You can have 20K in studio gear, but if you do not have a good ear and creative mind, it means nothing.
I break down creating music into 2 categorys
#1. recording #2. production.

I mentioned in a thread a while ago that I made some recordings and sent them to a professional demo person ( Laurie Z r.i.p http://lauriez.com/tributes.php)I knew...
She blasted my work. It forced me to really listen to the radio and made me really think about recording and production...

It's a shame she passed away from breast cancer before she could listen to some of my final work.
I am going to start recording again and I will always think of her when I do ...