What's a good audio decibel level?

[xeen]

I have noticed that a lot of my audio extends the "normal" decibel level. By normal, I mean the level that Cool Edit Pro interprets as normal.

For those who don't understand what I mean, look at the picture I attached. There are 3 screenshots. In the first one, the decibel level is within Cool Edit's normal volume level. In the second one, the decibel level extends the normal level bounds throughout most of the file. And in the last one, it extends by just a little bit.

My question is whether or not it matters if the decibel level of a song is beyond the "normal" limits. If it matters then I will lower the volume, but I don't want to do that because I don't want re-encode the MP3 file. Is there any sort of standard for the decibel level at which songs should be recorded (not just for video, but in general)? If it extends the normal bounds will it sound bad on big speakers or something?

http://erudition.illhostit.com/uploads/xeen_pic.jpg

Thanks for any explanations.

[Malevolent]

What level various programs use as "normal" varies, so there really isn't any "normal" level.
However, if the gain levels of any audio file are too high, then it starts to crackle & break during playback.

Also there is the annoying issue of having multiple files, say, MP3's that you've made a personalized collection of, and packed to a CD,
and if they have varying gain levels, then listening to said CD might be a bit tasking ;)

There's a program called MP3Gain that can alter the gain levels of any MP3 file without re-encoding,
and you can set the decibel level in it quite freely to your liking.

[Slogra]

There are a lot of articles and topic about this on the net. You can type "loudness race" in google and many will show up.

Here are a few interesting sites i found:
http://www.loudnessrace.net/
http://www.david.robinson.org/commsbill/ Chapter two
http://www.proaudiorx.com/dynamicrange.htm
and last but not least the hydrogen forum:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/

And they wonder why we don't buy audio CDs or listen to the radio anymore :rolleyes: