Techno's Influence on Car Sound

author: FutureCar Staff    

Electric vehicles are giving automobile companies a chance to reinvent how cars sound – and many are turning to producers to help them create radically new sound palettes.

"I'm driving in a black on black in black Porsche 924." With these words in his classic 1985 track, "Night Drive (Thru-Babylon)," Juan Atkins made explicit the nascent connection between techno and cars.

It was not unprecedented. The first major piece of electronic pop music, Kraftwerk's "Autobahn," was about driving down the highway, and Gary Numan evoked cars as safe spaces in his landmark "Cars."

But Atkins, recording as Model 500, connected the dots between the Detroit automobile assembly lines, the man/machine fusion of the automobile, and techno production, itself a kind of cyborg relationship between musician and electronic instrument.

With the rise in popularity of electric vehicles (EV), car manufacturers are taking the opportunity to redefine the sound of the automobile. Aside from tires rolling on pavement, EV are almost completely quiet. There's no engine noise because there's no combustion engine. Because of various safety concerns, EV are required to make some kind of sound to alert pedestrians to their presence. Just what form that sound will take, however, is up to the companies themselves.

While some manufacturers have stuck with the old script, synthesizing the sound of old-school engines, others are getting more creative. There are cars with samples of the human voice as part of the ‘engine' noise. Another incorporates a didgeridoo. These are not machine sounds but essentially human sounds. And the people championing this redefinition of how a car should sound are often electronic musicians.

Richard Devine, a musician and sound designer, has worked on sound design for Jaguar cars using software like Kyma, Spear, Max/MSP, and Reaktor. He analyzed the sound of previous Jaguar engines and incorporated those elements into the new sound system.

Japanese manufacturer Green Lord Motors (GLM) enlisted Roland to create the audio environment for its Tommykaira ZZ car. Roland adapted its SuperNATURAL sound synthesis architecture for the EV, working to match the change in sound of acceleration and speed.

Car companies are also aware of how the sounds of their vehicles contribute to urban and public spaces. They are looking to create environments that are embracing of humanity, with sounds that are caring and friendly rather than aggressive and loud.

EVs also allow for customization of interior sounds, giving drivers the ability to create their own unique audio experience. Richard Devine has already started experimenting with creating custom sounds for his Tesla Model 3 Performance.

As electric vehicles become more prevalent, automobile manufacturers are redefining what the sound of a car can be. By incorporating audio from human musicians, they are making cars more human and fostering a synergy between man and machine.

FutureCar Staff