How do I get my finished C.D. to look like the c.d.s you buy at stores?

[the maestro]

I want my C.D. cover to look like the industry standard c.d.s how do I go about getting this done. And I'm not talking about a cheap label packet from wal-mart, I'm talking the real deal.

[chadsxe]

Send it out to get pressed.

[Massive Master]

Supply them with good artwork?

(is this a trick question?)

[ecktronic]

Or just print it yourself. Its easily done. Just get the right paper. Most printers these days should be albe to print fine enough to get a pro look. Use easy CD creator or a similar program to add text and graphics to a CD box template. Only thing is getting the CD printed. You will need a seperate printer for this. Can be piked up pretty cheep vut.

[D-ragonS5]

there are DVD/CD burners that can actuall inscribe the other side of the cd... but you would need to get a two sided disk, other than that having them professionally reproduced is the only other way.

[livilaNic]

Originally Posted by ecktronic

Or just print it yourself. Its easily done. Just get the right paper. Most printers these days should be albe to print fine enough to get a pro look. Use easy CD creator or a similar program to add text and graphics to a CD box template. Only thing is getting the CD printed. You will need a seperate printer for this. Can be piked up pretty cheep vut.

I would say the same. Good paper and good printer. But if your doing say 100. It would take awhile. Not to print but to put it on the CD itself.

I have an ALPs MD1300 that has micro dry. So its flawless.

[lpdeluxe]

I do a lot of graphics and I have done the artwork for several CDs, including one I recorded in my studio.

Here are some thoughts: Paper labels are bad. They look nice at first, but they peel off the discs and jam CD players, or get put on crooked and make the CD unbalanced, or they get wet or...lots of things happen, all of them bad. The thing I don't like is that it's really difficult to center the label. And it never looks like anything but a pasted-on paper label.

Epson makes printers that will print on ink-jet printable CDs. In other words, you have to buy CDRs that have a blank (usually white) label side that will accept ink-jet ink. I have the Epson R300, which I got for $180US. Basically you prepare the artwork with something like Photoshop and then import it into Epson's software to print the CDs. Epson says to burn the music side first, and that's the way I do it. They do an acceptable job, but it is time-consuming to calibrate the colors so that the CD looks right. For 100 CDRs, the cartridge expense starts to add up. The R300 uses 6 ink cartridges, and I get them for about $11 apiece. It is also time consuming, since you have to feed in each CDR individually. Still, this is my choice when I am burning no more than a few CDRs. The labels don't peel off, and there are no mechanical problems.

The last possibility is having the CDs replicated and printed at a plant. This is the only way you can do it that really works for more than just a few.

The bottom line is, you can get inexpensive, or easy, or good looking, but getting all three attributes without specialized equipment is not really possible. Unless you want to spend a lot of time learning how to do it, and you can do the graphics to an acceptable standard of appearance, and you can buy the printers etc to do it with, it's better to have it done.

[michaelst]

Design your artwork, master your CD and send it to:
DiskFaktory

It's a lot cheaper than doing it yourself.

[livilaNic]

Originally Posted by michaelst

Design your artwork, master your CD and send it to:
DiskFaktory

It's a lot cheaper than doing it yourself.

That's kick ass cheap as hell.

[LRosario]

Man, this isn't even my area of expertise, but I hear it all the time:

It's usually taken care of through whatever distributor you manage to sign with. But if it's out of your own pocket, then you'd have to find out who does the pressing for that distributor.


However, it's not my area, so I couldn't tell you who to go to.

http://www.cd-rduplicators.co.uk/cdrmedia.htm

[lpdeluxe]

A lot of the replication outfits offer graphics designs as well: you tell them what you want, and they make it. I've seen some that look pretty good. Naturally, you pay them to do it.

[RobertN]

I may be a little late but I can do it.

[BRIEFCASEMANX]

my band took blank cds and spray painted the tops! DIYYYYYYYYYY