An Interesting Mastering Job

[Bob Womack]

I just finished another mastering job that might interest you that had some fascinating and humorous twists and turns along the way. I initially tried to post this as a thread here on the AGF but discovered that the article is too large. Instead, I'll link you to it on my website, HERE.

Bob

[superbitterdave]

Fascinating, Bob. Thanks for sharing. I love your behind the scenes glimpses into an industry that has brought me so much joy through my life.

Cheers

Dave

[Brent Hahn]

Wow -- great soup-to-nuts report.

The one thing I might elaborate on, which might be helpful to those here who are "self-publishing," so to speak, is about the printing. If you find yourself responsible for that, whether it's your own project or a client's, watch out for the intent to color-match a replicated disc and its sleeve or tray. The two printing processes are entirely different and will almost certainly be done by different people. Your sleeve will probably come out looking either very close to your CMYK comp or exactly like it, depending on how closely your sleeve and comp stocks match. Your disc, though, may look nothing like either your sleeve or your comp. For that reason, most pro graphic artists warn clients away from trying to make their discs and sleeves match.

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

Wow -- great soup-to-nuts report.

The one thing I might elaborate on, which might be helpful to those here who are "self-publishing," so to speak, is about the printing. If you find yourself responsible for that, whether it's your own project or a client's, watch out for the intent to color-match a replicated disc and its sleeve or tray. The two printing processes are entirely different and will almost certainly be done by different people. Your sleeve will probably come out looking either very close to your CMYK comp or exactly like it, depending on how closely your sleeve and comp stocks match. Your disc, though, may look nothing like either your sleeve or your comp. For that reason, most pro graphic artists warn clients away from trying to make their discs and sleeves match.

Thanks for that. I'm not on the graphics side of it at all so I wasn't aware of that. The plant does the CD printing and package fabrication. I'm not sure whether they sub-contract and send out the package printing, though. I have worked with a client that had their own printing plant. i'm pretty sure they had the CDs made and printed and then delivered to their plant for the package printing and fabrication.

Bob