tlw
Something to watch about boosting bass and treble and cutting lots of mid is that while making the eq change our brains tend to think the more mid you cut the better things sound. But going back later and listening with fresh ears the end result usually doesn't have the same impact and is very tiring to listen to.

I don’t know why this happens, but it’s common enough for Mesa Boogie to warn their Mark Series amp users against making excessive mid cuts in the graphic eq.

And it's especially problematic with program material, because even a 1 dB cut means you're adding a 1 dB cut to every single track.
 
I think the "smile" curve is really designed for parties. That way the music seems really loud, but there's enough midrange removed so people can have conversations.
 
I often use a much tamer variation, which adds a shallow cut (between 0.5 and 1 dB) around 300 Hz. This can "tighten up" a mix. I guess it would be the "smirk" curve instead of the "smile" curve.
 

One thing I try to do when using multiple Daws is to use same plugins when moving over to eliminate variables. Unfortunately Audition no longer supports direct x plugins. If this is going to be your typical workflow, I would suggest using a go to EQ that works in Audition.

Anderton
I think the "smile" curve is really designed for parties. That way the music seems really loud, but there's enough midrange removed so people can have conversations.
 

To be honest I doubt anyone knows the origin of the practice. It’s just turned into one of those things “everyone (thinks they) know” you do with a graphic eq because......reasons. Maybe the one-time fashion for monitoring through NS-10s had something to do with it.

Anderton
I often use a much tamer variation, which adds a shallow cut (between 0.5 and 1 dB) around 300 Hz. This can "tighten up" a mix. I guess it would be the "smirk" curve instead of the "smile" curve. 

Yep, a gentle mid cut can certainly help clean out the lower mids where mud tends to build up in complex mixes. It’s sometimes surprising how much difference even a tiny eq change can make.

The "disco smile" is almost never justified, and certainly not on the master bus.
 
If there's mud in the low mids, find the tracks that are contributing to it and fix them. Trying to take out mud at the master bus just makes the mud quieter. To quote the sage Mixerman: "Don't cut the low mids, make 'em yer b itch".
 
Lowering the midrange to accommodate conversation is an excellent theory, Craig. I don't believe it, but I like it.
 
A more probable origin is the proliferation of cheap "hi-fi" bookshelf systems that popped up in dorm rooms in the 60's and 70's. We weren't allowed to turn the volume up lest we offend our more studious neighbors, and of course as Fletcher and Munsen taught us, the extremes of the spectrum disappear at low volume. It was such a common practice to use tone controls to combat that phenomenon that a few years later manufacturers started building the disco smile in as a standard feature. They labeled it "Loudness".