Movie Car Sounds

[JMF]

Watching Fast And The Furious 3 with Toretto's Roadrunner at the end and made me think why is it movie cars always sound so good? I've had Flowmaster's and Cherry bombs on old cars and they were damn loud but the cars in films always sound awesome, how can I get that burbly sound like you hear in movies?

[bordin34]

With 100k in sound editing software and editing.

[JMF]

True

[BMOTOXSTAR]

 

[Ghoste]

If it really was the natural sound of THAT car (and there is almost no chance at all that it was), it's a Road Runner that was done by Pure Vision and is more commonly known as "Hammer".  There should be something out there which details it's exhaust.  Try Googling Steve Strope or Pure Vision or Hammer Road Runner?

[Mike DC]

       
On the F&F special features DVD stuff, the director talked about that.  He mentioned that whenToretto fires up the Charger in the driveway, he wanted the engine noise to come from all the stereo channels at once.  He wanted the sound of the "beast" Charger to be overwhelming compared to the smaller & more realistic sounds of the newer cars.


I hear ya, though.  Movie cars have a way of sounding so AWESOME.  The "Bullitt" sound-effects tracks were raided for decades afterward.  Some of that stuff still shows up all over Hollywood.

Personally, I'd LOVE to get my GL replica to sound just like the engine noise they used later in the TV series (even if it cost 40hp just to do it).  But the sound was a totally fabricated effect that no normal engine will produce no matter what you do to the exhaust system.

   

[chargerman68]

just watched fast and furious 3


anybody have info on that roadrunner he is driving

[JMF]

He lives his life a quarter mile at a time : )

[Charger74]

just watched fast and furious 3


anybody have info on that roadrunner he is driving

Read Ghoste's reply.  then google it.   You will find all you need to know there....

[Ghoste]

Actually, I tried to Google it myself this morning and couldn't turn up much.  Does anyone remember which of the Mopar mags ran a feature on it?  The trail turned cold at Mopar Muscle but I haven't checked the others yet.

[Alain426]

http://www.purevisiondesign.com/rides_otr_hammer.asp

[Mike DC]

 
Vinnie lives his life one flopping movie at a time.

 

[pettyfan43]

You want a cool sounding car? Get a hold of Mike (NYCMille) and find out exactly the exhaust under Mr Angry! THAT will do it!

[Chatt69chgr]

Some car sounds have not been technically altered.  The movie Bullet is a case in point.  I knew a guy who had a Mustang exactly like the one in the movie and his car sounded exactly like Steve McQueen's car.  I had a 66 Fairlane GTA with 390 and mine didn't sound anything like the 390  Mustang.  I would note that the new mustangs sound a lot like the old mustang in Bullet---probably use the same cross-flow muffler and resonators.  And in my opinion, the Charger sound in the movie Bullet sounds pretty much like a real 440 charger.  I have a 2005 Dodge Ram with a hemi and when accelerating with it I can hear the distinctive "Dodge" sound that I never heard with any Ford I ever drove.  Chevy's don't sound like Dodge's either.  Interestingly, in lots and lots of movies and tv shows made in the 20 or so years after Bullet, you can pick out the Bullet "car sound" soundtrack being used.  I've noticed it in Dukes of Hazzard tv series among others. 

As far as the movie Fast and Furious is concerned, the sound on it like all sounds on movies these days is totally altered so it wouldn't sound like any real car. 

Personally, I like the "real" sounds of cars.  I don't like "engineered" sounds put out there for the teen and 20 something audience.  I am kind of surprised with all these little Japanese cars having 1000 Watt sound systems in them that someone hasn't figured out how to tie a V8 sound to the accelerator and mask the ting ting-ting-ting sound that the 4-cylinders with the coffee can exhausts make.

[chargerman68]

You want a cool sounding car? Get a hold of Mike (NYCMille) and find out exactly the exhaust under Mr Angry! THAT will do it!

[Ghoste]

I am kind of surprised with all these little Japanese cars having 1000 Watt sound systems in them that someone hasn't figured out how to tie a V8 sound to the accelerator and mask the ting ting-ting-ting sound that the 4-cylinders with the coffee can exhausts make.

Oddly enough, they all seem to like that nasty liquid fart sound. 

[2Gunz]

It all comes down to money.

You could easily spend $5000 - $30000 recording the sound of the car.

Rental of the car
Transportation of the car to where you are going to record it.
The guy/guys  who take care of the car on the lot.
The recording guy.
The mic guy.
Rental of the recording gear.
Someplace to record the car.
Somebody to edit the sound once you record it.

And the list goes on.....

Sure you could do it for a few hundred bucks, but hey this is Hollywood.



OR.....


Pop in the cd of car sounds and pay the sound effects guy to throw it in......

[Brock Samson]

Watching Fast And The Furious 3 with Toretto's Roadrunner at the end and made me think why is it movie cars always sound so good? I've had Flowmaster's and Cherry bombs on old cars and they were damn loud but the cars in films always sound awesome, how can I get that burbly sound like you hear in movies?

loud does not equal good, throaty, deep, is the sound I like...
i have the flowmasters and three inch TTI exhaust all the way out the back..

having an Auto Vs. a four speed makes a difference...
choice of cam makes a difference...

i like to say my automatic R/T with a 500 hp six-pack motor (stock six-pack cam) has two sounds... one at idle and one under acceleration..
  the first is "Horney Panther and the other is "Pissed Off Tyrannisaur"

here's a brief clip... of the horney panther...   http://youtube.com/watch?v=6N5xm-F_st8

[duo-stripe]

how did Warner Bros fix the squeeking of the General Lee's tyres on dirt??

[pettyfan43]

how did Warner Bros fix the squeeking of the General Lee's tyres on dirt??

They greased them real well!!!!!! 

[Mike DC]

 
Heh, heh, heh . . . I never figured out that trick either.

And then there's the infamous wheelstander GL that wasn't finished in time to use in an episode: 
Cool idea and everything, but I don't know how they would have ever explained a near-stock Charger pulling wheelies on asphalt, let alone on DIRT!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ever played around on a dry lakebed (like El Mirage north of L.A.)? 

On that uber-smooth hardpacked dirt surface, I swear to god the tires actually DO screech like it's on asphalt.

   

[Ghoste]

I thought the wheelstander GL was finished in time but the director didn't like the look of the engine in the back seat?

[Brock Samson]

is the wheelstander GL still in legal limbo?...... speakin of stolen rides... 

[Ghoste]

I think it is but I'm not certain.  The topic seems muted since Sephton's passing but I thought his estate was continuing the battle?