Demo/EP CD printing

[davidlovellbass]

After spending too much money on studio time i'm looking at cd duplication/manufacturer. Anyone have any do's and don't on where to go?

[BigRedX]

What quantities and what packaging are you after?

[chris_b]

Did you get your CD mastered?

In order to save money the acoustic guitarist I play with didn't bother to master his last CD and the levels and sound are all over the place.

It doesn't sound good at all. I can't listen to it.

[davidlovellbass]

Haha, cheap but not looking cheap. 100-500 in slimline cd cases, artworks black and white

[BigRedX]

500 puts you into replication (glass mastering etc), while anything less means CDRs which obviously aren't as long lasting. In actual fact the cross-over point cost-wise happens somewhere between 300-400, so essentially if you want more than 300 you might as well get 500 real CDs as it will be cheaper.

As far as packaging goes almost always standard Jewel cases are the cheapest option, simply because they are manufactured in such high quantities that the manufacturing plants can all offer discounts on them, plus the printed paper parts are simple and less time-consuming to produce compared with other packaging like card wallets and digipaks. Also at lower quantities the printing may well be digital so B/W won't actually be any cheaper than full colour.

Work out exactly what you want and then talk to [url="http://www.breedmedia.co.uk"]Breed[/url], [url="http://www.discwizards.com"]Disk Wizards[/url] and [url="http://www.mediahut.co.uk"]Media Hut[/url] and see who can offer the best deal at the moment. This time last year Disk Wizards were offering 1000 CDs in jewel cases with 4 or 8 page booklets for less than any of the others price for 500. However prices have evened out recently so you need to have a good idea what you want before getting quotes, or trying to work out which option and broker is giving the best deal will not be easy!

TBH if you are intending to sell rather than give away as promotional items, you shouldn't rule out vinyl. It might cost more, but there's way more interest these days in the format and you can sell them for proportionally more than you can a CD.

And as chris_b says. Get your recordings properly mastered, and mastered for the correct delivery medium. A good mastering house will produce different versions for vinyl, CD and MP3 that give you best for each delivery medium.

Edited June 20, 2013 by BigRedX

[paulpirie8]

+1 for Disc Wizards!

Used them a few times now and they're a very friendly, helpful and accommodating bunch.

Paul

[BigRedX]

I've used Disc Wizards several times and they've always produced a competent, competitively priced product. However they haven't once managed to hit their originally quoted delivery date, and compared with the other two brokers I mentioned, I thought the printing quality wasn't quiet as good. When they were always at least £100 per 500 items cheaper than their competitors, this could be excused. However when I was last looking for quotes a couple of months ago, they were pretty much the same price as the competition.

[paulpirie8]

Couldn't really comment on the recent prices as the last time I used them was over a year ago. But in terms of quality of pressing, printing and cases, they were the best ones we found, after getting samples sent out from a few different companies (although I can't remember off the top of my head if the others you mentioned were among those).

I would recommend getting a few samples sent out from various companies as most will be happy to do so and decide which the best value for money.

EDIT: Actually I think I do remember the jewel cases being a bit flimsy (we went for digipacks).

Edited June 20, 2013 by paulpirie8

[BigRedX]

I found the printing on the paper parts produced by Disc Wizards to be a little on the washed out side - usually a result of running the stock too fast through the printing press. I do reprographics artwork for a living so this is the sort of thing I tend to notice.

Samples are all very well but if you don't know what the artwork is supposed to look like it doesn't really help.

And another thing to mention to the OP, not all the manufacturing plants use the same templates for the printed parts. Make sure you produce your designs on the templates that are provided by the broker you end up using. The Disc Wizards templates in particular have been completely different to everyone else's for the same end product.

[Low End Bee]

We get our EP's printed 100/150 at a time on CDR with card sleeves. Each re-print will have slightly different artwork to make them 'editions' . It makes it more fun and doesn't tie up the cash flow too much or leave you with boxes of CD's everywhere.
I hate jewel cases and they feel more like records in sleeves.There's only pennies per unit in it this way.