6 min read
Zoom F8 poly WAV files explained, from card to timeline
The F8 puts eight inputs and a stereo mix in one file. Knowing what it wrote is half the transfer job.
The Zoom F8 family records up to eight inputs plus a stereo mix. In poly mode a take is one WAV holding those channels interleaved, named by scene and take if you set them, or by a running counter if you did not.
What the F8 writes into the file
- Track names for each input, as typed on the recorder or left as Tr1 to Tr8.
- Scene and take in the bext description, when the naming mode is set to scene and take.
- Start timecode, from internal clock or external jam.
- Sample rate and bit depth as configured, commonly 48 kHz 24 bit.
Name your tracks on set
Two minutes typing Boom, Lav1, Lav2 into the recorder saves a transfer assistant from auditioning eight channels per take. Those names travel inside the file and become filenames when the poly is split.
The mix track question
The F8 can append the stereo mix as channels 9 and 10. Keep it: it is the reference of what the mixer heard, and it is the fastest thing for an editor to cut with before the dialogue pass.
From card to timeline
Copy the card, verify it, then split each poly take into named mono stems. Import the stems, sync by timecode, and each input arrives on its own lane already labelled.
Common issues
If timecode drifts across a long day, the internal clock was free running rather than jammed. Sync by waveform for those takes, and jam the recorder at every meal break next time.