Thanks John. What I do now (a bit slow, but it works) is I render the project as a .wav file and bring it up in my sound editor that I use for converting LP's, cassettes and Cd's to MP's and use their normalize function. Then I just sub the result file for the main sound track in Vegas.

It just seems a bit strange that I can see on the waveform that it is a low "volume" soundtrack, but I could spend more time trying to fiddle with the Db+ on it and only have a small visual indicator of how "loud" the sound is. Also, I don't want it to clip.

PS I hate that loud commercial stuff. I used to have a Magnavox TV with "smart sound" that would keep the sound at the same level, no matter what. I don't know if they still make them, though. And I'm not buying another TV until the digital/HD/whatever standards become mandatory. OK I lied, I want a wide-screen plasma the size of a football field, but unless all y'all want to make donations, that won't happen ;-)

Thanks again.

- jim the eternal newbie

What John is refering to as "average level" is actually called loudness, and the "Normalize" function in most audio editors and CD rippers usually sets what is commonly refered to as "Peak level".

Normalizing peak level simply adjusts the volume of your whole audio file in order to bring its maximum value up to the specified value. In digital audio, all the sample values are defined, and if the volume goes above the maximum value possible, it simply gets "cut off", where anything above it remains at that same maximum level (this is called saturation), leaving a straight line (making it a DC or 0Hz, which, if lasted longer would produce no sound, as sound is defined as a wave, 20Hz to 20kHz for humans), and causing an audible distortion, which sounds pretty much like an amplifier with volume turned all the way up, and the audio sounds "broken".
Normalizing peak level maximizes your volume up to a point where its highest sample value doesn't exceed 100% (highest sample value possible), or anything less than that, which you can set (I use -0.2dB peak level, or about 98%). With digital audio, you want to use the maximum dynamic range available without changing anything else in the original sound, and normalizing peak level does that, especially for audio files with low peaks.
That's all there is to it!

Normalizing using average RMS level or loudness sets the apparent loudness of your audio file to a value that you specify. It raises the quieter parts of the sound file, in order to achieve the specified average RMS level or loudness.
It only cares about peak level when a portion of the sound exceeds it, and in such case it applies dynamic compression, which supresses that portion to be below the peak level.

While normalizing peak level simply changes the volume of your whole file, without changing anything else, normalizing loudness changes both the volume of an audio file and portions of it in regards to other portions of it, which changes the essence of that audio file. If you had a recording where violins were supposed to be quieter than, say, piano, forget it! The violins' loudness will now be closer to piano's loudness, if not the same. That's what average RMS level or loudness normalization does.

My suggestion for you is to first normalize your peak levels, and then adjust volume in Vegas, reducing it for louder tracks, and keeping it equal to or less than 0dB for quieter tracks, or maybe raising their volume level if necessary, but make sure your Master Volume level doesn't peak above 0dB, and always keep it below 0dB!
Use RMS normalization only when you have to!

There's a number of presets in the track compressor that comes with Vegas, you will not go to far wrong with them. I'm not saying you cannot do better with more tweaking but they're better than nothing.
Thing is if your levels are all over the place then unless you have a compressor with smart threshold it's going to do nothing for you, if your levels are not hitting the threshold then it'll do you no good.
As a real basic way to handle things, normalise all your clips and use the "1.5:1 compression starting at -24dB" template.
Don't be afraid to experiment and watch what the meters in the compressor FX are doing, you'll start to pickup the idea.
Before all the purists jump all over me, this is only a basic way to work, just something that will not produce any ugly results.
My best advice to anyone is you can read and study all you want but it's only be experimenting that you'll get a feel for how YOUR material reacts and how it suits YOUR audience. Remember a good sountrack takes into account where it'll be heard, that's one of the best tips I picked up from a master of the art. Also remember Vegas is non destructive, keep saving different versions if you like, but you can always start again from scratch.
Bob.