Sonar and mixing to 2 track

[makes]

Hi,

I use Sonar with motu 1224. I record in 24 bit, pretty much everything I do is "live" recording ie: real drums/guitars/vocal etc. Old school but into a computer.

Here's my question: Whenever I mix to 2 track wav file I lose quality.
Heres my method:
I select all my tracks, then go to file export audio, and I save the file as a 16bit broadcast wav file. If I leave it at 24 bit windows doesnt recognize the file format.

Now the mixed stereo file doesnt sound bad at all, but compared to the mutlitrack sonar mix it loses quite a bit.

Any suggestions?


Makes

 

[dachay2tnr]

Are you dithering the file when you go from 24 bits to 16 bits? That might help a little - but try and use a better dithering algorithm than the one that is supplied with Sonar. (Although Sonar 4 Producer is reputed to include a pretty good dithering tool.)

Also, you might be better off leaving the file at 24 bits until it has been mastered. Windows Media Player won't play a 24 bit file, but WinAmp will.