The UV print machine has opened a whole word of elaborate cassette designs for artists and labels. We thought we were just offering color print, but our clients quickly started playing with transparency effects and perspective— design techniques we didn’t know were possible!

This past week a cassette duplication client asked us how to go about designing the mirror effect (AKA sandwich effect, AKA shadowbox effect), and it turns out that, wow, it’s actually a bit difficult to explain. However, when you take time to think about it, it’s actually not that complicated. Let’s break it down!

Let’s use egoscapes’ stunning design for Seawater 海彦 by Awakshidar as an example. Side A has text and a layer of rocks at the bottom, while Side B has a beautiful cloudy sky. However, you can see through the front of Side A to reveal the cloudy sky of Side B, which is the eye catching nature of the Mirror Effect.

Side A is pretty easy to explain: the artwork was designed with a transparent background. This is to say that when designing, the artwork layer wasn’t against a white background, there was no background image at all (the checkered board, for you Photoshop users.) We don’t print a white background unless we explicitly see white in your provided artwork. We will however add a white base to the printed artwork area, which adds vibrancy and allows your artwork to remain opaque. Because of the transparency, the shell’s blue glitter in this example is visible.

Side B takes a bit of work on our part. The design provided is what you see on the exterior of the cassette (the cloudy sky.) What we do is print a layer of the artwork on Side B, add one or two white base layers to provide the vibrant pop, and then print another artwork layer over the white. Your artwork is now visible on the exterior and interior of the cassette. It’s important to note that the interior of the cassette is a horizontally mirrored image of the exterior, so if you want to know what that looks like you can temporarily flip your artwork in the design software. All you have to do is provide us with the artwork you’d like on the exterior of the cassette.

What if you want the interior and exterior to be different images? That can be done! We would simply print your interior image first, then three white bases, and then your exterior image. Keep in mind that in the final product the interior artwork will be horizontally mirrored. We need the design you send us for the interior image to be the artwork we’re printing on the cassette, not its mirror version. This is a custom job, so you’ll have to mention it in the ‘Notes’ section of your order and a sales rep will update the quote!

Although the future of Trump’s tariffs now seems uncertain, they are still being enforced and wildly changing the landscape of music distribution. Last week we highlighted that all forms of duplication, pressing, and printed goods are safe from tariffs under the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, a big sigh of relief for us, and for all the North American labels and bands we work with.

While everything has been figured out on our end, you may still have a bit of trouble navigating customs when it comes to your own distribution methods. For example, many international postal services have halted shipments to the United States in response to the tariffs. And how is the typical Canadian bedroom artist supposed to navigate the complexities of U.S. customs when shipping a cassette to a Bandcamp buyer? We’re here to highlight some tips and solutions to making your shipments smoother and safer.

Learn Your Harmonized Codes

Harmonized codes (HS codes) are an internationally recognized system for identifying different product types within the context of free trade. In other words, writing “cassette” in your item description may be a bit vague, but adding the correct harmonized code will tell the custom agent (or AI bot) exactly what your package consists of. This takes a way a lot of the guesswork, and will hopefully move your package through a bit quicker.

Here are a few harmonized codes you may need—

• Audio cassettes: 8523.29.4010
• CDs: 8523.49.3000
• Vinyl records: 8523.80.1000
• Printed vinyl jackets and sleeves: 4819.50.3000
• Printed cardboard CD jackets: 4819.50.4060
• Printed inserts, folders, and booklets: 4911.99.8000
• DVDs: 8523.49.5000
• VHS tapes: 8523.29.60
• USB keys: 8523.51.90

Country of Origin Documentation

To make things a little more official, we’ve gone ahead and created a form declaring the country of origin and media type for your shipment. Just print out the form and highlight or circle the type of product you’re shipping. This form is only good for products manufactured by Duplication.com!

Country of Origin Markings on Packages: Ya Gotta Do It

Given that we’re likely to see a massive influx in package inspections, you’ll want to start taking the country of origin markings seriously. The country of origin (i.e. “Made in Canada”) must be visibly marked on the exterior of your printed package. You can add this in any artistic form you’d like, as long as it’s clean and legible. We also have stickers we can place on ploybags, shrinkwrap, and overwrap. This has been the law for decades now, and while it may have gone unnoticed for a long time, we suspect it will be enforced more and more in the future.

What if You Can’t Ship to the United States?

In response to the end of the de minimis rule, over 30 countries have halted shipments to the United States. This makes shipping Australian punk or Thai death metal albums to American fans a little difficult, to say the least. One solution is to seek out American distros that are interested in carrying your releases. When you order through Duplication.com we can split the shipment, sending a certain amount of stock to your doorstep and the remaining amount to the distro. Now your American fans can order from the distro, you collect your cut, and you don’t even have to visit the post office!

Longtime users of our outstanding cassette duplication services have no doubt noticed that a “double hit” option appears when selecting pad print artwork. We often receive questions from clients asking what “double hit” pad print entails and when it’s appropriate for their artwork. Here’s a breakdown:

“Single hit” and “double hit” applies to how many times we machine-stamp the cassette with your artwork, “single hit” being the standard. So as you may have already surmised, applying a double hit stamp will give your ink colour more opaqueness and vibrancy. This is especially important when you’re stamping a light ink color on a dark color cassette shell, such as white ink on a black cassette. The more, the better.

There are a couple of caveats to this approach. First, since more ink is laid down, thin lines may appear thicker or narrow gaps between the artwork may be filled with spreading ink. If you have thin lines in your pad print artwork, you may want to forego a double hit. Secondly, there are a number of inks that aren’t particularly opaque to begin with, and a double hit won’t change the ink vibrancy against a dark cassette shell. These inks include Brilliant Blue, Magenta, Yellow Lemon Citron, and Violet. (Orange is also not very opaque when used with single hit, but actually benefits greatly with double hit.)

The solution here isn’t to just settle with single hit, but to request a white base layer instead. Let’s say you want magenta against a black cassette shell: we will first lay down your artwork using white ink, and then again using magenta ink. This allows the magenta to pop out and shine against the black cassette shell as if you were printing it on a white cassette shell. White base layers are available by special request, at $25 CAD plus $.18 per hit, allowing for much more vibrant pad print at a low individual cost increase.