanical components, chosen by Nelson to represent the album's 'mundane, domestic' themes.

[4] The back cover features an "Important Notice" writing that the album was "styled with today's hi-fi in mind," saying that the record should be "played at high volume in a room with no views other than those afforded by the use of subliminal image video apparatus.

[5] During the band's live performances, the group wore Red Army-style matching uniforms and used intricate lighting to "underline the point of the music," according to Nelson, who elaborated: "The songs are about the impending gloom of 1984, the austerity and the indoctrination.

"[4] After disbanding Be-Bop Deluxe, Nelson gave EMI—parent company of Harvest Records, to which the band was signed—a choice between signing Red Noise or dropping him altogether.

[9] In the UK, EMI dropped Nelson altogether in July 1979, alongside other groups like Wire, as the label was slimming down its roster and looking for more commercially viable artists.

"[20] Reviewing the 2012 reissue, Daryl Easlea of Record Collector called Sound-on-Sound "the intelligent, one-off a curio that split the crowd on release in 1979, but simply gets better with age."

[11] Michael Waynick of AllMusic praised the album as "a brilliant collection of anti-romantic anthems" that "sounds like Devo given the Phil Spector wall-of-sound treatment."

He hailed its breathless pace and tuneful sound and wrote: "If Nelson did abandon Red Noise as a musical dead end, it was a fascinating cul-de-sac nonetheless.

"[8] Ira Robbins of Trouser Press wrote that Nelson "attacked the future with gusto" with the album's mix of lyrical modernism and "subtly infiltrated synthetic sounds," but considered the songs to be "the weak link," which he felt were generally half-formed "despite some good ideas.