I never set out to be a good engineer, but when I accidently discovered the profession, I was consumed by it. I would not leave the studio. I would record anything that stood still long enuff to mic. I got my buddies to hit a snare drum for me for WEEKS. I would change heads, mics, room position, 6" black dot, 8" black dot, Evans hydraulic heads, Remo thin bottom, 4" snares, and on and on. I would try different tunings. It got to the point where I couldn't get people to come to the studio! I would record all this and take notes. When I went home I would listen to the variations (much to my girlfriends dislike). I knew every thing there was to know about snares. It took me 3 months. Then I did kiks, then little toms, then floor toms, then guitars, the vocals. Needless to say after about 2 years of this I felt like I kinda knew how to record. I did this because it was fun! I didn't think I would ever make alot of money, it just seemed RIGHT. EXPERIMENT! Use my ideas as a starting point, the world does not need more mixes by me, it needs YOUR uniqueness. I realize some of you just want to make better demos. I respect that, and I always try to remember that everyone is not doing this for a career. But at least make the best demos you can. I like what Jose said, we should all encourage each other to try and do NEW things. Some of my best ideas are MISTAKES. Curve, I agree with you also. When I first started it was tough, because I didn't sound like other people. But it was this uniqueness that people finally started paying me to do. Yeah, it took me 10 years to get to the big time, but I never realized it, because I was having so much fun with my little indy projects, and being out there on the fringes. Sometimes I REALLY MISS IT OUT THERE! Anyway, keep the passion in whatever you do. The sucess will always follow.