Thank you for your kindness -
please don't worry it was not taken as harshness -
I'm here to learn as much as I can and have to understand when critique is needed.
Anyway hopefully we now can acknowledge that the Teac VR-10 is capable of making almost unbelievably good recording ala cd2go brilliant recordings of Grace Potter.
(...)
I think it sounds pretty good, again - "all things considered", the VR-10 was set on a table front center about 6 feet away from the stage - next on the left of the table in the main stage picture (next to a Tascam DR-07MkII that was also recording......) while I was taking photos.
Nice recordings overall. Specially impressive is the second one, with the floor noise being almost imperceptible. I like how the recorder handled the trumpet dynamics, and although I'm not a fan of strong bass, this is just the good amount. Drums aren't lost either (congas are, though, and that's understandable). I guess a guitar would have been a bit lost if present, specially with the trumpet. Keyboard is there, also a bit drowned when all the instruments kick in, but it's understandable too.
My grandfather is a musician and producer and I was with him the night he had to tape a big band (2 trumpets, 2 saxophones, 1 tuba, 1 trombone and other stuff I can't remember, together with 2 guitars, 1 piano, bass, drums, etc) for an official release. He told me it was the most challenging taping he had ever done, since the brass dynamics used to overpower the rest of the instruments, but if they were lowered in the mix, they became too muddy and there was a lot of detail lost in their performances. He ended up mic-ing each instrument twice (with one cardioid and one omnidirectional mic each, and did different EQs and filterings for each) and the general stage sound with 4 omnis, and the overal mix was simply superb.
I myself have taped similar stage configs as yours, with one drumkit, one keyboard, one bass, one guitar and one sax or one trumpet many times, and I never achieved anything similar to your recording (that said, I haven't taped a show like that since 2011, my knowledge was smaller than it is today - but anyway).
I say all of this this just to tell you that I think I know what I'm talking about when I say you achieved a great recording with close-to-zero effort and with close-to-zero budget. And that, my friend, is something that not many people can say
PS. Good on you for choosing Sting for the sound test. I love him, and I love The Police. I've grown up with that music!