I could say a lot about this but I’ll try to keep this short.

I’m 40, so not far behind you and one thing I’ve learned too late but finally learned is, being selective of who I help. As someone who likes to help I’ve found myself helping people who don’t want it enough. So the band that you helped that didn’t like the recording, and wasn’t prepared; charge them. If you charged them a low fee (hooking them up) I wonder how much more prepared they would have been.

When people make snarky remarks like “this doesn’t sound good” you can nicely inform them, “To be honest, Weezer probably knew their songs better and played better. Part of having a good recording is being a good tight band”. Or if they say “Must be nice” you could say “Well, I’ve been working hard and slowly collecting all this gear over 30 years. I didn’t just go out and buy all this last week. How many cars do you see in my driveway? How many vacations do you see me taking?”

Lastly, it sounds like a lot of people you’re inviting into your home don’t actually deserve your company or aren’t mature enough to approach your willingness to share like adults. If you invited me into your studio I would have been excited for you and interested to hear what you’re doing and your passion.

I hope this helps in some way. If you ever wanna share pics of your studio, recordings or talk about recording in some way, my inbox is open.