Craig,
Nice tutorial. I’m not sure I agree with the way in which you manually decreased the gain of the spot before you processed it – but that’s just my opinion.
A few things I wanted to add to this – if you don’t have Audition – have a look at auphonic. It’s a web service. Read into it. It’s pretty impressive.
Also, take a look at LoudnessChange (Mac/PC). It’s a little clunky looking – but it actually worx quite well. Very afforable at $30 bucks US.
Personally I use the VisLM Loudness Meter by Nugen. There is another meter available that’s really well done and affordable:
TB EBU Loudness by ToneBoosters
It’s a professional meter and very inexpensive.
-paul.