Already wrote that one Justin. About 5 years ago.
I don't really mean to chide your friend, if he is coming here, he will probably be just fine. If I had to give him one word of advice it would be:
ABSORB!!!
He is probably going to learn things from others that he cannot even concieve of right now. In many ways. He will have the opportunities to be around and possibly work with a variety of people. And many that will convince him that he NEVER wants to be like that. We often learn more lessons about what NOT TO DO than what TO DO.
But he should be ready for the fact that most people already have recording equipment and many know how to use it. But do you remember back when you were off on your "Justin Adventure' of trying to buy sound boards, microphones, and whatever musical equipment that came your way that "sounded like a good deal?" Well, I think you probably found out that it SOUNDS like a good deal, because the people selling it don't know what to do with it either.
Recording equipment is kind of like the Stairmasters, Treadmills, home weight machines, Elipticals, etc. They end up being good things to hang clothes on. Not only do they end up not being used, they become obsolete so fast, newer plug in's, upgrades, and subsequent equipment don't even sinc up. So they have to buy NEW stuff all the time. When it is costing you money to just have stuff to sit around, it gets very limiting, very fast.
I would have him spend more time studying the craft of writing while he is here. He can learn guitar pretty much anywhere. He can learn recording, technical stuff, anywhere. Songwriting is the one thing you can't really learn anywhere else. That is what is here. And the more he studies that, the more he will be ahead of the game of people who never studied it. If he can provide something that so many need yet very few have, he can be very in demand.
MAB