A Moonies Band ?

[kirk]

... it would be much like removing layers of stuff in case it wasn't needed.

that's true as to track count. sometimes "less is more",
so, good to cut the extraneous.

you can eliminate tracks, but efx are permanent.

elric~ guitars aren't quite as problematic as bass.
the guitar takes up space in the mid-upper bandwidth
generally, w/o much competition, so it takes more abuse.
my buddy steve loves the doubler (oy!)..but it sounds so
good it's worth the effort to tame it. easy on the reverb.

re- pedals- remember you're going from analog to digital.
pedals that do extreme changes like overdrive are primarily made for
live application. most o' my guitarist friends have switched to
DI boxes like the line 6 pod, amp simulators for digital recording.
pedals, and the more items you have in the chain add to the noise floor.
at mastering, that rises along w/ the music.

again, monitoring is a problem. pc speakers, ect.
don't have the sonic range.