so it sounds like I cant export all 16 songs from diff tracks simultaneously.

You obviously didn't read my post. 

Just checking in folks.  I have discovered a way to export all tracks with their respective song lengths all at once.  Insert buses for every track if you want to apply effects on the bus.  Route all your tracks to their buses, if not you are only going to export the settings in the pro channel and not the master bus settings. Have all tracks lined up starting a zero.  Extend the shaded gray movable thingy along the ruler to the length of the longest track. Double click on the longest track, which makes the loop view appear at the bottom.  Click export audio, then in the source select bus is exporting buses or just tracks if your not exporting buses.  You should see all your individual buses or tracks in the box underneath the source.  Choose 16 bit for CD and there you have it!  I have exported all tracks at one shot while maintaining their respective time lengths!!

Seems like extra trouble to me, and the end result is going to be a CD album with generic 2-second gaps between songs. You really want to be able to adjust those gaps for best continuity, e.g. setting a gap equal to one measure of the previous song. You may even want to blend the ending of one song into the start of the next song with no gap at all, a technique that works well if the adjacent songs are in compatible keys.

Here's an alternate method. First, export each song to 32-bit wave files, each mastered in their original projects. Like you, I load these into a fresh project for mastering (be sure to un-check the "copy files to audio folder" option). I arrange them on a single track, in the order they'll appear on the CD, adjusting the gaps between each song the way I want to hear them. If necessary, use a volume envelope to make small adjustments so they're all at compatible levels to one another. Since they're already mastered, they'll all be pretty close already.

Throw a HPF onto the track to filter out subsonics. Now you're ready to export the whole CD project as one big 16-bit file. After exporting, I like to pull up the master file in Windows Media Player, sit back and listen to the whole thing, or at least the transitions between songs. In this way you can audition the CD exactly as it will sound when finished and burned, but without actually burning a disk.

Because all the songs are in one large file, you'll use your CD-burning software to indicate where each one starts. When you burn a CD, it's always one big file even if you started with 16 individual wave files - that's just how CDs work. The "tracks" on a CD are an illusion; what the CD really has is one data file and a separate list of time offsets for each song. All CD-burning applications (except SONAR) allow you insert those indexes before burning, and to save them for future re-use as you go through multiple test iterations.

I think you'll find that this method is a little faster than exporting each song separately, with the added advantage of giving you more creative flexibility in sequencing your album.

20 Grand


Also, if Sonar isn't the program to master in this way, are there any other suggestions like Sound Forge for example that is great for mastering audio?

Cake's Pyro Audio Creator is useable.
I hate to be "that guy"...but since he asked. Studio One is really good for mastering, assembling songs, and burning them onto CD. Although I only use it for mastering, it's evidently a good DAW too. There is also Wavelab, Sony SoundForge, and several others..
 
I'm a total Sonar fanboy though for song recording.

Good wisdom everyone, think I'll try to burn everything as one large 32 bit file...I just need some audio burning software that will allow editing for  the burning process!  Which audio software will be the easiest to work with?  I'm not into trends or the latest and greatest, however, I do wish to be able to breeze through this task of mastering without the more technical headaches...it's tough enough just getting a good mix, then getting thru the final editing touches, then the 50 cd pack i've went thru from trial and error to get my songs sounding half way good...Im just a lil frustrated and ready to go with a final master as quickly as possibe. 

Only 50 CDs wasted so far? I literally went through 300 of them before I finally figured out what I was doing!  Hang in there. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

CD Architect is the standard for creating audio CDs.

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X2 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX2Power
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

Cool, thanks for all the info.  People can say what they want bout Sonar, but all my friends who use Pro tools dont have half the features we enjoy!  At least Sonar can export all wav files at once, maybe not the solution for my purpose, but at least i can get this far.  Ima check out all the audio solutions everybody suggested to see which joint ima go with! 

P.S.  I might've under estimated number of cd's I've gone through.  I've prolly gone through at least 150 CD's!

Now you know why they sell them in packs of 100.