any processing should have A REASON
there's no sense in touching anything for no reason
so
you listen to a song
in the context of all instruments
in the mix
and decide whether smth should be processed
and how
and what for
ok?
you listen to the bass and make a decision
whether it needs to sound different
in what way
how to achieve the sound you want best
etc
and just do it
or don't
if you turned up eq for about a HUNDRED db
and the bass started to sound better for your creative idea
then
you're doing it right
if you look at digits and meters
and limit yourself just because somebody said not to do much
then you're doing it wrong in a sense
do you get it?
you should have a reason to touch any sound
and the reason is in your head only, in seeing of a particular song or an issue. only you decide or a client whether smth should be changed.
the proccesing should be in most cases
very musical and invisible for ears
that's why somebody says don't do much
but you can and should if you are satisfied with the result
or use several plugins\tweaks\processing each by little for a one single same purpose.
also try using dry\wet knob a lot
to make it sound musical and natural
but be aware of phase shifting.
a lot of plugins shift phase of a sound, so be careful to use dry\wet knobs in such cases
ok? ok...