How a good car sound is "manufactured"

originally posted by: belkide

Common car (It can be V8 to V1)

There is no V1 engine in this world, it´s impossible, a paradox. Can you be clear what trophys you won? Was it in RC only?

I don´t know, I´ve been on quarter miles, I´ve driven dozens of rounds on the Nuremburg Ring, and you come over like those kids that run up to my car while I´m still rolling out and talk about how this car is in "The fast and the furious" and ask if it shoots flames.

a reply to: verschickter

V1 is RC man calm down =)

Edit: And no I have no trophies in RC. its just a fun time for me.

a reply to: belkide
A "V1"-Motor is BS.

Just giving you my impression, no offense. I know it´s offtopic, what class/league were you in?

a reply to: belkide

OK.

Engineering.

Millions to spend on R&D.

The sound of a Lambo at full noise, is instantly recognisable.

As is an Aston Martin DB5.

As is a Ford Sierra or Saleen ... whirrr ..lol.

Holden 308 toranas driven under the A9X guise were fun.

I got to tool around in 1of 50 HO GP3 VH SS ... Engine built by HDT race mechanics. ( Larry Perkins and Ian Tate were 2 of the crew.)

Still got the silly smile on my dial ! 😎

* may or may not have done a couple of sneaky laps around Bathurst ... back in the day ..😐

a reply to: belkide

Interesting idea. If you could make an exhaust that you can tune the sound it produces along a range of frequencies, you should be able to harmonize with the engine noise, or slightly out of tune, to create a “signature sound” that you like.

a reply to: Woodcarver

And by doing that, you mess with everything else. If you change something in the exhaust system it will propagate. Pressure, Temperature, if there´s a exhaust driven turbo even more. Could be you´re unknowingly cutting on fuel economy, overheating and destroying the cat or more load on certain parts like turbos wheels.

This can lead up to serious problems especially in a standard production car. Granted, messing with a muffler won´t harm much but it won´t give much room for "tuning" the frequencies either.

It´s just not worth the gain for a bit of "signature sound". This is a pipedream.

Gross factors affecting the sound of an automobile engine include the induction resonances caused by the volume, speed, and path of the air being sucked into the engine; the mechanical sounds generated by the engine itself while operating (this is generally tied to the mechanical complexity of the engine design) and is not so much heard outside of the vehicle (unless the engine is exposed) as inside the cockpit via induction through the car’s structure, and, of course the tuning of the exhaust.

Working with an RC engine, you really don’t have much in the way of options with regard to induction air volume, engine mechanical complexity, or even a great volume of exhaust to work with.

V8’s tend to “rumble” because large pistons are pumping large volumes of exhaust out at relatively low speeds.

V12’s “whine” because smaller pistons are pumping out exhaust at a higher frequency due to the fact that there are more exhaust impulses per engine revolution.

Think...The sound of a pistol being fired versus the sound of a machine gun firing.

If you aren't concerned about performance of the RC, that does open up the possibilities a bit. But, as for a "signature sound," you probably also want it to sound good, right?

Because, you could also come up with a very unique sound that was perceived as horrid. Of course that part is subjective anyway..

I'd say your first steps might be to record and analyze the spectrum of sound the car currently creates. Given its size, it might be difficult to isolate the engine/drivetrain/etc. but I'm not sure total isolation is necessary. Then, record various changes while trying to reach a goal.

Maybe even look into music theory a bit. Depending on the tone and personality *YOU* want, you could look into coupling sounds together. Hell, you could probably even try to base it loosely on something like power chords from a guitar, Barre chords, etc.

I'd say the biggest issue with collaboration is that we are talking about a highly subjective topic.

You could also just do full blown trial and error and hope to strike the right balance. Be sure to take notes, and I think audio recordings would also be exceedingly useful.

Back in the days when I was in my early twenties I had a sixty nine mustang fast back special edition. I put a 302 cleveland in it and a seven fifty holly double pumper with high rise eldebrock intake. It had headers and duel exhaust with glasspacks and cheater pipes coming out in front of the back tires which were N50 15s.

It had a nice sound to it.

This is how a good car sounds.

a reply to: skunkape23
This is "hate mode" at 1.8 atmospheres of boost.

instaud.io...

You can see the wastegate dumping into the screamer in the visuals. cams are 272, injectors 2000cc, precision turbo 6466.

a reply to: Serdgiam

Yes power chords which i will try while experimenting. =) Right now looking for a way to make that "adjustable" exhaust design. I think I will go with a 2 way flute kind of idea, one letting it pass with a less percentage of course so the gas wont go all the way thru the easy out. The other one will have a mechanism inside.


Oh and for the ones who doesn't get the V1 joke, I tried to mention every engine, I know what V means. I don't know why you guys were so alarmed I think I sounded very serious with it V12 TO V1 V12 TO V1 (copy paste millions of times and make a nice wallpaper )

a reply to: belkide

This sounds like a fun project and a fun way to learn more about acoustics

I wish I was a good candidate to help you out with this, but I do hope you will post more if you go anywhere with this.

What would be cool is if you could create a therapeutic or calming effect from the spund that would effect people driving their cars, or walking down the sidewalk while cars drive by, or if you live near a freeway... something like that.

They have those musical roads. Maybe that could be a "third" time for more complex compositions? You know, for future ideas if this one leads anywhere?

Even just creating a "pleasing" sound would be a worthwhile improvement though

a reply to: 3n19m470

I agree with you, even all kinds of cars sounding nice (loud or not) would be a relief maybe =)

I will keep posting then =) Glad to have one more supporter.

a reply to: belkide

I'd also suggest making the internal baffles movable.

You could pit a knob through the outside into the center of each baffle. Kind of like an ever changing labyrinth. It would require some forethought, but once the test platform is completed, the next steps would all be truncated. Once you found the desired noise, you'd just copy the layout and design in a more permanent platform.

I'd suggest DesignSpark Mechanical for the design work, but there are a few fantastic pieces of CAD software out there.

a reply to: Serdgiam

Great point. I was going to make it one time just for the fun of it but yes, making it a solid piece after reacing the desired sound will make it even more robust.

I am planning not using any kind of CAD software as I forgot how to use it plus giving the design to a CNC factory and having it will cost it a lot more. I think I will go with try and fail with this one.

a reply to: belkide

Well.. if you've forgotten how to use typical CAD software, there's never been a better time to try out something like DesignSpark Mechanical!

Seriously, check out some YouTube vids of it. They did stuff with their software that will make you ask "why the hell hasn't this happened with other CAD devs?"

Its super cool software. And, you definitely don't need to send it off to be made, just use it as a blueprint. It may save you a lot of trouble.

Regardless, good luck! Keep us up to date, preferably with pics!

a reply to: Serdgiam

Thanks! =) I will check it out soon as I hope in the near future metal printing at home will be as easy as plastic. I can't even imagine what we guys will come up with for practical uses. I am really waiting the day I can print a V12 1/10 model car =)

Btw I found the desired note difference between the engine and the exhaust. You will hear there is an engine and there is an exhaust note different than each other and I guess the engine note is higher but lower octave and 3rd or 5th below musically.
Play from 19 sec. where you will see double rear wheels.

a reply to: belkide

Thanks for posting that video, had a smile on my face the whole time.

I agree that metal printing is the future. For a while, I thought MIT would be taking the lead with their multi-material printer.. but at this point, I just hope it comes out soon from anyone.

Another piece of software to look into is Audacity. It will allow you to actually quantify exactly what you are looking to achieve.

a reply to: Serdgiam

I just come across the idea I was talking about used by Subaru. Its at 4:39 mark. I believe its used by the other brands we talked about thus we don't know. It can be even like a 3 mm difference to make a quite different sound from the other pipe which looks like its twin* . Or heck, even the whole exhaust pipe VS the engine sound to create that pitch difference. See all those people not posting anymore?