JamKazam offers a rich set of video recording features that you can use in JamKazam sessions, either alone or when playing with other musicians. This help article is organized into five sections:
- Audio Recording Foundation
Links to our audio recording help article. If you aren't very familiar with JamKazam's audio recording features, it's best to review this first, as our video recording features layer on top of the audio recording features. - Installing OBS Studio & the JamKazam Plugin for OBS
Links to our help article on how to download and install the "right" version of OBS Studio, and how to download and install the JamKazam Plugin for OBS that integrates the JamKazam and OBS apps. - Setting Your JamKazam Browser
For now, you'll need to use Chrome as your preferred JamKazam browser. If you don't have it, you will need to install it. And if you do have it installed, follow our simple instructions to ensure JamKazam uses Chrome. - Making a Video Recording
Explains the steps you'll follow and the features you'll use to make a basic video recording while in a JamKazam session. - Making Adjustments to Your Video Recording
Explains how to crop your JamKazam session video in OBS so that you capture only the part of the screen you want in your video. You will very likely need to do this one time, and then it will save your crop settings for all future recordings. Also explains how to adjust the overall audio volume in your video recording (if too high or low), and how to adjust the sync of video vs. audio (if not well synchronized, e.g. if you see yourself playing or singing in the video, but the audio is a little bit off).
Audio Recording Foundation
When you make a video recording on JamKazam, you are also making an audio recording (or sometimes recording multiple audio files). If you don't yet understand clearly how audio recordings work on JamKazam, we recommend you read our help article Making Audio Recordings to have a good foundation on that topic before layering video recording features on top of it.
Installing OBS Studio & the JamKazam Plugin for OBS
Before making a video recording, you must first install OBS Studio on your computer, and then install the JamKazam Plugin for OBS. OBS Studio is an industry-leading video/audio broadcasting and recording piece of open source software that is quite excellent, and we have integrated with OBS to give you best-in-class video features. Read our help article Installing OBS Software, and follow the directions in this article to get this critical step done properly. When finished, return to this help article, and read on!
Setting Your JamKazam Browser
Due to compatibility issues, for now we can only support the Chrome browser for making video recordings, so you'll need to use Chrome as your preferred JamKazam browser. (This won't affect your browser preference or use for anything other than JamKazam.) If you don't have Chrome, you will need to install it. And if you do have it installed, follow our simple instructions below to ensure JamKazam uses Chrome.
First, click the Manage menu (at the top left of Mac screen or top left of JamKazam app on Windows). Hover your mouse over the Video Settings option, and then click the Video Configuration option (pictured below).
You will now see a dialog box with your video settings (pictured below). If Chrome is already selected, you are ready to go. If not, then click the Chrome option to select it, and then click the OK button.
Making a Video Recording
To make a video recording in JamKazam, you first need to turn on your session video. To do this, click the Video button in the session toolbar (pictured below with arrow).
You will see a new browser window open, displaying a "Join Room" button (pictured below). Click this button.
You should now see video of yourself, as well as any other session musicians who have turned on their own video.
At the lower right of the screen, you'll see some video control options (pictured below).
Use "My Cameras" to control what webcam (or multiple webcams if you like) you are using for video of yourself. Use "Layout" to choose how you want to arrange the video boxes of you and others in the session on the screen. Use "Labels" to control what information (if any) is displayed in each musician's video box on the screen.
When you're happy with the layout of the video window, go ahead and start up the OBS Studio application on your computer. When you start up OBS, the JamKazam video window should automatically be displayed in OBS (pictured below).
Now you can go back to the JamKazam app, and click the Record button in the session toolbar (pictured below with arrow).
You now see the recording dialog box (pictured below).
Following are explanations of the recording options pictured above:
- Record - To make a video recording, select the "Audio and Video" option.
- Name - Enter a short but descriptive name for your recording. You don't need to enter a date, as this will be provided automatically by the system. Your recording files will be saved into a folder on your computer with the date and time you made the recording, plus this recording name.
- Video Format - Select the file format you want to use to save your video recording.
- All other recording options work as described in our help article on making audio recordings.
When you and everyone in your session is ready to go, click the Start Recording button at the bottom of the dialog box. The dialog will disappear, and you'll see that the Record button in the session toolbar has changed to a Stop Recording button (pictured below with arrow). A notification will be displayed to all other musicians in your session as well, so that they know a recording has started.
When you are ready to stop your recording, click the Stop Recording button in the session toolbar. When you click the button to stop recording, a window will immediately be displayed on your computer screen, showing a folder with all the audio files you've chosen to record listed (pictured below). If you don't see this folder immediately, it's very likely hidden behind the JamKazam app window.
In the example above, the Session-Video.mp4 is the video recording file. You can simply double click on this file to view your video recording. The other files are audio recording files captured based on the audio recording preferences you have selected, as explained in our help article on making audio recordings.
Making Adjustments to Your Video Recording
There is one adjustment you will very likely need to make to capture great video recordings, and a couple of other adjustments you might want to make (though less likely), as described below.
When you open the OBS Studio app as described earlier in this help article, take a close look at the video preview you see there (pictured below), and note that I can see part of the browser toolbar at the top of the browser window that is displaying my JamKazam session video.
You probably don't want this included in your video recording. Unfortunately, JamKazam can't automatically crop out the exact "right" portion of the screen for you because every user's system is a little bit different. So you will likely need to crop your own JamKazam video screen (just one time) in OBS to tweak and fix this just for your computer. To do this, on a Windows computer, right mouse click on the "Window Capture" control listed under "Sources" in OBS Studio (pictured below). On a Mac, hold down the "control" key and click the mouse on the "Window Capture" control.
You'll see a menu displayed (shown above). Click on the Filters option near the bottom of this menu. You will now see a dialog box displayed that previews the JamKazam video window (pictured below).
Click the "+" button at the bottom of the Effect Filters (pictured above with arrow). A menu of filter options is displayed (pictured below). Click on the "Crop/Pad" option.
A dialog is displayed (pictured below).
You can just click the OK button to accept this. Now you'll see a dialog box with cropping controls you can use to get rid of things you don't want visually included in your recorded video (pictured below).
To get rid of the browser bar at the top of your screen, start increasing the numeric crop value of "Top". You can do this by holding down the up/down arrow on Top, or by entering a number directly using your keyboard. You'll see real-time visual feedback as you do this to help you get it set in the right place. I had to set Top cropping to 175 to fully get rid of my browser bar. You may also need to crop the "Bottom" of the video window if you're seeing any of JamKazam's video UI controls that are displayed in the lower right part of the video screen. You shouldn't need to crop Left or Right, but you certainly can if you want to. When you're happy with the video that's being captured in the preview, simply click the Close button in the lower right of the dialog box. You'll now be back to the main OBS Studio screen, and you'll see an updated video capture that should reflect your new cropping settings (pictured below).
If you're happy with this, you're good to go. OBS will remember this setting, so you don't need to do it every time you make a video recording.
A couple of other features for video recording that you probably won't need to use - but are worth reviewing just in case - are covered below. To access these features, click the gear icon at the bottom of the OBS Audio Mixer controls (pictured below with arrow).
You'll see a dialog box with various audio controls (pictured below).
There are two controls you may find useful here.
Volume - If you find that the overall volume of the audio in your video recording is lower or higher than you'd like, you can use the Volume control to increase or decrease the volume that's coming from JamKazam into OBS. For example, if you use the up/down arrows to increase Volume to 6.0dB, it increase the session audio volume from JamKazam by 6 decibels.
Sync Offset - If you find that video is slightly ahead of or behind the audio in your recording (e.g. you strum your guitar in the video after you hear the strum in the audio), you can use the Sync Offset control to adjust this. Let's say your video seems to be about one tenth of a second ahead of your audio in a video recording you've made. In this case, you would set the Sync Offset value to 100ms. This is 100 milliseconds. One millisecond is one thousandth of one second, so 100 milliseconds is one tenth of one second. This Sync Offset value will move your audio "to the right" in your recording by one tenth of one second, which would make the audio in sync with the video of your guitar strum.
For both of these controls, they won't fix a video recording you've already made, but you can use these to dial in the settings for future video recordings to get everything exactly how you want it.