press photos

Three copies of The Muse

How I designed the CD artwork for The Muse

While I was arranging a Josip Hatze song for my classical EP Serenada, my forthcoming oeuvre The Muse arrived from the CD factory on Thursday night. After unpacking the parcel I felt like a little kid on Christmas Eve as some of you may have noticed on my Facebook site, on Twitter or Google+. In my opinion the CD looks beautiful and even a little bit better than its predecessor Swinging Berlin! Well, it’s a question of personal taste and I don’t want to sound narcissistic here. Nevertheless, it involves a lot of work to create professional-looking CD artwork. Today I’m telling you how it works.

At first you must find a realiable factory to print CDs at reasonable prices. I always order them at the same company which is specialized in smaller editions. On their website they provide samples having the right measurements for the cover image, the booklet, the inlay and the CD label. Customers can download these samples for Adobe Photoshop – the well-known photo software I’ve always used to design the outer appearance of my music.

Booklet picture of the CD The MuseAs my recent press photos focus on romantic sunsets in Croatia, it was easy to conceive an appropriate layout for The Muse on CD. The booklet conceals one of the marvelous images taken by Christina Katz (please also read “The Muse“ press photos in the making). Page 4 of the booklet and the back of the CD feature my spectacular sunset pictures I personally shot on the beach of Starigrad-Paklenica. By the way, I didn’t need Photoshop to increase the brightness of the colours. When you look at the CD, you will see the sunset through my eyes. Of course nothing will ever be able to compete with the original moment of taking the photos, though!

Until now The Muse has not left my territory, except for one copy: Although it’s a national holiday in Germany, my vocal coach Snezana Nena Brzakovic gave me a lesson this morning. Since she helped me translate the song “Deine Blauen Augen“ into “Tvoje Plave Oči“, she had to be the first one to hold The Muse in her hands. 🙂

The official record release of The Muse is on October 30th. If you preorder it before this date, I will give you my EP Alien Pop from 2013 for free! I decided to sell the EP for 8 euros per copy (plus package and shipping). Soon you will be able to order my music on this website, but you can also contact me via Facebook or write an email to info@godiva-records.biz. I’m going to add my signature to each CD!

CD The Muse and Anna Aliena on the cover

“The Muse“ press photos in the making

During the production of a new record I always wonder how I should present myself on the cover. On Swinging Berlin I used to be a pink object of art who is hardly recognizable as the person behind the mask. In 2014 I had already been aware of the fact that my appearance would change on the following EP. But in which way? Honestly, I had no idea!

If you read my previous articles, you may remember that I suffered from a lack of inspiration until summer. In addition, parts of my equipment got broken without my fault and it took several weeks to get them back from the repair service. A couple of days later I went on a holiday in Croatia as you know from the article “The Story Behind ‘Tvoje Plave Oči’“.

Sunset in Starigrad-Paklenica, CroatiaWhen I took a series of sunset pictures at the beach of Starigrad-Paklenica, I wouldn’t visualize how they might look on the cover or on the press photos for my new EP The Muse. I was merely thinking of the muse who triggered off the fire to complete my record!

Back in Berlin, I wrote the songs “Deine Blauen Augen“ / “Tvoje Plave Oči“ and “I’m Gonna Fly Away“. Finally I realized that my artwork for The Muse should be connected with Croatia where my creativity had flourished more than I could ever have dreamed of.

Original cover photo in front of the green screenSo I contacted the photographer Christina Katz who had also taken my press photos for Alien Pop in 2013. In the beginning of July we met for a photo shooting at her studio in Berlin. In comparison with my former productions, I wore very light and natural make-up while posing in front of Christina’s green screen. Of course I had already chosen a couple of holiday pictures for the background. During the session I imagined how I would smile at the muse if he were standing next to the photographer. Never again will I see him in this life, but the simple thought of looking at each other evoked a sparkle in my eyes.

After the photo shooting I selected the best pictures for a photomontage. Eventually Christina took me back to my most romantic sunsets of this year. If you buy The Muse on CD, you will also be able to enjoy them in the booklet.