Question: Putting Out My Own CD
Home > Home Recording Forum > Recording Techniques > Question: Putting Out My Own CD
Posted on Jan 15, 2004 02:02 pm
Mahogany
Member Since: Jan 15, 2004
Hi All,
(My main question is about Mastering a CD but since it's my first post I thought I'd lay out a little background first.)
This is my first post on the forum but hopefully not my last. I've been writing and performing for over ten years now. I've been in and out of a few studios and just wasn't happy with the results. Especially for the cash I had forked over. (I've gotten better quality recordings on my old Tascam 4-Track.) DAW's came around and I was pretty skeptical at first. I thought it was making things too easy, but then I thought why does making music have to be a painful process. So I gave it try and now I'm hooked.
My most recent project started out as a demo project that I intended to use to try and get signed. After listening to some rough mixes of the stuff I've recorded, I realized that it wasn't really far off from alot of the stuff you can hear on the radio. So that's when I decided I would record this 12 to 14 song CD and release it myself. Recruit some new band members, get a website, and use some really creative promotional tactics. And let my music make the big guys come to me, because unfortunately as much as I dispise the big record companies, somewhere down the line, I'll need them to reach out further.
With that said my question is in regards to the mastering phase of things.
Do I Master each song seperately and then create a CD master of all songs together? Is that how it works?
And does anyone have any ideas about making my own CD booklets, in terms of cost, short cuts and such? (I was planning on making about 200 CDs to start with.)
Sorry for rambling.
Thanks in advance for your replies.
Mahogany
[ Back to Top ]
Jan 15, 2004 02:10 pm Hello,
First off, let me offer a sincere welcome to HRC.
Second, mastering is not just mastering each song, but mastering the compilation of songs, which involves the play order, the overall volume and power of the compilation, so it flows nicely from song to song not having to turn the volume up and down from song to song, and of course, making it sound it's best in any listening device...which is called "harmonic balancing".
Often times people let a professional do that job, so often in fact I made a business of it :-) However, which products like WaveLab, Har-Bal www.har-bal.com/ as well as a host of software plugin such as Izotope Ozone and Waves Native Power Pack, with the time and patience one CAN do it themselves.
A benefit of hiring the job out is that it is an objective, unbias set of ears doing the job, after you have listened to the songs 2 million times while tracking it, you may be jaded and set in a train of thought that may not be the best for the production as a whole. A benefit of doing it yourself is...well, you did it yourself and saved money doing it...
Search for "mastering" on the forums, you'll find a lot of threads on the subject.
Jan 15, 2004 02:44 pm Thanks for the info.
I've been reading alot about Har-Bal the last month or so. I'm gonna get it next week when I get paid. I forked over alot of cash for Sonar 3, Wavelab and T-Racks(well actually my girlfriend paid for most of it, so I shouldn't complain.) But there's so much you need to know in order to benefit from them. I screwed up many a good track trying to implement the features. Though, I'm actually starting to get some impressive results with T-racks. I'm still going after Har-Bal though. I thought it was all hype at first but I'm hearing good stuff about it from credible sources and it's all they say it is I should be able get the results I'm looking for.
Also I'm looking at getting CD Architect for the final step of my project. What's your feedback on that software?
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Jan 15, 2004 03:25 pm For making just CD booklets, you can follow this link and see some pricing. I've used this company before for business cards and promotional flyers and they are quite reliable, but sometimes maybe more than you would want to pay (though pretty much the cheapest I've found for professional printing). www.psprint.com/products/...mp;pc=packaging
There are many place online where you can find people that will do CD duplicating at 200 quantity and give you back a professional looking package. Though pricing is generally similar, you should check around as some people have "hidden" costs.
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Jan 15, 2004 04:01 pm Here's another one I stumbled upon...
diskusmedia.com/
Jan 15, 2004 08:04 pm I would send it out to have it mastered.... and once you have it mastered there are a lot of places out there that do small runs of cd's. You can even upload your own artwork and design the booklet online. You can do that at dismakers just to name one. For 500 cd's it would be $2.62 a cd. That's full color, on-disc printing, booklet, and jewel case.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Jan 17, 2004 02:08 pm Well it looks like you got most of your answers, so I will just welcome you to HRC and say good choice of apps. I use Sonar as well as Wavelab, and Project 5 that fits right in with Sonar. dB is right on the mastering thing. You can do it yourself, and I have done it myself on many profects, but I do prefer to have a none biased ear to make sure I didnt miss something from being tired of listening to the same track 100 times.
