Less is more or more is less?

Leslie we love you brother, firstly wanted to say thanks for just being an all round cool, nice, humble human who’s so willing to share your experiences.

I have a question - I’m working on a lot of ‘lower budget’ mixes where the production demos and even the stems aren’t the best sounding to begin with. I love your ‘less is more’ approach but find it difficult to apply in these situations.. I’m often wanting to push it and take the songs to where I think they should go for the sake of the art, but it can be very time consuming and not really cost effective etc. Would love to know your thoughts!