Seeking CD Manufacturing advice

[guestuserguestuser.com]

I'm working on getting two CD's manufactured (relatively small run of a thousand copies), and I found the CD manufacturing process to be exasperating. In particular, the graphics part of it. Designing and creating the graphics was not a problem. It's the manufacturing process I'm having trouble with.

 

What's normal for getting CD cover graphics printed and packaged? How long should it take, what's the best procedure to follow with the printing company? Is it best to go with an "all-in-one" company that manufacters the CD, prints the graphics, and shrink-wraps the whole thing, or is it better to separate these tasks out to different companies?

 

I'm working with a sort of 'broker' company (I'm not going to name them, I'm not here for that). They are in turn making arrangements with an "all-in-one" manufacturing company. My experience is that the company sent back proofs of the various pieces (tray card, insert, disc label), and I approved everything. Then when the final shrink-wrapped copies finally arrived, there were some errors that weren't on the proofs that I had approved. I objected, and the broker company I'm working with agreed to get the job re-done by a different "all-in-one" company (because the first company refused to fix their mistakes). I'm still waiting for the job to be finished, and I'm nervous that something will go wrong again.

 

Not only does the whole process seem fraught with possibilities for errors, but it's taking an incredibly long time.

 

From the time the graphics were ready-to-go (that is, from the time the graphic artist finished them, and they were ready to go to the CD manufacturing company) to the time I received my shrink-wrapped CD's: just over 2 months. That batch had errors, so I had to start the manufacturing process again; from the time I started getting them re-done to now: two months and I still haven't received them yet. Time elapsed now since the graphics were ready: over 4 months.

 

This can't be normal can it? What did I do wrong? How can I avoid these problems for my next project?

[Michelle ggurl]

This doesn't sound normal. You don't need to say which company you picked to do this stuff, but generally, the 2 projects I've been involved with that are DIY, as well as the one project a friend of mine is currently doing (and giving me all the juicy details in casual conversation), have gone fairly smoothly. The vendors chosen for each project were different, but the one thing they had in common was, they were all-in-one vendors: you give them the graphics and text -- sometimes just a graphics concept and they design it -- as well as the master and they take care of it all.

 

I've never had experience getting inserts done separately, though some folks do this. This is fine, but then you're stuck shrinkwrapping or having either the CD maker or printer do it, shuttling product to an extra vendor and introducing another step in the process. Doesn't seem worth it to me for a small run like 1,000 and under, but if the cost difference is really worth the hassle, those with experience say make sure the printer chosen has DONE inserts. Book printers, for example, might screw things up because it's not their thing.

 

The two places I've had positive experiences and would recommend if lots of help is needed, if it's an artist's first time handling this process, or if it's a project more complicated (special instrux for booklets, need them to design cover, etc), I've had or seen others have good experience with these vendors:

 

DiscMakers

Oasis

 

They cost more than some other places but it may be worth it to avoid the headache.

 

I hope this helps. Good luck.

[guestuserguestuser.com]

Originally posted by geekgurl:

This doesn't sound normal. You don't need to say which company you picked to do this stuff, but generally, the 2 projects I've been involved with that are DIY, as well as the one project a friend of mine is currently doing (and giving me all the juicy details in casual conversation), have gone fairly smoothly. The vendors chosen for each project were different, but the one thing they had in common was, they were all-in-one vendors: you give them the graphics and text -- sometimes just a graphics concept and they design it -- as well as the master and they take care of it all.

The manufacturer recommendations are appreciated, and might be useful in the future. But what I'm really trying to find out here, is what are the normal procedures involved in the CD manufacturing process (in particular, the graphics side of it). That is, what are the various steps involved (proofing in particular), and how long does it take - that kind of thing. This would be applicable no matter what company was doing the work. On the other hand, I'm sure different companies have different ways of doing things.

 

I'd really appreciate hearing about other peoples' experiences, so I can put my experiences in context, and perhaps learn a better way of getting this done.

 

Which part of it doesn't sound normal to you, the elapsed time?

 

Can you elaborate on how long it took for your projects, and what the process was, proofing in particular?

[Laurie Z.]

GuestUser,

 

"Normal" is a relative term, but 4 months is excessive in any case.

 

IMHO, that is extreme and indicates that something within the process is not right.

 

Here's my sequence of events:

 

My graphic artist works in tandem with me while I'm in album production so that the final track notes and info are ready to go when we're mastering. The CD master and the graphic masters are then ready to go simultaneously (which is your best case scenerio), then it takes a few days to be Fed-X'd or hand carried to the graphics output firm and output into a firey, (including an overnight or two for proofing), then the OK for final film output. Then the film output either gets overnighted or hand carried to the pressing plant, which works with their booklet printer so that the booklets are done simultaneous with the CD repro, then the plant does the inserts, shrink wrap, and within 3-4 weeks max, a finished CD.

 

If you'd like to have referrals to the people I use, email me and I'll be happy to provide them. BTW, specs are everything - it has to be exact (e.g. the graphic artist's responsibility is to make sure they create to the plant's spec), or it won't work and you'll have a redo.

 

Best of luck! (and be careful who you go to!!!)

 

lz

[Michelle ggurl]

Originally posted by GuestUser:

The manufacturer recommendations are appreciated, and might be useful in the future. But what I'm really trying to find out here, is what are the normal procedures involved in the CD manufacturing process (in particular, the graphics side of it). That is, what are the various steps involved (proofing in particular), and how long does it take - that kind of thing. This would be applicable no matter what company was doing the work. On the other hand, I'm sure different companies have different ways of doing things.

 

I'd really appreciate hearing about other peoples' experiences, so I can put my experiences in context, and perhaps learn a better way of getting this done.

 

Which part of it doesn't sound normal to you, the elapsed time?

 

Can you elaborate on how long it took for your projects, and what the process was, proofing in particular?

The time it's taking AND the errors that appeared on the printed copy but not on your proofs ... neither of those are situations I've encountered. It's been a couple years since I did a full-on CD with booklets, etc, but it was an all-in-one project handled by DiscMakers, and if I recall it took about a month. Most recently, even with problems where the CD manufacturer had read-errors on the initial CD master we gave him, after sending a few copies in the second shipment, each done on different burner, the CDs came back to us quickly ... the whole process took about 3 weeks, including the read-error master.

 

As for artwork on that one, it was minimal; we wanted bulk CDs because they are going as an insert into a book. It was simply text. However, even then, as Laurie stated, specs are everything; they had templates on their website, and I used them. They wanted PMS color matching, and I made sure I had access to swatches and was choosing the right color (either go to a print shop that will let you see their swatch book, or make sure you/your artist has the video monitor properly calibrated so you're seeing the accurate colors when designing in, say, Illustrator or PhotoShop).

 

For my friend's recent CD, she used another manufacturer than either of the two described above. Again, the graphic artist she is working with dowloaded the templates from the CD manufacturer's site and used those and followed directions religiously. This product is not out yet -- I don't think proofs are even back -- so hard to qualify it just yet as a resounding success.

 

I can only add that, since publishing is my bread-and-butter line of work, in terms of proofing, I generally request as many proofs as it takes for me to see one that's perfect or has exceedingly minimal errors. Depending on process, your printer can advise (there will be different costs to do new proofs each time based on which printing process is being used). Under no circumstances, though, should your proof have new errors once you OK the file. The only way I know of to avoid that is to keep requesting proofs until you receive a batch that's "OK as is" ... because if the printer makes a change for you then, yeah, they can introduce an error.

 

Before it even makes it to the printer in the first place, I hire a trained proofer to go over my stuff. They WILL find things I didn't. They're just not as sick of looking at it as I am at that stage.

 

Anyway, I hope this is helpful. I know it's general, but if you have specific questions I could try to answer them. I'm sure you'll find Laurie's response helpful and more relevant to your specific situation and questions ...