can u print ur own cd covers on a home printer?

H

hiphopsupamix

New member
is it possible to get a home printer at a reasonable price that can print cd covers that look professional?

if not, how much should it cost to print a one double sided cd cover?

thanks
 
^^^

thanks mate, I'll look into that as I'm considering printing on the cds too

my main question though was about the actual cd cover though, with a front and back to slide into a slimline cd case...

any input on that would be great :)

thanks
 
You may have to look around for good deals, but you should be able to get one for about $200. If you're hoping to print all of your own covers, I hope you can afford to pay for all the ink you'll be using. I tried that a couple of years back with a label I used to work with. We were only able to print out about 100 covers (front and back) before we needed more ink. The ink set us back $60 a set for black and color.
 
Fieva said:
You may have to look around for good deals, but you should be able to get one for about $200. If you're hoping to print all of your own covers, I hope you can afford to pay for all the ink you'll be using. I tried that a couple of years back with a label I used to work with. We were only able to print out about 100 covers (front and back) before we needed more ink. The ink set us back $60 a set for black and color.
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good point. I may be better getting it done professionally...

I wonder then what a good price to get 100, 200 or 500 cd covers printed would be? I'mma look into it but any advice anyone has please share it :)
 
hiphopsupamix said:
^^^
my main question though was about the actual cd cover though, with a front and back to slide into a slimline cd case...
thanks
Click to expand...

Uhhh, that's just glossy paper. You design the cover in an application like Photoshop or Pagemaker or whatever, print it on the same R200 and then cut it out. I do a few dozen Christmas CDs every year myself using one.

But for bulk, I'd go with a duplicating service. It takes a lot of time to do hundreds or thousands of CDs.....
 
i think it'd look x100 better to have it done by a duplicating service, rather than doing it yourself... especially if your pricing your CD's to make a profit. plus, if you put a bit of effort into it, you might find somewhere that will do an actual booklet thing instead of just a single sheet for the front. for an unsigned band, that Always impresses me :p

my elder brother had i think 500 cds made with a booklet, and proper back and sides, and they charged him something in the region of £140 i think, with it all put together as well... at a fiver a CD, you'd only have to sell about 50 to make back your money from the duplication service.

... i suppose it kinda depends on the quality of the recording though. if its a serious proffessional recording, i think you want the packaging to reflect that. if its a rough demo from a practise session, then it might even be Best to have a cheap cover - prospective buyers will know not to expect quite as much ... a band i saw just made a stencil out of a piece of plastic, put it over the front of the CD case, and just scratched the name of the band onto it with a compass, turned it over, and used a thin permanent marker to write the track names on :p ... looked pretty original. and i doubt it'd have taken ages and ages to do it...


Andy
 
Andy is right on the money with this. The best way to get the job done is to go to a duplication service. The duplication won't be as costly as you might think (if you already have the CD's and they're just doing the printing on the CD and cover). If you have your own artwork, that's even better.

Like I said before, I tried the home printer and glossy paper way when I was working with another label. It was their way and who am I to say anything if the money's not coming out of my pocket.

Before that, I did a CD on my own label (my first solo before I knew how to make a beat or record a track...I see soooo much difference now). I had someone else make the beats and record the tracks and charge me for the studio time. When the songs were recorded, I took it to a duplication service (Crystal Sound in Dallas). Since I had my own artwork, it ran me $1300 to do the duplication (since I didn't have the CD's, but just to have the covers and artwork printed up was only a few hundred of that.

On this project, I plan to duplicate the CDs I need myself with a 1 to 5 duplicator I'm looking at. Once I do that, I'll have my own artwork and just have the duplication service do the CD printing and covers. That way, it'd only be about $250 to put out 500 CDs.
 
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