This is an important tutorial on how you can control MP3 and WAV file integrity using an accurate and reliable method. This is rarely done in home studio recording practice but it’s very useful.
How you are going to use MD5 Checksum in Music Production?
The following are the scenarios on how you can apply MD5 checksum in all important stages in music production:
1.) Supposing you are a recording producer assigned to produce a single. You start the recording session and perform several re-takes. You decide the best takes which should be used for the audio mixing session. Let’s say that vocalfinal.wav as the best take for the lead vocals, bassfinal.wav as the best take for the bass guitars, etc. How will you protect the integrity of these files?
This is where MD5 checksum can be a big help. It will help you track and verify files to ensure that you will be working with the correct files during the audio mixing. It is easy to get lost in the tracking session, sometimes the files that are submitted for mixing is not correct and may not be the best take as decided by the producer. It’s the recording producer job to list down these files and keep it in a safe place with its MD5 checksum. You will learn more about this later.
2.) After everyone is happy with the mix, you start the mix down. The file is huge because it is 24-bit/96Khz. You will send this mix down to mastering facilities via online. You are concerned that the qualities of your mix down WAV file might get affected during the transit or any unexpected audio processing. Using MD5 checksum can ensure that the mastering engineer is working on the correct mix down WAV file as you have created.
3.) Finally you have the audio CD master. You are concern that there might be alterations and degradations in audio quality due to unexpected digital audio processing or simply wear and tear of storage media. Using MD5 checksum right after mastering can help you ensure that you are keeping the same file as completed by your mastering engineer.
4.) You then convert each WAV to MP3 and embed ID3 tags as well as ISRC on it. You now have your digital master in MP3 format. You want to control the integrity of these files to make sure that you are distributing the correct files. This will prevent any tampering or unauthorized third-party processing of MP3 files which can alter audio quality. MD5 checksum can help you on this.
5.) You are now selling MP3 files online. Your buyers are worried that they might have the counterfeit/pirated copy of your song from other sources. Using MD5 checksum can ensure that your customers are getting the correct files as you have created. Bear in mind that MD5 checksum cannot protect your MP3 files from unauthorized copying and distribution. It simply checks file integrity. Since most counterfeit copies alter the audio or MP3 tags in some manner, using MD5 checksum can verify the original.
6.) You offer any of your audio files for downloading and your recipient wants to be sure that the file is not corrupted.
MD5 Checksum Example on Audio Files
To have a very clear idea how to do an MD5 checksum to check audio files integrity, take a look at the flow chart below:
MD5 checksum for audio flowchart
Let’s have an example. You will be using a WAV file but the steps are the same for MP3 files. Download this test wav file (right click and save as). For illustration purposes; supposing this is an official recording of a kick drum track that you want to be quality-controlled using MD5 checksum. To implement:
Step1.) Download this Windows MD5 checker software. Extract the zip file and you will see WinMD5.exe. This is the executable file that you need for MD5 checksum.
Step2.) Double click WinMD5.exe. Click “Browse” and navigate to kickdrum.wav file then click “Open”. The software automatically computes the MD5 checksum of the wav file (inside the red box). This is how it looks like:
Resulting checksum
Step3.) Take note of this MD5 checksum, write or copy it down. For very important files, you should put the MD5 checksum results in a text file. To do this, open a notepad and paste the MD5 checksum value such as:
9c21dfcd8abb6326f9b67996d2bca382
If you have a lot of files, you can have the format like the one below:
Kickdrum.wav: 9c21dfcd8abb6326f9b67996d2bca382
Snare.wav: fd14764595a730e639b30085c441c468
Vocals.wav: 8ffb274f36fb52746e531e53cb58d301
Save it as md5checksum.txt and include this file with your important audio files. You can put them together in a folder ready to be sent to your recipients:
Package for sending the audio files
Alternatively if you want to only send pure audio files to your recipient; you can send the md5checksum.txt by email with instructions how to verify the audio file integrity. As a summary by confirming the wav or mp3 file integrity, you can be sure that the recipient is receiving the original files as you have created.
Content last updated on August 12, 2012