Some time ago, Jeremy C. Reed wrote:
> $ audiorecord -s 44100 -P 16 -t 0:10 test
> audiorecord: failed to reset audio info: Invalid argument
> 
> Whenever I use the -P (bits per sample) option with 16, 24 or 32, I
> receive this "failed" message (and audiorecord quits). It works fine with
> "8".

This is because audiorecord's default audio sample encoding is "ulaw",
which is only supported at 8 bits.  Try this:

  audiorecord -s 44100 -P 16 -e linear -t 0:10 test

-- 
Andreas Gustafsson, gson@nominum.com