Making Your Own CD

Subject: Making Your Own CD
From: Polite Guest
Date: 29 May 08 - 05:34 PM

Any good tips out there, please?

Subject: RE: Making Your Own CD
From: Cool Beans
Date: 29 May 08 - 06:48 PM

Where to start? Find a good recording studio (if you don't have your own). Figure out which songs you want to do and rehearse, so you don't spend a lot of money (they charge by the hour) for practice time. Record in the afternoon or evening. Voices sound lousy in the morning. When you have enough for a CD, check around for local manufacturers (ask the studio: they'll probably have recommendations). Discmakers and Oasis are two national companies that will manufacture CDs from your master, complete with with design adn packaging. If you are recording copyrighted songs, you can usually get licenses to record them from the Harry Fox Agency www.songfile.com
Fees are based on how many copies you manufacture...It's only in the tens of dollars for a few hundred copies. For national distribution (at least in the US) sign on with CD Baby cdbaby.com
for an initial $35 plus a cut (around $4) for each copy sold. Those figures may be a bit out of date.
There. That's all of it in a nutshell.

Subject: RE: Making Your Own CD
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 May 08 - 07:17 PM

Don't even think about burning them on your PC, making the disc labels, printing the inlays and all the rest. It isn't worth the hassle, and your home-made effort may look quite good but it won't look professional.   I know, I've done it. Never again. If your CD is good enough, hand this side of things over to the pros.

Subject: RE: Making Your Own CD
From: reggie miles
Date: 29 May 08 - 09:18 PM

I'm sorry Steve but on your points I have to disagree. What I am able to do, at home on my own with my recordings, is something that few manufacturers are willing to do for a reasonable rate. My cd packaging looks far better than most of the that being produced by the 'so called' pros. The larger concerns purposely offer budget packages to eager artists looking for inexpensive large volume runs and the results speak for themselves.

Perhaps you lacked the skill necessary to produce a pro product on your own and I will admit that there are probably many out there who would just as soon allow someone else to handle that part of their package but I do just fine. Actually, I manage to do far better than anything that I've ever had anyone else handle for me. That is primarily the reason why I decided to do it myself.

Yes, it's a lot of extra effort but the sales of my cds have never been better. I have to believe that my extra care with my packaging and designs has had a direct affect on my sales. Poor packaging wasn't helping at all.

At this point, I still have the time to commit to doing this work on my own. If there should ever come a time that I no longer have that luxury, then I will choose carefully who I allow to reproduce my efforts. So far, I have not found anyone who is willing to offer the same level of care and detail that I give to my projects.

You might respond by saying that I've not looked in all the right places and that may be true, but I have looked around and so far I've not found a maker that will do what I do for anything close to reasonable rate. Maybe too I have a funny idea of what reasonable is. Mostly of the big guys don't want to be bothered with the extra work involved and usually offer plan A or B, one being cheaper than the other but neither being what I want done. So I forge ahead on my own.

Cool Beans, tack another $20 on that CD Baby fee range if you'd also like digital distribution from them. I wish that I could say that I've done well via my attempts at selling my recordings through CD Baby, but so far, I've sold more than 10 cds on my own to every 1 of my recordings that sells via that outlet. Of course, that may change. I just released three new all original song recordings and the folks at CD Baby has them all. Plus, I've elected to have them do all of my digital ditribution. That digital aspect takes a while to kick in.

Still, most of the sales that I've made via that outlet are sales that I probably would not have made via any of my own efforts. Folks from all over the world stop there to check out the latest and newest they have to offer. My music has received more attention there than almost anywhere else that I'm aware of online.

With the cost of digital distribution the folks at CD Baby will also supply you with a barcode for your cds and indiviual number identity tags IRCs for each of your songs.

I'd say that being a DIY kind of guy has worked alright for me but you have to have the time and energy to do it all.

1. Look online for outlets to purchase supplies like cds, cases, and ink. The money you'll save will allow you to afford to spend a little extra on better paper for your inserts. I purchase my paper locally. I've not done that research online yet.

2. There are many supply houses online. Do yourself a favor and compare prices.

3. Purchase one of the Epson printers that prints directly on the surface of the CDs. Ink for the older models is still easily obtainable and you can find remanufactured varieties that cost a fraction of what the original brand name ink will run.

4. Find an outlet to purchase the resealable cello bags to use instead of shrink wrap. They look just as retail ready in the bags and are not an expensive addition to help protect your cases.

5. Use high quality paper for your inserts. This really helps the over all look of your graphics package. I use a generic brand of double sided high gloss paper for both my insert and tray liner. It really helps my graphics to print out cleanly and the colors are much more vibrant. When your cd is one of many lying on tables in a whole room full of recordings you want to grab those who aren't familiar with your work with a high quality look to your packaging design. Printing that on quality media is important.

6. I enjoy seeing more of my design on my discs when they're printed. So, I use hub printable cds. These allow more art work to cover the surface. Yes, they use a little more ink to cover this area but they also afford the graphics more room. It makes it easier to include all of the info you need to on your discs within the available area without the feeling of being too crowded or needing to shrinking that info down so small that customers need a magnifying glass to read it.

7. Purchase a standard paper cutter. You know, the kind with the big cutting arm. A 17 inch square one should do nicely. I use this to cut out my inserts and then I fold them individually. I use a pattern to help me to make the spine folds correctly.

My two cents.

Subject: RE: Making Your Own CD
From: GUEST,Howard Jones
Date: 30 May 08 - 04:14 AM

It depends on how large a manufacturing run you want. If you are a pro expecting to sell a good number then its worth getting the job done professionally. If it's basically vanity publishing then you might be better burning them yourself - you can then do them to order or run off a few before a gig, which is better for cash-flow. Make sure it's clear that they are CD-Rs, as these may not work on all players.

Just a thought - my car radio handbook warns against using CDs with applied labels, as these can come off and really gum up the works. So besides looking more professional, properly printed CDs avoid this risk and possibly an expensive bill. Some manufacturing companies will print blank CD-Rs which you can then burn yourself.

Subject: RE: Making Your Own CD
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 30 May 08 - 05:03 AM

CD-Rs are not CDs. They might look similar & play on the same equipment but they're a different beast entirely - as different as cassette tape is from a vinyl album. A home duplicated CD-R should not be sold as a CD, and certainly not for the £10+ we have to shell out for commercially produced CDs.

We do our CD-Rs on finest quality Ritex all-blacks, so they don't even look like CDs; we no longer use labels, for the reasons given above, so each unit is hand lettered in gold or silver pen. We don't use jewel cases either, just a simple sleeve with a folded piece of card, computer-printed on one side with the artwork, hand rubber stamped on the other & dated with the copy date. Additional artwork, notes, lyrics etc. are then put on-line or printed on a sheet of A4 paper which is folded inside the cover, also hand stamped with our logo by way of authentication. These disks we sell for £6 on line (which includes international P&P) or £5 face to face. Everything about them says this disk is not a CD - it is a home produced & lovingly hand-crafted non-commercial CD-R containing an exquisite music that you might find difficult but which is, nevertheless, folk & exists in this format because it makes pragmatic economic sense for it to do so. This is not a product, this a document of an ongoing musical process that is Ploughmyth International. Our website is slowly catching up with this, but do have a look at Ploughmyth International

For folkish digital distribution check out Woven Wheat Whispers which is entirely free & open to all & operates on a 70/30 cut in the artists favour. Many of our albums thereupon are entirely gratis, and all others retail at £3.75, which is the same price as the Manband's Back Into the Future album when it was released in September 1973.

Subject: RE: Making Your Own CD
From: Fidjit
Date: 30 May 08 - 06:51 AM

Just done my own listen and look here

It took ages to get the inlay and play list pages together for the, Jewel Case package. Much longer than the Studio time.

I agree trying to do it all yourself doesn't look professional at all.

Finally got help from the producers, Disc Print with the layout.

I'm pleased with the end result.

Chas

Subject: RE: Making Your Own CD
From: Fidjit
Date: 30 May 08 - 06:53 AM

Sorry should have said I live in Sweden

Chas

Subject: RE: Making Your Own CD
From: GUEST,Joe
Date: 30 May 08 - 07:00 AM

I like the real budget approach, no thrills, but with a nicely designed cover. There is nothing worse than a really smart CD, well packaged etc and the music itself doesnt live up to it!

Subject: RE: Making Your Own CD
From: Kiss Me Slow Slap Me Quick
Date: 30 May 08 - 09:12 AM

Just avoid recording yet another - Forty Fabulous F@#*ing Folk Favourites - CD. There are thousands of songs and tunes out there, a folk "covers" recording is not required.

And if you can't sing, DON'T. Squeeky, polite schoolmarm and offkey, gruff dosser types please note. That's not an authentic or sharming catch in your voice, it's earache.

Subject: RE: Making Your Own CD
From: treewind
Date: 30 May 08 - 10:37 AM

In my opinion, home vs. commercial is ALL about sales volumes. I've done both - we made our first album at home on CDR, printed the cards, used paper labels on the CDs (I've got an Epson direct-to-CD printer now which is much better but still not ideal) and I could turn out about 10 in an evening, which was OK as long as we didn't sell too many and didn't have too many other things to do with our time, but it's pretty tedious. I might have made 80-100 over a couple of years.

We went the opposite way with the other albums, on the Wild Goose label with the advantages of more sophisticated recording, editing and mixing technology, another (and experienced) pair of ears involved in the production, promotional and review copies sent to magazines and broadcasters and distribution that reached high street shops. Much easier to cope with when you've got better things to do with your time. Pressed CDs, run of 500 followed two years later by another 300 of the first album when they sold out, and I think the second one went for a re-pressing too.

I still use CDRs for miscellaneous short runs - it's the only way. As someone said earlier, you can get remarkably good results with high quality paper (StoraEnso 4CC Premium is my current favourite with a semi-gloss very smooth face), duplex colour laser printing, jewel cases purchased in boxes of 100 and a bit of experience.

Anahata

Subject: RE: Making Your Own CD
From: GUEST, Slow kissing slapper
Date: 30 May 08 - 11:41 AM

"And if you can't sing, DON'T. Squeeky, polite schoolmarm and offkey, gruff dosser types please note. That's not an authentic or sharming catch in your voice, it's earache. "

I disagree. Folk music in particular gains from ordinary or even poor musicians. In fact, if you can sing like Pavrotti then don't make a folk album, but if 'sing' like Bob Dylan, fill your boots.

Subject: RE: Making Your Own CD
From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine
Date: 30 May 08 - 02:21 PM

Clarify your objectives first, ask yourself why you want to make a CD.
Is it to get gigs, to sell at gigs, to garner critical acclaim and make you rich and famous? Or just so you have a CD you can give to your friends and family?

How many do you realistically think you'll sell, how will you market and distribute it? Having this focus before you start recording will help you budget sensibly and work out how much you're prepared to do for yourself and how much you need to buy in professional services. And hopefully you'll avoid having 920 immaculate shrink-wrapped CDs under your bed in ten years time!

I'd thoroughly recommend the book How to Make and Sell your Own Recording (click here to buy on Amazon), which takes you everything you need to think about.

Subject: RE: Making Your Own CD
From: Polite Guest
Date: 31 May 08 - 04:28 AM

Many thanks for the kind and informative posts, everyone. They are much appreciated.