Absolutely Jim, making a living out of not only your technical expertise, but your ability to 'zone in', hear and treat sound to make a cohesive final product is enviable at least.

My issue is with the homogenizing of pop music, be it rock, country or whatever. Case in point, take your favourite classic or alt rock cd or country cd into your DAW, adjust the volume to a comfotable level and note the VU meters. Then take a Creed, Nickelback, Greenday, Blink 182, Rihanna(sp?), Diddy; you get the picture...at the same volume level, and note the meters, even during the quiet sections, they're still often maxed out at 0dB. I know we don't engineer with our eyes, but they give proof that the dynamics are being stripped out of popular music in favour of sheer impact.

Is it an engineering or mastering issue then? To me, the dynamics are just as important a part of good music as is the melody, harmonic structure or even a guitar solo. Obviously, I can't argue with success, but I don't have to agree with it either.

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