The guns in both L4D games sound far too loud compared to the rest of the audio. I have to turn the game volume all the way down so that the guns don't deafen me, but then I can't hear everything else such as the NPC voices or the zombies. I have really searched for a config file to try and edit the audio settings through there, but no luck. Anyone have any clues? 

I'd agree, a bit too loud, especially in the machine guns.

Have you ever fired a gun.... they are loud.

"Have you ever fired a gun.... they are loud. "

" Have you ever fired a gun.... they are loud. "

if it's an accurate portrayal of a gun's loudness then it's loud enough. F.E.A.R had loud and excellent sounding guns.

I agree, they are too loud.

" if it's an accurate portrayal of a gun's loudness then it's loud enough. F.E.A.R had loud and excellent sounding guns. "

It would be very easy to make a mod that makes gun sounds quieter. I would be surprised if someone has not already made one.

You should try enabling loudness equalization on your sound hardware.  I guess it depends on what you're using, but it seems most modern onboard audio (and X-Fi of course) have the ability.

They were answering Criticisms of Left 4 Dead's audio and it has been much improved.

In all seriousness i thought they were too loud too, and i thought borderlands guns were a little loud too compared to the rest of the game, or when you go into phasewalk it would wake everyone on the block!

I actually didn't think it was a big deal in the second game but yeah the first game I can't hear anything ever, really annoying.