Overproduction is the excessive use of audio effects, layering, or digital manipulation in music production, which generally decreases audio fidelity and listening enjoyment.
It is not always clear what critics mean by "overproduction", but there is a minimum of a few common uses of the term: All of these meanings share the idea that a record producer or mastering engineer has made "unnecessary" additions or changes to a record in the production process and, in doing so, has decreased the quality or enjoyability of the music.
There is little consensus among music critics or producers about when the use of an effect or production technique becomes excessive.
[5] The excessive use of dynamic range compression has been bemoaned by critics as part of the "loudness war".
[6] Those responding to Dylan's comments seemed to assume that he was referring to the trend of increasingly compressed music.