Back To Your Heart, Your Beautiful Heart

My whole approach to mastering my audio has changed.
I used to think that using compression and reverb and messing with EQ levels made it sound better and louder.
But I have learned from my mistakes. I now realize that my music has no place in the Loudness wars at all.
Leave the loudness wars to the mainstream artists... I'm not a part of that world and don't have any need to try and be.

So I am going back through past recordings and starting over with the raw microphone recording (which I always archive).
Now I use no compression and just normalize the audio. I may do subtle EQ adjustments if too much bass or treble but other than that I leave it alone.
It's been a real ear opener for me. I can hear all the subtlety now in the quiet guitar strums and my voice is natural, not made harsh by compression.
I am really liking this organic approach. Yes it throws away years of effort trying to compete in loudness wars.
But sometimes you just have to throw it all away and start over.
The original dynamic range is preserved. Quiet parts are quiet and loud loud as they were recorded.
Here's an example of the naked approach:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8YhOdafPks