What Does an Audio Quality Check Measure?
A professional audio quality check inspects several critical dimensions of a digital audio container:
Why LUFS and True Peak Matter
Digital streaming platforms apply automated loudness normalization to deliver a consistent volume experience to listeners. When a track is mastered significantly louder than the platform's reference target (such as -14.0 LUFS on Spotify or -16.0 LUFS on Apple Music), the platform's playback engine automatically turns the track down. This causes heavily limited, over-compressed masters to sound smaller and flatter than dynamically open tracks.
Furthermore, lossy compression codecs (such as AAC, MP3, and Ogg Vorbis) reconstruct audio waveforms in ways that produce higher peak voltages than the original uncompressed PCM. If a master lacks adequate True Peak headroom (at least -1.0 dBTP to -2.0 dBTP), the encoded lossy file will clip upon playback in consumer headphones and car sound systems.
Why WAV Specifications Matter
Uncompressed WAV files represent the definitive archival standard for audio distribution. However, sample rate mismatches—such as submitting a 44.1 kHz music file to a 48 kHz video broadcast ingest queue—trigger automatic resampling filters that degrade transient response. Verifying bit depths, channel configurations, and header metadata prevents ingestion rejections across distributors and aggregators.
Why Check Before Audio Delivery?
Finding a technical defect after an audio file has been submitted to a client, distributor, or streaming platform causes release delays, expensive re-deliveries, and reputational damage. Running an automated audio QC check with Sonichecks provides an instant, mathematically verifiable assessment of your files—ensuring that every master you deliver passes technical requirements on the first attempt.