The other thing is what kind of music is your D into? Usually a BM is focused on a particular instrument, and a lot of it is classical music oriented. There are contemporary music programs, and ones around songwriting, that are very different than classical performance degrees, and what she is interested in might have more than a bit of relevance into where she goes. She might do perfectly well with a BA degree in music and getting a bachelor’s in something else, she may not even want or need a BM degree as many of them are defined…so it is important she knows what she is looking for in terms of music, and that I suspect will lend itself towards where she goes. There are programs around contemporary music (USC and UCLA as two examples), but she also could do a lot dual majoring in music and something else and creating a program that works for her.
FWIW, @iasetter, my son ended up at U. of Puget Sound and the music scene is very much meeting his expectations so far (he says his orchestra is terrific). He’s also finding his classes challenging and the quality of the instruction high, and is really enjoying his overall experience there. But there’s no denying that UPS is not nearly as selective or well known as places like Williams or Vassar.
I’ll also second St. Olaf, which was one of his final contenders. The music is really top-notch, and the academics are very strong as well. In the end, cultural fit and strength in his academic area of interest tipped the scale to UPS, but if he’d been selecting on the basis of music alone, St. Olaf might well have carried the day. Also, I don’t know if it’s a consideration for you or not, but places like St. Olaf and UPS offer good merit aid to strong academic candidates, whereas the NESCAC schools don’t provide any merit money at all.
@musicprnt good question, in the LAC arena she’s looking for classical voice - lessons, great audition/touring choir, performance options, and also probably continuing her 10+ years classical piano lessons. She realizes that most LAC music (whether BM or BA) is more academic than performance based (relative to conservatory, or other U schools of music. She is also a serious singer-songwriter and understands those are generally another universe (e.g. Berklee, Belmont, etc) and at least from the LAC angle she would probably need to do that on the side, but IF she does stay serious it could be great to have a recording studio available for student use - which is something we have found to be not common.
@rayrick thanks that’s good to know. She’s very familiar with what we think of as the “lutheran choral schools” such as St. Olaf, Luther, Concordia in the Midwest, and we understand UPS is not dissimilar out west. Academics do vary, not just overall but as you mention, by department or area of study. She doesn’t have a clear academic focus, she reminds us that part of the purpose of a LAC is exploration, and we say fair enough, but that doesn’t help narrow the list.
Concordia (Moorhead, MN) does have a recording studio available to students (specs are listed under Music-Special Opportunities on the college’s web site). Each year there is a disc produced & distributed of performances by students–completely by students in terms of arrangements, performances, recording, mixing, & production.
I would have thought most schools have a studio available for students. Perhaps you have to take a course first-? If you look at courses offered often there is a course on popular music and/or studio recording at LACs that also offer classical training. Looking at each school’s website can give this info, as you know. I always found the actual course descriptions to be very telling 
I assume most LACs have recording capabilities, for their own concerts and such, if nothing else. Many appear to have recording “studios” per se and some make it clear they are available for student use (like @Bekp2018 says for Concordia) but for many, the policy of student use for student purposes beyond “sanctioned” use such as classes is much less clear. There are singer-songwriters (and bands) at every school for sure, but most aren’t necessarily working to make a serious recording independent of the program/major, and that option is a bit tougher to get a handle on.
The one thing about recording studios and the like is these days, you don’t necessarily need the school’s recording equipment, if they have places where the kids can play (rehearsal rooms for example), you can do a lot of pretty high quality recording using tools on a computer and some decent microphones. If they are planning to do a professional level recording, one potentially they may want to use as a demo for record companies or to sell, then likely they would want to rent a professional studio, I can’t speak for every school out there, but unless the school has a recording engineering curricula a lot of the recording capability at music schools is not all that awesome (that I have seen).
Most music departments and schools offer courses in electronic composition (terminology varies) and have studios for that. Not sure how that is relevant, to be honest, but worth checking. If course, for many purposes, a Zoom H2 or similar device, works fine. Also once on campus there may be ways to access recordings through the school’s own recording equipment in the concert hall, informally so to speak : )
My D is a freshman at Northwestern (Bienen School of Music) in VP. MANY of the music students are pursuing dual degrees outside of music. The program is a nice size- big enough for multiple ensembles, both departmental and student run. Compared to Peabody/JHU Harvard/NEC or Eastman/Rochester, Bienen is smack in the center of campus, so it’s logistically easy to make a schedule which includes classes outside of music (no long bus rides).
Getting back to the number of music majors question…S2 is now at grad school at Cornell and is playing in the orchestra composed of 105 undergrads and grad students - yes absolutely huge! There are just two Cornell music majors in the orchestra and four Ithaca college music majors to fill in the parts because they require eight french horns and four trumpets to perform Mahler’s 6th. They will travel to Argentina in the spring to perform it again. Their first concert was excellent! Yes - only 5 out of 105 musicians in their orchestra are music majors and they are playing Mahler! Additionally, we have seven years experience at Vassar, see my many other posts, and absolutely loved the music program there so we are thrilled the S2 can continue his music at a high level in grad school. So please don’t just consider the number of music majors in your decision about music at an LAC or university. All kinds of great music is being performed in colleges and universities - not just conservatories… Attend the rehearsals, see the practice rooms, look at the concert schedules and listen to the recordings. Then you will know where you will be happiest. It really is worth the effort.
Good advice @chemusic, and all, thanks for the words of wisdom. Clearly there is much that number of music majors can’t tell. Many of those other things do take a good bit of digging and may be especially tough to divine without a visit, which isn’t possible everywhere, but we’re working on it. It’s good to hear of your great experience with the music program at Vassar, as that is currently high on D’s list.