DVD duplication - Indie-Musicians Are Missing Out!

At the present time very few of our independent-music clients have pushed into the realm of DVD duplication as to release live performance footage. Some very talented performers come to us for CD work so it seems a shame that the idea of live performances aren't being promoted in this fashion.

When you think about it, some very creative things could be done with a hand-held video camera, a basic video editing program (hey... almost every computer's operating system includes a video editing program these days), a couple of hours of time at the computer, and some short-run DVD duplication.

A while back I did that very thing for a friend of mine who sent me a bunch of video he had taken at 2 or 3 different performances. As you can imagine, the video quality was pretty good but the sound quality was just awful (those built-in microphones in hand-held video cameras cannot handle the volume levels at a live show very well) so I ended up using a song from his CD as the audio track and cut video on-top of it.

It wasn't possible to synch up the audio with the video performance (do you notice how a lot of bands always play the songs faster at a show?) so I grabbed a lot of short clips from the footage of the different shows and purposely selected anything that looked energetic, because energetic images would tie-in well with the energy of the song I chose.

The end result was pretty good (if I must say so myself). He put it on his website and got lots of favorable comments including some who said they wanted to check out an upcoming gig because (from the video) it looked like he put on an entertaining and energetic performance.

In addition to putting it on his website we also got some DVD duplication of the video done so he could include them as a bonus in his CDs. Because DVD duplication is cost-effective and quick for small runs of DVDs he still gets DVDs done from time to time and uses them for promotional and marketing purposes, sells them at shows and even gives them away to fans via his website.

I think indie-artists could get some good mileage out of DVD duplication. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!!

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Graphic Design Issues

Back in January I wrote an entry about a particular "do-it-yourself" issue that was on the rise. This time I'm going to write about the undisputed heavy-weight champion of "do-it-yourself" issues:

----- Customer supplied artwork -----

In the last month I had the opportunity to jump back in to our pre-press department to cover for a colleague who was on holiday. Yikes! It had been a couple of years since I had been involved in pre-press of client supplied artwork, and things had definitely changed - but unfortunately, not for the better.

Having said that, issues with customer supplied artwork are not specific just to our company, as everyone in the industry has to deal with them, but graphic design issues can impact the timing and cost of the finished product.

With graphic design issues it's generally the 80/20 rule, whereby 80% of the design "issues" we see are caused by the same small group of mistakes. We've added plenty of good information on our website to help steer clients/designers down the right path, but we cannot force people to do the reading in advance of designing.

Unfortunately, if we cannot work with the supplied artwork the delay may impact the delivery date of the project. There is also the possiblity of incurring extra costs if our graphics team have to re-work your files and submit additional proofs. We always try to minimize these types of things but each order is unique.

Now time for my personal beef:

It's really disappointing to see projects that feature terrific music get spoiled by really amateurish graphic design. I see it happening far too often. I fully realize that budget is often a pressing issue, but there comes a point where people need to see that the harm done by going the "do-it-yourself" route can be greater than the cash you saved by designing it yourself.

Just one example of how the design can hurt your music:

Countless programmers, reviewers and booking agents have said, from their experience, amateurish packaging generally means amateurish music - so most times they never bother to listen to those amateurish-looking CDs. Why? Because of how busy they are, so they just want to deal with the pro stuff. The professional looking stuff goes in the "A" pile for further review and everything else goes in the "B" pile... and you know where the "B" pile ends up, right?

Just my $0.02 worth... I hope this didn't turn into a rant... I'll get off my soap-box now.

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Earth Hour... out go the lights!

Earth Hour... our lights were out. Were yours?!? :)

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April Special – CD Digipak!

March’s CD Digipak special offer was so popular we decided to have another CD Digipak special for April!

Order in April to get a great deal on our CS1020 style Digipak which includes CDs with full colour print, all set-ups, .pdf proofs, wrap and even a free barcode if you need one.

Order as few as 100 units or as many as you like. Our CS1020 Digipaks are eco-friendly, printed 4/0 (CMYK), are available with clear or black disc trays and, yes, the trays are completely recyclable.

For full details and pricing please visit www.CDwest.ca/special.

Examine it first… then sign for it.

If your order is being shipped to you via a courier or freight company, make sure you examine the boxes BEFORE you sign for them.

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Just so you know… when we ship an order it is inspected to make sure it is packed properly, in suitable boxes for the weight, is closed securely, and is damage free.

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Have you ever taken the time to read a Bill Of Lading? Right next to where you sign your name there will be a little declaration stating “Received in good condition” or something very similar to that. By signing the Bill Of Lading you are in fact agreeing with the declaration that the shipment you received was in good condition.

So, what happens when you sign for the shipment (without examining it first) and then realize that some of the goods were damaged? Well… you may well have a fight on your hands with the courier.

To avoid this situation the very least you should do is carefully inspect the exterior of the boxes for signs of damage… dented corners, gouges in the sides, etc. It also wouldn’t hurt to open the boxes and examine some of the product inside.

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We don’t own the courier company so we have absolutely no control over the way they handle a shipment after it leaves our facility. If they were to damage the goods while in transit please don’t blame (and yell at) us.  :-)

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Just installed Windows Live Writer

I’ve downloaded/installed Windows Live Writer with the hope it will make it easier and more practical for me to update our blog. I’m hoping so - it’s often very difficult to find a moment during busy work days.

I guess it’ll be pretty easy to figure out if I’ve been successful!

What's The Diff? CD Duplication vs. CD Replication

When you're in a particular industry it's pretty easy to take what you know for granted, and to assume that other people also know what you know.

Despite that little nugget of truth, I'm often surprised how many people use "CD duplication" as a very broad term covering all manner of CD manufacturing... and... how many people have no idea what "CD replication" is.

Having said that, there's absolutely no judgement being passed of any kind on that matter... it's just one of those 'things'. But I digress.

CD duplication is easy and quick to do, and it's best suited for small quantities of discs. It's the very same process of 'burning' CDs that you would do in your own computer except the duplication of CDs is done on a larger scale using duplication 'towers' that can burn several discs at the same time to make it more time efficient and cost effective than duplicating one at a time.

CD replication is the actual creation of CDs from scratch - also referred to as 'pressed' CDs or 'stamped' CDs - and is the highest quality and most durable method to produce your discs. Each disc is custom made, being injection-molded from polycarbonate pellets with the data physically added as an integral part of molding process. Because of the set-up costs and time involved to replicate discs, this process is best suited for larger orders and orders not required in a super-super rush.

At the end of the day I think that most people want the higher quality and durability of the CD replication but, when only a few discs are needed or a super fast turn-time is required, CD duplication is the way to go.

Additional info is on our website about this topic.