The Book of Audacity

Normalization

The Normalize effect (Effect > Normalize) is the workhorse of many a digital recording studio, because it is common to record to a peak of -12 dB or lower, sometimes all the way down to -24 dB. Normalization is usually the last step before export to bring your recording up to a higher peak volume level. Digital audio has such a wide dynamic range that you can record to conservative peak levels to avoid distortion and then later normalize your tracks to bring the peak levels up to a comfortable playback level.

Normalization is also used to bring multiple tracks up to the same peak volume level. Do not use Normalize if you want to preserve the relative volume levels of different tracks. For example, if you have one track that peaks ...