Really weird project

[secret_families]

I have a question/challenge for the experts.
I'd like to preface by saying that I have very little recording knowledge, but that fidelity really is not an issue. I don't want to spend any money, so an onboard mic into a free recording program will work just fine.
What I need is an uninterrupted recording for eight hours straight. I tried just running Audacity while I slept, and as soon as I hit stop, the program crashed (maybe a memory issue, but I really have no idea).
Please, experts, help! Thanks in advance.

 

[guitaristic]

Huh...why are you doing this? Just curious!

 

[secret_families]

well, long story short, i've got a group of musicians who want to record an eight-hour long improvisation and make it available for download only. one of those "let's just see if this can be done" kinds of things.

 

[miroslav]

Did you ever consider that an 8-hour "download" is going to be a real PITA and no one will bother.

You need a lot of hard drive space, and there are file size limitations...I don't even think you can do 8 hours continous.

What's so special about "8" hours...why not 6 or 10...?

Are you the ghost of Jerry Garcia by any chance???

 

[secret_families]

I was hoping to not get into the artistic merits of this project. Obviously, an 8 hour piece of music is very impractical for a number of reasons. I just want to know if it can be done and how.

 

[moresound]

Two hours on four computers. or just two computers after a few hours start the second one then bounce down the first and keep alternating, then with a few post production works either combined them all or make part one, part two .... etc.

 

[miroslav]

I was hoping to not get into the artistic merits of this project.

Good luck with that on an audio/music/recording forum.

I would think artistic merit is the driving force of "if it can be done and how"...so it's kinda hard to segregate the two topics...IMHO.

CD quality (16/41.1) audio WAV files will get you around 6 hours (which is why I asked if 8 hours was special)...and I think there is another format that may goe beyond that...try some Google searches. If you really lower your resolution...you could do it that way.

 

[miroslav]

Here you go...I Googled it for you.

What is W64?
Audio Format Description
W64 is the file extension for the Sony Wave64 audio format. It was created by Sony for use with its Sound Forge, a digital audio editing and creation suite for use by the professional and semi-professional market.
Wave64 was created when the need was felt for a WAV file that could hold more than 4 GB of size. Since a Microsoft WAV file uses a 32 bit unsigned integer to record the file size header, it has a limit of 4 GB of file size (about 6 and a half hours of CD-quality audio, or 44.1 kHz of 16-bit stereo). Sound Forge needed a larger file size, hence Wave64 was developed according to its specifications.

Wave64 files have 64 bit internal structures that are capable of containing audio files of practically any length. Wave64 is a lossless codec, and as a result, it can hold only linear audio. It functions much like a WAV codec and can also contain compressed formats, like MP3, a-law, and u-law, besides such uncompressed sampled audio as PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) data. The convenient file size of Wave 64 also allows for the latest multi-channel and mdash with 5.1 surround, and 24-bit/96 kHz or 192 kHz audio.

The benefits of W64 include simple coding and decoding, and universal acceptance and support.

Use the Sony/Sound Forge W64 file format and you can jam/record for days....theoratically...if the rest of your system can handle it.
Jerry Garcia will be smiling down on you guys.

 

[Shadow_7]

There are field recorders that can go that long. My MR-1000 conks out at 6 hours. Session limit and it doesn't do it gracefully from what I've heard if you exceed that limit.

Audacity records to RAM, so unless you have 8GB+ of RAM and record at CD quality or less, game over. Audacity also has issue with > 4GB files in general.

I tended to record with Ardour BITD because it saves to the HDD while it records. And is less problematic IMO. Or at least was at that time. It's certainly possible, although software gets quirky when you exceed 4GB files.

 

[secret_families]

Awesome! Looks like I have a few options that I can fool around with and/or combine. Thanks for all of the advice.

And as a last side note on my "artistic merit" comment, I wasn't saying that the two are "segregated" [sic], I was just saying that I really didn't want to have to go through artistic beliefs and aesthetic criticism on this forum, I just wanted the technical advice. If you want to discuss any of the former, feel free to PM.

 

[miroslav]

I was just saying that I really didn't want to have to go through artistic beliefs and aesthetic criticism on this forum...

Party pooper...chicken...killjoy....

 

[grimtraveller]

Jerry Garcia will be smiling down on you guys.

I bet he won't ! He'll probably be thinking, "Dang and durn ! This is what me, Phil, Mickey, Pigpen and the boys used to inflict on those unsuspecting hordes ! No wonder we needed all that bloody acid. No wonder they needed it !!"

 

[grimtraveller]

Seriously though, it sounds like a fascinating project but to be honest, 8 hours of continual jamming is hard enough to do, though it will be a heck of alot more fun to do, in parts, than to listen to.
Having said that, I have an 8 sided LP called "Wipe out" by a very intense group called Amalgam which is almost half that time. I have it spread over 2 C100 cassettes and it's been a great listen on many a journey over the last 20 years. But even a receptive mind can only take so much in.

 

[cyrano]

I have a question/challenge for the experts.
I'd like to preface by saying that I have very little recording knowledge, but that fidelity really is not an issue. I don't want to spend any money, so an onboard mic into a free recording program will work just fine.
What I need is an uninterrupted recording for eight hours straight. I tried just running Audacity while I slept, and as soon as I hit stop, the program crashed (maybe a memory issue, but I really have no idea).
Please, experts, help! Thanks in advance.

BoomRecorder. No problem at all. It'll split your recordings automatically to several files and will do so seamlessly...

It's not free, but cheap for two channels. More channels it'll cost you 185 euro.

 

[AbuseTheMuses]

We used to do this sort of thing back in college (we also used to smoke pot. Correlation?) the difference is that we used tape. Just keep changing the tape every hour and you can go on and on and on. Consider filling up some tapes and then dumping to a computer bit by bit, instead of one giant 8 hour chunk? It will be much easier for your potential audience, for whoever hosts the site you put it up on, and not need nearly as much storage on your computer that way. When you watch Youtube, ever notice that lots of things are split into 'part 1 or 9', 'part 2 of 9' etc etc. That is because it takes way too long to do it as one continuous file and yeah, nobody wants to spend that much time downloading a bunch of dudes racking their brains for creativity 8 hours straight. It might be fun to do it but I doubt if its much fun to listen to it.

 

[miroslav]

We used to do this sort of thing back in college (we also used to smoke pot. Correlation?) the difference is that we used tape. Just keep changing the tape every hour and you can go on and on and on.

Yup...we had many day-long jam sessions (drug induced most times) back in the day when we were young-n-stupid and life was good!

We never tried a continuous 8-hour jam...which is what I think the OP was asking about...so changing tape reels isn't going to work for him...though I wonder what happens when one of the guys needs to take a piss...?

I guess the others just keep jamming until he gets back.

 

[kcearl]

Yup...we had many day-long jam sessions (drug induced most times) back in the day when we were young-n-stupid and life was good!

We never tried a continuous 8-hour jam...which is what I think the OP was asking about...so changing tape reels isn't going to work for him...though I wonder what happens when one of the guys needs to take a piss...?

I guess the others just keep jamming until he gets back.

musta been fun back in the roaring forties

 

[miroslav]

Yo' momma would know!

 

[Lt. Bob]

. If you want to discuss any of the former, feel free to PM.

good luck with that. Once it's posted on an open music forum people are pretty much free to discuss it as they wish. You're free to not participate but otherwise no one has an obligation to keep their thought on it private as long as they don't get insulting.

 

[kcearl]

I was hoping to not get into the artistic merits of this project. Obviously, an 8 hour piece of music is very impractical for a number of reasons. I just want to know if it can be done and how.