The home studio is responsible for ruining more good music-music that could have been great-- than anything else. Sellable music often does not emerge from the home studio because home studios are often void of veteran professionals. Do NOT confuse those who can operate gear, talk specs, make a few loops or play a few instruments, with those those who actually make a consistent living from their creations. There’s a big difference!

The idea behind the home studio is certainly alluring: You set up a recording system in the comfort of your own home so that any time your Musical Muse moves you, you can saunter down the stairs or into the garage, lay down those inspired notes, and hone them into the Next Big Thing. But you quickly found that those endless "studio hours" of recording turned into endless hours of trying to just get the system to record what you were playing. Software updates. Learning curves. Noise bleeds from the street and train tracks outside. Hard drive crashes that you didn’t back up in time. (Oops.) Your inexperience, and that of the "tech expert" in the band, turned the home studio dream into a nightmare that killed your passion for your music and probably doomed your music career.

There was a time when real recording studios were staffed by “guardians of the craft.” These master craftsmen knew about song creation, enhancement and production. They knew how to create magic out of the tracks laid down by musicians whose ONLY job was to play their instruments and sing their words. These veteran, and truly gifted, producers, arrangers, engineers, songwriters and studio musicians nurtured the artists that came to them for their expertise. They passed on the secret of producing sellable music.

One song can change your life.
But, you say, who can afford to hire craftsmen like that today to produce an album that may or may not make a dent in the entertainment world? Well, why do you need an album of ten songs or more? All you really need is one song to change your life. But it has to be killer. And that's where attention to detail comes in.
Here's what I tell people today: think three songs, not ten. Take all of that time you would spend making an album’s worth of songs and all of the money you would sink into home studio equipment, guitar amps, reverb units, etc., and aim it with laser-like focus into finding a music producer with a track record of making sellable music: one who knows great hooks, compelling vocals and musicianship, musical tension, knows their way around a real studio, and has some industry connections.

Hire a producer whose track record you respect and who you like as a person. Together, decide on three songs and let them choose their favorite support people, treating them all like royalty. This means paying them what you promised when you said you would, praising them for their work, bringing them coffee and drinks, and treating them throughout the process with respect and gratitude. Simply...be humble and nice.

Brand the band.
While you’re in the studio marinating in all that awesome musical creativity, extend that energy into your branding. (A side bonus of doing both simultaneously will be that your pro musical team will often be a good sounding board for your image too. They’ll even get more excited about their role on your team, if you look the part in addition to sounding the part. Hey, it’s showbiz!) Don't spend all that time and money on a few great songs and then stick them on a tired, uninspired “do-it-yourself” website. Instead, aim to build an incredible, mind-blowing, online presence. Find a band website you like and hire THAT person to develop your content. Hire a great photographer and let them go crazy. If you can't write copy, don't. Make a great video--there are fantastic videographers around who'd love to add a band video to their portfolio and will go all out for you.

Keep your content fresh--weekly updates are advised--and keep posting new songs, alt mixes, photos and videos. The more pros you involve in your juggernaut, besides providing the expertise, the more they get invested in seeing you succeed. (Don’t forget that each pro probably knows 100 other pros!) Success will build on success. Soon you'll have an expanding fan base bolstered by insightful reviews of your great music. You'll eventually have that album's worth of material because you have to keep the site alive, and by recording everything in a professional style, you'll know the tunes inside and out when it comes to playing live.

Remember: Attention to the subtleties changes good music into sellable music. Sellable music gets passed around and is anything but forgettable. It requires hard work and purposeful strategy, but once you've mastered the subtleties of sellable music, you won't be able to do it any other way. And you can kiss the day job goodbye.

The author would like to thank Dan Cook and Lisa Kendrick for their helpful assistance with this article.
Please visit www.EpicSoul.com for more information.
Copyright 2012 by Michael Nelson Rizzo.