Something that's bugged me ever since I started horsing around with home
recording is that I never seem to be able to get rid of what I'll refer to
as these certain brain piercing harmonics that make you say "ouch" on
certain vowels or pitches that seem to jump out compared to others, without
completely killing the sound.

Granted, my speakers may be coloring the sound somewhat, but I'll listen to
a CD or radio station and I don't hear it on these same speakers. There
doesn't *seem* to be anything missing from the sound, but when they form
the same kind of sounds, they don't slam your ears even at relatively loud
volumes. In fact, professional recordings generally sound very "loud" to me,
but they don't have the obnoxious, slamming/piercing quality I'm talking
about. What it sound like is all the frequencies are hitting you at the same
level, nothing sticks out.

Is it the EQ or compression or what? I feel like there's some fundamental
principle I'm missing out on.

Besides a few basic pieces of prosumer recording gear - on the software end,
my most hifalutin' tools are Soundforge 5 and Cakewalk ProAudio8. Should I
be able to at least approximate what I'm looking for?

Thanks!