[[email protected]]

I need to record an event which is supposed to last couple of hours.
The source will be audio mixer and the destination a PC (recording
through line in). Would be nice if the recording could be in "one
peice". I have no previous experience, but I am sure resulting file
will be large. What I don't want to happen during the process is to
get an error message like "not enough virtual memory" or any other.
Need suggestions as to how to accomplish this. Thanks in advance...

[Arny Krueger]

wrote in message


I need to record an event which is supposed to last
couple of hours. The source will be audio mixer and the
destination a PC (recording through line in). Would be
nice if the recording could be in "one piece".

Not really.

There's an optimal size for a recording, depending on a number of factors.

I've never seen a live event that didn't have natural breaking points.

I've never seen a recording that didn't benefit from having usable breaking
points.

I have no
previous experience, but I am sure resulting file will be
large.

Working with large files gets old fast.

What I don't want to happen during the process is
to get an error message like "not enough virtual memory"
or any other. Need suggestions as to how to accomplish
this. Thanks in advance...

Most recording software and devices that are built to record long events are
doing some kind of fragmentation of the recorded file under the covers. For
example, the standard file format for recording audio is the .wav file.
Since they are based on 32 bit pointers, a .wav file can only become so
large. Recording software and hardware that records .wav files has to break
the recorded information up on the fly. And that is what it does.

[Serge Auckland[_2_]]

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
wrote in message


I need to record an event which is supposed to last
couple of hours. The source will be audio mixer and the
destination a PC (recording through line in). Would be
nice if the recording could be in "one piece".

Not really.

There's an optimal size for a recording, depending on a number of factors.

I've never seen a live event that didn't have natural breaking points.

I've never seen a recording that didn't benefit from having usable
breaking points.

I have no
previous experience, but I am sure resulting file will be
large.

Working with large files gets old fast.

What I don't want to happen during the process is
to get an error message like "not enough virtual memory"
or any other. Need suggestions as to how to accomplish
this. Thanks in advance...

Most recording software and devices that are built to record long events
are doing some kind of fragmentation of the recorded file under the
covers. For example, the standard file format for recording audio is the
.wav file. Since they are based on 32 bit pointers, a .wav file can only
become so large. Recording software and hardware that records .wav files
has to break the recorded information up on the fly. And that is what it
does.




I have made several recordings of a few hours duration using Cool Edit2000,
and they are done as one file.

I can also recommend the VRS system from NCH software.
http://www.nch.com.au/vrs/index.html

This software is designed for recording non-stop for things like radio
station logging or telephone call logging and the like. What it does, is to
record in chunks as a WAV file (user settable, normally 60 minutes) then
compress the previous hour to a user settable format (like 128k MP3) whilst
it is recording the next hour. As the settings are all user selectable, you
select uncompressed WAV for your "compressed" setting, and it just leaves
the recordings alone.

We use this software at my local radio station as a 24 hour/day 60 day
logger as in the UK we're obliged by law to log our output for a minimum of
42 days.

If you have some idea of how long the recording will be, you can set it so
that it does the whole recording in one section, without breaking it up into
1 hour (or whatever) chunks. It also has the great benefit that if power
goes off, or your PC crashes, you can recover all audio up until the crash.

You can download a trial version from the link above.

S.
--
http://audiopages.googlepages.com

[---MIKE---]

You could record on VHS (video) tape. At slow speed you could record
six hours and in hifi stereo mode the quality would be good.


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

[[email protected]]

On Jun 6, 2:20 am, wrote:
I need to record an event which is supposed to last couple of hours.
The source will be audio mixer and the destination a PC (recording
through line in). Would be nice if the recording could be in "one
peice". I have no previous experience, but I am sure resulting file
will be large. What I don't want to happen during the process is to
get an error message like "not enough virtual memory" or any other.
Need suggestions as to how to accomplish this. Thanks in advance...

What are you recording and what quality are you willing
to settle for? That makes a big difference in how you
proceed.

If you want the highest possible quality stereo recording
of a long musical event for which you have high-quality
microphones carefully placed, you don't have a lot of
choices.

If,, on the other hand, you're doing a mono recording
and need only voice-grade wuality, you have many
more choices.

The difference being that a cd-quality stereo recording
(16-bits, 2 channels, 44.1 k sample rate) will chew
up about 1.27 GB of disk space. THat's within the FAT32
limits for file size, but it's still a huge file.

On the other hand, a voice-grade recording (8-bit,
1 channel, 11.025 k sample rate) is only going
to be about 80 MB long.

And what about compressed formats? a 160 kb/s
MP3 (reasonably high quality) is going to be 144MB.

To provide an answer, you need to be able to
describe your application and requirements a
little more precisely. The length of teh recording
is NOT the only nor even the most importnat criteria.

What do you want to do?

[Arny Krueger]

"---MIKE---" wrote in message


You could record on VHS (video) tape. At slow speed you
could record six hours and in hifi stereo mode the
quality would be good.

Or for a little 21st century technology, try a DVD recorder. The media is
cheaper and more readily available, and has a virtually unlimited playback
life if treated decently.

wrote in message
...
I need to record an event which is supposed to last couple of hours.
The source will be audio mixer and the destination a PC (recording
through line in). Would be nice if the recording could be in "one
peice". I have no previous experience, but I am sure resulting file
will be large. What I don't want to happen during the process is to
get an error message like "not enough virtual memory" or any other.
Need suggestions as to how to accomplish this. Thanks in advance...

I've been recording a 10 hour radio program for some time. It's sent over
the web compressed to mp3, which requires about 1 megabyte/minute. This
means all ten hours can be burned to a single CDR. It takes less than 5
minutes to burn the entire disc!

Norm

[Richard Crowley]

"---MIKE---" wrote ...
You could record on VHS (video) tape. At slow speed you could record
six hours and in hifi stereo mode the quality would be good.

Especially with long-play speed (but somewhat with the
"normal" speed, also) be sure to play the tape back on
the same machine that recorded it. The Hi-Fi track is
recorded by the rotating head. Any slight interchange
differences between machines will produce an annoying
clicking sound during head changeover (as the drum
rotates) if there is the slightest mis-alignment.

[three3q]

Hi,

try Audacity. Uses 1MB-chunks under the hood, so you don't risk data by pc during recording. Cn
export as flac(100% quality, 50%size) or wav. Used it for conference tracks of several houres.

33q

[three3q]

Hi,

try Audacity. Uses 1MB-chunks under the hood, so you don't risk data by pc during recording. Cn
export as flac(100% quality, 50%size) or wav. Used it for conference tracks of several houres.

33q