Thanks Wes.

Thank you for taking the time to do this!

Doing God’s work 👍

Thanks CJ

Thanks William, great questions. I'll add them to the list.

Thanks Jeff, I'm in the same boat as you so I totally understand! :)

Yes! The Zoom F8 is an impressive field recorder with great mic preamplifiers. However, it isn't the most amazing audio interface. It works, but it isn't well suited for driving monitors because there's no equivalent of volume control. So that's something you'll want to consider. I assume that you're recording voice over on top of game play so you'd want an audio interface? As for microphones, a headset mic is probably ideal for someone who has a quiet voice. Sounds like you may just need to gain up his channel a little more. Where are the peaks when you record him? Generally, I like to get them to at least -18dB on good preamps, possibly a little closer to -12 for lesser preamps.

hey thanks for getting back to us, well i do background level at about -36 and voice between -12 and -6, ok so audio interface then maybe i need more gain i think the 2i4 only has 55db gain, i need cloud lifter to power up my sm7b maybe the shure headset i have may need that or i might go for a better interface then or i may look for a condenser headset that may be abit better. thank you so much for the advise you just saved my abit of money lol, back to the drawing board i go

Thanks Chris, I appreciate that.

Thanks for the feedback!

Thanks Aaron.

Thanks and best wishes!

I'm working on a course for the F4/F8. Hoping to carve out enough time to make that happen in the next few months.

Thanks Lock! Good to hear your experience. I nearly always record 24 bit (or process in floating 32 bit). The only time I use sample rates higher than 48 are when I'm recording a sound effect I know I will slow in post.

Thanks and best wishes on your project.

Thanks!

Thanks

You’re welcome!

Thanks Steve. I just saw that in the Zoom F4 manual last week, too. Odd, but I guess it makes sense.

Unfortunately, no reverb on the F4/F8/F8n as they’re designed primarily for location sound for video/film.

can we have similar effect with delays

@@cowgrazing It sounds like recording music is your main focus? If so, you'll probably want to look at one of the Sound Devices MixPre series recorders: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rsqTfs1yuKilimg.html

Thanks Taos!

I totally understand and agree, the F8 is a great balance between quality and price, only really lacking a few pro-level features.

Agreed, thanks.

Long live audio!

Thanks. Yes, I'll add those to the list.

Hi Robert, The HDMI triggering feature was rather hit-and-miss in my tests back in 2015 when I did the review (I think it was 2015, maybe 2016). I don't know whether Tascam has updated the firmware to make that feature more reliable, but there were a good number of cameras with which it didn't work. And even with my GH4 back then, it worked about 50% of the time. That isn't something I'd recommend counting on. The Sound Devices MixPre series have a similar feature and recently update their firmware to work with more cameras. So that is worth considering. The Zoom F8 does NOT have this feature though it is a superior recorder in every other way to the DR-701D.

Hi Rafael, unfortunately, not that I am aware.

Hi Ralf, If you only need the isolation 5 & 6 channels and do not want to include them in the mix, set their faders to -infinity. You will still record the isos and can use them in post if needed, but they will not play in the mix. Best wishes!

Hi Theuns, I would double check the routing for the headphone presets to ensure the L+R mix are sent to the left and right headphone cups. We cover headphone routing here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/d9ldnbmhkrizc6M.html If you still have trouble getting the mix to headphones, you may want to contact Zoom technical support.

I haven't used the F4 yet. But I think the first question you'll want to answer is how many channels do you need? I'll have a review of the F4 soon after I get a copy for testing.

That's The question. I dont se my self running around in The woods/Streets with 8 micronphones to capture sound. But I dont want to Come to that point I am missing channels.

They are the same size, so that doesn't appear to be a major cost with going with the F8. The main thing you lose by going to the F8 are smaller knobs (which can make mixing harder) and TA3 main outputs (probably not important if you're not going to use the F8 as an audio interface or feed a mix to a camera or director during the shoot). I wrote a preliminary piece over at www.learnlightandsound.com/blog/2016/9/27/zoom-f4-coming-soon Good luck!

Hi Janet, with the correct connectors, the B6's should work great. What I mentioned has to do with phase issues when you have one microphone (e.g., a boom mic) farther from the person speaking than another (e.g., a lavalier mic) as +Tiny Bird Productions suggested. Usually in those cases I'll remove one of the mics in post. But if you are miking 4 different people, each with a single lavalier mic, you shouldn't run into that issue at all. Best wishes!

Excellent thank you for the answer I just ordered my F8 and can't wait to get it.

Yes, "roughly" being the key word. :)

If you're looking for less noise floor, I'd recommend you look at the F3 or F6 instead of the H6. Here's our recent review of the F3: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iq51dbKSlbu5eqM.html

@@curtisjudd fantastic, I record crickets for my rain channel, providing XLR inputs. I can use my km184s. I appreciate that!

Does the Q2 have a 3.5mm microphone input? Or an XLR input? If so, yes, you can feed audio from the F8 to the Q2.

👍

Yes, set the F8 to record Tr1-8 to the SD card and you'll get each microphone on its own channel in the same file, called a poly wav file.

@@curtisjudd Cool, so with that feature, i can record a Mixer (Rec Out) and have two cables attached to each Input and have them linked on the same file, right? Is that the propper way to have it recording a Mixer?

@@msiqueira-dev Yes.

Hi xak huh, my initial thought is to check the pan setting for the channel on which you have the 416 attached. I'm guessing it is panned left but should probably be panned center.

On the original F8, using a 1/4" TRS cable told the F8 it was a line level signal, using an XLR told it that it is a mic level signal. On the F8n, you can switch that on the PFL menu for each input and use either type of cable for mic or line level input.

Hi Zelamir, Thanks for asking. The Zoom F8 (and F4 and Sound Devices MixPre-3, 6, and 10T) are primarily designed as field recorders for filmmaking. Because of that, they do NOT have the ability to overdub when not connected to a computer. When connected to a computer, they can overdub by using digital audio workstation apps like ProTools, Logic, Studio One, etc. So for your purposes, these are probably not the best option. I'm not certain because I haven't tried it out yet, but I believe that the Zoom LiveTrak L12 *might* have the overdub capability: bhpho.to/2DR97wt You'll want to research that a bit to confirm. Best wishes!

Thanks very much. That's very helpful! I was already close to get one of these due to that brillant audio quality. Now I'm going to rethink it all.

Hi Lionel, 1) Yes, you get the PFL version of the isolated track. It makes sense to do a mix on the F8n while recording if it makes sense for your production. If you don't need it, then you don't have to bother. 2) No, you cannot modify the mix on playback in the F8n or any of the Zoom F series recorders. This is a feature available on the Sound Devices MixPre recorders. They call it re-mix.

@@curtisjudd Thanks for the quick answer!

@@curtisjudd One more precision : I checked those MixPre devices. It seems you can re-do the mix afterwards. Of the exact same track. My question was a bit different. The idea is to do a sound check. Modify the fader accordingly (while listening playback) and then record a NEW track with this modified mix. (I hope I can explain the difference clearly). So basically the question is : what happens if you modify the fader during playback? Thanks!

@@LionelAndrey Do you mean overdub recording where you replace a track as another take like one would do in a recording studio?

@@curtisjudd No... Maybe I give you a concrete example : I'm a clarinetist and I record a piece clarinet + piano. There is no sound engineer (other than me also playing the clarinet). So I set the mics (a pair for the clarinet, a pair for the piano and a pair for general). I set the gain for the different pairs of mics. Then I do a soundcheck (meaning we play the first 30sec of the piece). I listen back and realize the balance (mix) between the two instruments is not good yet. Can I monitor this balance while listening back (like on a mixing table)? And then we would record the whole piece "for real" with this new balance setting. If I cannot change the balance while listening playback then I need to change the balance a bit randomly (without exact control - if there is too much clarinet in the mix I'll put it down but I might not know exactly how much down it has to be) and then we need to do a second soundcheck, plus listen again to the playback to see if it is improved. Probably it's improved, but not exactly perfect so I need to fine-change the balance again, do a third soundcheck, etc... Before really recording the whole piece. So I loose a lot of time. Of course this whole process is easier on the computer with the ISOs. But if it's possible to do it directly on the F8n, then I save time.

Hi Skirmantas, most cinema cameras with a line level input have a trim setting so you can adjust that while sending tone from the F8 - adjust the trim on the camera until the camera's meters are at the same level that you're sending tone - usually -20dB.

@@LearnLightAndSoundSessions Thank you for answering my question! The main problem I was experiencing was that when I feed Sony UWP transmitter with mix it wouldn't stage it properly, uwp transmitter doesn't have control when switched to line level and the level would be far too low. I started using G4s for feeds in that respect they more flexible.

Hi Chris, yes I think it is up to the job. I would think the bigger challenge could be (not knowing anything about where you'll be recording) the room in which the recording is made and mic placement. But the F8 is very good on the preamp and analogue to digital conversion fronts. Best wishes!

Curtis Judd Thank you so much, Curtis. The recording will take place in a small chapel. The natural acoustics are lively, so some treatments will be needed. I'm hoping to capture a nice 3D sound stage and good dynamics as well as excellent resolution. The F8 has excellent mic preamps i.e. Very low noise - in fact equal to my desk which has class A preamps.

Sounds like a fun project. Best wishes!

Hi Mus Ele, the Zoom F8 does not support overdubbing in field recorder mode. You'll need to connect it to a computer and use a digital audio workstation app to do overdubbing. Good luck!

Hi Axel. This can be a tricky situation, even with analogue limiters such as on the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. What you might consider is setting the gain on one of the mics for her singing and the other for speech. Then in post you can cut between the 2.

Curtis Judd great tip! Thank you

Good point. There are plenty of considerations around HP filters including when to use them (some are a little too aggressive for use in every situation) and how they're implemented which can inform whether you need to use the filter in particular situations. But at the core, they accomplish the same thing: Filter out some low frequency material.

Running the F8 as an audio interface for playback is not a problem in terms of continuous use, I wouldn't think. The issue I had with it is that it doesn't have a volume control so you have to use monitors which have their own or use headphones (which I only do for a small portion of my listening). If you have monitors that are working well for you, that should be great! As for the sample rate, are you using a Mac or PC? I use a Mac and on MacOS, the F8 is class compliant and works at whichever sample rate you set it to via your apps. I'm not sure how it works on the PC side but I believe if you want higher sample rates, you need to install the ASIO drivers.

+Curtis Judd For volume control I use the main knob but first you have to select the volume of the corresponding channel, it turns red and then volume control is activated.

Oh, you mean you use the fader for each channel to control the overall volume output when you're listening through your monitors? That sounds like it would work but is a little funky. Sounds like I need to try it again now that I have the newest firmware installed. Thanks!

it's working for me with the 2.1 update installed and I've volume control with the main knob.

Brilliant, thanks Ignacio. I hadn't tried that since the firmware update. Makes the F8 a much better option to use as an interface.

Hmm, not off the top of my head. I'll have to have another look...

I just tested it on my own F8 and found out that I mixed two things up here. I thought of the short cuts for activating the stereo link between two channels. For example: If you press and hold "3" then "4" and release both channel 3 and 4 are linked in stereo link mode. (Do the same to deactivate link mode.) I just thought there also were short cuts for dual channel mode. Would be nice if Zoom put all short cuts into the shortcut list (inside the menu) instead of just a few. Thank you anyways! If I find out about a dual channel or other short cuts, I come back to you.

Thanks Ryon.

Hi Steveo, I must admit that I have not recorded to MP3 with the F8 before so I have not experienced this issue. I'd suggest getting in touch with Zoom. Sounds like you've confirmed that it isn't an issue with your other gear so they should have some insights or investigate on their end. Best wishes. I hope you can find a solution!

Curtis Judd Audio Thanks for the response, I will let you know what happens, all the best :)

Curtis Judd Audio Is this the best recorder.Do some recorders record in analog? And if so would these be better. Great video, I learned a lot about the zoom f8.

Hi again, I am firmly of the opinion that there is no such thing as the "best" recorder but I can say that the Zoom F8 is a very, very good prosumer grade recorder. The Sound Devices and Zaxcom and Aaton mixers/recorders are "better" for professionals in some important ways, but not necessarily in terms of audio quality. Here's a piece where I talk more about why professionals use Sound Devices mixers and recorders: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nqp1o5Zly9HGgWg.html I am not aware of any field recorders currently on the market (i.e., still in production) which record to analogue media. There are many audio enthusiasts which are fond of analogue technologies for music and sound (e.g., the growing interest in vinyl recordings and a market for turntable needles in the tens of thousands of dollars range). But I'm not so sure one is better than the other. They each have their benefits and costs. This is all just my perspective, definitely get the opinions of others as well. I'm sure there are some out there who hold firmly to the opinion that Nagra analogue stereo recorders were the pinnacle of human achievement in sound recording. :)

Yes, you plug in the 1/4” TRS plug to the inputs on the F8 and that tells the F8 that it is a line level signal. If you plug in an XLR connector, that tells the F8 that it is a microphone.

Hi, clarification question: do you want to pan the individual channels to the left or right in the recorded mix or just the headphone mix?

Just the headphone mix, so that I could cycle through how each one sounds individually

Ok, I see. Pressing the PFL button for each channel is one way. I'll have to dig in and see if there's another way.

Thanks. I just got so used to the 744. When I was doing sound for docs, I'd like to rock back between the lav's and the boom in my headphones so I could listen to each one on it's own to make sure everything was sound clear, I figured this was a stock function on other records!

No need for a mixer to record high quality audio with the F8 or F4. A mixer can be helpful if you'll be actively mixing a job as linear faders are easier to use for most people. But the preamps and converters in the F8 and F4 are very good so a mixer is not necessary from that point of view.

Hi Simon, when you record safety tracks, one mic input actually uses two of the preamps. You can ride the gain trim of both independently with the gain trim pots. I'll have to check how that works with stereo pairs. I think you can only configure two channels for stereo pair or dual-channel (safety track) recording, not both at the same time.

So it's just like using a Y-splitter into two preamps? I think it would be very usable, especially in a rush, to just have the second preamp offset by say -6,-10,-12 or -20 dB. Weirdly the manual states something like -12dB. "When a mic capsule is connected, its dual recording track input level is fixed at -12 dB compared to the regular track." www.zoom.co.jp/sites/default/files/products/downloads/pdfs/E_F8.pdf p31

Yes essentially. I have confirmed that you can control each of the channels independently in terms of gain so it isn't fixed at -12dB.

that's unfortunate.

Yes, from a "number of preamps available" point of view but from an audio quality view it is the best way to do it.

Hi Sean, Definitely! If you haven't already bought the NTG4, I'd be inclined to either go with the NTG3 or NTG2. I especially prefer the NTG3 but it is a bit pricier than the 4. Good luck!

Curtis Judd have you tried other sound devices like the 552 before choosing the 633? I've seen the 552 go for less than half of the 633 and has probably only half of the capabilities as the 633

Hi Sean, yes, definitely. The reason I did not go with the 552 is that it only has a 2 track recorder and I needed isolated tracks in addition to a stereo mix for my work.

Yes, Have a look at this video starting at 14:25: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gdaUl66UtZ7Dg3U.htmlm25s

Thanks - useful to know this because that is one of the features that sells this to me rather than the F4. I can envisage a time when I will need 4 mics tops (filming 4 speakers in conferences in schools where I don't know if the sound technicians have a mixer or even mics available!) and I definitely need dual level recording because there's little time to get in and set up and test the levels when the jobs agreed and there always seems to be 2 or 3 levels of bureaucracy and lack of communication and I'm expected to work miracles in a very short time frame - and the key person is never there despite agreement beforehand. It is why I love my Tascam DR10c's so much (not available in the US). As a one man band I know I'm not going to have to worry and I'll get the sound quality I want in the timeframe I want. I also know I can travel around the UK with a fairly self-contained unit at short notice and record in meeting rooms and venues where I couldn't get those convos before. Your films are very, very useful in helping me make those specific decisions. I've bought one on the strength of this one feature alone. I'll go back through all this as well at leisure now. Very, very useful indeed. Thank you. A life saver!

Thanks for the feedback and best wishes!

👍

You are welcome!

According to the manual's detailed product diagrams, it appears that PFL is post HPF and limiter (see page 130 of the diagram on zoom-na.com).

Hi Alejandro, it depends on what type of problem you're trying to solve with a high pass filter. If you're working with a microphone that is particularly sensitive to movement and your shock mount isn't doing it all, I'd start with an 80Hz high pass filter. If there's some sort of low frequency hum, you may have to tweak the setting, starting at 80 and sweeping up until it reduces it. If you're out in the wind and for some reason the wind protection for your mic is not preventing all of the wind from getting to the mic capsule, you may have to sweep up to higher settings until the wind distortion is handled. Note, however, that this is a tradeoff--when you sweep up beyond about 100-120 Hz or higher, you're going to cut into the bass part dialogue, especially with men's voices. You're usually safe to set the HP filter to 80 Hz and that will not affect the sound of most voices. I hope that helps!

Thank you Curtis actually it does. BTW, does your sound course cover how to operate the Zoom F8 on the field?

Glad it helped! The production (recording) sound course is not specific to any particular device, but more about the principles of recording quality audio (more focused on skills like microphone placement, mic choice, signal chains, etc.) Best wishes!

Sounds good! As soon I can clear up some things I owe I'll take your course. I know there are things that I can still work on, and I'm glad that the resources are there!

I use an Anton Bauer with a d-tap to hirose adapter cable. There are other options but I have not tested them. Battery: amzn.to/1Mn0oBF Cable: amzn.to/1PrlFey

Are the faders for each channel set to 0?

@@curtisjudd hi there thanks for the reply, are you referring to the MAIN OUT 1/2 fader on the left side, detailed in white??

@@curtisjudd as shown in the photo scroll down here?? www.fujix-forum.com/threads/audio-recorder-zoom-f8-briliant.50161/

@@curtisjudd and sorry Chris one more question, when I powered down on a set it started time code at zero again, without jam syncing to cameras or tentacle boxes, should I use RTC time code setting, to make sure I never repeat a time code even when I power down?? thanks

@@stewartshape8978 I was asking about the faders for each input channel. Each input has a trim and a fader. You'll want to at least start with the faders on each input channel to 0. The output faders are a different matter. I'd start with the input channel faders.

👍

Most location field mixer jobs specify 48kHz from the post team. I usually capture 96 when recording sound effects for my own projects. But usually the commercial and corporate jobs I do want 48kHz (almost entirely dialogue recordings).

Curtis Judd ok. I understand. I was looking at a it like I was going to record music at a studio

Looking forward to working with the F4!

+Curtis Judd they just announced it. I think it will be released in October.

You're buying it Curtis? Great news! Very looking forward to your review :)

Yes, definitely planning to buy the F4!

Has started shipping! :D

Thanks!

I asked too soon... firmware version 2.0 has trim link.

Yes!

Thanks for the feedback. That would be ideal.

I provided both - what to do and what not to do. Sorry if you didn't have time for all of it.

@@curtisjudd I did not have time to listen to features you are sharing that are not really usable. I'd prefer to hear what is usable or most usable before hearing what is not good or how I need to watch other videos. Wouldnt you rather hear how a product can help you before learning about the shortcomings?

@@blindianajones Understood, thanks for the feedback. I've learned a lot since 2016 so hopefully my newer videos are more helpful. Note that the context for this video: It is a less formal session for those who have signed up for my online courses and have already been through that material and come here for informal sessions to learn more.