I have recently started recording a band my father plays in regularly and I am now up to 28 GB of data. Saving just one set of music takes up one CD (and I get 4 sets per night).
How much will I lose if I record at 16 or 24 bits or at a lower sample rate?
Is there a simpler or better way to archive my tracks?
Oldbear
16bit is the standard for a wav file so I think you could stick with it, alternatively you could record 2 short samples at different sample rates and compare the differences.
Standard audio CD quality is 16-bit 44100Hz. There is, in my opinion, little point in going any higher since the extra frequencies that you capture are beyond the typical hearing range of a normal human adult.
You might want to record with higher specifications if you plan on doing serious post production later. If all you’re doing is blowing your club sets off to a CD at the end of the night, then yes, advanced sound specifications may be a waste of time and disk space.
We are all assuming you want to produce a music disk that will play in your car. If you don’t need the car part, you can record the works as straight sound files (not special Music CD ones) on a Data DVD and get 4GB per disk. Almost all Macs with optical drives can do that and many Windows laptops, too. If you really push the envelope, you can create a Data BluRay and get 25GB per disk.
We do need to ask you what you mean by “archive.” That’s a dangerous word.
Koz
I should stick to “back-up” for this data.
Oldbear