National Audio: Editing Assignment

VO/sot

For: Groups of 1-2
Difficulty: Intermediate

Objective
Students will learn how to assemble a VO/SOT (Voice Over / Sound on Tape). This is a stepping stone to learning how to compile an entire news package.

Points to emphasize

  • Write conversationally in a way that sets up the sound bite.

  • Write the voice-over in a way that compliments or “plays to” the selected b-roll.

  • Remember to turn down the natural sound to an appropriate level under the voice-over.

  • Find a quiet place indoors without echo to record the voice over.

Equipment: Computer, editing software, headphones, microphone for recording (use phone or laptop microphone if necessary).

Assignment

Students must select a sound bite (aka SOT) from the raw footage, then use the facts below to write and record a voice-over to introduce it. They must cover their voice over with relevant b-roll that sets the scene and compliments their voice over. Students must end their VO/SOT with “for (insert program name), I’m (insert student name), reporting”. The final video should be between 20 and 40 seconds. Bonus points for students who use a nat sound pop before their voice over starts.

Variation: A fun variation on this assignment is to have students stand at the front of the class and read their voice-over live instead of recording it. One student cues up and plays the project. The other reads the script aloud. This requires coordination and rehearsal.

FACTS

Facts about National Audio Company

National Audio Company started in 1968. They started by recording background music for restaurants, using reel-to-reel recording technology. 

In the 1980s and 1990s, most cassette tape manufacturers went out of business or sold off their cassette tape manufacturing equipment. National Audio purchased a lot of the equipment.

National Audio Company manufacturs their own magnetic tape that goes inside the cassette cartridges.

They create cassette tapes for over 5,000 record labels around the world.

National Audio Company can create up to 100,000 60-minute tapes in an 8 hour day.

It generally takes about 30 days to finish a tape project from beginning to end.

The compact cassette tape was invented in 1962 by Dutch inventor Lou Ottens.

The compact cassette tape was important because it was the first recording format that made it easy for anyone to record audio themselves without complicated reel-to-reel recording equipment.

In the late 1980s, National Audio Company was the largest manufacturer of blank cassette tapes in the United States. CDs displaced the cassette tape in the 1990s. National Audio Company pivoted to duplicating CDs and DVDs in the 90s and 2000s.

From 2015 to 2022 cassette tape sales saw a 443% increase in sales.

In 2022, cassette cassette tapes and vinyl outsold CDs.

The duplicators record at 80x playback speed. The loaders load tape at 800x playback speed.

Steve Stepp does not have a computer in his office.

Phil was a professor of neuroscience before he joined his father’s business in 2017.

 

Example

A VO/SOT is a voice over (covered with b-roll) that introduces a sound bite. “SOT” and “sound bite” are two terms that may be used interchangeably.