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Packaging/replication on a tight budget


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Alright, so I have a VERY small budget for my upcoming release, but I want to make it look professional enough that reviewers/labels don't get an "amateur" vibe right off the bat.

 

I was thinking that we'd get replicated CDs from someone like Disc Makers, so that we had a professional-quality disc, and then making the CDs ourselves, maybe buying blank jewel cases, and printing off the inserts. But I feel like it would take a lot of work to make these homemade cases look professional.

 

I know I'm just being cheap, and the obvious answer is just to say "just pay the money for it, that's the only way to make it look good" but I thought I'd just throw this out there in case anyone had any experience with this in the past.

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its not the only way but unless you plan to really print a ton of them it's tough to justify the expense. I'm sorta in the same boat, I use www.kunaki.com. $1.75 per cd, looks great for what it is and no min. order.....but, cd shipping SUCKS! $1.75 for cd and then $5.00 for shipping!...if you bulk order 10, it's 30 bucks total and then you can deal with the 3 bucks a cd you are actually dropping.

 

Anyone know of any other companies like kunaki within the same price range?

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I'm in Canada, but one of the best rates we found for us was here: http://www.advancegraphics.ca/

 

We got a hundred printed for like $270 Canadian, which may work out with the current dollar exchange to the USA, and they're willing to ship how you want.

 

And the quality was excellent. They were easy to deal with and pretty fast.

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its not the only way but unless you plan to really print a ton of them it's tough to justify the expense. I'm sorta in the same boat, I use
www.kunaki.com
. $1.75 per cd, looks great for what it is and no min. order.....but, cd shipping SUCKS! $1.75 for cd and then $5.00 for shipping!...if you bulk order 10, it's 30 bucks total and then you can deal with the 3 bucks a cd you are actually dropping.


Anyone know of any other companies like kunaki within the same price range?

IMO, Kunaki products look cheap and homemade.

 

Try NationwideDisc http://www.nationwidedisc.com, A thousand cd's for less than a dollar each with extras, not to mention: they look legit.

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If you were doing it the way you suggested it might be better to get the inserts professionally printed. It wouldn't cost that much more, and would look much better.

Although if your doing that you might as well get them all done properly.

How many CD's are you looking at?

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Alright, so I have a VERY small budget for my upcoming release, but I want to make it look professional enough that reviewers/labels don't get an "amateur" vibe right off the bat.

 

I was thinking that we'd get replicated CDs from someone like Disc Makers, so that we had a professional-quality disc, and then making the CDs ourselves, maybe buying blank jewel cases, and printing off the inserts. But I feel like it would take a lot of work to make these homemade cases look professional.

 

I know I'm just being cheap, and the obvious answer is just to say "just pay the money for it, that's the only way to make it look good" but I thought I'd just throw this out there in case anyone had any experience with this in the past.

 

 

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sportsbook

Big Island Hawaii Vacation Rental

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www.cdpostershop.com
looks killer. just ordered a sample cd....



if it looks good, this is how we'll put out our next disc.


thanks for the heads up!

 

 

You're welcome. I've been very happy with every duplication project I've done with them. One small bonus compared to some other places is that their on-disc printing is waterproof - a lot of short run duplicators are not, and can smudge easily if they get wet. Their work looks very professional.

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http://duplication.cdbaby.com/


:thu:

 

Which is discmakers. Literally. I'm not complaining or anything, but CD Baby is offering CD duplication now, but all they're doing is linking to discmakers. It's the exact same price for the exact same stuff. I like discmakers, though.

 

Well... discmakers owns CD Baby now, so I guess that makes sense. Still, it feels... funny.

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Any recommendations on a vendor for T-shirts, say a run under 50? Locally, the best price with tax is $10 a shirt, min 35. :eek: Our band's playing with a big CA band, Swirl, and we want to have at least a bit of swag.

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I like the company I'm using for my indie label. They're called Audiolife. They make discs and shirts. Everything is really good quality and they even give you an online store for your website, myspace, facebook, etc. Its a bit more expensive to order things, but for the online store, they print to order, so there is no upfront cost and no inventory. check it out at www.audiolife.com

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I reckon it depends on how many CDs you are going to need. I think that unless you plan on selling or giving away hundreds of copies you might as well do it yourself as much as possible with things you have around the house.

 

I have a Yamaha AW1600 recorder that I record, mix, and master on. I can also make the CDs one at a time on it. This works for me because I only really need a few at a time. And I can make them while I am doing other things around the house. It also gives me the freedom to put anything I want on the CDs I make.

 

As far as packaging, I have some Arigato packs that I got from Stumptown printers that I put together and glue the front picture and back picture to. I do the artwork and liner notes myself. Sometimes I make a new one for each CD so you get original art every time you get a CD from me. I also make CD covers out of generic card stock in the color of my choice. I get the card stock at the same place I get the blank CD-R Music CDs.

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Try NationwideDisc
, A thousand cd's for less than a dollar each with extras, not to mention: they look legit.

 

 

I got my first digipak frm Nationwide. The quality is so low. When I close the digipak the two panels don't even align properly. Not to mention the colour is way off. I am going back to discmakers because they just lowered their prices. Besides, they have lowest price guarantee so the lower Nationwide goes the better we can negotiate with discmakers.

 

My friends tried another company in San Jose called newcyberian.com. I was told the quality was great. Bummer I am not in West Coast otherwise I will give it a try.

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I got my first digipak frm Nationwide. The quality is so low. When I close the digipak the two panels don't even align properly. Not to mention the colour is way off. I am going back to discmakers because they just lowered their prices. Besides, they have lowest price guarantee so the lower Nationwide goes the better we can negotiate with discmakers.


My friends tried another company in San Jose called newcyberian.com. I was told the quality was great. Bummer I am not in West Coast otherwise I will give it a try.

 

 

I've seen plenty of Nationwide's stuff and I've never been displeased with their quality.

 

And, maybe I'm reaching, but it seems a bit odd that someone with the username "DigiPakLover" would sign up and leave ONE post, insulting Nationwide. You wouldn't happen to work for Discmakers would you...?

 

"I am going back to discmakers because they just lowered their prices. Besides, they have lowest price guarantee so the lower Nationwide goes the better we can negotiate with discmakers."

 

Sounds like a sales pitch to me.

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Um, I don't work for diskmakers, but I did just use them for my new CD, and I'm pretty pleased with the results. I had 100 made. With shrink wrap and shipping, cost less then $300. That's a lot of money per CD, but I couldn't afford to have 1,000 made. It costs like $2.75 per CD or so. If I made them myself, it would cost the same thing, and I can't shrink wrap them. Shrink wrap is annoying but makes your CD look way more professional.

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