The band that my oldest son sings for won a local BOTB and was awarded 30 hours of studio time in Durham, NC.
They started laying down drums & bass on Saturday and he came home that night beaming. He asked if I could come to the session on Sunday and check the place out. The studio is in a run-down strip mall, but it's a great space inside where it counts. Lots of great gear on-site for the kids to use - nice early 70's 4001 & EB-0, '66 P, '66 J, an old Fender Vibratone, Hammond B3/Leslie and great mics everywhere. 2 separate isolation rooms and a vocals booth. Control Room was loaded with a really nice API 1608 board, and had both 2" analog and digital capabilities. It was a great experience for the kids, who range from 14-20. 12 hours in a studio for me is like a kid in a candy store and the kids had a blast.
The engineer was a fantastic guy, who really knew his software (ProTools) and was really easy to work with. He was also eager to try a few really oddball experiments, like throwing one of the vocal channels through the Leslie for a song and mixing it back with the clean channel. He didn't seem rushed or like he wanted to just mix down whatever they put out, pat 'em on the heads and send them off with a master. He offered advice and let the kids try whatever they wanted to try to make their CD sound exactly the way the wanted it to sound. The process alone is a valuable education and I think most of the kids now get it. Respect the gear and the advice and you can go crazy.
