A possible solution would be:
1) Export your labels.
2) Start a new, empty Audacity project
3) Do your Timer Record in the new, empty project.
4) Import the labels.
A possible solution would be:
calf.so and calf.la are in /usr/lib/calf/
Just a quick "heads up". The next release (Audacity 2.4.0) will include an effect that can do RMS Normalizing (and "loudness normalizing"). The new effect will be a "built in" effect rather than a Nyquist effect.