Whether it was the sound of Motown booming out across the streets of Detroit, Merseybeat evolving in the cobbled back alleys of Liverpool, or the "Madchester" sound that grew out of the great sprawling northern metropolis in the early 1990s - neighbourhood deprivation has never been an obstacle to musical creativity.

On the contrary, some of the most radical new sounds have grown out of some of the poorest urban areas.

More often, it is the opportunity to be "discovered" that is missing to youngsters as they craft their own style.

But the musical folk of Knowle West are discovering a remarkable facility on their doorstep - a state-of-the-art recording studio, which is their's to use for free.

The curiously titled "Biscuit Mix" studio is buried deep within the impressive Knowle West Media Centre in Leinster Avenue.

Funded partly by European cash, and a South West Regional Development Agency investment of £1.38 million, the £2.6 million centre, which opened its doors just over a year ago, was built to provide a broad range of new spaces and opportunities for media creativity and enterprise.

The building features media production suites, a digital darkroom, mini-cinema, exhibition space, training rooms and managed workspaces for creative businesses and business start-ups.

The sound studios' Biscuit Mix project is the brainchild of the centre's IT expert and studio engineer James Glendinning, who started opening the studio for free sessions in October.

But he never expected the kind of take-up from the community that he's seen since then. In less than a year, the studio has hosted 122 artistes, spanning the generations and representing every conceivable kind of music. Between them they have recorded 110 hours of music.

"It started out as a much more simple idea," James explains, as he leads the way through the labyrinth of corridors to the studio.

"We have this remarkable facility here, so we thought we should encourage the local talent to make use of it.

"We called it Biscuit Mix, because we wanted it to be like a biscuit tin - anyone can dip their hand into it.

"I initially had the idea of finding enough local performers to each record a track, which we could put together as a community CD, representing the great diversity of talent among Knowle West residents.

"But the news got out by word of mouth that we were doing this, without hardly any publicity at all. Before we knew it, we were inundated with performers wanting to use the studio.

"They ranged from teenage rap MCs to people in their 80s who have a weekly sing-song at the luncheon club.

"So in the end I decided to shelve the idea of producing an album of tracks, and concentrate on giving everyone the chance to record their music.

"We then set up a website, which acts both as a way of publicising the work that our performers are recording, but also as an easy way of distributing the music - visitors to the website can download the tracks digitally free of charge.

"Now I've opened it up to anyone from across Bristol who wants to use the facility. All they have to do is book a space, and they can have a few hours in here with me as their engineer. There's currently a two week waiting list, but we'd eventually like to find more funding so we can employ another studio engineer, which would allow us to get more performers in here."

That means more opportunities for people like Wayne Webster, who is busily rapping into the microphone when we arrive at the studio.

The 22-year-old, who lives just around the corner from the Media Centre, has been a figure on the Government's "long term unemployed" list since leaving school. But his experiences in the Biscuit Mix studio have inspired him to seek out a career in the music business - under his stage name of MC Ectic.

"I've been coming here for three months," he explains. "I heard about it from a friend who lives over the road from me. He'd been along to record his music, and he couldn't believe the quality of the studio that was on offer free of charge.

"So I got myself down here, and it's been brilliant - truly inspirational. Now I'm determined to make a success of my music."

Things have moved quickly for Wayne during the past three months. He was able to submit some of his recordings for a national urban music competition.

Wayne made the shortlist, and was given the opportunity to visit Peter Gabriel's Real World recording studio at Box in Wiltshire.

"It was an amazing experience," he says, "and it's one that I would never had been able to have, if it hadn't been for the availability of this studio.

"In the end I came second in the competition, so I didn't get to actually lay down any tracks at the Real World studio, but I learnt an awful lot from the experience."