I can't tell you how many times I've tweaked/revisited a single knob/parameter in a mix to push, push, push perhaps ten times before finding a balance, instead of just pushing to find what was too much and dialing back from there. This isn't always the case(you know when you only need a dB or so), but when in Production don't be afraid to push until it's too much, then dial it back from there. You might be surprised to get another 5-10dB of gain reduction out of that compressor and maybe it sounds way better, or maybe not but you wouldn't have known otherwise.
CAVEAT: be careful with this on things like gain stages at the end of a chain, or white noise volumes, or highly volatile transients/signals as you can damage your hearing. Furthermore, this applies less and less the farther down the process you get. I,e this would apply to Mastering far less than it would Production because hopefully you are not making huge changes in later phases of the song.
