Hi Marissa,
I think this could be your problem… Your digital devices (Zoom F8N & Computer) are un-synchronised.
The beauty with analog audio equipment is that you can connect anything to just about anything else and it normaly works. But when you connect any digital audio device to another digital audio device we must decide which device will be a ‘Master’ and which should be a ‘Slave’. You will need/should do this when recording any digital audio using your listed set-up chain.
By doing this, the internal clocks of both devices become aligned and stay ‘locked’ together when recording or playing back. This will removed the ‘digital drift/slipping’ between the devices used and in return produce audio without glitches/jumps or drop-outs.
I would set the Zoom F8N to be the master and the computer software to become a slave.
Here is a link on how to set up the Zoom F8N as an audio interface, recording back-up and master:-Zoom F8n: Audio Interface Mode - YouTube
Also here’s a link to selecting audio drivers in Audition (this is where your DAW should become a slave):- How to connect to audio hardware in Adobe Audition
A couple of notes for you… I would change the bit depth and sampling rate and to 24/48kHz. This will give you a better noise ratio and slightly more fidelity in your recordings. Make sure both devices are set to the same depth and rate. It will also allow you to pass and receive your recorded audio to other professionals easily using the accepted industry standard for media of this type.
Also your ‘buffer size’ is on the large side of things. I would try different buffer sizes to see if there is any improvement in the response of the DAW and HD when playing back and recording.
I noticed another small problem with your recorded file that you might want to address… your signal is clipped on the first words;
“oh my god”
The clipping is that ‘crispy/sizzling’ sound at the high end of the recording.
Solve this by turning down your signal input gain a bit on the Zoom F8N. You can always turn your audio up after it has been record well in your DAW later on.
That should put you on the right path for now, only read this next bit if you are already doing all of the above and the problem continues…
There is another possibility that could be causing the intial problem you described. If your computers internal HD is a spinning disk type with multiple read arms it could be either to slow to record audio in real time (7200 rpm is the minimum acceptable speed required for recording a stereo audio file) or your HD is failing. On a Mac, you can check the ‘health’ of a disk in your disk utilities…
WARNING:- Back-up all your important data first before you do this. Use a proper ‘bit for bit’ type program so you get everything!!! (Carbon Copy Cloner springs to mind as it can create a ‘Boot Drive’. So if your internal drive should fail, it will allow you to continue working on your computer until the broken internal drive gets replaced).
Be very careful with using the Macs ‘First Aid’ (found in the ‘utilities’ folder) to inspect the drive. This should help identify any problems that are present with it.
Do not use ‘Partitions’ on audio drives as this can create un-contiguous audio data. The audio file is split into more than one (contiguous) file and placed in several different places on the drive or multiple drives. This then slows down playback as the read/write heads in the drive(s) need to be positioned then re-positioned to the correct disk addresses at the right time for smooth playback. That then creates more wear and tear on the moving parts, which in turn creates additional heat which makes the internal cooling work harder, that slows your computer down and so on… 
Hopefully ‘Syncing’ will solve your problem…
IanT.
