https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/news-makers/from-gainesville-to-gain-control-reaves-finds-his-zen Yeah, it is easy to forget about controlling audio with some sort of an audio Automatic gain Control, (AGC), But, adding a decent AGC, with the Compressor / Limiter, does yield to some nice, commercial broadcast quality audio results. BTW, my answer to Audio AGC was the original TERK VR-1 unit, meant to tackle TV audio that was all over the place at the time.
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-3KT4WJ8C5t0/p_209VR1/Terk-VR-1.html In 2005, I bought one of the original ones for $80.00 new, which was considered a bargain for what it does, a DSP unit that is specifically setup for Audio AGC. Do not confuse this with the now newer & cheaper, but very much flawed P.O.S., Audiovox VR-1. That, uses op-amps as compariters, and does these loud POP sounds when it acts hard to control audio. A very inferior version indeed. However, if you find the original TERK VR-1, in perfect order, I'd suggest you grab it up.