Replication (glass mastered discs) – once we receive your master and artwork and everything has been approved for production, turnaround is generally between 8 and 12 working days depending on the type of packaging you have chosen. We can offer an express production service (5-7 working days) for some types of packaging.

Duplication (“burnt” discs) – for short run duplicated CD-Rs and DVD-Rs, the turnaround is generally 5 working days or less, again, depending on the type of packaging chosen.

Vinyl – turnaround times for vinyl vary according to the time of year, but are always significantly longer than for CDs and DVDs. At best, vinyl turnaround time can be 6 – 7 weeks, but this can stretch significantly at periods of high demand.

Please note that, for all formats, production will begin only when we have received all the relevant parts (artwork, masters and paperwork). We process and check all submitted artwork before sending you final pdfs to approve. We must receive your approval before we move forward to production.

Replication – for production runs of 500 discs upwards, we use the industry standard production method of replication (pressing). The digital data from your master is processed to create a glass master from which a disc stamper is produced. This is then used to press the finished copies. The discs are printed using screen or litho print methods, depending on the nature of the design – screen printing is generally more suitable for designs with solid blocks of colour, while litho printing achieves superb results for full colour picture discs. For replication orders, the packaging is always produced using offset litho printing, the professional standard.

Duplication (burning) – is ideal for short runs of less than 500 units. Your master is copied directly onto recordable discs. For printing on to the disc faces, we employ the same professional processes are used for the replicated discs. For the disc packaging, we offer highest quality digital or offset litho printing depending on the quantity of parts to be produced.

In the recording process, audio mastering is the stage after mixing. The purpose of mastering is to improve the audio quality of your music and to ensure that it will sound its best whatever it is played on – a state of the art sound system, portable radio, iPod, in-car stereo or your computer. Put simply, it will make your recording sound better.

To achieve this, the tracks are processed using a series of audio enhancement tools and effects including tonal adjustments, limiting, compression / expansion, equalisation, noise reduction, harmonic excitement and signal restoration. The relative volume between tracks is levelled out and any extraneous noises (pops, clicks and bumps) are removed.

The tracks are put into the correct sequence, with fade-ins, fade-outs or cross-fades applied and the spacings between tracks set. Additional information such as CD text (with the artist name, album and track titles), ISRCs (International Standard Recording Codes) and the product barcode can be added if required.

You are then supplied with a test copy. Once your approval has been granted, the production master is created and delivered to the pressing plant.

The mastering engineer will also supply a PQ sheet, to be used as a reference by the pre-mastering engineer when preparing the glass master.

We work with a wide range of hugely experienced mastering engineers and are happy to put you directly in touch with them to discuss your requirements. When your finished master is submitted to us, it must be submitted in what is called a “DDP File Set”. Submitting your master in a different format will incur additional cost.

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In DVD authoring, the engineer collects the various components, such as video & film footage, stills, the audio soundtrack, the navigation menu etc. and assembles these into the format required to ensure that the finished discs are compatible with industry standards and will play and respond correctly in all DVD players. If an unauthored disc is supplied as the production master, the DVDs can still be replicated, but they may not play as intended (or at all!).

Replication – for audio CD replication, we require a DDP (Disc Description Protocol) master fileset. Your mastering engineer should be able to supply this. If not, please get in touch and we can sort it out. If your engineer can only supply the master on disc, we can create a DDP production master here quickly and inexpensively.

Duplication – for audio CD duplication, we can accept a DDP fileset (see above), a fully edited audio disc or WAVs.

In all cases, your engineer should supply a PQ sheet along with the master.

Replication & Duplication – for DVD replication & duplication, we require a fully edited master disc. The disc should be finalised and it must be a “write-once” recordable disc. Do not use re-writable discs for DVD mastering. For dual layer discs (DVD-9s), a separate master disc should be supplied for each layer.

Vinyl – for vinyl pressing we accept WAV or DDP masters. For WAVs, supply a single WAV for each side of the disc.

In all cases, your engineer should supply a PQ sheet along with the masters.

Audio Masters – DDP or WAV masters can be uploaded via the link on the audio master upload page.

DVD Master Discs – please clearly mark the artist, title and catalogue number on the disc face and on any accompanying paperwork including the case insert. To avoid damage and scratching to the disc surface, pack your master into a hard jewel case and send it in a padded envelope or jiffy bag. If sending from within the UK, we recommend Royal Mail Special Delivery Post. This is an inexpensive, secure method and is available at any Post Office. Delivery is guaranteed by 1pm next working day (or earlier) and the package can be tracked if it does go astray.

Be sure to make – and keep very safe – a copy master of at least the same standard as the one you send to us.

NEVER send us the only copy. Our postal address is on the footer of every page.

Any product to be sold commercially should be allocated a catalogue number to make it easily identifiable for ordering, tracking and other purposes. This can be anything you want, but typically, a catalogue number will be a combination of letters and numbers (e.g. ABC123: ABC123CD: ABC123DVD etc). Once you choose a format, it is a good idea to stick with it for further product releases. It’s also a good idea to check whether your catalogue number may already have been used for another product. Type the number into Google and see what results come up. This isn’t a failsafe method, but it’s a good starting point.

Check that the catalogue number appears everywhere you would like it to on the packaging. For CD packaging, it is usual for the catalogue number to appear on both spines, on the back page (for card packaging) or the rear tray card (for jewel cases) and on the disc face. For DVD packaging, the catalogue number will generally appear on the spine and the rear page of the outer cover as well as on the disc face. It may also be included on the rear page of the booklet, if the package includes one.

Barcodes and ISRCs (International Standard Recording Codes) are required if you intend to release your music commercially. High street stores require that your release is assigned a barcode, as do all major online retailers. ISRCs are required if you intend to release your music through platforms such as iTunes, Spotify and Google Play. They can also be used for tracking royalty payments for radio and online airplay.

Birnam can provide barcodes and ISRCs.

CDs, DVDs and Vinyl products should always carry a copyright notice to protect the rights of the individual or company producing or releasing the discs.

A typical copyright notice reads:

© 2018 Your record company name* ℗ 2018 Your record company name*. All rights of the producer and of the owner of the recorded work reserved. Unauthorised copying, public performance, broadcasting, hiring or rental of this recording is prohibited.

*If you don’t have a record company name, you can make one up (but check that it hasn’t been already used), or simply use your own name or the name of your band. Check that the wording is correct and that the correct year has been specified for the © & ℗ Rights credits.

Our database features media contacts from all across the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. Some of the shows that we send to are broadcast internationally, and many of the publications are released world-wide. Whilst your music will be sent to contacts within the UK and the Northern Ireland, it can achieve airplay and reviews much further afield.

Furthermore, Birnam offers an international promotion service. For this service, we send your CDs to fifty key contacts across Europe. Many of these contacts contribute to multiple shows and publications all over the world.

When determining who to send your music to, our team listen to your CD and then select the contacts from our database that we feel will generate the best response to your music. The genres you would classify your release under are also factored in.

Unfortunately, we cannot disclose our specific contacts. This is for two reasons:

• Our database of contacts took considerable time to construct, and takes on-going efforts to maintain. For that reason, we are not willing to disclose who our contacts are.
• Data Protection Laws prevent us from disclosing contact information for our media contacts.

This is something that comes up quite often. Because we cannot disclose who is included in our database, if you are intending to send out your own promotional CDs in addition to our mail out then we ask that you make us aware of the radio shows and review outlets that you will be sending to. This way, we avoid unnecessary duplication.

Absolutely! If there are any contacts you would specifically like us to send to, please just let us know and we will include them in our mail out.

A member of our team will work with you to construct your promotional flyer, which will accompany every CD that we send out. For this, we require key information such as the record label (if appropriate), the release date, a list of all outlets where your release will be available, the genres you would use to classify your music, and some contact information that presenters and reviewers can use to contact you.

Furthermore, we require a press release that can be added to the flyer. We will provide a number of examples to you for reference (if you require them), and a member of our team will guide you through the process of crafting a press release. Beyond that, if you wish, a member of our team can put a press release together for you – all we would ask is that you supply some general information about yourself and the release.

The short answer is, anything! We have designed all types of album, DVD and vinyl packaging, as well as many posters, flyers, leaflets, concert tickets, logos, branding, social media graphics and more. Whatever it is you are looking for, just let us know and we’ll get to work.

The only restriction is time. We can only accept a certain number of design jobs each month. Please ask us about our design service availability and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

The price of our design services varies depending on two main factors: what it is that is being designed, and the amount of time that the design takes.

On the first point, for example, we charge more for album packaging design than we do for a poster. Album packaging can be an in-depth process with many complicated factors to consider. A poster, by comparison, is far simpler.

On the second point, the amount of time that the job requires affects the price. If, during the design process, we reach a point where the price is likely to increase due to the amount of time required to complete the work, we would of course notify you before proceeding.

This is a common misconception. When artwork is designed by a company for a musician, the copyright for that artwork is retained by the company and not passed on to the musician automatically. Birnam retains copyright control over the artwork that we put together.

Ideally, we ask that you allow two weeks after submission for your music to appear online. Were it to be submitted on January 1st, we would set it to go live on January 14th.

We can push releases through in a shorter period than this, but if we do so then we cannot guarantee that there will not be any issues or delays. Whenever possible it is always best to allow at least two weeks.

None at all. A member of our team will take the song files from your original master, and the appropriate artwork files will be adapted from your original album artwork. This means there is no chance of corruption; the music on your CD is guaranteed to be the exact same music that is available online.

Some clients have in the past provided us with specific “Mastered for iTunes” files, and if you wish to do so then by all means please do. We work with a number of quality mastering engineers and many of them could accommodate this service.

It is always a good idea to do a Google search for your artist or band name and see if anything comes up. Having the same performing name as another artist or band will create headaches for you (and us) both immediately and further down the line. If another artist exists with the same name, and they already have music available through download and streaming platforms, then the best solution (unfortunately) is to change your performing name.

Now, to clarify, we are not suggesting that you change your name to something completely different. It is better for all parties (including the fans) if you can still be located easily through iTunes and the other platforms. If your name was Artist X, for example, then we would suggest changing your name (on iTunes and the other sites) to “Artist X (UK)”.

We appreciate that this is not an ideal solution, but the unfortunate reality is that performing names for artists and bands are available on a first-come, first-served basis. If someone else is already using the name that you would like to use, changing yours to differentiate from the others in one way or another is the only solution.

Unfortunately, no. Download and streaming platforms do not permit descriptions for the majority of products. Clients can add a description to their online CD listings, but not for downloads and streaming.

Yes. Music cannot be released through iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Spotify, or any other digital outlet without a barcode.

If you require a barcode, Birnam can provide one for you.

If your CDs have already been manufactured without a barcode, Birnam can still provide a barcode number for the purposes of downloads and streaming.

Again, like barcodes, ISRCs are required in order to make music available for downloads and streaming. ISRC stands for International Standard Recording Code and one code is required for each track on your release. Birnam can provide as many or as few ISRCs as you require.

Birnam does not directly work with iTunes, Amazon, Google, Spotify or the other platforms. Instead, we work with an aggregator who deals directly with these platforms. Whilst Birnam charges a one-off set-up fee, our aggregator recoups their costs by making a 10% deduction from all digital sales and streams. The remaining profits will be passed on to you.