Normalize to get the same volyme on a mixed track?

[Lalena]

I´m using Audacity to mix 3-4 songs together to use in my gympa (aerobic) class.
The problem is that if one of the songs is "old" or for other reasons has a lower volyme then the other song, my mixed track gets different volyme, sometimes high sometimes low. I have tried to mark all songs and used the effect "normalize" (all). With the setting - 0,0 db. Before I export all the songs to one MP3 track. But I don´t think it´s working...
Is it possible to solve this problem? And in that case how?

[kozikowski]

Normalize and Amplify don't directly set volume. They're arithmetic tools. They look through the whole show and find the one highest peak and adjusts the whole show at once so that one peak reaches 0 -- or maximum. The one loudest song wins.

You need to adjust the whole show song at a time and you can do that with Chris's Compressor...

-- Chris's Compressor
http://theaudacitytopodcast.com/chriss- ... -audacity/

I either use the default settings, or for more aggressive management, increase the first number, compression ratio, from 0.5 to 0.77. Don't touch any of the other numbers.

This has an effect similar to your car radio. Ever wonder how they can play music and talk all day long and you never have to reach over and change the volume?

Koz

[DVDdoug]

Adding to what Koz said... Amplify & normalize work on the peak levels, but the volume we hear is more related to the average level (and the frequency content).

There are tools such as MP3Gain and ReplayGain that attempt to match perceived loudness. You would need to process your songs/files separately before combining the songs in Audacity.

If it's just a few songs, you can Amplify all of the songs to have 0dB peaks. Then choose the quietest sounding song as your reference, and adjust-down the other songs (by ear) to match .

Compression can work, but it messes with the dynamics of the music. (Sometimes this is desireable, sometimes not.) i.e. Typically, compression is used to boost the quiet parts without boosting (or distorting) the loud parts of a song.