Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer designs Fahrgeräusche für BMW
[16:02 Thu,13.May 2021 by blip]
For many people, driving a car is more than just getting around - it's a highly emotional affair. And it is well known that our feelings are particularly strongly influenced by sounds and music -- it is no coincidence that sound design plays an important role in film. The audience is not only given additional information via the soundtrack, but is virtually guided by it through the emotional landscape of a film. In addition to music, effect sounds can often be heard that would not be perceptible or present in real life.
Composer and curator Hans Zimmer and Renzo Vitale, Creative Director Sound BMW Group
Which brings us back to the car, the electric one. This is also rather inaudible, which is a good thing in terms of noise pollution, but also poses a certain danger in urban traffic. The missing engine sounds are therefore replaced with a low, artificially emitted buzz, so that passers-by notice when the car is approaching them from behind -- but what about the so-called vehicle occupants? Are they supposed to sit in their sound-wave-free vehicle and be magically transported from A to B, deprived of the usual acoustic-emotional bond with their machine? Of course not, because that would make driving less fun.
To make acceleration audible and thus immediately tangible in an electric car, the company composes its own soundscapes, which brings us back to film. Sound design has long played a role in car construction, because little has always been left to chance when it comes to the sound of a car door being slammed shut or the exhaust, for example. But in order to acoustically model a complete driving experience, BMW has now enlisted the support of one of the top film composers and had Hans Zimmer design the driving sounds of the BMW i4, its M version and the BMW iX. He has composed the soundtracks for a number of Hollywood films, including the Pirates of the Caribbean series, the Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, Blade Runner 2049 and many more. -- and now also the acoustic feedback for driving electric BMWs.
