EDIT: Holy shit, I wrote another huge post...sorry in advance.
It totally fucking sucks when you can't tell your mind to shut up and enjoy the process. Going through compulsive periods from time to time, I feel your pain very much.
There are a few things that can be done to alleviate the stress somewhat, but you have to find a routine for yourself to see what works best. Some things that come to mind, which had some success for me. YMMV:
-Don't look at the waveforms while listening back. Close your eyes and feel the music. Don't notice anything wrong? Then there is nothing wrong. It's easy to think things need to be cut up when you see the waveforms in their glorious imperfection. Only make edits if something SOUNDS wrong though.
-Don't listen to the same piece 50 times. If you put a microscope on a topmodel, you are bound to find some disgusting shit. But it would be madness to do that, right? First glance is what matters! So if you listen back to a part once or twice and hear no problem, it is probably perfectly fine.
-Set a reasonably tight timelimit for your editing session. First of all, it forces you to take a break after a while, which is probably the most important tool in staying objective. And second, if you know you have limited time, you don't get in that overscrutinizy mood so quickly. When you have to hurry a bit, you get shit done.
It is helpful to have someone to back you up in this. Someone who tells you that time is up, and doesn't allow you to "just go back and try something" 10 minutes later. Let's face it, when we are in that mood, we rationalize like kids. So get someone to play your mom if you think you need it
-Commit to what you have done! If you have gone through a guitartake, edited it, and are happy with it now, consider it final. DON'T go back to it! I know it has been said a million times, but look back at the past. People didn't have the option to cut and nudge everything to perfection. They got the best take they could get, and rolled with it. Altough we don't have to limit ourselves that much, it's good to keep that in mind.
-Listen to your track while you are doing some other activity. Read a book, play a game, talk to someone, and let your track run in the background. If something is really wrong, your mind will get drawn to the music right away. To me, this the best method of listening to my own tracks without being able to overthink them to death.
-Have a friend who's judgement you trust listen to it. Possibly without him/her even knowing what to listen for. They might not notice anything bad about it. Or they notice an elephant in the room that you have been missing while chasing for ants....that's always a humbling moment.
-Split your recordingsessions from your editingsessions. While recording, try to get as close to a great take as you can, and then continue with the next take. Going from recording to editing requires a change of mindset, which consumes energy like crazy. There's only so much our poor brains can handle. Worst case, you have to redo a take or 2 the next day.
In general, keep whatever you're doing related to the kind of session you are dealing with. Record in the recordingsession, and commit to what you get. Edit in the editsession and commit. Mix in the mixsession...etc etc. Unless something goes severely wrong, you shouldn't be thinking about editing during the mix. That ship has sailed. If you keep going back, you will never get anything done.
-It may feel counter-intuitive, but having many options is a BAD thing. Limit your options! Get 2/3 good takes on something and be done with it. If you get 10 decent takes on every single track, you will get sick from just looking at that pile of work in front of you.
-Take a break. That one is worth mentioning twice.
-It's okay to make mistakes. Don't tell anyone I said that.
Well, there ya go. Hope there is some stuff in there you haven't tried yet. I really know how shit that feeling is; it can drive a person insane. But it's often just a phase you need to break out of.
Just for reference, I used to edit everything to death, and hated it. Now I mostly just edit palmmuted parts that need to be very tight. And I think my stuff sounds better now
Best of luck to you!
