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Information provided by Barefoot Press
This is an excerpt from Simple Machines' fine publication, An Introductory
Guide to Putting Out Records, Cassettes and CDs. More info about the Guide
can be found at the bottom of this paper.
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While all the master, recording, and stamping is in the works, the artwork
should be prepared for printing. The following info should help you
understand the process. The best thing to do though is to find a reputable
printer to take care of you; especially if you've never done this before.
For starters, let's assume that your artwork is going to be one color.
With thousandes of inks and hundredes of papers available, a lot can be
done with one color at low-cost.
Camera-ready art is exactly that -- it's artwork that's ready to be
photographed. Printers shoot negatives from your artwork. These negatives
are used to make the plates that do that actual printing. The cost of
taking one line shot, per color, per side, is typically included in the
basic price of printing.
For best results, all camera-ready art needs to be high contrast (i.e.
black on white). This applies to type and line art. All camera-ready art
should appear exactly as the finished product, but it doesn't have to be
the exact size of the finished piece -- it should be between half and
twice as big as the finished product.
Printers can shoot almost anything: photographs, drawings, charcoal
sketches, cut-and-paste collages, etc. But when anything has a tone or
shade the printer makes a halftone of it. The printer creates the halftone
by breaking the image into tiny dots (or lines) of various sizes by taking
a screen shot. This allows the same range of tones to be reproduced using
one color of ink.
The best halftones are from original black + white photographs that are
between half and twice as large as the finished size. Keep in mind how
your choice of ink and paper will affect the image. The image's darkest
area will be as dark as the ink you've chosen, and the lightest areas will
be the color of the paper. A light color ink on dark paper will provide a
muted, low contrast reproduction. That's not bad as long as it's what you
want.
Halftones are not included in the basic printing cost, it's an extra. The
good news is that it's not usually an expensive extra. However, you can
rack up additional costs for anything else that needs to be done to get
your job ready for the press: typesetting, illustrations, paste-ups,
additional camera work (i.e. reversals, knockouts, screen tints), etc.
Decide what you want, find out how much it will cost, and then talk to
your printer on ways to make it fit your budget.
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Color
It's important to remember that each color used requires a separate
negative. Let's say your seven inch sleeve has a line drawing of an apple
-- it's red with green leaves. If it was totally camera-ready you would
have two separate pieces: the read part (or plate) and the green plate.
They'll both be black and white, but one will have only the green stuff
and the other will have only the read. Registration marks are used to line
up each plate. They need to be in the exact same position on each plate.
When you lay the plates over one another, the leaves should line up on the
apple.
Another option is to create a mechanical by mounting your art on
cardboard. Then attach a sheet of tracing paper along the top. The top
sheet represents the green plate, so shade just the leaves on the tissue
paper. Your actual drawing represents the red plate. The printer cuts
masks based on your mechanical and shoots from those. You'll pay more to
have the printer do it, but it may be easier.
By the way, all printers refer to ink colors with the Pantone Matching
System (PMS). This system was set up to ensure the red you picked out for
the apple (say PMS#186) is the same one the printer will use. Any printer,
and most art stores, will have a match book you can look at.
There are two ways to print color: spot and full color (also called
process). The 7" described above is spot color. In spot color printing,
the paper goes through the press once for each color (our apple 7" would
go through twice). If you're going to use four spot colors, you should
consider doing full, color, process printing.
Every color you can imagine can be created with cyan, magenta, yellow and
black. In process printing, each ink is apply to the paper in the right
amounts in the right areas to build the right colors (next time you're in
a grocery store take a color look at a cereal box -- you can see the dot
pattern composed of each color). So you need separate negatives for each
color: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Keep in mind that the cost of
generating separations from original art (i.e. photographs or paintings),
which may include scanning, color correction, film output, and a color
match, can become very expensive.
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A Word About Bleeds...
Let's say that you want a picture on your CD booklet (or anything else) to
run to the edge of the paper. That's a bleed. In order to do that, the
image has to actually extend beyond the edge of the finished product. The
printer then trims away the extra. Most printers needs a minimum 1/8th
inch bleed. If you don't set it up that way you run the risk of having
white border along the edge of the photo.
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Computers and Layout
If you can get to a computer with the right software, and someone who
knows how to use it, they can make the design and layout of your music
packaging a lot easier. Applications like Adobe Photoshop, Aldus Freehand,
QuarkXpress, and Aldus Pagemaker were created for that reason. You can
manipulate placement and color at the touch of a key.
The other big benefit to using a computer, especially with color, is that
it's easy to produce color separations and output your files directly to
film. A lot of printers can do this from your disks or you can sent it to
a service bureau that will output the negatives you would then send to the
printer.
You can usually save some money by going to a service bureau for your film
output. But before you send your negatives to a printer, make sure that
you talk to them about requirements (line screens, dots per inch, right-
or left-reading, emulsion up or down, etc.). Also make sure everything is
exactly as your want it -- fixing something after it's on film can get
expensive.
The introduction of computers opens the doors of graphic design to more
people than ever before. It also opens new problems: corrupted files,
inaccurate colors on monitors, and so on. In the long run, comptuers can
make things easier, but an understanding of the basics of printing and
machanical layout is the only way to use these tools effectively. We
scratch the surface here, but you can get a book or talk to a printer to
get more information.
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Amberlith...
If you've ever been in an art store you've probably seen somthing called
Amberlith. It comes in a big roll -- it kind of looks like a fruit
roll-up: you have this amber film mounted on a transparent sheet of
plastic. What does it do? Let's say that your 7" sleeve has a line drawing
of a dog on it. But you want the inside of your dog to be brown, and the
outline black. Cut a square of Amberlith that's slightly bigger than the
7" square and tape it to one edge of your artwork so it overlays the whole
thing. Now the actual art is the black plate, and you're about to create
the brown plate.
With an X-acto knife (they're also found in art stores) trace just inside
the outline of the dog. Don't cut too deep, or you'll bite into the
plastic under the film (or possibly your artwork). When you've finished,
peel away everything around your tracing. You should be left with a red
silhouette of the dog.
A camera sees only light and dark. Dark represents areas that will print.
Cameras translate red as black, and when the printer makes your
separations, the area inside the dog is now a solid color that you've
chosen as brown.
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Proofing
Regardless of how the job is prepared, the printer will send you a
blueline to approve. A blueline is a proof made on photosensitive paper
from your negatives. Although the image is blue, it shows placement and
size. This is the last chance to catch any problems, so double check both
the printer's and your own work. Look for correct: size (of images, type,
cuts, folds, and the finished piece); position (of images, type, cuts,
folds, etc.); color separations (marked on the blueline); spelling; and
typefaces. Also look for scratches, stray marks, and missing artwork or
type. Be aware that once the blueline is approved, any mistakes in the
finished product that are on the blueline are your responsibility.
If you're doing full color printing, the service bureau that creates your
negatives can create a color match (or proof) for you. They may cost a
lot, but it's nothing compared to the cost of reprinting a job because
something is wrong. In fact, many printers require a color proof to ensure
everything matches.
Designing and having your artwork printed can be fascinating. And it's
important -- a lot of people may "see" your music before they every hear
it. So take the time to make the outside as unique and interesting as the
music inside.
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Notes:
This paper is an excerpt from Simple Machines Records' publication An
Introductory Mechanics Guide to Putting Out Records, Cassettes and CDs.
Its widely regarded by the Indie community as one of the most valuable
info sources around, and it receives a big huge thumbs up from Outer
Sound.
You can find more info from the Guide in other Outer Sound University
papers. However, to get a real learnin', we recommend that you check out
the whole thing. You can do this in one of two ways:
Outer Sound has posted a handy text-only version of the guide which you
can easily print up. Follow the link and hit print!
Of course, a text-only version is pretty boring. To enjoy the wonders of
Simple Machines' desktop publishing skills, you can get the print version
by sending a check for $4 (what a bargain!) to:
Simple Machines / P.O. Box 10290 / Arlington, VA 22210-1290
Besides putting out great info for the indie community, Simple Machines
also happens to put out quite a few great records by bands like Tsunami,
Sea Saw, The Raymond Brake and Danielle Howle.
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