After paying a professional to edit the first few episodes of my podcast, I’ve decided to try my hand at this using Audacity (the latest version for Windows). The podcast is simple - just me talking - and the sound quality of the raw file is good enough that I’m inclined not to play with compression or equalization. But I use a 1-minute music clip near the beginning (halfway through a roughly 2-minute cold open, so it ends just as I introduce myself) and again at the close (so it ends just as the narration does). I may want to do a slight, very brief fade-in, and perhaps boost the volume a bit at the very end, but mostly the music will stay at the same level.
Here’s my question: Once I get the music’s volume where I want it relative to the narration, how can I be precise about the result so I can easily reproduce the settings for future episodes? I tried using the Envelope tool to squeeze down the music’s volume, but I don’t see a way to quantify what I end up with so I can quickly set it to that same level next time. Should I ditch Envelope and instead use Loudness Normalization (or maybe a different tool)? Is it easy to adjust just the music track?
Step-by-step instructions for whatever technique you recommend - suitable for a newbie - would be greatly appreciated!