Is Your Project Ready For CD Manufacturing? A DIY Album Release Checklist

This post originally appeared on Disc Makers’ blog. Reprinted with permission.

– Before scheduling your album release, plan for the steps that lie between songwriting and disc manufacturing –

Releasing a CD is a big deal for any artist. This is your baby, your calling card, the result of a lot of hard work, and your best chance to earn revenue. You spend a lot of time writing, rehearsing, and recording — and that’s all just leading up to the CD manufacturing process.

Before you gather your materials to submit for CD manufacturing, there’s rehearsing, recording, audio mastering, designing your package — and all these processes can take longer than you might expect. Then there are the numerous music promotion and sales activities, and much of your PR may require your Continue reading “Is Your Project Ready For CD Manufacturing? A DIY Album Release Checklist”

Party Hard with Cakewalk & Andrew WK in NYC

AndrewWK_2-150x150Come one, come all to Times Square (Broadway & 42nd Street) in New York City on Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 9:00pm. Cakewalk and Andrew WK will announce the winner of the CMJ Music Marathon Twitter Riddle Contest on location! 

The winner of the contest will receive a prize pack including Cakewalk’s V-Studio 100  (the portable music production studio for Mac & PC), a signed copy of Andrew’s new album “55 CADILLAC” (on both vinyl and CD), as well as an autographed poster!

Have no idea what the Twitter Riddle contest is? No worries, there’s something for everyone! Join us in Times Square (same time, same place) for more fun and games. Look for the limo as Andrew will randomly hand out 55 Prize Packs containing autographed merchandise. In addition, 4 lucky people who come to Times Square in person will take the limo with Andrew to Santos Party House and PARTY. Visit our contest page to get all the details!

Create Seamless Audio CDs with pyro Audio Creator 1.5

Have you ever listened to a music CD that seems to flow from track to track without a pause or a gap? Whether you are creating ambient music, a mix CD, or one large audio track that needs to be divided up into multiple CD tracks, there are several scenarios where you may want seamless transitions between each track. Unlike many of the CD burning programs that ship standard with CD burners, pyro Audio Creator has the ability to create seamless audio CDs that blend into each other without interruption.

Break the silence! Burn a perfect mix with the full tutorial today

Note – Before following along with this tech tip, please make sure you’ve installed Cakewalk’s pyro Audio Creator software with version 1.5 patch, which introduces the DAO (Disc At Once) burning capability. There are two different versions of the Audio Creator patch available. Follow the links below to download the  correct patch:

Audio Creator 1.5 patch Full

Audio Creator 1.5 patch LE

Create & Share Your Music Fast with Music Creator 5

Cakewalk introduces Music Creator 5, the newest version of our leading home music-making software. With its brand new look and feel, Music Creator 5 is everything you need to start making music fast – offering a host of new features and a streamlined user interface.  Simple recording, editing, mixing, great-sounding instruments, and tons of effects – it’s all here in one package… all for less than the price of four CDs!

New Features Include:

•A simplified user interface that puts the controls at your fingertips. All you have to do is focus on making music

•Active Controller Technology (ACT)™ – connect a MIDI keyboard to your PC and automatically control your mix, effects or virtual instruments with its knobs and sliders

•Cakewalk Sound Center™ – an exclusive, easy-to-use tool that combines 150 different instrument sounds from our award-winning professional instruments, Rapture & Dimension Pro

•IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube X-GEAR™ – a built-in virtual guitar amp, plug directly into your computer for great sounding guitar parts

•Add your own soundtrack to your home movies and other digital video files – including .MOV, .WMV, .MPEG – before you upload it to YouTube, MySpace and Facebook

•Burn CDs with Music Creator’s integrated CD Burner and share your music online with Cakewalk Publisher

•And much more…

For More Information:

See the Music Creator 5 press release

ALSO please visit the Music Creator 5 web pages

Session Story: Composer Ray McNamara

Composer, performing artist and professor of music Ray McNamara recorded the award-winning album Oceans Made Fun using SONAR. Oceans Made Fun is the winner of the 2005 Parents Choice Award, bringing the sea to life while teaching children ages four to 12 years old language and science through music and visual aid. The recording was published by MCD Curriculum, which teaches youngsters active participation, creative writing and language development outside of a classroom environment. Hear the songs about the Shark, Penguin, Octopus and more at http://cdbaby.com/cd/mcdcurriculum.