 CREATING A CD
 
 DIY--Do It Yourself--is the best way to go when creating a CD.  The plus
 side is that you have complete control, you will learn a bunch, and more
 money goes into your pocket.  The negative side is it takes a lot of time
 and effort, you will probably have to set up a business, and you need to be
 able to supply money up front.
 
 Having done 2 CDs I'm going to tell you how to create your own CD--from
 WHERE to get things done to the COSTS involved.  The two CDs I have worked
 on are not up to the commercial quality some might desire and the reason
 for this is that with QUALITY comes COST.  It is a trade off--is the
 consumer going to pay more $$$ for a little more quality.  Then, there is
 the task of finding the places that will help you reach this quality.
 
 GETTING STARTED
 
 Having an idea is a start.  Say you want to create an AUDIO CD with your
 groups musicians.  Lizardking and Kosmic have done it, Purple Motion will
 probably do it so why not hop on the bandwagon--its cheap enough.  But,
 along with this AUDIO CD you also want to release a DATA CD which consist
 of all 650 megs of your groups stuff.  And because it is all YOUR stuff you
 can charge what you want and make some pocket change.
 
 ART
 
 Because your group is so big you have enough artist from within to complete
 all the art.  Using professional tools such as PhotoShop, Quark Xpress,
 Pagemaker, and Corel 5 are recommended.  Escape was laid out with Corel 4
 and Freedom has been laid out with Quark Express 3.3 (PC).  Now, all one
 needs is a printer and possibly film maker.
 
 FILM
 
 I have used:
 
 Johnathan Vail
 Anvil Graphics
 (508) 772-5823
 vail@world.std.com / vail@pps.com
 
 I met him over the internet when looking for a FILM/SCREEN person.  He
 produced ALL the screens for ESCAPE.  He will be doing the CD LABEL art for
 the FREEDOM CD.  I paid Johnathan with CDs and many thanks.  The cost of
 FILM for doing a CD--booklet, tray card, and label art--will run you
 somewhat over
 a $100 but less than $200 depending on the size of the film. 
 
 PRINTING:
 
 For Escape I rushed everything--amazingly everything turned out pretty
 good.  The FILM when directly from Johnathan to 3M where 3M contracted out
 the printing to a nearby printer.  No COLOR PROOF was done (they cost about
 $100).  Except for the CYAN being a little "weak" the art turned out as we
 had hoped.
 
 This time around I found a few companies that specialize in PRINTING CD art
 and their prices are very reasonable:
 
 Riddle Press, Inc.
 4555 S.W. Main
 Beaverton, OR 97005
 (503) 643-5751
 (800) 536-5751
 Contact:  David Frackelton (E-mail:  74354.2734@CompuServe.Com)
 Price: $314 per 1000
 
 Ross Ellis
 1133 Broadway, Suite 825
 New York, NY 10010
 (212) 645-6110
 (800) 223-6105
 Price: $297 per 1000
 
 C-CASE
 822 Hillgrove Avenue
 Western Springs, IL 60558
 (708) 246-7044
 Contact:  William Dobias
 
 Punks with Presses
 1255 26th st. #A
 Oakland, CA 94607
 (510) 763-9432
 Price: $350 per 1000
 E-mail:  jux@netcom.com
 
 All pricing is based on the standard 4 page booklet with full color on one
 side and Black on the back as well as the same 4/1 for the tray card. 
 Riddle Press did the printing and screens for this (Freedom) CD.  Ross
 Ellis prints out of Montreal and REQUIRES "printed in Canada" to appear
 somewhere on each thing they print or else they will put it in themselves.
 C-CASE offers a good alternative to the plastic jewel box--using recycled
 paperboard with your printing on the packaging.  It is an interesting
 alternative which greatly cuts down on shipping cost.  Finally Punks with
 Presses prints books, stickers, flyers, and zines besides CD inserts. 
 However, they have a larger turn time then most and their quality is not
 going to match a "Ross Ellis" printer.  I've seen samples/products from all
 of the above and can recommend anyone of them.  My suggestion is to use C-
 CASE if you don't want to use a JEWEL case because a cardboad CD holder is
 better than a viewpak.  As for CD insert printer, call all three above, get
 a catalog/samples and make a choice.
 Keep this in mind--if you have a CD and it says "made in Canada" somewhere
 on the printed material then it probably came from Ross Ellis.
 
 STICKERS
 
 You have a couple options here.  Make your own stickers, don't make any
 stickers or go with someone who specializes in stickers.  Punks with
 Presses and the "Sticker Guy" do stickers.  Punks with Press will print
 1000 (3"x3" or 4"x2") stickers for $45!  You get 3 colors for your stickers
 on glossy white paper.  The down side is the stickers are PAPER (won't last
 that long) and the colors are Black and whatever Punks with Presses are
 using at the time (that is what I heard but you might want to call them). 
 The Sticker Guy is more expensive but prints on VINAL and is more flexible. 
 I decided to use the Sticker Guy for the Freedom stickers.
 
 STICKER GUY
 c/o Pete Menchetti
 P.O. BOX 204
 Reno, NV 89504
 702-324-3889
 mench@cs.unr.edu
 
 AUDIO--DAT/CD-R
 
 To master your music you will likely use a DAT recorder--whether you master
 in a studio or at someones house.  Christopher discovered his school had
 DAT machines so he mastered our very own ESCAPE CD at his college.  Perhaps
 a studio would be the best because of the tricks you can use to make the
 sound quality better.  Since I have never been in a studio I do not know
 how much better the recording can get.  The sound quality is likely to
 depend more on the SAMPLES and limitation of the GUS than anything else. 
 So, is a studio necessary--NO--would it help the CD sound better--probably. 
 Studios do come at a cost ($$$) though.
 
 John E. (reaper@sefl.satelnet.org / johne@alpha.acast.nova.edu) did all the
 music mastering/recording for the FREEDOM CD.  His recently purchased SONY
 DAT recorder ($700 retail) is what all the on the CD was recorded to.  John
 also has a DSP, EQ, and other toys which were used to sweeten the sound on
 some songs.  John likes the idea of becoming a sound engineer.  Perhaps the
 FREEDOM CD will give him the edge he needs to break into this field.  If
 you are doing a CD and would like John's help then drop him some electronic
 mail.
 
 Once you have your recording on DAT and a track list (list of songs and
 time) then you are ready to convert the DAT to CD-R or just send the DAT to
 the CD pressor hand have them convert it for you.
 
 Want someone to convert your DAT to CD-R instead of the CD pressor?  Well,
 DEM will do it for you.  CD companies usually charge about $250 for this
 service and may or may not throw in a check disk for this price.  If this
 is the case for you DEM may be worth checking out.  Frank charges $175 plus
 a couple bucks for postage to create a PMCD which is what you CD pressor
 needs.  Frank created the CD-R for Freedom's audio CD from the DAT John
 produced.
 
 DEM - attention: Frank
 1011 Woodland St.
 Nashville, TN  37206
 (615) 834-5419 or (615) 262-2222
 E-mail:  DigMas@aol.com
 
 DATA--CD/R
 
 Once you have your DATA ready for pressing it is best to get a CD-R made. 
 Otherwise you will be sending some QIC/HARD DRIVE to the CD company and be
 charged about $200 for pre-formatting and still need a CD-R check disc. 
 There are a lot of people/places that do these "one offs."  David Hughes
 did the Escape and Freedom CD one off.  He charges less than $50 and has a
 turn around time of about a week.
 
 David A. Hughes
 P.O. Box 1661
 Statesville, NC 28687
 (704) 872-1560
 
 CD ROM COMPANIES
 
 There are a lot of CD ROM/CD Audio companies out there.  I have called many
 and dealt with only 1--3M.  Below are some firms and estimated costs for
 1000 CD's pending you send them all the ART and pre-formatted DATA.
 
 Tape Speciality Inc. (DISCTRONICS)
 Disctronics # (800) 224-7616
 TSI # (818) 786-6111
 Type:  Audio
 Contact:  Robin Lazarus
 Price:  $1610 / 1000
 
 3M Data Storage Optical Technology Division
 (800) 336-3636
 Type:  Data / Audio
 Contact:  Gwen Brookey (#2337)
 Price:  $2336 / 1000
 
 Disc Manufacturing, Inc.
 (800) 433-DISC
 Type:  Data / Audio
 
 JVC
 (310) 274-2221
 Type:  Data / Audio
 
 Nimbus
 (804) 985-1100
 Type:  Data / Audio
 
 Disc Makers
 (800) 468-9353
 Type: Audio
 
 Dig through some magazines and I'm sure you will find more.  Kosmic had
 their "Nothing is True" CD pressed by Disc Makers.  This same company has
 done CDs for bands like:  Hole, Rollins, Edie Brickell, Elasticia, and The
 Police.  You can tell who pressed the CD by looking at the inner ring of
 the CD--DIDX = Disc Makers.  The FREEDOM CD's were pressed by 3M.
 
 COSTS
 
 To produce an AUDIO or DATA CD expect to spend somewhere in the
 neighborhood of $2000-$3000 for 1000 CDs.  This includes all the printing,
 pressing, CD-R, and such.  So, your CD will cost you about $3 a piece. 
 Mailing the CD in a good bubble mailer will tack on another 35 cents and
 postage is about $1.24.  Play your cards right and your "at cost" per CD
 will be about $5 with everything above that pure profit.  Course if you
 press more CD's your price per CD comes down and if you pressed 500 CD's
 your at cost is more like $7.
 
 Because these prices are so reasonable anyone with little money and a
 credit card can go out and press a CD.  You just better be able to sell
 enough in those first few months to pay of the big credit debt if you go
 this route. It can be done.  I sold 300 Escape CD's within two months--this
 would have paid off any credit debt, interest included.
 
 
 EVERYTHING ELSE
 
 I know of a few scene CD's--people who have done the above.  I do not know
 if they have "succeeded" but they have all created something from nothing. 
 Below are some AUDIO CD's coming out of the scene.
 
 TITLE:         The Best of the Amiga Scene
 Description:   Songs from some of the best Amiga musicians--composed on the
                Amiga.  In fact, everything about the CD was done on an Amiga
                from art to mastering.  It contains 18 songs--74:09 worth of
                music.  Recording quality is good, price is a little high.
 Order:         TBOTAS
                ATTN:  Fredrik Elmqvist
                Gasverksgatan 21
                46234 Venersborg
                Sweden
 E-mail:        fredrik.elmqvist@p42.spray.ct.se
 Cost:           Around $14 plus postage ($7 to US)
 
 TITLE:         FTZ:  Nothing is True
 Description:   Dan Nicholson and Riku Nuottajarvi of Kosmic.  Contains 12
                songs (68 minutes).  Contains B/W photocopied art.  Great if
                you like techno.  Recording quality is great.
 ORDER:         Area 51 Records
                553 Thoreau Terrace
                Union, NJ 07083-9044
                (908) 687-3479
 E-mail:        moddan@ritz.mordor.com
 Cost:          $15 ppd to US I think.
 
 TITLE:         Physiology:  Strange World
 Description:   Lizardkings CD.  Professionally done with cool art and
                Excellent recording quality.  A must have for people who 
                enjoy Gustav's music.  Highly Recommended.
 ORDER:         Gustav Grefberg
                Duvhoksv. 25
                856 51 Sundsvall
                Sweden
 Cost:          Less than $20 delivered.
 
 TITLE:         Future Shock 2
 Description:   Have not seen CD yet.  But contains 71 minutes of Audio.
 ORDER:         Eric 'Sidewinder' Giesete
                8611 Cape Valley
                San Antonio, TX 78227-2113
                (800) 25-AMIGA = BCI
 E-mail:        1969chia@europa.com
 COST:          $15
 
 There are also scene related DATA CD's such as "Hot Sound and Vision,"
 "Assembly 94," "Escape," and soon to be others--many others.  If you have a
 scene CD and would like to trade let me know--I'm interested.
 
 As you can see, it CAN be done--especially if you have (or think you have)
 something people want.  I bid you good luck with your CD venture if you
 decide to do such--at least now you have an advantage...INFORMATION.
 -Dan Wright (dmw@gate.net)