I looked up LUFS. I didn't know, exactly, what LUFS was doing, and it's purely dB range. The file's max. volume of 0dB, shows there's parts of the song that are already at peak. So, -11.8 LUFS, is the loudest it can be, or it will clip (or redline and distort) the audio.

Compressor is how you can lower the peak. This will show you the concept of using compressors.

This is going to really smash it, because it's addressing red lined audio, but it's exactly the same thing you want. Just don't go as low on the noise floor and threshold.

I looked up LUFS. I didn't know, exactly, what LUFS was doing, and it's purely dB range. The file's max. volume of 0dB, shows there's parts of the song that are already at peak. So, -11.8 LUFS, is the loudest it can be, or it will clip (or redline and distort) the audio.

Compressor is how you can lower the peak. This will show you the concept of using compressors.

This is going to really smash it, because it's addressing red lined audio, but it's exactly the same thing you want. Just don't go as low on the noise floor and threshold.

For clipped audio, a faster attack time will help catch the peaks, but slower release times provide a more natural sound. Do the make-up gain after compression. I like to use "loudness normalization" after a compressor. If you still have available peak after that, do a standard 0.0dB amplify.