How much did your CD cost to make?

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ido1957

ido1957

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Just wondering how much you think it cost you to record and produce your last CD.
It took me over 5 years to produce my first CD. Other than my guitar stuff, I've bought a ton of stuff like mics, monitors, headphones, mixers, keyboard, ADATs, USB interfaces, DAW software, effect rack, compressor, mastering. So I'd say roughly $7000. and a lot of it was bought used. It adds up fast...and that's probably cheap compared to some guys here. Expensive hobby but I know people who spend a lot more on cars and other stuff so no apologies from me :D
 
I think you've topped me on that one. I counted at one point a few years ago and came out to about $3000 for everything. I don't want to add it up again. I hope the wife never sees this thread. :facepalm:
 
Good question. It's hard for me to say because I use a lot of this stuff for live playing as well. Only a few items are truly dedicated recording only type things. I'm not gonna count instruments. I'd use those regardless. Firepod, monitors, Reaper, free plugs, 3 or 4 cheap mics, cables, kazoo, slide whistle, vibraslap, etc. Maybe a few grand over the past 8 years or so?
 
Way Way to much - But I love it and you only live once so why not.
 
Last time I did the math, I had about $5k worth of music equipment. However, as with Greg, a lot of that is for live music. (Heck, I've got a full PA that isn't remotely involved in my recording process!)

As far as equipment that I actually use for recording, I've probably got... 2k? Dang! This is an expensive hobby!

As to the actual CDs, the last CD I pressed cost about $100 for a run of 50. This next one's looking to be $500 for the same. How did I end up sinking so much money into this?!
 
I just essentially replaced everything at the end of the chain - new 'puter, monitors, interface, additional screen. Cost me $5K. Add into that software (not much, yet - Reaper + Addictive). That excludes what I've spent on mics, cables and other shit over the years, which is a considerable amount. Everything's more expensive over here, though.

Last CD I actually made cost $2 apiece for a run of 500 'real' CDs. That was a while ago, but I think it's still thereabouts.

Cheap hobby, I reckon, in the scheme of things. No regrets here. I'm up to my fourth generation system.
 
It's difficult to say how much my first CD cost. In a way, the equipment costs are really capital costs and the gear is available for the first and subsequent CDs.

However, I shudder to think how much I've spent on audio gear over the years, and I only operate on a modest scale. I used to keep a spreadsheet of all my gear purchases, but I haven't ipdated it for a while. I'll see if I can find it.
 
gecko zzed said:
It's difficult to say how much my first CD cost. In a way, the equipment costs are really capital costs and the gear is available for the first and subsequent CDs.
Click to expand...

Yeah, if you divide up your equipment over multiple years and projects, the costs seem a lot more reasonable. It just seems bad when you add it all up at once.
Of course, I'm still probably spending an average of $100 per project just on replacing computers and their components, and that just seems unreasonable!
 
VomitHatSteve said:
Yeah, if you divide up your equipment over multiple years and projects, the costs seem a lot more reasonable. It just seems bad when you add it all up at once.
Of course, I'm still probably spending an average of $100 per project just on replacing computers and their components, and that just seems unreasonable!
Click to expand...

What kind of stuff needs to be replaced?
 
My bands album cost £700 to press including everything, recording wise it cost around £500... so for 600 copies that ain't too shabby!
 
chuckduffy said:
What kind of stuff needs to be replaced?
Click to expand...

Motherboards, mostly. Those seem to be the component most inclined to fail. (Although my last computer that dies it was actually a hard drive and the CASE!) Plus, I'll usually upgrade everything every 3 or 4 years.
 
Mostly hard drives and ram fail on me. In fact, I have a bad stick of ram now that I need to send back.

Never had a motherboard go bad.
 
Unless you specifically purchased gear JUST for doing the one CD project...it doesn't make much sense to calculate it down to the last guitar pick. :)

I've been buying music/audio gear for 30+ years now....but IMO, that doesn't count toward the cost of a CD. Yeah, you needed all that stuff, but it's like asking how much did my life cost from the day I was born. :D

Over the years, I spent a lot of money *building a studio(s)*....something I would have done regardless, and the studio has been used for a lot of projects, and more to come.
The actual CD I did 3 years ago cost about $1600 w/shipping and all, for 1000 CDs pressed/replicated (not burned/duplicated), with 6-panel eco-wallet non-plastic cases and full color printing (that's what raised the price)....from DiscMakers.
I'm hoping to put out another one by end of this year...maybe early next year.
 
chuckduffy said:
What kind of stuff needs to be replaced?
Click to expand...

When you consider a large pile of analog gear, including tape decks....there's always something that needs a little care, but generally, if the gear is healthy to begin with, and you take care of it, it will outlast most computer based systems.
My console is 22+ years old...not a single thing ever broke/failed on it (knock on wood)...but I have spare modules, parts and a second PS for it. Same thing with my 16-track tape machine, it's as old as the console, and has never had an issue. I'm hoping my 24-track hangs in there for as long!

That said...my studio computers have hung in there pretty good too. I've had one audio HD fail on me, and that wasn't much of an issue, as I run multiple HDs, so there's always backups, plus I keep a lot of spare HDs on hand since I have two systems to feed, and I ain't upgrading for a long time if I don't have to. :)
My older DAW is 10+ years old, still runs fine....my "newer" one is technically 6+ years old, but I've just now put it on line with the most current DAW app I use. The two DAWs are compatible AFA swapping HDs and A/D/A cards...so I have plenty of redundancy to keep them going for a ling time.
 
wow - a thousand... A friend got an email from cdbaby saying that his cds would probably not sell, and did he want them back or shredded ouch
 
chuckduffy said:
A friend got an email from cdbaby saying that his cds would probably not sell
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This kills me because they kind of warm you up to the notion that your cd's aren't going to sell when they ask you to send only 4!! But to get an email asking to have them shredded is downright hilarious. I hope I never get the Shred Email.
 
It's been over three years with my CDs at CDBaby...they ask for more stock occasionally, but they haven't asked to shred them yet! :D
I would make them send the leftovers back to me. If anyone is going to shred them....it will be me. ;)

You can do CD for less, do duplication instead of replication, smaller amount, forgo the printed jackets and cases...etc...but with DiscMakers and similar, if you want the full deal, 1000 CDs is standard.
Also, considering how much a pro-commercial release costs to make....most of what we are paying at the home-rec level is pretty inexpensive.
Not to mention, if you have band or do any kind of regular gigs....what's a 1000 CDs? You can sell them off quick enough to cover their cost.
 
miroslav said:
It's been over three years with my CDs at CDBaby...they ask for more stock occasionally, but they haven't asked to shred them yet! :D
I would make them send the leftovers back to me. If anyone is going to shred them....it will be me. ;)

You can do CD for less, do duplication instead of replication, smaller amount, forgo the printed jackets and cases...etc...but with DiscMakers and similar, if you want the full deal, 1000 CDs is standard.
Also, considering how much a pro-commercial release costs to make....most of what we are paying at the home-rec level is pretty inexpensive.
Not to mention, if you have band or do any kind of regular gigs....what's a 1000 CDs? You can sell them off quick enough to cover their cost.
Click to expand...

It just seemed so painful asking if he wanted them shredded, like they were not even worth the postage - ouch :-) 1000 seems like a lot to me cause I've never sold anything in my life. If I based it on the number of people who have asked to purchase my music it would take me approximately 1000 years to run out lol. But all kidding aside - I know 1000 is kind of a standard 'best price' run, but I also know a ton of people who have done runs that size and still have gigantic piles years later.
 
Do you ever play out....band....open mic....anything?
If you do, bring a stack to every gig, $5-$10 each....and I bet you'll sell enough in no time to at least cover your cost for the 1000.

Some people will call them "vanity CDs" when people get the usual 1000 made, and 950 of them end up in the garage or basement.
Maybe....but getting them done professionally VS burning and printing/sticking lables on them yourself, etc....is a big difference, IMO.
Not to mentoin...if you ARE peddling them around, the pro CDs just look about 10 times better, and no matter how much we may hate it or avoid it, there is a big "image" component to selling yourself or even just your songs.

Besides....you live once...enjoy. ;)
 
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