I recorded a show last night and had an WHOOper (WHOO! WHOO!) and clapper sitting behind me and his enjoyment of the show is represented well on the recording. Otherwise a fine recording, and I really don't have a problem with his representation on the recording. Except... I know this artist tends to increase the volume of the last few songs by about 5 dB, so I ran the levels pretty conservatively so I could boost the rest of the show in post. With the WHOOs and claps that occur during the songs (not just between songs), and at times clipping, amplifying the recording is presenting a problem. If it was just applause or WHOOping between songs, I'd simple reduce the between song segments before applying peak normalization. However, being during the actual music and quite numerous, I am at a bit of loss other than to manually reduce each one which would drive me crazy and might cause me to simply shelve the recording.
I have only used Audacity and know there is an envelope tool, but even after reading the posts here and elsewhere, am at a loss as to how it really works. I am willing to use another tool (free or not overly expensive, please. R8Brain or Samplitude?). Any help or direction would be appreciated.