Adjusting "Normalize" settings?

there are often tracks that would benefit from volume increases, and i hve not yet decided on the best way to accomplish this, whether to just up the track faders, or the master fader, or use the utility volume plug, or use a limiter, or use the normalize function. when i try to use the normalize function, it always seems to go just a bit too far. is there any way to adjust the settings for normalize, so i can tone it down a bit, like reduce the amount of gain it applies? thanks.

Yes, there is a way to increase volume without normalizing to excess. Right click on the item and left click on item properties. Alternatively, highlight the item and press F2. In the window about halfway down you'll see volume and pan faders (to the right of normalize). Drag the volume fader up as far as you need. That way you'll still have the normal track fader at 0db for finer adjustments. Hope this helps.

You can also set up keystrokes for the actions "nudge item volume up" and "nudge item volume down" to quickly adjust an item's volume. You'll need the wonderful Xenakios Commands extension to accomplish this. Then you can just quickly tap the volume for an item/s up or down to wherever you need it. The Xenakios Commands Extension can be found here:

thanks for the comments. i should add that my work is all classical or chamber music, so i am not trying to achieve a compressed pop/rock kind of result - i just want to get an acceptable volume level for CD playback. i was wondering about this possible simple approach - would this work okay? 1. normalize the tracks (i think this takes the peaks to -0.1dBfs, which can be problemmatic for some CD players) 2. patch in a master limiter on the main buss, and limit to -0.4dB (or slightly less) 3. no compression. just leave existing dynamics. 4. still leaves the material in decent shape for professional mastering later if desired (yes?)