[cicada]

I realize you are looking for help with audacity. Can I make a simple request to you? Please don't normalize. I can't complain when others share their recordings here and elsewhere... after all they are shared for free. But, I have so many recordings that cannot be repaired and I simply will not play them when the sound is rendered unlistenable by aggressive normalization.

I love a hot master from back in the day. You know the kind. However some of my favourite masters were notoriously under-recorded. We have a volume control on our stereo systems to deal with this issue. In fact, I have found all the audio processing to be fairly destructive. I prefer the raw recording, which I can tweak on whatever stereo I happen to use for playback. Let's face it, very few of us have true monitoring facilities to get a sample of the actual sound. The changes we make to these recording based on what we are hearing is more a function of the system (speakers/ headphones and other gear). But, when I give it to my buddy, his system is completely different.

Sorry for the soapbox (and you might actually have a golden ear for sound... that I don't have). There is a way to apply normaliztion carefully for a problematic recording, but consider doing absolute minimum processing possible. Don't be afraid to ask about specifics before making changes when you feel they are required. While you might be most proficient at this stuff, I speak from experience when I say... I wish they removed "normalization' from these software programs completely. So many of these recordings are not salvagable after it has been used.

On a positive note, good for you for spending the time and energy to get these recordings out into the daylight. Enjoy your bliss!