That's fine- it would be a natural problem for me to be having. What comes to mind is- what if I use just say the Logic channel EQ or whatever, and it still sounds the way it's been sounding? If there's a target I 'should' be going for instead of what I keep aiming at, in particular if it's one where you 'shouldn't' hear any processing, what sort of music is that, how do I wrap my head around trying to hear that way?
I've got an okay handle on getting things to sound the way I hear them in my head, for an amateur, but I'm having a lot of trouble finding other ways I want things to sound. Maybe I'm just not listening to enough, or the same kinds of, music as other people are?
Or maybe it's just like what Slipperman called 'biggenation' in which you control everything to the Nth degree, and then go back and loosen it all up until the overcontrolledness is gone? The overcontrolledness helps you focus the exact direction you're going but then you soften it so it's just being NUDGED in that direction?
I'm interested in what the working mixologists do, as far as 'forcing stuff to go exactly the way you hear it, or being more gentle'. Seems I'm getting the hang of J's concept of using extremely forceful handling if you want it, and losing my fear of that, but then I turn around and it's getting a vibe but is too gratitious