Audio levels help

Hey ho.
In preparation of my sisters premiere screening and temporary installation of my Barking project, The Lintons: a room with a view. I need some help............
well it's been a long time in the making, but a year to the day since the lintons council estate came down, i shall be holding the screening of my film in the empty building site.
I have been lucky enough to secure some extra funding to turn the screening into quite a temporary site specific work, bless the arts council the local authority and the demolition company for believing in my puritanical whim. Up to my eyes in scaffolding towers, projectors, high vis strip and domestic interiors but it should all be worth it.
I have a problem with the audio that a some points the levels are really high,Is there a limiter or compressor i can put the audio through that will normalize the audio,or does this have to be done bit by bit. I want all the audio to be the same level but after the process of exporting the the entire film i have seen the problems with the levels.I have the audio track seperate now and have the tools to either use final cut or logic to render the problem...
many many many thankyou's in advance alex

You can do this in Soundtrack Pro. The key concepts are using Effects located in the DYNAMC folder - particularly Compressor or Multipressor (which reduces the dynamic range between loudest and softest). the compression effect can be added to an individual track or to the whole project. It's better to deal with specific tracks than the whole mix if possible.
Once you have a solid soundtrack (avg levels peaking around -12 to -6 db with the softest sounds still clearly audible, you may need to apply the Limiter to the occasional spike (eg explosion) that drives levels towards 0 db and clipping. The Limiter will reduce just those elements that go above your threashold in a gradual way to keep them from clipping.
The Soundtrack manual is pretty well written. Pay particular attention to the Soundtrack Pro Effects Reference volume.
If you have questions, the Soundtrack Pro forum would be a good place for posting them.
Good luck,
x

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