General Points
Please remember that the image on the computer monitor will
not look the same when printed onto a white piece of paper.
So please try it out before submitting it, the results you
get might not be what you are expecting. If not, adjust the
colours etc even if it makes the screen image looks worse,
it's the final printed version we are bothered about.
We use glossy photo paper because that helps with clarity and
colour rendition, it's also pretty good at typed characters.
Also we use Epson printers because they have a straight paper
path, so if possible please try out your artwork on an Epson.
Inserts
We use half-height DVD cases 7mm or 10mm spine (portrait
orientation i.e. the hinge is on the longer side).
If these are not available we will use instead the same thing but
in landscape orientation i.e.the hinge is on the shorter side.
Please email to check what format we are currently using.
In the past we tried jewel cases (too many breakages in the post)
and pvc wallets (not good enough) and have now settled on these
DVD cases which give us benefits all round - light, strong, durable,
and looks great too.
These dimensions relate to the portrait orientation case.
The actual panels are the same size for landscape of course,
just rotated by 90 degrees, so you can elect to either have the
case opening at the top/bottom (instead of the side) or you can
design your artwork to fit the landscape orientation. When you
contact us about your material, we will advise which type of
case is currently available, it's market-dependent so it could
be either, though we do try to get the portrait ones by choice.
The overall size of the insert is 249 mm wide x 135 mm high
The spine is either 10mm or 7mm wide x 135 mm high
Each panel (front/back) is 121 mm wide x 135 mm high
We print at 300 dpi, so this equates to a pixel size of ...
Overall 2940 wide x 1710 high (7mm spine)
or 2975 wide x 1710 high (10mm spine)
Front panel 1429 wide x 1595 high
Spine 82 wide x 1595 high (7mm)
or 118 wide x 1595 high (10mm)
Rear panel 1429 wide x 1595 high
Do not have any text within 3 mm of any edge or fold.
We need the margins to allow for cutting and folding the insert,
and if the text is too near the edge it risks being chopped off.
Note that text that looks ok on the screen can simply not work
when printed. The two main mistakes here are ...
(1) text too small, because the artist used magnification on-screen
but the resultant printed output was character 0.1 mm high and
therefore unreadable
(2) inappropriate text/background color combinations, such as pale
grey text on a light purple background, this will simply not be readable.
So print it out and see what it looks like.
Like everybody we print onto white paper, but when this is cut
down to the exact size of the insert, it is possible that tiny
white flecks can appear at the edges. This would only matter
where the color at the edges is very dark, and would not be
visible on an insert with white edges. We have a process for
removing these white flecks, but it's better to avoid them
in the first place. A small point, just covering all the bases.
CD Face
The artwork for the CD face should be a square image, preferably
1500 x 1500 pixels, but can be smaller because we can adjust it,
but not less than 750 x 750 pixels otherwise it won't work well.
Please remember that there is a hole in the middle of the CD
and artwork simply will not print in that area. So design it
to fit around the hole, take a look at a CD you may have.
You do not need to cut the hole into your artwork, just be aware
that it is there, and please remember the rules about text size,
text colors, and edge distances.
All our releases feature on-face full color printing.
We can use either a white background blank, or a 'silver'
background blank. Which one works best will depend on the
actual artwork, so we'll try out both and let you choose.
Also we usually put the Ambientlive name and a catalog number
down at the bottom of the CD face, so it helps if that area
is not unduly busy with artwork. We will do the name in either
black or white text, depending on which works best on the CD.
File Format
We prefer jpg format because it's easier to include into our templates.
Other formats are possible, if you really really can't export to jpg
