Record Label News Letter Software

[pisces7378]

Hey Guys,
Thanky a million for all the advice and information that I have recieved so far. It has been invaluable since I live in Germany and can't ask too many questions in "real life" due to the language barrier. My German is ok, but not good enough to carry on business meetings etc...
Anyway, I am part of a staff that is trying to start a very small record label here in Munich Germany. At the moment we are not much better than ground zero. We are still in the developmental stages. I have been placed in charge of the public relations department, and manufacturing and distributions of CD's and casettes. We will not be offering Vinyl or Mini-Disk format in the beginning stages. We are currently working in conjunction with a few other companies and have gained LEGAL access to a number of mailing lists, both E-mail and normal postage, and are trying to organize a news letter to advertise the bands on the new label. The labels name is Dolmetscher Records by the way.
Now I am going to be 100% honest with you guys because for some dumb-naive reason, I trust you guys. Now I have been put in charge of public relations specifically in the design and production of this news letter. However.... I have NO IDEA where to start in making this news letter. I am a fast learner and have SOME computer training. But nothing in the field of Graphic Design.
Now I have been told in earlier threads that Adobe makes a really good graphics program. Now, as I said, I have no idea about graphic programs. And Cost to Benifit ratio is of up-most importance to me and my collegues. Quality is teh only thing that takes presidence.
We can not at this time afford to hire a "professional" graphic staff. It is only me and my (Pent III 933MHz 128 MB RAM 32-bit graphic card 40 GB Hard Drive) PC. And on this computer I have to:

- Develope an original 10 Page Full Color Magazine style
Prototype to advertise the label.

- A 4 Page news letter every month. (4 pages means, take
a normal sheet of paper, and fold it in half... front,
inside of front, inside of back, and back.)

- Front Sleeves, back sleeves, and actual CD stickers to
be placed directly ON the CD's.
- Casette Sleeves and liner notes.

- Posters advertising shows. (The size of a normal sheet
of paper)

- Stickers, and other promotional items to be sold and
given away at shows. In including T-shirt Designs.

Now some of the actual PRODUCTION of these things will have to be done professionally. But the actual graphic productions is up to yours truels. (Unfortunately). Now I did major in Art at the University of GA. But I was a painting major. I drew, and painted, and the ocassional sculpture class. But no computer graphics.
Now around to the question.... What would you guys do? First and most importantly...

WHAT IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST PROGRAM FOR GRAPHICS?

Is Adobe in fact the best?

If so is it really REDICULAS to learn? Will I be bogged down in termonology for a year or can I do at least SOMETHING in a month?

Which software package EXACTLY do you recomend? Adobe makes a few diffrent products, whcih exactly is the Industry standard that you all talked about earlier?

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST IN THE US???

I will need an English version and perhaps it is cheaper int eh US anyway. Some software packages are more expensive in Europe and then some are sky high. How much is the ball park US price?

Thanks guys,
Mike

P.S. I really do appreciate all the help

Dolmetscher Records
Volkart Straße 80 #76
c/o Pichler
80636 München
Germany

 

[lazyboy]

Yo Pisces:

Here's the catch with graphics. You need a couple of different programs. For instance: Photoshop for photo editing and things, Illustrator for illustrations (hmm where'd they come up with those names?) and desktop pusblishing software to put it all together.

Now, Adobe these are industry standards. You'll find that out when you price these software packages. Photoshop is great, but you can probably get away with using Adobe Photodeluxe if your photo manipulation is going to consist mostly of cropping, hue&saturation issues, and simple stuff. You can save in several file formats (the default is its own proprietary format which is useless outside of the program.)

I've heard that corel draw is easier and cheaper than Illustrator but I've never used it. Illustrator can be extremely intimidating. In fact for the novice, its downright hard to use. And its extremely expensive. Not altogether sure what to tell you here.

For desktop publishing, you have lots of choices. Quark Xpress is an industry standard. Again rather expensive and actually a little more involved than it needs to be. It's powerful for the professional, but maybe a little much for the newbie. I find Pagemaker easier to use. I think Microsoft Publisher is part of the New MS Office bundle isn't it? It's actually pretty intuitive for the novice, so you may want to check it out. Its gotta be cheaper than the others.

The thing with all of these is that the features that make them industry standards and really powerful tools are usually beyond the grasp of the casual or novice user. There's always the temptation to go with them becuase they are the best, but you're not likely to use them to their full potential on a monthly newsletter. I think you can find more cost effective solutions for your purposes.

Have fun! And congrats on the label. I wish I were you.