Track count means nothing,you use as much as as little as the track needs or the genre you create,I've never utilised more than about 15 tracks in a song,and most of the time its the vocal that uses the most track count due to takes back in the early days before digital and loads of options many producers got by with a 4 track Tape machine most of the musicianship was from the band/Artist,and many of the songs recorded were done in one take,there was probably very little overdubbing and bouncing the lack of options made people more creative and less bothered about stacking and stacking things,It was about getting the best performance and vibe.
All these producers that you see nowadays stack loads of tracks up when you see them on their DAW screen,theres probably a lot of doubling of parts with the same midi data just using several instruments to create a specific layer or there might be many different versions of vocals,several takes combining the best parts to create a single vocal,the trouble with digital systems is that because you have an infinite numbers of tracks available,people just keep layering and layering just because they can or maybe they try out different efx settings to various sounds and just keep them in the daw screen so they have different options if they decide to change the mix or arrangement,its one of the reasons I decided not to use a Software sequencer and stick to hardware both for Audio and Midi too many options clouding your judgement.
For me,less is more I don't see the point in stacking up loads of layers only to pull them back because it sounds too mushy or you can't get the mix to gel just because the technology allows you to keep adding and adding doesn't mean you have to over egg everything because the option to do so is there,were so spoilt by "let just try this to see how it sounds"that it takes away from what was probably a simple but effective track to begin with.
For me its more about getting the song vibe across,if the song is good enough with just a few raw tracks i.e. piano or Guitar and a vocal,bass and drums then thats all it needs,just a little polishing here and there to finalise the mix is probably all thats needed,nobody commits these days to the original recording.
most people just because they have the options for layering and layering the tracks or trying out 300 different types of compressor on a certain Drum sound feel that they have to try everything and they have to do it just for technology sake,a lot of the time it depends on the type of music your creating some genres rely on layering but thats a preference thing,recording music hasn't changed since the days of analog it just that too many feel they have to create everything larger than is needed because the technology gives them the option to do so.
