Normalize Audio Volume
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There are two different jobs here. Turning the volume up by a fixed amount is what you want for one quiet recording — and the limiter keeps the peaks from clipping into distortion as you do it. Normalising to a target loudness is the professional version: it measures the whole recording the way streaming platforms do, in LUFS, and adjusts it to the standard they expect. That is why −14 LUFS is offered for YouTube and Spotify and −16 for Apple Podcasts. Deliver at the right loudness and the platform leaves your audio alone; deliver too loud and it turns you down, usually less kindly than you would have.
Peak normalisation versus loudness normalisation
The old approach raises a file until its single loudest sample touches maximum. It guarantees nothing about how loud the recording feels — one stray peak, a cough or a door closing, holds the whole file down. It is why "normalised" recordings so often still sound quiet.
Loudness normalisation measures the whole recording the way hearing works, weighted by frequency and averaged over time, and expresses it in LUFS. Targeting −14 LUFS means the recording will sit alongside everything else on YouTube or Spotify at the same apparent level, whatever its peaks are doing. That is what platforms measure, so it is what you should deliver.
Why turning it up is not always enough
If a recording swings between a whisper and a shout, no single adjustment fixes it: raise it until the quiet parts are audible and the loud parts distort. That is a dynamic-range problem, and it needs compression — reducing the gap between loud and quiet — before normalisation sets the final level. Recording at a sensible distance from the microphone in the first place avoids most of it.
When you do turn a file up by a fixed amount here, leave the limiter on. It holds back the peaks that would otherwise clip into the hard, crackling distortion that cannot be undone afterwards.
Frequently asked questions
What target should a podcast use?
−16 LUFS for Apple Podcasts, which most podcast platforms follow. −14 if the same file also goes to YouTube or Spotify.
Can normalising damage the audio?
Turning it up can, if peaks clip — which is what the limiter prevents. Loudness normalisation downward is always safe.
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