Thanks for the comment. In to the philosophical weeds we go...
....
I can't picture such a perfect world. Mostly because what could "perfectly recorded and mixed without compromise" actually mean?
The range of how the artists and engineers want something to sound is huge. If someone wants a drum or bass track to be thinned out, would that entail it is not "perfectly recorded, mixed without compromise?" Or is it not simply their artistic choice?
Just what music would this vision apply to? Rock? Pop? EDM? Electronica? Ambient? Shoe-Gaze? etc? Who could possibly decide how it all ought to be recorded and mixed, when those are artistic decisions in of themselves?
I was just listening to some prog rock - SAGA followed by Rush. The Saga album was recorded during that 80's peried when a super "hot" compressed snare and kick drum sound (typically with reverb and mixed with some distance in the track) came in (think Madonna's Like A Virgin, Simple Minds Sparkle In The Rain etc). So the SAGA drums were super hot and crispy, echoey, distant, compressed. It gave a very distinct style and sound to the whole album which I love. Then on Rush's Tom Sawyer Pearts drums were huge, rich, room filling and present. Also awesome. Which way should the drums be produced in a "perfect world?"
But how are you to make the call between a "bad practice" and an engineer's advised choice, or that of the artist?
I don't see the distinction. The artist signed off on the recording, if you change it...it's to your preference. You don't know you are changing it to the preference of the engineer or artist. (Unless...in some rare cases, you actually had that information).