I thought I'd share the basic process through screenshots! Please click on the images as you read the post; it will allow you to see the images at their original size and read what they say.
Step 1: Upload album artwork
There is a lot that goes into the design process of an album. For starters, you have more than the front cover to design. A lot more. In fact, the cover was the easiest piece to design! There is a lot of technical stuff about designing artwork for CD. You can read about that process here.
Once all of it is designed, you simply upload the pieces to CD Baby's duplication site. The best file format for these are PDFs because they retain the quality of the high resolution artwork, but they are universally accepted (meaning any operating system that supports third-party software can open PDFs by downloading Adobe Reader). In CD Baby's case, PDFs are the only file format accepted.
Step 2: Place the UPC Barcode
Since I decided to purchase a UPC for Bits and Pieces, the next step is to place the UPC Barcode on the artwork where you would like it to appear. I chose to place it in the bottom right corner of the back cover. I would have liked to show you a picture of me positioning the UPC, but that would mean you would see what the back cover looks like -- I don't want to spoil the surprise!!
Step 3: Upload audio files
Next, it's time to upload the most important part: the music! After ensuring that the proper ID3 tags are embedded into your MP3 files, I uploaded the final, polished tracks as MP3s to the website.
Step 4: Arrange track order and proof songs
CD Baby's duplication site makes it simple to re-order the tracks once they're uploaded. Simply drag and drop! Make sure you have put a lot of thought into your song order (read my post about it here)!
The most important part of this step, however, is to "proof" your songs. Proofing your songs refers to listening one last final time to each track to make sure it sounds exactly how it should, and adjusting the silence between songs. Not many people think of this until it's too late, but YOU are responsible for adding space between tracks. Don't let the tracks play right on top of each other. I like to keep 1-2 seconds of silence after each track, with the exception of really powerful songs; I give extra "breathing room" to the really emotional songs to allow the listener time to absorb what he/she just experienced by leaving a few additional seconds of silence after those special songs.
Step 5: Proof the entire design
Finally, check one last time for problems. This includes overall layout issues (make sure your album artwork is the correct size!), making sure all artwork has a resolution of 300 dpi (dots per inch) or higher to avoid pixelated printing, and proof-reading for spelling and grammar.
I can't stress enough that this step is super-duper important. I repeat: DO THIS!
CD Baby's duplication website has an extra added bonus: they generated a 3-D proof of my album for me to see! They put all of your artwork on a virtual album and show you every piece, from the booklet's pages to the album spines. It is very impressive! I have screenshots, but, again, I don't want to spoil the surprise of what the album looks like, so I'll wait to post those!
Finally, enter your billing and shipping information (but I'm not showing a screenshot of those!!), and choose your shipping method.
Again, they told me I should expect the albums to arrive on September 20th. An upcoming post will explain how you can buy the album, the various release dates (that's right -- various release dates!!), and all that good stuff. So stay tuned! And, as always, thank you for reading and sharing these posts. It means the world.
For the comments: Who tends to be too sick of the project by the time it's finished to carefully proof-read? I'm usually over it by then, but I can't be the only one... right? I'm not referring to Bits and Pieces -- you BET I proofed the heck of out this album!!! -- but more to essays and things like that. Anyone else guilty of forgoing proof-reading?
(7:45pm update - As of the time of posting this, Bits and Pieces is in a state of "PrePress Review," in which CD Baby gives the project a quick look-over to make sure there's no problems before sending it to the press!)
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