![Album Art The basics of creating your own album art.](https://api.sageaudio.com/storage/article/uploads/2014-04-album-art-300x300.png)
The tools for music production and online distribution are now at your fingertips. This means more and more indie artists are taking the do-it-yourself route to getting their music out there. Many have even taken to making their own album art using Photoshop or similar software.
If you do decide to make your own album art, here are three basic rules to consider.
Format
For starters, use the standard square. Nearly all platforms are set to display square album art and you don’t want yours being distorted to fit their interface.
If you publish your music through services like CD Baby or Tunecore they will often tell you the optimal size of your album art image file. Typically it’s between 1400 x 1400 pixels and 2000 x 2000. To be safe create yours in the larger 2000 x 2000 size and make the resolution 300 pixels per inch (print quality, but also looks better on retina displays). If you want to make a vinyl record cover, it’s 3750 x 3750 (12.5 in x 12.5 in). By starting bigger, you can always export into a smaller image size that’s optimized for whichever service you’re using.
Always upload an optimized file when you have the opportunity. As a general rule of thumb, it’s better to let Photoshop process your image to the correct size than whatever automatic resizing feature exists in a website.
Style
Think about the context in which your art will be displayed. If you’re putting your music on iTunes or SoundCloud, think about the fact that your art will be displayed mostly as a large thumbnail. This may influence your decision to use certain text and fonts. Try and design something that looks great in multiple sizes, knowing that’s inevitably how it will be viewed.
Beauty
Because the tools for creating professional-looking media have become more accessible, the standard of quality has certainly gone up. There’s more competition out there and you can no longer get away with producing something that doesn’t look excellent. The bar has been raised and so make sure your artwork looks beautiful.
It’s never been easier to produce an album. Album artwork is no exception to that. By following these simple guidelines, you can create a lasting visual identity for your work with the tools already at your fingertips.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
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3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
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5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
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7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
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