“I just want to set it and forget it.”
Alas, if only it worked like that. Instead, each time is a new and challenging excercise - maybe the instruments are different, maybe the sound you’re trying to coax out of it are different, maybe the mics/recording space was different, whatever. There are certain rules of thumb, like nixing unnecessary bass as you noted. The article swamptone posted contains many more. But there’s no easy, straightforward shortcut.