"Over-produced" is definitely a personal taste and opinion, although there can be a consensus of opinion in listeners. In my opinion, any item that is added to a mix that doesn't add to the development of the song contributes instead to over-production. Therein lies the subjectivity of the term.
I can give you examples of over-production:
People tell others to double their acoustic rhythm guitar parts and pan then outboard for more complexity and richness. That works very well, but ONLY if the second part is carefully and exactly matched to the first in rhythm. When you let one get out of time from the other, they fight one another.
Some folks built up multiple copies of the exact same instrument performance and pan them all to the same location. This can contribute to sludge and a build-up of energy in one frequency range.
Some producers want to fill every minute of every song with tension-increasing elements. This contributes to a situation where there is no tension structure - no rise and fall of complexity or emotion that allows the audience to engage and relax. I call it "toggle-switch" production: You switch on the tension and it stays on until you switch it off at the end of the song. At some point the audience simply checks out.
But, as David St. Hubbins of Spinal Tap said, "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever, isn't it?"
Bob
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