Re: Overall red heavy on press
Good morning, 2shoff \\\\Much good advice to this point, but let's start at the press (where color correction should start)
\\Measure a gray patch printed on press with your densitometer. Is it gray? (all 3 color components +/- 0.03 of eachother?) My guess is no. If that's the case, you'll need to get to the bottom of why on-press color is shifted. To do this:
1) Make sure your plates are giving you the percentage you're after. When you ask for 45%, is it 45%? If not, start there.
2) Next, determine how much gain there is on press. If you're not getting the output specified by your standard (Gracol or SWOP or whatever) then you'll have to make an adjustment in your platemaking front-end.
3) Now that your press is printing to whatever objective, independent color standard you have chosen, address your proofing system, if necessary.
You are printing to an industry standard, right?
Why color would change from "then" to now is a question of standards. Did you change ink? Is this job a different halftone frequency? Has someone been fudging your RIP? What kind of color management is embedded in the job? (And are you stripping it out?)
Good luck and let us know how it goes!
-Brian