[stevegries]

Thanks for the input from all of you. I should say that I have bachelors and masters degrees from two good music schools and am not looking for a complete change in career. My situation is that I have the opportunity to take a long term lease on a Pro Tool HD2 recording studio near my home in Brooklyn. I will be using it as a personal project studio, and may go so far as to record work for friends, but I am not seeking to develop an income generating commercial recording studio out of the endeavour. Those of you who live in New York likely know the extent to which simple lack of square footage can get in the way of realizing musical goals. I've come to a point where I have to get out of the "bedroon studio" and found that I can get an acoustically tuned Pro Tools room in my neighborhood for not much more than I would pay for the same amount of raw space out in the sticks.
I fully appreciate the suggestion to get comprehensive audio engineering training prior to or in tandem with Pro Tools training. But again, I have limited time, money, and I do have specific musical goals. I think this is wise advice, but also see it being somewhat akin to telling a teenager who wants rock guitar lessons that he'll be a better musician if he studies Bach chorals first. Also, I'd hoped that when studying Pro Tools at a reputable institution, we'd talk not only about *how* to mix in Pro Tools, but also cover general ideas about what makes for a dynamic and interesting mix. What I want to avoid is spending a three hour class taking about conductance in speaker cables - totally valid and important information, but outside the scope of my interest right now.
Any info about your experiences with either of these schools would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Steve