... thoughts on Taylor Swift's REPUTATION CD...

Compression has always been used in studio production. It’s used judiciously on instruments; eg, on a drum to tighten up the attack and decay, or cymbals to stop excessive overtones or ring-out. The result is a naturally sounding drum kit tailored to the engineer/producer’s taste.

An engineer would deal with sibilance by using a different mic, a blast filter or screen, and by isolating the offending frequencies and using filters and EQ. There could be some compression, and many effects are used to achieve a desired sound, but at this stage in the recording process it would not be detrimental to the music.

The mix process involves getting the best quality possible. This is where the producer and engineer show their skills.

And then all the effects are applied.
I've seen videos where rappers are in the studio and when the bass starts thumping and the vocals are tweaked to hell, that's the moment they start getting into their new track.

In my opinion nothing that records, analog or digital, is a true representation of reality. It is, almost by definition, a facsimile.

Listen to classical (either symphonic or a sonata) and a jazz combo using minimal mic's thru a well designed high-end system and room.
Is it live or is it Memorex?

The experience can be like you're in a concert hall.
(no way we're talking about my system).

I'm just abit confused: am I hearing you say that most of what I hear of Swft's voice is really not her voice but a manipulated amalgam, a sandwich so-to-speak, concocted to be boosted instead of her singing louder?

RE: her voice. Her early stuff sounds more natural, you can hear her voice without effects added to them (although compressed, as is all digital now). The "Reputation" tracks have the gain on the electronic processing so high that it is mixed into her voice. Yes, it’s a manipulated amalgam of voice. Her voice has been run thru processing and cranked-up to the level of her natural vocal. Not all the tracks have this and I noticed it comes and goes within some tracks. As everybody can hear, her early music didn’t have all this crap added. Same with Katy Perry and the like, their early releases were more organic. The abuse of these effects have been embraced by Hip Hop producers and in turn was added to pop. Even in Kanye’s early music you could hear his voice. Now it’s sounds synthesized and electronic, and to my ears, I hear buzzing sounds in the vocals.

This has nothing to do with loudness, as I stated earlier, the recording, the mix, and the effects are separate stages in music production. Before the compression is added by the mastering engineer, I’ll bet her vocal track stands out above the backing tracks. After the high compression is added and the master is brickwalled, the gain can be boosted and all tracks are compressed together. There’s no more separation of vocals and instruments. We can call this the loudness stage, if you wish.