T+L Reports: Hey Now, You're a Rock Star

You've heard of vanity publishing—now get ready for vanity recording. Sonoma Mountain Studio Estate (www.studioestate.com), a $12 million recording complex in the California wine country, allows wealthy wannabe crooners to cut their own albums. For a starting price of around $750,000, you get the run of the compound, comprising a 12-room Colonial-style main house, two cottages, and a tennis court, for two weeks. Then there's the studio, outfitted with a vintage Neve 8048 console. If you have no idea what that means, fear not—the price covers the services of recording engineer Scott Church, who has worked with Bob Dylan and Cher. Can't play an instrument?No matter. Bang out your best "Chopsticks" on the Grotrian 225 concert grand, and Church and his team can add a string quartet, drum loops, even backup celebrity vocals. By the time you leave, you'll have a five-track record—but you'll have to spend at least another half mil to get a radio station to play it. —P.J.L.