“Get Rid of the Egg Shell First” Technique

The analogy doesn't work because in cooking you assume the egg - less the shell - is a complete ingredient that requires no further refinement. You already know in advance what its role will be, e.g. as a binding agent.
 
Once upon a time, in the early days of recording, engineers applied no EQ or minimal EQ. They worked on getting the sound they wanted up front. But they were also typically recording the whole band at once, so every component was heard in context even before capturing it. They'd position microphones and instruments in such a way that the mix and the tonal balance was already right. When balance tweaks were needed, such as bringing up an instrument for a solo, they'd ride the faders in real time while the tape (or disk cutter) was rolling.
 
Then along came multi-track recording, which allowed productions to be built up one track at a time. You could now wait until you'd gotten the perfect drum track before moving on to the next instrument, and build an entire backing track before adding vocals. The vocals might consist of multiple parts performed by the same singer.
 
But as you add more and more layers, conflicts become apparent that require changes to mix levels and EQ, or even changes to the song arrangement. Consequently, nowadays we tend to not apply a lot of processing up front because we know that will only restrict our options later on. Plus you just don't really know how an instrument will fit into the mix until you hear it in context. 
 
 

My thought process behind this post is similar to the debate of EQ first or Compression first.  I've seen other posts in the Cakewalk forum discussing that topic.  My two songs produced in Sonar thus far have manifested a problem with the vocal tracks.  There appeared some unpleasant "wooly" sound (for lack of a better description) in the 800 - 1200Hz region.  My guess was it would be better to dip some EQ in that region before compression which is what I tried.  By the way, I've used two different mics but got the same results.  I'm guessing that the off-sound must be from the room I record in.  Maybe moving my vocal mic into another bedroom will be a good experiment for my next project.
 
"They'd position microphones and instruments in such a way that the mix and the tonal balance was already right."  Bitflipper, that reality of recording in days gone by always demands great respect from me.  You have to possess tremendously trained ears to know when it sounded right.  We now have seemingly endless options with DAWs recording seemingly endless tracks. So yes, you just don't really know how an instrument will fit into the mix until you hear it in context.  And I'm no J.S. Bach.
 
I have watched Warren Huart processing a vocal track with EQ after compression into another EQ into more compression into more and more plugins, etc.  That's fascinating to watch a long chain of processing.  Since I'm pretty much a beginner, I'll keep it simple for now but it's good to learn from those who have been doing it for years.
 
A few months ago I heard Rob Mayzes state that all the recording knowledge won't do much good if you don't start applying it.  So I'll keep working at it until I find what works well.  Thanks for all your input to guide me along the way.

RobWS
I go through each recorded track one at time and open the quad curve EQ before any other plugins.  I do the narrow Q boost sweep technique and listen for problem frequencies.  Once I determine the bad frequencies, I’ll do a cut of whatever amount seems to make a difference.

 
That is more of a precision cut... something I would leave for much later.
My technique is generally the following...
 
1: Capture a good clean source... I never approach with "fix it in the mix", get it as good as possible at the source.
2: Apply filters (LPF / HPF)... 
3: Apply comps / gates / expanders as desired
4: Apply EQ as desired (this seems to be where you are starting)
5: Pan
6: Route or apply effects
 
That's a guideline... I'll stray from those rules if it gets me a better result. 
 
Just my 2 cents...

I appreciate the input from all of you.  I certainly don't want to develop bad habits in mixing.  The point I really seem to have a problem with is frequency masking.  If I can get rid of some frequencies right off the bat, I thought it would help the project down the road. (Who needs an eggshell in their cake batter?)  So maybe the analogy of a chef to an audio mixer does not work here.  It's quite a learning process, but fun none the less.

If there's outrageous ringing or something and you can't record again, by all means cut that stuff out of there

;)

You could try the Ronco Inside the Egg Scrambler technique. This means that you do you work up front to get a good sound before you even crack the egg and record. If you find yourself messing with EQ too much, you have a good chance of over processing and ending up with something that sounds as unnatural as powdered eggs.

If only I could only convince my bandmates to think more like mixers on stage!

Jeff Evans
You need to be slightly careful too spending too much time listening to tracks in solo mode. You might think a track has a slightly narly sound to it for whatever reason but when in the total mix with everything else going on you might actually find (after level setting and panning) it is just cutting through rather nice. 

Absolutely! I see people (even fairly experienced producers) agonising over a drum kit resonating (snare wires buzzing in response to toms and kick, all the toms growling together, that kind of thing) and going to extreme lengths to eliminate any crosstalk, when in reality, it will make no difference when listening to the whole kit.
Also, more of a beginner's issue, is when guitarists want more bottom end in their guitar, particularly in heavier music. No, you don't, listen to it in in context as opposed to by itself, and you'll find the bass guitar is actually doing what you thought you needed the guitar to do.