Naming and Checking Final Audio Files Before They Leave Your Desk

Start from the destination, not the export button

Before you open any export dialog, write down where each finished file will end up. Broadcast, web and archive copies often need different settings, and guessing wastes a rendering pass at the worst possible moment. I ask learners to keep a short delivery sheet beside the project: one line per destination, with the file type, sample rate, bit depth and any loudness target that has been agreed in writing. This habit matters most in autumn, when many producers are clearing backlogs before the winter schedule fills up. Files that were fine for a rough review version are rarely fine for hand-over. If the sheet is missing, ask the producer or the receiving team for it rather than assuming. A two-line email now saves a re-export later and keeps the revision count honest.

The sheet also protects you. When a client asks for a change after delivery, you can point to what was requested and what was supplied. Keep it with the project folder, not in your head. For a recorded report or an explainer, the sheet usually has only three or four lines, and filling it in takes minutes.

• Destination: broadcast, web or archive
• File type and bit depth
• Sample rate and channel layout
• Agreed loudness target, if any

Choosing file types and sample rates

For picture work, uncompressed WAV at the project's sample rate is the safe master. Most video timelines run at 48 kHz, so exporting at 44.1 kHz and letting someone else convert it introduces a risk of drift against picture that you could have avoided. Match the sample rate of the timeline unless the destination says otherwise, and keep a 24-bit master even if a 16-bit copy is also requested. Web copies are different. A compressed file such as AAC or MP3 suits streaming and email review, but it should always be made from the master, never from another compressed file. Each generation of compression removes detail, and sibilance is usually the first thing to suffer. Label compressed copies clearly so nobody mistakes them for the master.

Archive copies deserve the same care as the master. Store the uncompressed file with its delivery sheet and, where practical, a short text note of the settings used. Months later, when a programme segment is reused, that note answers questions nobody remembers asking.

• Master: WAV, 24-bit, timeline sample rate
• Web copy: compressed, made from the master
• Archive: uncompressed, with a settings note

A naming pattern that survives hand-over

File names are part of the delivery. A name like final_v3_REALLY_final tells the receiver nothing and invites the wrong file to be used. A reliable pattern runs from general to specific: project, segment, version, destination, date. Use hyphens or underscores, avoid spaces and accents, and keep to one pattern across the whole job so that sorting a folder puts related files side by side. Version numbers should change only when the audio changes. If you re-export the same audio to fix a metadata slip, say so in the note rather than inventing a new version. That distinction matters when a producer compares what was approved with what arrived. Keep the review version and the final version clearly separate, because the approved review is the reference everyone agreed on.

Add a short line to the delivery email listing each file and its purpose. It reads like a packing slip, and it lets the receiver tick items off. For stereo, mono or split dialogue stems, say which channel layout each file uses, since a mislabelled stem is among the commonest causes of a confused edit.

• Pattern: project, segment, version, destination, date
• No spaces or accents in names
• Change the version only when the audio changes

The final listen, done properly

Never deliver a file you have not heard from start to finish in its exported form. Re-import the file into a fresh session, or open it in a plain player, and listen on the same monitoring you used to mix. Exports can fail quietly: a clipped peak, a truncated tail, a channel swapped. Ten minutes of listening costs far less than an awkward email afterwards. Check the beginning and end first, since that is where most export faults show. Then skim the middle at normal speed, paying attention to joins between edited takes and any place where music enters under speech. If the segment is synchronised to picture, play the exported audio against the video once more and confirm there is no offset at the start or at the last frame.

Finally, check the numbers. Measure loudness against the agreed target and note the result on your delivery sheet. If a figure sits outside tolerance, fix the mix rather than the export; changing a file's level at the last moment without listening again is how new problems arrive. Record what you measured so the next reviewer sees the same result.

• Re-open the exported file, not the session
• Check the first and last seconds carefully
• Confirm sync against picture at both ends

Packaging and sending the finished job

Group the files in one folder named after the project and version, with sub-folders only where the receiver needs them, such as master, web and archive. Include the delivery sheet or a short readme listing what each file is. Resist adding every working file; the receiver wants finished audio, not your session history, unless the brief asked for stems or the project itself. For transfer, use whatever method the client already trusts, and confirm that large files arrived complete. A simple checksum or a file-size comparison catches truncated downloads that look fine until someone plays them. Keep your own copy of everything sent until the client has confirmed receipt and the revision window described in the quote has closed.

Mention in the covering note what happens next: the revision scope that was agreed, how long you will hold the project, and how to ask for a change. Calm, clear wording at this point sets expectations and keeps later rounds within the agreed limits.

• One folder per project and version
• Include a short list of files and their purpose
• Verify large transfers arrived complete

A closing checklist for these darker weeks

As the year turns towards its busiest delivery period, many small teams work to shorter deadlines and are more likely to skip the last checks. Build the checklist into your routine now so that it holds when time is tight. A reliable routine is a calm one, and calm work produces cleaner files. Run through it every time, even for a short segment: destination confirmed, master exported at the timeline rate, compressed copies made from the master, names checked, final listen done, loudness noted, files packaged, revision terms restated. None of it is difficult; the value lies in doing it in the same order each time.

If you are learning this on the course, practise on a short authorised recording and ask a colleague to receive the files cold, with no explanation. Whatever confuses them is what to fix in your naming and notes.