While Reaper-licenses are very affordable, their demo-version is fully usable (sort of forever); you will get a 10 seconds pop-up-reminder every launch for not paying for a great DAW, though. That is more than fair, I guess.
… They say it is a 30-day-trial-version, but in recent years it never was…
Nevertheless: please get the license, if you can. Reaper is a great product.
I very happily bought two versions of it over the years.
Thanks for the advices! I also thought that maybe compressors had anything to do with it. I have begun looking at them, but, as you say, they require some experience and understanding. The only thing to do is try and learn…