Best way to get from 24bit/44.1 to 16bit/44.1?

[Tone]

I have a project which I have to hand in for mastering this weekend. The mastering will go through analog (Manley etc) and into Sadie. They would prefer me to deliver at 16bit, I work at 24bit in the mix (in the box). Usually I would record the mix into 2 spare tracks and then Export audio in PT to 16 bit (which uses Digi's dither in the process). Anyone know of a better way? Thanks in advance.

[bassmac]

I think you need another M.E.

[Tone]

I think you need another M.E.

Yeah I know. It's a record company thing not my call. Thanks Grant who called me with a tip to try BTD with POW-r dither type 3 on the master fader, I'll certainly try that.

[auxsend1]

Different people prefer different dither methods. Maybe run a search on here for "best dither" and see what you come up with.

[Chief Technician]

I would put a +L1 as the last insert on the master fader and set the dither to type 2 with ultra noise shaping. It's provided me with quality results. The TC|MasterX plugin has a dither option as well.

[lukeyy]

all the waves stuff like L2, L1 is cool quality! I use them every day...

check out the demo!

[Altrack]

Hi,
We had the same question awhile ago and tried all the options. Exporting the stero file from PT into 16bit worked best and left the mix the purest. We checked the scopes. In your case, since you are going to master through a Manley, etc. I would leave it as "pure" as possible. Good Luck.

[Tone]

Thanks for the comments everyone, it's appreciated

As I'm right up to the deadline on the project, I really don't have time to try loads of stuff (I will though before next time). Therefore I think I'm probably gonna do the export thing as I've done ref mixes for approval that way many times and everything's been fine. It does seem that export in PT when going from 24 to 16 bit adds dither internally as it crunches.