16-bit mastering - help!

Hi,

I'm a novice user trying to master a mix recorded at 24-bit, 44.1kHz down to 16-bit so I can make a CD. My song involves six acoustic instrument tracks and a vocal track, no midi.

I was felling very pleased with myself listening to the 24-bit mix - each track is distortion-free, the overall level is hot but not clipping, all the bassy and trebly bits sound great, etc.

However when I export to a 16-bit stereo Wav file, I was disappointed to find the whole thing is a mess of distortion. This is true even when (as an experiment) I turn the output level way down so the peaks are nowhere near the red zone, it still sounds awful.

So I'd be grateful for some beginners advice on 16-bit mastering. Is it just about the track levels, or is eq relevant too? I've been reading on the Sonar forum that the pros use exotic compression plugins for mastering - do I need one of these? If so, which one (on a bedroom-studio budget!) Is overall compression necessary or desirable for acoustic music? At the moment I have no processing in the master channel. I only use a compressor on the vocal track.

I'm having particular trouble with a bassy drum track that has a big bass eq boost and a long reverb. I turn the level right down as an experiment, but it still distorts badly in the 16-bit version. It seems to interact badly with the other tracks too. Is this because this track has so much bass? How do I lose the distortion but keep the big bass sound?

Thanks, Phil.

Ditto on the dither.

To fully understand the fundamental principles of dithering CLICK HERE.

If your tracks were properly recorded, applying dithering when exporting to 16 bit should work fine with no (audible) distortion.

Regards,
Papa

I've got used to putting big bass eq boost on my acoustic guitar and drum tracks, which sounds fine at 24 bit but causes distortion at 16 bit.

Something sounds fishy. I've never heard of exporting to 16-bit to cause distortion, and I always record in 24-bit and export to 16-bit. I suspect your problem is something else.

If you are indeed causing distortion by by bumping levels up too far, you should see the red clip meter light on your output bus. If you see this, try putting a limter on your master bus. Any signal that is above 0dB when it leaves the master bus will result in distortion.