SonauditA delivery folder can be wrong even when every file opens and sounds plausible on a quick listen. One chapter may use a different sample rate, one mix may peak above the receiver's limit, and a copied file may carry the wrong name while matching another file byte for byte. Checking tracks one at a time makes those batch-level differences easy to miss.
A useful preflight keeps the delivery together. Sonaudit accepts individual audio files or a folder, runs the same selected checks across the batch, and separates measurable exceptions from findings that still need a person to listen. It reads the source files without repairing, normalizing, or transcoding them.
Start from the receiver's current specification
Before opening a QC app, identify the specification that will decide acceptance. Required loudness, peak ceiling, format, channel layout, naming, and head or tail silence can differ between a podcast host, an audiobook distributor, a broadcaster, and a client archive.
In Sonaudit, General QC is a broad technical safety pass. Podcast, ACX Audiobook, EBU R 128, ATSC A/85 Short-Form, and Apple-oriented profiles expose different reference checks. These profiles are starting points, not certificates. If the receiver supplied a newer or project-specific document, use that document and create a custom profile where the available controls cover it.
- Keep the original delivery folder intact so file names, order, and batch consistency remain reviewable.
- Use one profile for the whole batch unless the delivery intentionally contains more than one specification.
- Open the profile details before scanning; the enabled checks and key thresholds should match the job you are reviewing.
Scan the folder, then read the batch before the file
Add the folder and let discovery finish. Sonaudit recursively finds supported audio extensions, removes duplicate paths, and sorts the discovered files. Decoding still depends on what the installed macOS audio stack can read, so an extension in the discovery list is not a promise that every codec variant will decode.
Begin with the batch summary. Pass, Review, Fail, and Unsupported counts show where attention is needed. Batch checks can expose inconsistent sample rate, channel count, bit depth, container, or loudness, along with naming conflicts, missing sequence numbers, unsafe file names, and SHA-256-identical content. Those findings are separate from defects inside the sound.
Audition timed findings instead of accepting the alert
Open a failed or review item and move from the measured value to the waveform. Clipping, silence, abrupt boundaries, and possible clicks have positions or ranges when the detector can locate them. Sonaudit can play the surrounding audio so a reviewer hears the event in context rather than judging a label alone.
Content-dependent findings deserve that extra step. A drum transient can resemble a click, intended room tone can resemble noise, and a deliberate hard cut can resemble a truncated ending. Confirm a real issue, ignore an intentional event, or leave it pending with a note. The review state is part of the project rather than a change to the audio.
Fix elsewhere, rescan, and hand off the right record
Make corrections in the DAW or source editor, replace the delivery files as your workflow requires, and rescan. A saved Sonaudit project can compare the new result with earlier snapshots and identify resolved, new, and persistent findings. If source files move or disappear, the project keeps the historical result and reports that the live source is unavailable.
Export only after the remaining candidates have been reviewed. PDF suits a human handoff, while CSV and JSON preserve structured data for spreadsheets or automation. None of those reports proves that a receiver will accept the files; it records what this scan measured, which profile was used, and what the reviewer decided.