How do I get a dark, rich, black CMYK print?
 

Designing my first real printed document... it's a CD insert...

Anyways, I didn't really know shit about CMYK before and now I'm learning and converting everything.

Whats the best way to get a really dark pitch black print? I've got everything looking all good on screen, but the black is much lighter on the proof preview.

I've tried just 100% black, 50,40,40,100 ...

:helpme:helpme

you let a professional print house do the printing and you won;'t have any trouble. they'll do a proof first and you can fix any problems.

c 75% M 50% Y 50% K 100%

i don't understand CMYK either - i designed a business card, looked great in Photoshop, then in CMYK which the print shop requires it looked like shit.

You really have to make sure your monitor is calibrated correctly if you are going to work on print pieces. Even then, it depends upon how good the people at your printer are.

Oh, to answer the original question, I have always used "printers black": 60C, 40M, 40Y 100K. Depending upon who your printer is, you will always get variations on the "best" black. Best to ask the printer you will be outputting to, as they are most familiar with their equipment.

Thanks for the help, I'll try those 2 out...

The whole design was lime green and bright pink based so I had to completely revamp the whole thing unless I add a pantone color.