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CD Manufacturing Guide

CD Specifications Sheet

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

Grant Permissions Letter

Pantone to CMYK Conversion

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CD Manufacturing, CD duplication, CD replication, DVD manufacturing, Compact Disc Disk manufacturing, CD-ROM duplication by Spin Digital Media

Before submitting your project, please take a moment and familiarize yourself with some common printing terms and concepts, it may save you time and reduce errors.

	COLOR MODELS - FULL COLOR VERSUS BLACK & WHITE Production run paper or cardboard items (jewel box inserts and trays, cardboard sleeves, digipaks, etc) are printed using either one of two methods: Full color process or one color grayscale. Very rarely, a job will be done using Pantone colors (also called Spot inks). Do not include any spot inks in full color designs, unless prior arrangements have been made. THE FULL 4 COLOR CMYK PROCESS - The print job is printed using four (4) special inks (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, BlacK), also known as CMYK process. By combining these four colors, nearly every visible color can be achieved (though not all - see Color Gamut below) BLACK & WHITE (GRAYSCALE) - If the print job only uses black ink, then it is considered a "grayscale" order, and is often the least expensive printing option. This makes it ideal for the interiors of booklets or inserts, where full color offers no sales benefit. Often, these options are referred to by printers and other graphic design professionals using the terms 4/4 ("four over four"), 4/1, or 1/1. 4/4 - full color both sides 4/1 - full color over grayscale 1/1 - grayscale over grayscale 4/0 - full color, single side 1/0 - grayscale, single side
	COLOR GAMUT The CMYK color gamut is the range of all possible colors that can be printed using the 4 color CMYK process. There are some colors that simply cannot be printed (very vivid blues, greens, reds), and this sometimes becomes an issue when the design is submitted in RGB mode. Unexpected color shifts can occur when conversion of RGB to CMYK is done prior to printing, (which is why it is best to design in CMYK from the start, so there are no surprises). Learn more about the different color models here>>
	BLEED, GUTTER, AND CROP MARKS Your print job will be printed on larger sheets of paper, and then cut down to final size. There can be slight variations in the cut, so we have to build in some safety areas. There are actually two things we watch for, "bleed" and "gutter". Bleed is the artwork that goes past the final cut line, which will be cut off (usually any background image or image that goes all the way to the edge). This is a safety measure so that there won't be a white line along the edge if the cutter is off slightly. Gutter is the safe area on the inside of the cut line, where any important text and images shouldn't go, in case the cut is too far inside. It's also a good idea to avoid having any border or line that runs right along the cut line, it can be lost. Normally we ask for 0.125" bleed and gutter, which gives us a nice big safety margin. Most of the templates already include the bleed area, so just take any artwork all the way to edge of the templates. Keep text inside the gutter areas. If the template does not have a bleed line, assume that 0.125" of bleed outside the final cut line is expected (this is often the case with cardboard packaging). Missing bleed or insufficient gutter is the single most common mistake made when designs are submitted, and can delay your project. Read the template carefully!
	IMAGE RESOLUTION AND PRINTING REQUIREMENTS To assure the best possible quality when printing, it is important that all images have sufficient resolution. For our purposes, all artwork for paper print should have 300-350 dpi (final print resolution). Resolution is a measurement of the amount of detail in an image, usually referred to as "dots per inch" (dpi) or "pixels per inch" (ppi). The two terms are often used for the same thing. But, just to confuse things, an image's "resolution" may also refer to the total number of pixels in the image (phrases such as "high resolution image" indicate that the image has a large number of pixels - usually over 2000 x 2000). An image size is a result of both its physical "print" dimensions and its resolution. (IMAGE PRINT DIMENSIONS) X (IMAGE RESOLUTION) = (IMAGE SIZE IN PIXELS). For example, a picture that is 5" x 5" at 100 dpi has 500 x 500 pixels (5 x 100 = 500). The exact same image at 2" x 2" would have a resolution of 250 dpi. To calculate final resolution, you have to know how big the final image will be printed, and how many pixels it has. When resizing an image to prepare it for printing, remember that you can always go down in resolution, but never up - you can always lose detail from an image, but you can't add detail that isn't in the image to begin with. This is why it is important to always work with the best quality, highest resolution images available. WARNING! Many images that are taken off the internet are far too small to print well. The standard resolution for on-screen display is only 72-75 dpi, so an image on a web site that fills half the screen would only be size of a postage stamp if printed at proper resolution.
	PANTONE AND SPOT COLORS (PRODUCTION RUN DISCS ONLY) While the paper printing is done in CMYK/Grayscale, the CD/DVD face is often done using a different process. The disc is silk-screened, using 1-3 Pantone colors (though as many as 6 colors can be used, at extra expense). The Pantone Color system (also referred to as a spot color), is a catalog of pre-mixed ink colors (similar to mixed paint) that allows the designer to specify a color by number. Please specify colors from the Solid Coated Library. For more information, see Designing A Disc Face Pantone is a registered trademark

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