banjolele too loud for webcam - help!

Hi everyone, I wonder whether someone can help me on this... I've done a few youtube videos now with my wooden ukes, and now I want to do one with my Dallas banjo-uke, but I'm finding it's far too loud for my webcam mic - it sounds awful! I think I probably need a different set-up, but don't want to spend too much as it's only for a bit of fun. Alternatively, is there any little trick I can do just to quieten the thing down? It's a vintage Dallas D - it has a tone ring. Thanks!

Putting a rag (or socks or something) inside the pot quiets things down some.
Looking forward to a vid.

As TG&Y says, put a sock in it!

Put the mike farther away? Face slightly away from the mike? Strum softer?

I sometimes put a small piece of foam between the skin and rod on the inside of the banjo.

Does your webcam have a screen interface to change its settings? If so, look for "rec gain". If it's on auto then switch to manual and turn it down. If it's on manual, try auto first then turning it down if auto doesn't work. That should do the trick.

When I record with a banjo uke I would either take a clean pair of boxer shorts and wedge it between the head and the support bar in the body or use a Iucci
Here is my review of the Iucci Banjo Mute

I recorded a song with a sock in the uke and posted it today. It moderated the sound a little, but didn't change the tone.

Thanks so much everybody - I stuffed a little tee-shirt in it - made a big difference, actually - also turned down the sensitivity on the webcam mic. Thanks for that one, Lalou! Much, much better! Result was I've done a video for the 47th week Seasons... will be posting it shortly!

barefootgypsy said:

Thanks so much everybody - I stuffed a little tee-shirt in it - made a big difference, actually - also turned down the sensitivity on the webcam mic. Thanks for that one, Lalou! Much, much better! Result was I've done a video for the 47th week Seasons... will be posting it shortly!

Click to expand...

Hurray!

ukeeku said:

When I record with a banjo uke I would either take a clean pair of boxer shorts and wedge it between the head and the support bar in the body or use a Iucci
Here is my review of the Iucci Banjo Mute

Click to expand...

Wouldn't the dirty ones muffle the sound more effectively?

This is helpful. I've had the same problem with my banjolele and Flipcam.

TG&Y said:

Putting a rag (or socks or something) inside the pot quiets things down some.
Looking forward to a vid.

Click to expand...

Here's a little practice video I've just done....

I'm beyond envious - of your playing and the instrument. Is that the Slingerland in your signature? That's a beauty. The vid sounds great and definitely not blown out. Nice.

TG&Y said:

I'm beyond envious - of your playing and the instrument. Is that the Slingerland in your signature? That's a beauty. The vid sounds great and definitely not blown out. Nice.

Click to expand...

Well that is so kind - I'm still very much a learner on this thing but I love playing it! - the one in the video is a Dallas D. It is a nice instrument - 1938-40. The one in my signature is the Slingerland... that's lovely too!

Beginner or no, it's sounding good. Do you have someone helping to show you the ropes or are you learning via youtube/book/etc? I've been nibbling at the edges of Formby style and clawhammer with not much to show for it yet. Love the banjo ukes, though!

barefootgypsy said:

Well that is so kind - I'm still very much a learner on this thing but I love playing it! - the one in the video is a Dallas D. It is a nice instrument - 1938-40. The one in my signature is the Slingerland... that's lovely too!

Click to expand...

I love clawhammer but just can't do it, and I'm leaving that now because when I try to learn on too many different fronts , I get nowhere. So just for now I'm concentrating on Formby-style. That split-stroke takes a lot of practice, and doing it fast (much faster than me) is something else again! But I started having a go at it in about May, I suppose, when I got my Slingerland banjo-uke fit to play. And working harder at it it since September, I'd say. Learned it from videos.... there are several good ones on Youtube. Have you looked at my blog? (below) I sort of document my progress on there... if you scroll down to the bottom of the page to the label-cloud, and click "split-stroke", you'll see the posts I've done about it - and you'll see a very good tuition video by Matthew Richards, a young stalwart of the GFS. Mike Warren (another GFS member) also teaches it very well - just search Youtube for Mike Warren split-stroke.

Now, if you're on facebook, Mike Warren does a group called "Learn Ukulele for Free" on which he posts stuff, including his own youtube videos. He did one on the "Shake" the other day, which is a variation on the split-stroke - that's where I learned it.

What really frustrated me in November was that although I could do the split-stroke, I couldn't incorporate it into a "solo" - and that's where I did have some one-to-one help from a kind GFS member. I talked about that on the blog. You might find it interesting! Do you have a banjo-uke? The banjo-uke and Formby-style were made for each other. In the Formby songs, everyone is just waiting for the instrumental solo - that's what it's all about. I'm in the UK and I go to the Formby meetings in Blackpool. You don't say where you are - if you're in the states, two big American Formby-style players on this forum are John Bianchi (Mrjnobianchi) and Johnny Foodstamp. I post their stuff on my blog, too. I sometimes have a go in the "Seasons" contests on here, just to take part. I've done a shortened version of When I'm Cleaning Windows for the current one, 47th season - it's got my attempt at a very basic solo at the end.

Phew. That's enough! Thanks for your interest - I really appreciate it!

A belated thanks for the links and all the info - I've been away from a computer for a couple of days.
I'll check out those links and visit your blog. I'm in the States (Montana) and do have a couple of banjo ukes - an Eddy Finn concert with a resonator and a recently acquired, pretty little maple Slingerland Maybell with an open back (not sure of the model). They're great fun and hearing your progress is encouraging. I think I have the habit of trying too many things at once too and should adopt your approach and slow down and concentrate on one main thing at a time. Claw-hammer is definitely eating my lunch.
Thanks again for the extended response!

Edited to add: That's quite a blog you have there!