Zoom F8 - a band (not mine!) practice recording

[still_fiddlin]

This is one song (of 10 - more at the SC account this is located at) of 10 full and some partials I recorded a couple weeks back.

It's a 4 piece (Houston based) band with no bass (on their short list). All originals. I met one of the members doing a solo thing at an acoustic open mic I was recording and he asked me to come down and capture their practice. This was the first song they did that I captured in full (they started before I had everything hooked up.)

Graveyard Shift by The Half Truths (SoundCloud link)

All 8 channels were used - 2 vocal (SM58), 1 electric guitar (SM57), one a/e guitar (Taylor via DI), keyboard (Casio via DI), 3 drum mics (1 D112, 2 Beta57a). Mixed in Logic Pro X.

I like my F8 so much I bought a second (F8n).

[Beatnick]

I like it. You should have posted this in the New Songs section.

[still_fiddlin]

I like it. You should have posted this in the New Songs section.

Thanks. I didn't put it there because it's not me in the recording nor is it my song.

I'm more of a shill for the Zoom F8 . (Their field recorders are not devices tracked/used much in this forum, it seems.)

[Beatnick]

I understand and I figured that's why you did not put it there. My personal opinion is as long as Zoom was used to record it and the original artist doesn't mind you posting on their behalf it would be fine to post there.

I do not know much about the F8, but the recording is good.

[Jim_Fogle]

Nice sounding tracks. The dynamic range is broad. What type of facility do they practice in, I didn't hear much background noise or natural reverb even on the drums so really nice job capturing the sound.

[still_fiddlin]

It's a "band room" in a place in a strip center that has small rooms for lessons and a couple large-ish rooms (I'd guess *maybe* 15' x 25' if I had to but I didn't pace it off). They rent one of those for a couple hours a couple Sundays every month. Not soundproof by any means and with a big plexiglas window. The guy that came in to turn on their PA looked at me setting up to record and said something about the drums next door were going to be loud and the band members all nodded their heads. But, maybe the drum lessons guy didn't show or the band was loud enough I didn't notice...

So, big enough to practice in though there were the two guitars/singers on one long end and the drummer and keyboard on the other and they were facing each other. Ok for practice but not a good video opportunity.

Vocals were pretty tight on the mics so minimal bleed, same with the little electric guitar amp. The drummer was tucked back towards a corner and the Beta57s' back sides pointed up so they didn't capture any outside noises to speak of. I did trigger a sample on the kick and snare just to play with it but it's only a bit more in the mix than the original track. I had cautioned the drummer about overbanging the cymbals since I only had the 2 mics kind of overhead - he took it a little too liberally so cymbals are a little light - if I do this again and they want to pay extra I'll take the 2nd F8n and put more mics on the drums, though TBH they didn't complain!

The F8s are the bees knees as far as for what I do. The sound is studio-like with even the most basic of decent mics.

P.S. They only had vocals going through the PA - I use splitters to capture those before they get there. Keyboard and guitars all go to small amps, but I used a DI for the keyboard and acoustic(/electric) guitar so didn't worry about their amped sound - it was loud in that room, but like I said, the s/n of vocals and drums keep bleed concerns to a minimum.