Creating and producing an album can be a difficult and expensive undertaking. First you have to have songs and get good recordings of those songs, then you have to have album artwork and finally you have to decide how you want to print your album covers and the albums themselves. The cost of recording alone can take hundreds of dollars, and when it comes time to get CD's made you discover that it's going to cost you even more hundreds of dollars. So, you might be asking yourselves, how can musicians produce their albums on a limited budget?
I set out to help find an answer to this question by speaking to one of our featured bands, The Lickers. A DIY oriented 4 piece punk band from Indianapolis, they not only rock the socks off of their fans but also, as I found out, are some all around really cool people. They were very friendly and willing to talk with us about how they make albums, shirts, and patches for their band and how anyone with the desire to produce their own albums could do so without having to spend a fortune.
Jane, the bassist for The Lickers, spoke with me before their show at the Melody Inn. An all around modern Renaissance woman with a world of insight on album producing. She explained to me how the band starts by burning their songs to a CDR and then makes their own CD sleeves with their logo stamped onto the disc and the album cover. This provides versatility in printing, as you can change the design without having to have have more copies of your album printed by someone else.
"For this show we printed blue covers, for Bonnie Blue's birthday." She told me. This not only gives them the ability to make custom copies of their album, but it also creates a cool and unique feel to each copy. When you get a CD from them you don't feel like you're buying a mass produced copy in a plastic jewel case, you're getting a real hand made piece of art. "Plus when you order cd's you have to buy lots of them." She explained, which can be a very costly undertaking. We drank a few beers on the back patio, and over some cigarettes she explained to me how she also makes the bands shirts and patches herself using a cross stitching hoop, paint, and screen printing techniques. By doing it themselves they not only are able to keep their expenses to a reasonable amount, but they can also modify and make changes to each shirt without having to have multiple copies printed.
In summary I can say that it is definitely possible to make an album for your band without having to shell out hundreds of dollars, and in the process make a uniquely custom album for your fans. By putting production into your own hands you create your own limits and boundaries and free yourself from the financial constraints of companies that would be more than happy to overcharge you to print copies of your album. By doing it yourself, like The Lickers, you embrace the punk spirit that is all but lost in the world today.
A huge thank you goes out to The Lickers for giving us their time and insights for this article. To check out their album, 6 Tits and a Dick, visit their webpage at http://thelickersband.tumblr.com/
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