How to Make Your Own CD

Remember demo tapes? Too young for that? It used to be that bands had to rely on record companies to put out their music—whether major or independent. Nowadays, bands can do everything themselves.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• A finished album
• CD-R's
• A CD burner
• Graphic design program/skills

1. Burn a master copy of the album—usually on a high-quality CD-R.
2. Send the master to a CD replicating service. Check prices. The more you order the cheaper it can be. If you can’t afford to burn 1000 CDs with a service, burn as many as you need: much cheaper to burn 50 store-bought CDs. Burn them using a computer or external CD burner.
3. Design a CD cover. If you have no idea how to use Photoshop, or something else, hire someone. It’ll be worth it (unless you’re going really lo-fi, indie rock about it). Again, if money’s pressing, design a one-page card for the cover, rather than a booklet insert. Take some time with this: you can judge a CD by its cover. Often the booklet and the pressing of the CD can be handled by the same service.
4. Design and print CD labels. If you’re not getting the CDs burned professionally, you can stick on your own labels. There’s software to handle this, as well as labelers that can stick the label on the CD without having to do each one tediously by hand.
5. Get the CDs shrink-wrapped. More professional-looking and mandatory if you want the CD sold in stores or online. On that front, you have to UPC code to sell the CD at most outlets.

Tips & Warnings

• The above doesn’t account for distribution, so record labels aren’t completely pointless. A high-quality CD can act as a more impressive demo to send around to labels and reviewers.
• Create your own label. If the CD looks good enough, reviewers might not even know it was self-produced.