After recording a CD then what?

Subject: RE: After recording a CD then what?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 Jul 06 - 06:22 PM

I've been putting notes to individual songs in the booklet insert, and then placing the lyrics and more notes on my website. I really hate to try to read tiny fonts and while I appeciate performers including the lyrics with the CD, I usually can't read them unless I enlarge them on a photocopier.

Of course, Barry's got quite a job re-proofing his lyrics so they tally with what he sings.

I'm not sure if Judy will be able to complete the first draft editing by this Saturday. There's more than 20 songs and each one takes about an hour to edit when everything is working well.

But it certainly was a great experience for us as well, and really wonderful to meet and work with Neil.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: After recording a CD then what?
From: JudyB
Date: 13 Jul 06 - 10:16 AM

A question for Ron (or others in radio) -

Most projects I'm involved with have gone the "lyrics on the web" route, partly because of the expense of printing the larger insert. As a consumer, I generally prefer that as my aging eyes have a hard time reading the booklets, especially when "artistic" fonts and colors are chosen.

But I do see why printed lyrics would be useful for a radio station. Do you think it would work if one included printed lyrics attached to the CD with a rubber band (so to speak)? Would they need to be CD-size so they could be tucked inside once the shrink-wrap was removed? Or should we really un-shrink-wrap the CD, put the insert inside our standard insert, and take it to a shrink-wrap place to put it back together again? (No one will ever know....)

I don't know how much of an issue it is - there aren't that many stations that play our type of music, so I doubt if Charley sends that many CDs to radio stations. But if he does, we would like to do whatever would make them most likely to be given a listen.

Thanks,
JudyB

Subject: RE: After recording a CD then what?
From: DebC
Date: 13 Jul 06 - 10:44 AM

I am a big believer in lyrics in the CD insert, but that is only my opinion. It's a lot of work and certainly an extra expense, but for me it was worth it. Of course, one thing that I discovered in doing this: you have to transcribe exactly what you are singing on the recording. I can't tell you how many times, the written lyrics had one thing and I sang something different. :-)

As a listener, I enjoy having lyrics handy, especially if there are some words that aren't clear enough in the recording. Sometimes, just reading the lyrics without hearing the song can bring the song into a whole different light.

I haven't done lyrics on the web...but from what I understand most DJs (and for that matter, many organisers and venue programmers as well) don't have the time to download stuff from websites.

Judy wrote:
"Do you think it would work if one included printed lyrics attached to the CD with a rubber band (so to speak)? Would they need to be CD-size so they could be tucked inside once the shrink-wrap was removed? Or should we really un-shrink-wrap the CD, put the insert inside our standard insert, and take it to a shrink-wrap place to put it back together again? (No one will ever know....)"

You want your CD to look as good as possible. I always remove the shrinkwrap before I send a CD to a DJ. I also insert a program sheet for DJs into the CD that has track info (times, what kind of song) and a description of the CD.

I'd be happy to give you an example of this, Judy. Send me an email and I'll forward them to you. Contact is at www.DebraCowan.com

Debra

Subject: RE: After recording a CD then what?
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 13 Jul 06 - 11:36 AM

Hi Judy,

Attaching any document that won't fit into the CD case is not a good idea. Most radio folk simply glance at the material and toss it away. (I do not recommend slick press kits with photos and reams of news clippings. You end up making compost!)

Deb mentioned the program sheet that fits into the CD, and that is an excellent suggestion!   Borealis Records started doing this a few years ago and it has caught on as a standard practice by others. One side of the card, which is a one-sheet that has the same dimensions as the CD booklet, usually has artist info on one side (bullet point facts about the individiual, including website and contact info) and track information on the other (listing cut #, track length, title and a one sentence description of the song - topic and tempo).

I am not sure why so many folk DJ's have trouble with shrinkwrap, but it is true. It can be a hassle to remove the wrap, especially when you are dealing with a stack of CD's.   I always carry one of those small CD wrap removers and it works fine. I guess my colleagues don't wish to be bothered! (We can be a finicky bunch!!!)

One of my pet peeves is cardboard CD sleeves.   People think they are better for the environment, and less prone to breakage, but they do have problems. They are not as durable and while they won't crack like a jewel case, the spines do wear out. The hub tends to break as well and the CD slips out.   Personally, I remove all the CD's that I receive and slip them into a product called jewel sleeves - www.jewelsleeve.com. This enables me to story 4 CD's in the place of one and they make it easy to store CD's alphabetically.

I always recommend sending an e-mail to the radio host before sending out a CD. I also recommend checking the Folk DJ listserv to see if the show fits your music.

One last note. You may have heard the business cliche "elevator speech". That is a request for giving a brief description of your project in the time it would take to ride in an elevator. If you cover your bases, you will get the information out so the listener will understand your project.   "Selling" your CD to a radio host requires the same thought process. Your e-mail,letter, and CD package have to capture their attention as quickly as possible. Lengthy letters require too much reading on the part of someone whose time may be limited. You want to think "bullet points" and quick descriptions that will get your message across.

Ron

Subject: RE: After recording a CD then what?
From: JudyB
Date: 13 Jul 06 - 07:24 PM

Thanks, Debra & Ron - I would have thought sending one without shrinkwrap would make the recipient think it wasn't a "real" (professionally produced) product - though since we've discovered the shrink-wrap store we can make our home-produced CDs just as hard to get into as the professional ones!

I'll make sure Charley checks in here - he's the one who does the publicity and such. Thanks again to everyone for the great advice and ideas!

JudyB