When you make CDs for people

[GirlinContempt]

Mixed CDs, I mean, how much effort do you put into them? Do you shove them into an envelope? Do you scrawl a track listing on an old grocery receipt? Do you print out something? Do you draw a picture? What?

I ask because I just spent almost 2 hours making a CD cover for someone. Perhaps my methods are a little overkill :P

[Call Me Wesley]

1. They get a track listing,

and in most cases, printable CDs are used, so the CD looks kinda nice. :)

[GirlinContempt]

2. Cool

:)

[ghostsofgiants]

3. Depends on the person.

Sometimes I'll go all out, sometimes I half-ass it. Hell, I've made dvds with full menus and special features for people in the past.

[GirlinContempt]

5. People like me?

:cry:

[ghostsofgiants]

9. If I were to make a cd or dvd for you...

I would definitely go all out, I assure you.

[Kire]

4. I can't figure out how iTunes prints out those track listings anymore.

So I just write the name of the artist and the album on the top of the disc with a sharpie, and I copy the tracks onto Word and edit out the times and ratings and other junk and print it out and give it to the person separately.

Can somebody tell me how to print those track lisings in iTunes?

[GirlinContempt]

6. Sorry

Don't know

[ghostsofgiants]

53. Have the particular playlist open in iTunes, click File --> Print

[Kire]

57. Thanks, but...

I used to be able to print it out in a shape that fits in a CD case, and, if there's an image, it can be used in the background.

Thanks again.

[ghostsofgiants]

58. Choose "CD jewel case insert" and a mosaic theme.

[Kire]

59. Is this after you burn the playlist to the disc?

Maybe that's why I don't see it now.

[ghostsofgiants]

60. No, it should be there hen the playlist is selected in the left pane.

I don't actually use iTunes for burning cds.

[Kire]

68. Thanks for your help.

Maybe I should contact Apple.

[WCGreen]

7. If you are going to get sex from the two hours....

Then have at it....

Otherwise, print up something and slip it in the holder....

[GirlinContempt]

11. I don't see where the sex comes in

[ghostsofgiants]

12. Some guys need the prospect of potential sex...

Before they'll put effort into anything.

[WCGreen]

13. Not some....

Most.....

[GirlinContempt]

14. I'm gonna go with some

[WCGreen]

29. My years of exerience with a wide variety of the male

of the species tells me that sex is the primary or at the least secondary motivating factor behind most actions....

[GirlinContempt]

30. My experience is different.

And I'm very, very thankful for that

[WCGreen]

34. Just wait....

[asthmaticeog]

56. Keep in mind, she mostly associates with Canadian men,

who, by and large, are total pussies far more enlightened.

[JVS]

62. Then it is a matter of appealing to hockey, beer, or sex rather than...

just sex as a source of motivation.

[asthmaticeog]

63. You misspelled "beers."

[JVS]

65. beer in the abstract is still beer

[asthmaticeog]

66. I'm not talking about beer in the abstract.

I'm talking about beers in Canuckistan.

[name not needed]

50. Not anything, but a lot of things.

[taterguy]

8. they get detailed liner notes about why each track is included

Just because I like to show off

[GirlinContempt]

15. Fancy

[bridgit]

10. hubby just uses a felt tipped pen right on the CD, jazz mix1, rock mix2...

studio3; whatever, then puts them in pastic covers...he puts allot of time into the 'play' of the CD though, the way it will sound to they he gives them to :thumbsup:

[GirlinContempt]

16. Neato

:)

[progmom]

17. oh yeah

i do cover art and track listings.

this was one of my favorites:

[GirlinContempt]

19. I should show you the one I just did

:D

[progmom]

21. please do!

[GirlinContempt]

22. I will but I won't post it here

HE might see it and that'd ruin the surprise

[kdpeters]

71. Really cool. Here's one of mine.

This is the CD label. I made this for my baby sister. She's just like me, but 13 years younger. She's the only she in the picture. I'm the one kissing her temple, and our other brother (10 years younger) is the one just over the hole. I adore them both and we've been through a lot together. They respect me like a parent, but trust me like sibling. We had so much fun, and the weekend was so special, it deserved this commemoration.

[Rabrrrrrr]

18. I actually hire the bands to go to the friend's house and play live.

You only give a CD, huh?

Well, I guess some friends are just better than others.

[GirlinContempt]

20. Yeah but where does the sex come in?

[mwooldri]

76. The groupies the follow the bands?

:shrug:

Maybe the potential of someone hot that follows the bands every move is the potential sex part. If they can't get it with the band (for example a bloke enjoying a male band) maybe he can get it on with the groupies.

Mark.

[arwalden]

23. I'll Label The Disc With A Sharpie Marker... And That's All.

Well, okay... maybe I'll also put it into a generic disc envelope (the kind with a round cellophane window)... but THAT's all!

So you're a music pirate, eh?

[GirlinContempt]

24. When I'm not a space bandito,

Yes.

[benburch]

25. ...

:popcorn:

[GirlinContempt]

27. Are you just about done?

[IsIt1984Yet]

28. Irony, thy name is "benburch".

:poopcorn:

[Spirochete]

26. Mos of the time

I just print a pretty label on the printable CD's, and that's it. A lot of people I know just like to put it in the player,and be pleasantly (mostly) surprised by the tracks. If I actually make a case label for it, I'll put the playlist on it.

[GirlinContempt]

33. Cool

:)

[benburch]

31. Where do you find so much Copyleft/CCL/PD Music?

Because I know you are not admitting to making mix CDs of copyrighted music. Right?

[GirlinContempt]

32. Lots and lots of music is freefreefree

My favorite record label actually produces about 70% of its releases as free downloads. If you want them to make the CD for you, it's a minimal fee.

Also, if both the friend and I own the music, it's not illegal, even if it isn't offered free.

[dolo amber]

35. Why would I make CDs for people?

What have these "people" ever done for me? :grr:

[GirlinContempt]

37. This is true

I mean, I have better things to do than waste time finding you 'songs' you might 'like' and putting them 'on' something.

[dolo amber]

38. Exactly.

It's far more satisfying to "mock" people who "do" stuff for "others" on a "message board".

[GirlinContempt]

39. "You" must be one of those

"skanks" I've heard so much about.

[fudge stripe cookays]

69. Nah.

Just a drunk enabler.

:P

[Broken_Hero]

36. I usually do

the following..

Track list, with Song/band name, and thats about as far as I go nowadays. I use to make booklets, but people didn't seem to appreciate them, so I decided not to waste my time on making booklets/cd covers for them...

[GirlinContempt]

49. If people don't appreciate my booklets

they're totally cut off.

I'm a booklet hard ass.

[sundog]

40. lightweight

:D

i spend several days picking out the songs, then organize them in a fluid manner, then listen to it to make sure there is a logical progression of theme, then do the slip, then draw on the actual cd blah blah

i don't do it often, but put a lot of thought into the cd when i do

the recipients usually appreciate it, so it's worth it in the end

[GirlinContempt]

41. Teach me, master

[sundog]

45. start with some chanting & the burning of incense

:P

[GirlinContempt]

47. Oh shit

I'm out :P

[ghostsofgiants]

44. Making sure the songs flow nicely is very important.

[sundog]

46. aren't you supposed to be smoking cigarettes?

how do you have time to post on du? :D

[ghostsofgiants]

48. I have a robot that holds them for me to keep my hands free for typing.

[electron_blue]

42. don't bother sticking a label on them, they just peel off and cause the

cd to get stuck inside the cd player. which is a major pain if it happens to be your car stereo and you have to send it in to be repaired.....

I give a list of songs & titles, on a separate piece of paper.

2 hours for a cover? crud, that's a time sink.

[GirlinContempt]

43. And posting on DU isn't?

[RagingInMiami]

51. I always try to do a nice job with a label and everything

But those fucking label makers and softwares are such a pain in the ass.

[CanuckAmok]

52. I tend to spit on them.

I think there's always enough time for the personal touch.

[mainegreen]

54. No such thing as overkill on a mixed cd.

In fact, it aint a mixed cd if you haven't spent 8 hours using audacity (or some other sound software) to mix it just so! :P

[asthmaticeog]

55. Depends on who it's for.

The mix CDs I give out as holiday gifts typically have no track listing (it's always mashups and bizarro-world cover versions anyway, so most people have an idea what they're hearing), and the only art is some kind of holiday-themed rubber stamp imprint on the CD face, and it goes in an envelope. I make like 50-75 of 'em, so I can't get too elaborate.

Individual mixes I make for friends will at the *very* least have a clear track listing, and maybe, depending on how much time I have to spare, some kind of hand made collage to slip into the jewel case.

I used to go balls-out on artwork, even once going so far as to make a 4-CD mix for a friend whose four covers pieced together into one big piece of art. After that monstrous bit of overkill, I scaled back my efforts significantly.

[JVS]

61. If you've made a cover that elaborate, it would seem inappropriate not...

to give a track listing.

On the other hand if you had popped it out and scrawled "GnC's mix CD, byotch!" Then no track listing is fine.

[CanuckAmok]

64. I recently fell madly in love w/ someone and made her a CD.

Never heard from her again.

Maybe I shouldn't have included "Secretary Hump" by the Mentors.

But then again, why would I want to get it on with anyone who didn't like "Secretary Hump"?

I regret nothing. RIEN!

[sendero]

67. People who love music..

... are prone to prosetlyzing about it. When you make a CD of stuff that you really, really like, you want the person you are making it for to like it too.

So, you try to put more effort into it. At least that's what I think.

And I don't go crazy but I usually make a nice label with track listing and basic information. But I've learned that you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink :)

[kdpeters]

70. The thought counts even if you only put 2 hours in. Better than nothing.

;)

I first have to decide on the theme a few weeks ahead of time. I don't like searching for the right songs, so I just let find me instead. I've never found a perfect song by looking for it. It just has to hit you when you're not expecting it. I don't mind one or two for filler, but any more than that completely defeats the purpose. If I'm less than obsessed with perfection, if I'm not thinking about it every minute, and anything other than completely personally invested in the final result, I might as well get paid. Once I have enough songs for a CD, it might take an hour or two to figure out in what order they should go and what kind of "trip" I want to create with the CD as a whole.

Then the hard part is mixing the transitions just right to smoothly transition between songs. Sometimes you get lucky if there is some feature in the beginning of one song that you can smash upagainst a feature near the end of the previous song that works, and sometimes works really well. It's normal to spend twelve hours on that part, but a more powerful computer should one day cut a good percentage off that. It's the experimenting, trial and error, and the increasingly subtle tweaking when you're really close to getting it right. The first couple of CD cases and covers took a bit of time, but much of that was learning Photoshop and positioning the artwork just right on the template to compensate for the slight shift caused by my printer. At that point, I know exactly how I want the cover and the labels to look. Once I became fairly capable in Photoshop, it didn't take long to create what I already envisioned.

I make CDs like my Mom makes lasagna. It's a lot of trouble, it takes a few days, and it's a rare occasion worth the effort. But only the recipient can detect how much effort and care the giver put into it and how much it means to receive it. To anyone else, it's just a lasagna, just another mix CD.

[last_texas_dem]

72. I'm mostly about the liner notes

I've made my friends CDs and given them to them with four or five pages I've written out about why I picked the songs and all sorts of random, pointless facts about them, etc. Usually my "case" is just a piece of paper folded over, stapled together, with the CD shoved in it, but I take great pride in those liner notes!

[Ramsey]

73. I do it up right!

I choose the songs carefully. I print a CD label with the tracks and artist. I make a CD jewel cover label with art work.

I made up a 4 CD set for all my high school girl friends last year when we had a big joint 40th birthday bash at a spa resort. I picked classic 80's songs that we had all listened to in high school and made sure to include a couple of everyone's favorites. I had to buy most of the tracks at the Sony Connect Store. Then I could only copy the tracks about 4 times, so I had to burn copies in our recording studio. I labeled all the CDs with the track listing and made jewel box covers with pictures of us all form high school. It took me weeks! But the girls really loved them!

[Divameow77]

74. That's a really cool

idea :-)

[grace0418]

75. I'm a graphic designer, so I alway art direct the shit out of

everything like that. Then I wonder why I didn't get any actual work done. :eyes:

[mwooldri]

77. The only CD's I'm into these days are Certificates of Deposit.

I do burn DVD's though. Mainly converting VHS into DVD format. And if my friend BT gets me some shows from the UK I like to watch now and then (converting from PAL to NTSC and stuff like that).

But the DVD's I make are I'm ashamed to say just crudely labelled with a sharpie. But the DVDs do include a basic menu of sorts. I'm not that skilled at it anyway.

Mark.

[RandomKoolzip]

78. I miss mix tapes.

I liked the more DIY approach of mix tapes - you could tape dialogue off of TV, announce the name of the track before it began, fade in or out, get weird and crazy with fidelity issues (all the above reasons are why I hate iTunes) you had 90 minutes for a the whole tape and you could divide it into halves. Plus, decorating a tape case was easier and it was a more portable medium.

Of course, if yoiu have advanced software you can take care of some of the above issues and even improve on them, but it's the lo-tech charm of the mix tape that'll be missing. *sigh* ah, the 90's....

(BTW: I'm fine and doing better. Things have improved immeasurably on the home front.)

Anyways, when I make mix CDs for people, I alwys try to make the artwork myself and tape it off an iTunes PLAYBACK using an analog CD burner with RCA inputs. That way, I can crossfade tracks and EQ the music myself as it records. Obviously, I put a lot of effort into making them...and my big theme is alays "juxtaposition." I like the tracks to rub up against eachother and create sparks - the songs should all talk to eachother.