I think you're strong for for not letting the gear bug keep leading
you around by the nose. It really is absurd. I struggle to get this monkey off my back daily.

I'm not a veteran nor a AE of ANY reknown. I DO think that there is a level of gear to which you MUST arrive: mabye a pair of great pres, likewise mics, likewise monitors, likewise treating the room, before you can compete with even the average sound we hear in commercial music.

I'm almost where I want to be except for... but that's the problem right? There's always that list...

I thought the Golden Ears package very valuable, then again I worked out only half the first section before I realized I needed
get better monitors just to hear it well! I still have the package,
will get back to it just because you jogged my memory!

recording ART.... yes it is! The great painters: sure they had their period of schooling, then some starved just to get the $$$ for good brushes, the next batch of paints, etc. But all the while they
were honing a skill with NEXT to NOTHING except their ever-clarifying perceptions to guide them.

That's our situation too. Buena Suerte, amigo