miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
That was hardly a pouncing.
In this "PC, kinder, gentler" HR environment...yes, it was pouncing.
Why would you throw a compressor on it rather than just automating the volume a little?
I went through a comp phase, mainly when I was doing almost everything in the analog domain, and that was the only way to control levels on tape tracks...but then the more I worked inside the DAW, the less I used compressors.
So now days...I only use them occasionally, and it's more for "color" than anything else, since I take care of all my level issues a mano.
No matter how lightly you try to use them...if you use them a lot, they will skew the EQ and harmonic balance of your tracks, not just tame the peak levels. So you can potentially end up with very altered sounds from what you started with. Of course, that can also be intentional, and then you just mold them to taste...but I find that I'm preferring the original "raw" sounds more than beating them to death with lots of processing to create some "new" sounding tracks....if that makes any sense.
Plus, like Greg was saying...you end up flattening things out too much and the tracks lose life...even if you boost them after compression.