Normalize audio clips to a peak or loudness level

Search for “unity normalize audio” and the first result is Unity’s page for the Audio Normalize Effect, a mixer effect that changes gain while the game runs. It never touches a file. The import settings have a Normalize checkbox too, but it only works together with Force To Mono. If you want a quiet clip to be louder in the file itself, or a pack of sounds to sit at one level, neither one does it.

Normalize to a peak

1. Open the clip with Edit Audio. The header shows SOURCE PEAK, the loudest sample of the original, next to OUTPUT PEAK and LOUDNESS.
2. Select a region, or leave the selection empty to work on the whole clip.
3. In Enhance, enable Normalize, keep the mode Peak and set Target peak (dB). The default of -0.4 dB leaves a little headroom below full scale.
4. Watch OUTPUT PEAK: the loudest sample now sits exactly at the target, and everything else is scaled by the same amount.
5. Press Space to listen, then Save Copy to write the result as a new WAV.

Peak normalization scales the whole region by one factor, so the balance between loud and soft parts stays the same. A quiet chime with a peak of -7 dB gets about 6.6 dB louder throughout.

Normalize to a loudness

Two clips with the same peak can sound very different: a short click and a sustained drone, for example. Switch Normalize to Loudness (LUFS) to match how loud clips feel instead. Audio Tools measures integrated loudness per ITU-R BS.1770 and scales the clip to the Target loudness, -23 LUFS by default, while the Peak ceiling, -1 dB by default, keeps peaks from clipping. The LOUDNESS readout in the header shows the measured value.

Loudness pays off most across a set: open all the footsteps or all the UI clicks together, normalize them to one target and save every copy in one pass, as the batch guide shows. Analyze lists the gain each file gets, so outliers stand out before you save.

Adjust the volume instead

When you want a clip a bit quieter or louder rather than at a fixed level, enable Volume and set it between 0 and 200 percent; the label shows the change in decibels, up to +6 dB. Volume combines with fades and the other effects, and every change previews from the original samples.

Clipping is shown before you save

Raising a clip can push samples past full scale. Audio Tools counts them and shows a warning at the bottom of the editor that says how many samples reach the clipping limit, before anything is saved. You can still export, but lowering the volume or the target usually sounds cleaner.

Levels in the file, balance in the mixer

Normalizing files gets every sound into a sensible range. The balance between groups, such as music under dialogue or UI above ambience, belongs in an Audio Mixer, where you can still change it late in production. The article on peak and loudness normalization has a step-by-step approach for leveling a whole pack.