help getting a 500 cd pressing done. . . . please?

[patrickkeller2]

Hi all,

I've been recording at home for a few years now, all digital - and I'm finally getting good enough at mixing and mastering that I can produce red-book cd-r's that are DONE - with no further mastering/tweaking needed. I just want to get the disks pressed to regular non-cdr compact disks (with full color printing on the disk) and possibly packaging as well, but I'm very familiar with the paper-print-presses around here (LA), and have no questions as to where and how to get the packaging portion done if that part of the process can be farmed out to someone else. I just want to know how I should go about getting my disks pressed? How much is it going to cost me? - what is the minimum number of cd's I can have printed? - should I do it locally (LA) or should I ship it out to the most suitable cd printer, regardless of location?

I'm sorry to be so new to the mechanics of all this, but I need to swallow my pride and start somewhere.

any phone numbers, personal experiences, internet addresses, and other tidbits would be much appreciated.

thanks so much,

Patrick k.

[Rev E]

PK,

There are oodles of places that can make CDs for you. Rather than giving you a laundry list of names, check the classified section of your music mags like Keyboard, Electronic Musician, EQ, Musician, Mix, Recording, Etc.. They will have hundreds of places that can do it all, printing AND burning the CD's.

In the past, I've used QCA out of Cincinatti, OH http://www.go-qca.com/ with success. But there are many, many places to choose from. Probably the most famous is disc makers http://www.discmakers.com/ , but their once "premium" service is pretty much the norm these days. Most places offer mastering also. The print mags are your best source for a wide variety of choices.

I've seen minimum orders of 300 (for non-CDR CD's). Offhand, I'd say that the price will run anywhere from $700 - $1500 (US) for 300 - 500 CD's, depending on what options you get with the graphics (whether you provide them with film, full color, more than 4 panels, etc...). Don't forget that the cassette is not dead so include a minimum order of cassettes too.

Rev E

[patrickkeller2]

hey thanks for the info!,

I just came back from cdman.com - great services! only $500 for $500 iso9002 with 4 color printing. didn't get a quote on packaging, they had every standardized option you could think of, so I thought I'd save that for tommorrow. there site inspired confidence, very similar to the good online offset printers I've dealt with in the past.

found a good link:
http://www.kathoderaymusic.com/cgi-b...gi?d=1&t=yahoo

thought I'd throw it in for archival purposes.

thanks,

now I know, and knowing is 1/2 the battle.

[David Hooper]

1000 isn't much more than 500 and you can use the extras for promos.

A quicker way to get to the page linked above is www.indie411.com .

Good luck!

dave @ kathode ray
www.indiebiz.com

Email biz101@kathoderaymusic.com for a free music promotion course.