Compression and the Loudness War

[GhostXb]

I was wondering what everyone's thoughts are on over compression and the loudness war.

Personally, I prefer a well mastered and balanced track over an over compressed track. Of course, there are some genres of music that use over compression to it's advantage such as dub-step, and some forms of hard electronic music. Justice comes to mind when I think of over compression done right, but when it comes to more subtle forms of music, even heavy metal, I think leaving space and volume for dynamic range makes for much better music.

That said, I notice my tracks tend to be quieter then most. When I try to boost the volume it tends to get obnoxious to my ears, yet, when I listen to other people's music that are much louder then mine, they don't seem too bad. I don't know how they do it. Maybe I'm just too squeamish to push the levels of my songs. When thing's get too busy my first instinct is too push it back.

[the4thImpulse]

You a little late on this topic.

And you will find most of my opinions on the matter in that thread.

[GhostXb]

Bah, I should have known XD!