Can we add “remove peaks” to compressor and “smoother” eg tick both. This is great after my 24 bit music compositions are mixed down, there are always peaks.
You can do very well with Chris’s Compressor – far better than you can trying to manually set Effect > Compressor or the peak limiter whose name I forget.
Chris’s Compressor
http://theaudacitytopodcast.com/chriss-dynamic-compressor-plugin-for-audacity/
Chris is a full-on, look-ahead volume processor that does minimum damage to the music, but makes it much louder with fewer overall volume variations. With the Compression setting boosted to .77 instead of 0.5, the compression compares favorably to the local NPR radio station.
Koz
There is a “Soft Clipping Limiter” available as a plug-in http://forum.audacityteam.org/download/file.php?id=3956
This effect “squashes” peaks that are above the set threshold. If you are wanting to maximize the loudness of a recording it works well when applied after running the standard Compressor effect.
Also note that the Compressor effect in Audacity 1.3.13 is much better than the version in Audacity 1.2.x