Prepress Services

Prepress includes all the needed steps to make your design ready to print. Your documents will have been prepared by your designer in specific computer programs like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Corel Draw. Once we get the files we do the following:

verify if all files are present and meet the technical specs
advise you of problems we see
making minor but critical adjustments to the sizes to allow for bleeds and margins
adjusting the trapping of colors
generating proofs for client approval
making final files to make plates or films
checking the quality of the final print

Our staff have many years of experience even predating computer-based prepress. We have used those huge 6 foot high cameras and done lots of manual film stripping. You can be sure that we have the experience to catch most problems and we advise you what the problems and solutions are.

Allow 1 to 3 days for prepress. Your manufacturing turntime starts after final proofs are approved.

Send us your art, photos, words

If you want to get your project finished but aren't a trained graphic artist, then send us your photos and credits and we'll put it together quickly and professionally. If you know what you want, just make a sketch and we'll follow your instructions. The cost in this case is usually between $100 and $300, depending on complexity and the amount of scanning to be done. Front cover photos should be drum scanned to ensure high quality - and the cost is only around $75 for a CD cover size scan. We will be pleased to make an estimate or you can get an idea of the prices via our online graphic design and layout estimator.

Send us your files

Document requirements for offset CD/DVD cover printing :

Final press-ready PDF/X 1A files are required. CMYK TIFs at 300 dpi are also acceptable but usually lower quality for text. Any professional graphic artist can prepare these files or may prefer the client pay a nominal prepress fee to the printer. Whoever prepares the final PDFs does take on additional risk and must carefully inspect the resulting colour separations.

In case we have to adjust your files we usually need the native files from Adobe Creative Suite or Quark Express on a Macintosh. Other file formats may be be acceptable (possibly with a small extra cost). All required fonts must be supplied.

Warning: transparency effects can cause unpredictable results. Check your proofs carefully or flatten your artwork before making final PDFs.

Our CD and DVD packages do include a preflight of your PDF or native files. Print-only orders do not include a preflight - you must supply final files or pay for processing your native files.

In detail, here are the specs for our offset printing:

PDF/X-1A PDF files (or CMYK TIF files) are required
All fonts must be embedded
Trapping must be set to false if we are to apply automated trapping
A trapped PDF will be returned to you for inspection - you should inspect this in Adobe Acrobat with Overprint Preview ON and also check each printing plate in Output Preview. The free version of Adobe Reader is not suitable for checking proofs.
DO NOT supply PDFs generated by Photoshop. The preferred program for generating press-ready PDFs is Adobe InDesign. Quark Express is also used.
Color profile suggested: US Web Coated (SWOP) V2
Files are usually imaged direct to plate so films are not required
Maximum recommended ink density: 280% to 300%
You will not get a rich one color black. For a rich black use something like 100K 60C 50Y 50M.
Presses: 40" 12 Colour Heidelberg Speedmaster with Perfector & Perfecting Coating Solutions with auto-register; 29" 8 Colour Heidelberg Speedmaster with Coater; 40" 6 Colour Heidelberg CD with Aqueous Coater, prints on up to 40pt. board; all with advanced CPC24 image control.
4-color CMYK process printing is standard. PMS colors are printed as 5th color at additional cost
Posters, postcards, promo items, etc may be printed on other presses.

Accepted documents for short run laser printing:

We can accept almost any file that we can open on a Mac or PC. RGB images are fine for laser printing. An extra fee may apply for setup.

Accepted documents for inkjet on-disc printing:

We need RGB or greyscale TIF or JPEG images at 300 dpi. You can make the image 120 mm and just put a center mark. No cropping is needed since we will crop the art to fit the discs used.

Disc printing surface diameter varies between 116 and 119mm. The inner circle knockout varies between 22 and 46 mm.

Inkjet-printable discs are available with a white or silver matte surface. The silver surface can give a glowing effect to brightly colored text and logos.

Glossy white surface discs are now available.

Accepted documents for 1-color thermal on-disc printing:

We need RGB or greyscale TIF or JPEG images at 300 dpi. You can make the image 114mm and just put a center mark. No cropping is needed since we will crop the art to fit the discs used.

The reliable disc printing surface diameter is about 114mm. The inner circle knockout is about 38mm but avoid the mirror band.

The standard thermal-printable discs we use are Taiyo Yuden silver lacquer. Other options are available.

Do-it-yourself

If you want to do the design and layout yourself, or you have a graphic artist, you have to find some way to get us your files. Most jobs are sent to us either on a disposable CD-R or over the internet. We have an upload page.

Design Proofs - We need some kind of proof copy to verify what we are working on. We don't want to find out when you get the CDs that we were supposed to use the other file - the one with the photo of the new drummer on page 3! So you must send us some good quality proofs. Ideally a graphic designer will give you a color print of what everything is supposed to look like, along with 4 separated b&w printouts verifying that everything is printing, overprinting, or knocking out in the right places. Maybe ask him for an extra copy so you can keep one set and we can have one set. Yes, making these proofs can be expensive and time-consuming. At the bare minimum we need legible proofs for verifying that we are working on the right file and that there aren't fundamental errors in the layout.

CD Label Film Output
	Number of Pantone Colors to be printed
	1 or 2 colors	3 colors	4 colors	5 colors	6 colors
Film pos. output:	$50	$70	$90	$100	$110
Specs Notes: Consult a new Pantone color-swatch book. Only the 46-116 mm spec will work just about anywhere in the world. Consider the mirror band and the clear plastic areas! (18 to 46 mm). The color will change at the clear area. Do not print knockout text inside 46mm diameter. Avoid small type of less than 6 points and typefaces that have very thin strokes. Sans-serif typefaces (helvetica etc) work better. Especially avoid the combination of small point size, serif typeface, and being knocked-out. Plant-recommended trapping: 1/2 point Insufficient trapping may allow the silver of the disc to show through between areas of different colors. Minimum screen density before starting to lose dot: approx. 15% dot size. Maximum screen density before plugging: approx. 85% to 90%. Picture discs are not recommended unless you acknowledge the print will not look the same as it does on paper. Silkscreen printing is best at printing large areas of solid vibrant color.

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