Dynamics (along with melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre) are one of the main dimensions of music we have to play with. Though I think there’s a valid debate to be had about whether we should even care about escalating loudness in recordings, I also believe that dynamics are inherently valuable to us as music makers. Producers had been using aggressive compression for a long time before the loudness war began, managing to make records that are far more dynamic than “Death Magnetic,” “Californication,” or any of the other albums that are cited as being just a few knob twists over the loudness line. In my opinion, the reality is more complicated than that. I’ve seen lots of hand-wringing thinkpieces lamenting the casualties of the “loudness war,” in which the author (usually a non-musician) makes reductive statements about overuse of compression being responsible for punishingly loud recordings from the last 30 or so years. But as someone who loves some heavy handed compression, I’m not even going to pretend that I endorse a suggestion like that. Just kidding! Honestly, using less compression is probably the most surefire way to ensure a more dynamic mix.
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