My Friend,
I share my opinion with all respect......If you are needing to cut EQ 6-8db due to "musicianship", then musicianship is not the issue to bother with!
Yes, they may be horrible players that need every bit of help available. BUT, your eq and compression does not substitute for skill!
I absolutely try my hardest to NEVER compress or eq to tape. OK....well, my only exception is Vocals. Yes, I do compress Vox to tape pretty heavy. But, I do not eq. And, I do not EQ anything else to tape! I do not compress anything else to tape! I take pride in the instrument at hand and offer every bit of respect I can. I get the amps sounding good. I tune up the drums as best I can. I even intonate the guitars to compensate for their screwed up tuning! If the person bashing it around sucks, then it's not my fault! Yes, of course....we have to make a living. But, we are in an SSL forum. I hope we are keeping our rates as expected from an SSL studio.....and these days, that's not much.
If the customer complains, and you have applied professional technique to the sounds of their tracks, then you have no fault in pointing the finger at the true person at fault!
This is my approach on a good day. Of course there are plenty of exceptions. But if the instruments are tracked appropriately, then the mix has plenty of room for any creativity we might add to the mix....if needed.
Good luck!
JJ
www.BoogieTracks.com