Hi @Brandon_Lee ...
I think it's awesome that you're using audio comments to give feedback to your students on their assignments! Unfortunately, I don't think there is a way to turn off your webcam by default. I see what you are saying, though. I tested this out in my own sandbox course where I went to the SpeedGrader to try and give feedback via media. My webcam also turned on, and I had to turn it off to only record audio.
This might be a good candidate for a Feature Idea here in the Canvas Community. If you would like to submit that, then others can evaluate it to see if it is something they would also like to be able to do in Canvas. Here are a few documents to get you started:
Sorry that I don't have better news for you, but I hope this has helped to answer your question.
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