Frequently Asked Questions |
For CD PRESSING packages we assume you will supply a final mastered DDP image from your mastering engineer. Some studios still supply a master on audio CD-R which we can convert to a DDP image.
If you want to supply audio files to make a CD pressing you need mastering. Your studio could do it or refer you to a mastering engineer. If we are to do a straight transfer of your audio files to CD your files MUST be 16 bit, 44.1 kHz WAV or AIFF format and you must choose the option for how much space you want between the songs.
**If you are supplying audio files please pay special attention to the specified space between the songs. If your tracks have been mastered as an album then it is likely that you want the default option "0 pause seamless mix" because your mastering engineer has already set the spaces between the songs. Otherwise you may want 2 or 3 seconds between songs. Finding the right pause is what a mastering engineer will help you with.
Our offices
Toronto Factory &
Print Shop
Analogue Media Technologies Inc.
200B Middlefield Road
Toronto, ON M1S 4M6
416-493-8900
800-777-1927
Find on map
Cleveland, Ohio Duplication Factory
Analog Media Technologies LLC
10111 Sweet Valley Drive, Unit 2
Valley View Ohio 44125
440-333-0040
Find on map
Ⓒ Analogue Media Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Ⓒ Analogue Media Technologies Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Pad print:
We can use a machine called a pad-printer to print on audio cassettes. The pad printer can print the face surface as shown below.
Pad printing ink is more opaque than other print-on-cassette methods and is capable of printing fine details. The default pad print setting is only 1 colour, but 2 colours can be done by special request.
Paper labels:
We can also laser-print paper labels in black or in full color. We have a wide variety of special paper stocks available, including florescents and metallic foils.
Laser engraving:
We can also etch or engrave your design into the cassette and the norelco case!
UV Print:
We're proud to introduce UV Full Body Print services for audio cassette! This service allows for electrifying colour print on your tape, covering the entire face area from edge-to-edge. You will receive way more coverage than pad print, and no longer be limited to only two colours.
Because our stock changes every day, certain shells may require extra charges and add to your order turntime. You will be contacted before we begin production if this is the case.
Spot Gloss is available upon request! Please mention it in the 'Notes' on page 2 of your order and we'll send you an updated quote.
UV Print - Double White
Double White is exactly as it sounds: two white layers between the cassette shell and your provided artwork. This allows for extra vibrancy and pop in your colors, especially useful when using a dark-toned cassette. You can even use just the double white on a shell color to give it a pure white look, instead of being just a little off the mark of #FFFFFF.
UV Print - Spot Gloss
Spot Gloss allows you to highlight certain areas of your cassette art with a glossy varnish. This can be used to highlight text, a logo, or a figure in your artwork. The example above subtly utilizes spot gloss for the Side A text and logo on the top corners. Check out our IG post for a high resolution video.
UV Print - Mirror (AKA Sandwich Print)
Mirror print allows you to print front-and-back images on one side of a clear or tinted cassette. It works like so: we print the mirrored image, then over the mirrored image we print a layer of white, and then over the white layer we print the regular image. Now when you look at the face of Side B, the mirrored image will be seen through the cassette shell, giving it a sense of depth. You can even have a knockout image printed on Side B, to make the artwork even more complex and three-dimensional, like the photo above.
Digital press works a lot like your home digital printer, wherein rollers apply coloured toner to a sheet of paper, and heat fuses the image with the sheet. But unlike your home printer (unless you're living in an industrial printing facility) our digital press prints at a higher resolution with with richer CMYK colours than your typical consumer models. Its inexpensive start-up costs allow for affordable short-runs prints while still maintaining a high quality output.
High volume and high quality, the offset press is the golden standard for the printing industry. Far more complex than digital printing, an offset press requires metal plates with an etched design to apply ink to paper. Offset printing is typically used for larger runs (over 500 pieces), though through a custom quote you can request offset printing for shorter editions. You may want to consider this due to it's ultra high quality resolution and richer colours. If you're looking for professional printing quality with a glossy sheen, then our offset services are right for you.
2 panel cardboard sleeves or mini-jackets are printed on white cardboard and then die cut and glued - they're like a mini record jacket. The CD slides in from the side.
Pictured: Mikey & The Reelers 2 panel cardboard sleeve with 3-color disc print
Pictured: Mike Stevens 2 panel sleeve and full-colour offset-printed CD
Pictured: Emeline Michel (2013) 4 panel sleeve, offset-printed CD, and additional 32 page full-colour booklet.
Pictured: Dani Nash & Melleefresh vs. Deadmau5 CD Digipaks
CD trays are placed inside a CD jewel box and hold the CD in place. They come in a variety of colors, transparent and tinted CD trays allowing for visibility of a double-sided traycard. The standard CD tray is clear.
We can host your digital files on our server and generate the download codes for distribution. Our cards are printed in-house on thick cardstock in full CMYK, we can use our default template or you can design your own artwork for us to print! We'll take care of adding the codes. Our servers host up to 250MB of space, more than enough for MP3s. However if you want to host lossless audio or even video files (great for packaging with VHS releases!), we can add more space for an extra cost.
There are three different ways you can submit download codes:
1) You supply a .zip file with a maximum file size of 250MB. We will provide the download cards and web hosting. You can supply your own download card graphics for an additional $10 CAD ($20 CAD for double-sided print.) File sizes larger than 250MB will be subject to an additional fee.
2) You supply us with the download cards, either digitally or via mail.
3) You supply us with Bandcamp or Ampwall codes and we'll do the printing. You need to add 10% of overs for the codes (ex. if you order 100 cassettes, send us 110 download codes), as to adjust for the duplication overs which may occur during production.
© 2025 Analogue Media Technologies Inc.
Outer Case O-Cards
Slipcase
Cigarette Pack (Fliptop)
© 2023 Analogue Media Technologies Inc.
For decades the North American market has been missing out on a great element of Japanese record packaging: the obi-strip. These strips were used for CD and vinyl releases to give the customer extra information not found on the back of the case. Not only were they informative, but they added to the design of the packaging, often incorporating or extending the imagery found in the album artwork.
We've taken the obi-strip tradition and applied it to our cassette packaging! We can print thick 15pt cardstock obi-strips vertically or horizontally in full CMYK so you can incorporate it with your artwork as you wish. These are a great way to get your CD, cassette, or vinyl to stand out from the pack.
Vertical obi-strips for cassette
Horizontal obi-strips for cassette (AKA belly-bands)
Vertical obi-strips for CD
© 2025 Analogue Media Technologies Inc.
Laser Engraving
UV Print on Cassette Case
UV Print: Double White
UV Print: Spot Gloss
UV Print: Mirror Print (AKA Sandwich Print)
© 2023 Analogue Media Technologies Inc.
Epson 6-Color Digital Print
1-Color Silkscreen
2-Color Silkscreen
3-Color Silkscreen
4-Color Silkscreen
Full-Color CMYK Silkscreen
© 2023 Analogue Media Technologies Inc.
If you're unsure which cassette label is the best fit for your cassette shell color, please check out our cassette selection guide. Here you can see your recommended cassette label per cassette shell.
White with 4 Round Corners (CL4RC)
Wide face labels (AKA wide fit labels)
We use Cougar Smooth cardstock for J-cards with up to 3 extra panels (80lb cover.)
Our J-Cards are printed with full bleeds on all sides and include scoring and folding. Your artwork must include bleeds.
We use the terms J plus X panels. A JP0 is a J-card. JP1 is a J-card plus one additional panel. A JP5 is a J-card with five additional panels. Click here for a visual glossary.
Offset Printing
Yes we can do high quality offset printing of J-Cards on our offset press. The sheet size is up to 20x26 inches. Contact us for a quote when you must have offset print. Since a J-Card is so small you should think of printing posters, flyers or postcards at the same time. You have to tell us what paper stock you want so we can quote the job. We include glossy AQ coating as standard, or you can request matte AQ as an inexpensive upgrade.
Embossing/Debossing/Foil stamping available. These are fairly expensiveprocedures with additional costs of $500 or more.
Ultra-Important Information
You must include bleed and respect safety margins. If you don't bleed your art past the cut lines, you will have white edges on 2 of the 4 sides. If you put important text or image details right on the cut or score lines, it may get cut off or be unreadable. If you use 2 point type, it won't be legible. Dark blue or red text in a black background is not very legible at small sizes.
Corrections to art files are available from $30.
Cassette orders should include text that reads 'Made in Canada' or 'Manufactured in Canada' on the J-card artwork in order to safely cross the border. The country of origin should be declared on the artwork otherwise you run the risk of the package being held at the border or returned to the manufacturer. This is the law in the United States, Canada, and many other countries. Moreoever, any big box retailer will refuse to stock a product that doesn't have a country of origin clearly marked on the package. More information can be read in our blog post. Vector images of a 'Made in Canada' logo can be downloaded here.
Also available with additional fee:
100 lb linen cover - Custom order only! Please email us or add a request page in the notes section on the second page of the order form for an updated quote.
Contact us for anything special, keeping in mind there are minimum order quantities from paper suppliers.
We own our own fully equipped print shop with digital and offset presses so we can meet just about any requirement.
Standard pad print colors are black and white, though we encourage our customers to go wild with our many color options!
We try to keep all the Marabu inks in stock. We can also mix most Pantone® colors.
Pad printing can reproduce very fine details as well as large areas. We can make the color more opaque by doing a double-hit or triple-hit. When printing on some cassettes the ink color will change depending on the color of the cassette. To fully preserve the ink color, a white base is required (that's an extra cost). Every cassette is placed on the machine by hand so it takes more labor than the high-speed offset machines. Offset printing on cassette (which we don't offer) uses inks that are not as opaque and the polymer plates are quite low resolution and incapable of reproducing fine details.
Important info:
Your art color must be in black, regardless of your desired ink color! If you want us to print in purple, you need to send us black artwork. If you want us to print in white, you STILL need to send us black artwork.
Pad print artwork must be send in vector format. We highly recommend using Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw when designing. If you are unable to convert to vector format, a small fee will apply for us to convert to vector or print as bitmap.
UV Print
This technology uses a large format inkjet printer capable of printing the entire CMYK color spectrum. The print tends to be a bit contrasty and grainy and can have some minor banding (which is one of the drawbacks of inkjet printing), but overall it looks amazing and most folks are very happy with this option for full color and full-face printing. It's possible to do a kind of 3D effect where the background is printed reversed on the B-side of a transparent cassette, and the foreground is printed on the A side. For simple text or logos, we recommend using pad print for the sharpest results.
A country of origin marking on the exterior of your album packaging is required for shipments to the United States and other countries. While customs inspections for small packages was once rare, it is now much more likely with recent changes in duty fees. We highly recommend adding a country of origin to your album packaging. As it currently stands, the majority of our manufacturing is done in Canada, those you will need to add 'Made in Canada', 'Manufactured in Canada', or a similar country of origin indication. This can be done by adding it to your print design, or with stickers we supply.
We are not responsible for packages that cannot cross the border due to lack of country of origin markings.
If you choose stickers along with shrinkwrap or overwrap, we will place the stickers underneath the shrinkwrap.
'Made in Canada' in package design
You can add the country of origin to your package design exterior as long as it's large enough to read and in a legible typeface.
Round sticker in white ink
Total sticker size approximately 19mm x 9mm, and logo size is approximately 10mm x 6mm.
Round sticker in black ink
Total sticker size approximately 19mm x 9mm, and logo size is approximately 10mm x 6mm.
Long sticker in white ink
Total sticker size approximately 31mm x 9mm, and text area size is approximately 27mm x 3mm.
Long sticker in black ink
Total sticker size approximately 31mm x 9mm, and text area size is approximately 27mm x 3mm.
Silver Disc
This is the classic CD type you're certainly familiar with. It is a clear plastic disc with a silver reflective layer on the top side.
Gold Disc
Gold CD with pit art engraving
This premium alternative has a gold reflective layer on the underside, giving a far more luxurious appearance for a premium product.
Vinyl CDs
Add some retro appeal to your CD package! Vinyl CDs look like an old 45rpm record, with a rigid surface on a portion of the top of the disc resembling vinyl grooves, and a circular area for print. You can combine Vinyl CDs with a silver or gold underside.
1-Color Silkscreen
2-Color Silkscreen
3-Color Silkscreen
4-Color Silkscreen
Full-Color CMYK Silkscreen
© 2023 Analogue Media Technologies Inc.
