When you’re doing research on vinyl pressing, the biggest question on your mind is how much will this project cost. The last thing you want to do is fill out a long quote form only to wait as a representative gathers all the information together to send you a final price. What we’ve learned from the decades of of running the cassette duplication calculator is that customers don’t just want, they need an instant quote. We’ve decided it’s time to take this same approach to vinyl pressing. Introducing the brand new and improved 12” vinyl and 7” vinyl pressing pages, complete with instant quotes!

Not only do these pages allow you to build as simple or complex of a vinyl package as you need, it also comes with a massive amount of new pressing and print options that you previously could not find on our individual product pages.

• New color vinyl effects, like haze, vertical splits, hand pour, and custom pantone
• Up to three 12” records per jacket, or two 7” records
• Split your order in two colors (for example: 175 on black vinyl, and 25 on limited splatter)
• New tip-on and gatefold jacket options, with optional reverse board
• New innersleeve and polybag options
• Obi-strips wrapped around your jackets
• Hype stickers to place on your shrinkwrap, jacket, or polybag
• Download codes assembled with your orders
• Rush options for those, well, in a rush
• Acetate! Barcodes! And more!

One of the first options you’ll need to choose is your method of cutting. If you want the excellent sound quality that vinyl is famous for, choose lacquer cutting. Copies start at only 100pcs, making it accessible for nearly all artists. For those working on a budget, we would point you towards Indie 1-Step. You can do runs as low as 50pcs, which is perfect for the first-time vinyl buyer, and the lower pressing costs make it an easier entry point. The records themselves are good quality but may differ slightly from the lacquer packages in that you might notice that there’s a higher noise floor, more pops, and rolled off high-frequencies.

Not to state the obvious, but before your fanbase hears your latest album, they’re likely going to see the artwork first. This is why packaging is so important for your album release, it’s going to give the first impression as to whether your music is worth a listen, let alone a purchase. Fortunately we know everything there is to know about CD packaging, especially when it comes to our forte, CD Wallets and Digipaks! So what makes us stand out from other print companies? Let’s break it down.

#1 Quality

Our wallets and Digipaks are printed on thick 15pt cardstock, giving your album the durability to survive a tour and a mosh pit. The beauty of their design is that the cardstock gives a bit of density that gives your customers confidence in the package, but they’re lightweight enough that you won’t have any issue carrying a box of them up those endless venue stairs.

#2 Specialty Colors

Our Xerox Iridesse press has raised the bar for printed material, allowing us to print outside the standard limited color range of CMYK, expanding to the hot and vibrant world of RGB! We can now print bright fluorescent colors, such as highlighter pinks, neon oranges, and hot yellows. Using spot colors we can also add a layer of silver and gold to portions of your artwork, giving a dazzling emphasis on text or art areas. Similarly, a pass of spot gloss also adds an extra glossy and reflective look to areas of your design.

Print embellishments can easily be added to your CD replication order in the quote form. We’ve also added them as options to CD wallets, Digipaks, and many of the printed products in the online store.

#3 Variety of Designs

If you’re looking for a classic design with plenty of space for artwork and a booklet, then you’ll feel right at home with our 4-panel wallets and Digipaks. If you’re working on a budget and want a simple cover for a sampler or single, a 2-panel sleeve might be for you! For those looking for a deluxe packaging solution with a ton of panels for artwork, liner notes, and lyrics, then we’d consider our 6-panel and 8-panel packages.

The point is, we have a massive variety of package designs. Some have the sleeve opening on the lefthand side, some have thumbholes, some unfurl this way and others that way. And if we somehow don’t have the exact model you’re looking for, you can always shoot us an email and we get can get working on a new die for your order!

The biggest hurdle between your artistic vision and reality can often be access to the tools. Design software is pricey, and while online tools like Canva are great for web images, they aren’t built with print in mind. This is particularly true for pad print, which requires vector artwork to achieve sharp and fine lines. For those lacking an Adobe subscription, we’ve gone ahead and made the process a whole lot easier: introducing the Duplication.com online Vector Designer!

Our Vector Designer allows you to easily add vector images and text to the pad print template. If you’re working with bitmapped images (such as jpegs), the designer will trace the image and convert it into a vector format. To fine-tune you can simply hit ‘re-trace’ to toggle with the tolerance, detail, and smoothing.

From there on you export the file as an SVG and upload your artwork as you normally would. Once the file is in our hands you can remain confident that your pad print artwork will appear sharp and high quality. As always, we recommend double hit pad print when you’re using light color ink against a dark color shell, and a white base layer if you want the ink color to have an extra amount of vibrancy and pop.

The Vector Designer is in beta testing mode, which means that there’s likely some fixes and new features to come in the near future. This is where we’d love some feedback! If you have suggestions, questions, or are struggling with any aspect of the process, please let us know!

EYE POPPING HOT COLORS AND METALLIC TONES

The big project at the Duplication.com printing facility this past week has been setting up our brand new digital Xerox Iridesse Production Press. The results have been fantastic, with high quality digital print that are sure to impress merch buyers and designers alike. A new feature we’re now capable of is Wide Gamut Extension, which allows for vibrant hot colors not previously possible through CMYK print!

The limitations of CMYK have historically resulted in duller warm colors than you’d find in the RGB range. The Iridesse digital printer has a fifth ink, Fluorescent Pink, which allows for a wide range of colors not previously possible outside of Pantone spot swatches.

• Orange and coral no longer a brick-like color, but instead vibrant like autumn leaves.
• Red has always been notoriously difficult to replicate, but now possible through the Wide Gamut Extension. Imagine a fire engine red, or a bright red tomato.
• The magenta in CMYK is limited in its brightness, but now pinks can appear hot and electric.
• As you can see in the chart below, so much of the purple color spectrum falls outside of CMYK’s capabilities. A tinge of fluorescent pink will give purple new life, now appearing more vibrant and brighter than ever before!

New color possibilities don’t just end with fluorescent pink. The Iridesse is also capable of gold and silver metallic, adding shimmer to certain areas of your artwork. High opacity white allows for a dense and bright white on dark background. If you want to add emphasis to text or certain objects in your design, request that we add high gloss and low gloss to your artwork!

The process for Wide Gamut Extension is simple. First, it will need to be requested with your print or duplication order. You can supply us your print file in RGB, and we can handle the rest through our software. Alternatively, you can go the classic route and send us a CMYK file with Pantone spot colors. The spot colors must be visible in the “Channels” tab, and the file needs to be in “Multichannel” mode.

A $75 USD setup fee applies, and certain larger items (such as a 4-Panel Digipak) will have a $1 per unit cost for full gloss floods.

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!