Kick around some ideas of what you would like your cover to look like. Look at your CD collection and maybe “borrow” some ideas. (It’s the music business... we borrow musical information all the time don’t we?) Put your ideas on paper, even just a rough layout. If you are working closely with a graphic designer you may want to present your ideas or samples. If you need to get your photographs done, make sure they capture the right image! To save time and money, you may want to type all your “text” info (song titles, thanks, credits, etc.) and save it to a disk. Your designer will then apply the font style and position it correctly. Why pay someone $35.00 per hour to type what you can do for free?
At this point...
• You should know your song order.
• All your credits, thanks, and song info should be on a disk.
• Your photos should be completed and ready to be scanned.
Are you doing cover tunes?
You need to have all the correct licensing for your songs. If you don’t, call the CMRRA. Apply for your licenses AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! www.cmrra.ca
If you are unsure about the licenses, call us today at 1-800-557-3723 and ask.
Are you writing your own songs?
Do you have the paperwork from SOCAN? Be ahead of the game - get your membership application from them now and fill out the form. Send it in as soon as your project is completed. Make sure to put the SOCAN
Once your insert is designed, your files are saved to disk and taken to the printer. Plates are made from your digital files and fixed to the printing press, and your inserts are then printed.
If you give us film (colour separations), they will be scanned, digital files will be created, and your inserts are then printed.
We prefer to go direct-to-plate because the process is quicker and usually cheaper.
If you live in the GTA, we have FREE pick up!
From one location only.
For quantities of 500 compact discs or more, one pick up per customer.
This is the last stage of the jacket process! When your digital proof is approved by you and the electronic files given to the printer it is basically out of your control. Your printed matter is “ganged up” with other projects, printed and shipped to the manufacturing plant. The whole project - concept, design and printing - may seem daunting at first, but once it’s done it will make more sense to you.
Please note, and I have stressed this hundreds of times to my clients - music industry printing is not “Art Gallery” printing. It is industrial printing. Your project is put on a sheet with several other projects and run all at once.





INSERTS
MASTER
FINISHED PRODUCT
 

Most compact disc, DVD, CD-ROM or cassette projects are made up of two components:
1) the graphics and 2) the compact disc or cassette, etc.

You really don’t have to do much after your Master is ready to go to the plant. This portion of your project is really out of your control. It is now up to the plant to get your replication or duplication done and packaged accordingly. This part is easy!

It’s the graphics that cause a lot of work, and give you headaches. As you begin this process, you will see very quickly that you have gone from a musician who has worried about getting the right sound in the studio for your tunes to an artist who now has to learn about the right image to portray, photos, scans, barcodes, direct-to-plate, font styles, colour digital proofs, the MAPL logo, copyright information, scribe numbers, the CMRRA, 4+1 printing, silk screen printing, two-page insert or 8-page booklet... what is all this STUFF?

It would take a lot of time and at least 250 pages of information to answer ALL your questions. So I will tell you this... you did not learn to play an instrument in one day - don’t expect to get all this in one sitting.

*NOTE: Some promo compact discs
and CD-ROMs do not require
jewel cases or printed graphics.