Difference between gain and normalize

[rickwaugh]

I'm a bit confused as to the difference between these two choices. Normalize sounds like it simply increases the gain across the track, or is it using done kind of algorithm to vary the amount of gain supplied?

[Johow]

I'm not an expert but I believe gain will amplify everything selected by a specified multiplier, normalize will increase or decrease the selection so the highest peak is at a specific level and everything else where it falls below that. So if I select some audio and say normalize to 0db, it will adjust the level so that the highest peak is at 0db and everything else is relative to that. If I'm not right, I apologize but as I said, I'm no expert...