How the adjustment is applied
The volume control is a straight gain applied to the whole file, expressed as a percentage of the original. 100% leaves the audio untouched, 50% halves the amplitude, 200% doubles it. The range runs from just above zero to 1000%, which is a very wide span — most useful work happens between 50% and 300%.
Percentages and perceived loudness are not the same thing. Doubling the amplitude is about a 6 dB increase, which sounds noticeably louder but nothing like twice as loud; perceived doubling takes roughly 10 dB, or around 300%. If a recording sounds only slightly louder after you set 200%, that is expected rather than a fault.
The limit you will hit: clipping
Digital audio has a hard ceiling. When gain pushes a waveform past that ceiling the peaks are flattened, and flattened peaks sound like distortion — a harsh crackle on transients, worst on drums and consonants. A file that was already mastered loud has almost no headroom, so even 120% can clip it, while a quiet phone recording might take 400% cleanly.
If boosting introduces distortion, the problem is usually dynamic range rather than level: a few loud peaks are stopping you from raising the quiet parts. The Audio Compressor is the right tool there. It pulls the loudest passages down so the whole file can then be raised without the peaks hitting the ceiling, which is how quiet speech is normally rescued.
Reducing volume never distorts, and never recovers either. Lowering a clipped recording makes it quieter but leaves the flattened peaks flattened — clipping has to be avoided at the source, it cannot be undone afterwards.
Common uses
- Rescuing a voice memo or interview recorded too far from the microphone.
- Matching levels across several files before merging them with the Audio Joiner, so the joins are not obvious.
- Bringing a track down before applying the Bass Booster or Equalizer, to leave headroom for the boost.
- Reducing a sample so it sits under a voiceover rather than competing with it.