Ah. That's the problem though. If you don't know why it sounds good, and you never take the effort to learn, it's never actually going to sound good. The less interested you are in the actual "how" of making it sound good, the less likely you are to be able to hear when it doesn't.
You won't get an argument out of me on that...but there are those folks who just like to drive the car, and they have little understanding about the workings of the car, and many don't even realize you need to service it every so often and check the vital stuff regularly.
I do get the
"I'm a musician and I just want to play, I don't want to be an engineer" thing....and there are studio days when I really do wish I could just take that approach instead of spending half the afternoon doing some "engineering" stuff.
That said....if you don't want to be an engineer on any level, and you just want to play, then maybe you should leave the engineering stuff to others.
Yeah, digital technology has certainly dumbed it down (WAY down) for a lot of folks, and they can whip up a production with just a bunch of mouse clicks and little else (often very little actual "musicianship" and playing, never mind actual engineering)...but that's the reality of where we are today, and I don't see it going back, if anything, it will be dumbed down even further to the most simplified "one-button" productions, and lots of "musicians", "engineers" and "producers" will use it and feel really good about their creative and technical skill-sets.
Now I do think there are ways that honest musicians, engineers, producers can make valid use of most any tool, so I'm not saying having that stuff is bad. It's all up to the individual to decide how they wish to use it and if they want to learn anything about what they are doing...or just opt for one-button instant gratification.
And to bring it around full circle....
I happened to notice that Waves has a HUGE sale going on, so I checked out what they have and picked up just a couple of plug-ins (L2 Ultramaximizer $79, and the H-EQ for $69). That's the best price I've ever seen on the L2, and I really wanted that plug for mastering use, but hated their dongle i-Lock system...which now they've gotten rid of and just use serial numbers for activation.
While checking out all the Waves stuff on sale....I happened to spot (and you are probably seeing it also at the footer ad on these HR pages) that they have the Tony Maserati Signature Series bundle for only $99 (regular $500). There are 5-6 plugs you get with the bundle. It's not my kind of stuff, as it tends to follow the "one-button/black-box" approach....basically, each plug is supposed to mimic a hardware signal chain that Maserati likes to use, but for the plugs they've removed most of the options that he would have on his hardware signal chain, and Waves just gives you the final setup for each plug with minimal options, so you don't need to be overwhelmed with the whole signal chain, but rather you get just the final process/effect.
I didn't buy the Maserati bundle, but it immediately reminded me of this thread and this discussion...so I think for the guys who want an easier "one-button" approach for some tasks....shit, $99 for a $500 bundle is a GREAT buy, and I'm sure there's some decent stuff there, as Maserati ain't no engineering/producer hack, and he does great work, though not sure how well Waves captured his sig sounds....but it might be worth a buy for some folks here.