With the Spider Jam, you can record a complete record by yourself. It is not the same as using a multi-track tape recorder or the digital equivalent. It is mono for a start so there's no concept of panning within a stereo image. It is a bit more like the 'bouncing' done with old tape machines but hey, a lot of good records were made that way - Sun Studios, Les Paul, etc! The big advantages we have here over bouncing tape tracks is that; a.) there is no signal degradation from multiple generations of dubbing and b.) you can undo the last track you laid down if you know that you played a bum note. The disadvantages over a full, multi-track system is that you can't delete or overdub individual tracks, or parts of them and you can't balance the levels of tracks at the end, you have to do it when recording.
The last track you put down is temporary and can be rejected with he UNDO button. The STOP button fixes it to the previous tracks.
The Spider Jam recording process is one of layering new tracks on top of previous ones. When you add a new track, the previously recorded tracks are mixed-down to one and 'fixed' forever.
I will walk you through a very simple example of a guitar instrumental consisting of a drum track, rhythm guitar, lead and bass.
As it happens, there is no suitable drum track built into the Spider Jam for what I have in mind. I could hook up an external drum machine with the drum track already programmed but, as it is a simple example, I am going to use one of the two built-in metronome tracks. Metronome 1 is just a click and Metronome 2 is slightly more drum-like. It doesn't matter which one you use, it is only to keep time. If there is a drum track that fits your purposes, use it.
You can adjust the tempo by pressing the DRUMS/SONG button once and choosing TEMPO/PITCH MODES. We only want to change the tempo so, with the metronome track playing, navigate down to TIME STRETCH and adjust the tempo as required with the big Select knob. When it sounds about right, press Play/Stop.
The first guitar track to put down is the rhythm so first, you have to find a suitable tone. It doesn't want to be too sharp or it will conflict with the lead so back off on the treble. Having chosen a good tone, turn the Channel Volume down to about half volume (12 o'clock). Have a run-through with the metronome playing and make any fine adjustments necessary to tone, volume or tempo. Don't worry about the relative levels of the rhythm and drums/metronome too much as thay can be adjusted later.
Press the REC button and lay down your entire rhythm guitar track. If you haven't fluffed any chords and you are happy, press the Play/Stop button. If you want to erase the track and start again, hit the UNDO button before stopping.
Find an appropriate lead guitar tone and turn the Channel Volume up to about three quarters (3 o'clock). Press the PLAY > button and have a practice with the metronome and rhythm. Adjust the lead guitar volume with the Channel Volume to get the correct balance. You will NOT be able to change this balance later so it is important to get it right. When you are happy, hit the REC button again and put down the lead track. Again, if you make a mistake, hit the UNDO button to erase the track before hitting STOP.
You can put a bass guitar into the AUX input mixed with guitar or mixed with MIC. I prefer to just use a CLEAN amp model with the tone controls (EQ) adjusted for bass guitar.
The process for recording bass guitar is exactly the same as for recording lead. Do a dry run to get the tone and level right. Press REC and record the bass track. Use UNDO if you make a mistake before pressing STOP.
Having recorded your three guitar parts, with their correct relative levels, you can listen to the final result by pressing Play/Stop. The drum or metronome track is not recorded with the guitar tracks so you can adjust the level by pressing the INPUT LEVEL button once and turning the Select knob. You can even turn the drum/metronome off completely by winding down to zero.
If you want to keep your recording, you should now press SAVE. There is a complete description of the SAVE button functions on the SAVE page. You can save your recording to internal memory or to SD card in either JAM or WAV format. The main difference here is that if you use SAVE RECORDING... you will only be able to play it on the Spider Jam. If you use SAVE REC MIX AS WAV TO CARD, you can play the recording on your computer and convert it to an .MP3.
Further layers can be added to a previously saved recording
If you want to add vocal or keyboard tracks to your recording, it is just a matter of playing the previously saved recording and putting more layers on top of it. As with the drum track, the previous recording is a fixed unit that can be turned up or down in volume using the MIC/AUX/WAV control in the INPUTS/LEVEL screen. Any new layers you add become a separate track until you finally do a SAVE REC MIX AS WAV TO CARD.
In a future article, I will explain how to combine the Spider Jam facilities with a multi-track recorder to do full-blown stereo multi-tracking.