Audi R8 V10 Plus

‘Evolution on the Outside, Revolution on the Inside’

Well I am sure that is the case… anyway I was asked by BBH / Rogue Films to record this car, going at 205mph on a rolling road somewhere near Manchester in a freezing garage. I went on to mix the multitrack iso recordings and add some sound design. Check out the finished result on our work page.

I recorded the car with 6 different mics to capture different flavours of the engine: a dpa 4061 close to each exhaust on the chassis, a contact mic on the gearbox, an EV re20 under the floor (good for bass), and a mid-side pair of schoeps about 2/3 metres back from the car (far enough to avoid the heat) on a mic stand. Everything had a -20db attenuator inline between the mic and the Sound Devices recorder.

Here’s Minnie my dog checking the kit list the day before:

Thanks to Minnie the shoot was a success other than cutting my hand on the chassis and one of my mics getting frazzled.

I worked on the sound design from my studio in Tooting, adding some details and using various plugins including Aphex Aural Exciter and Soundtoys Decapitator to give the engine as much punch as possible. I went to finish the online and tv mixes at the lovely Pure Soho and took stems to James Saunders at Jungle for the cinema mix, he’s got one of the nicest rooms in town and one of the best pairs of ears too.

Much appreciation to producer Richard Adkins, creatives Olly Courtney & Tom Evans at BBH for getting me involved. The film was directed by Mark Jenkinson from Rogue Films – look out for the tv cut and the cinema versions coming to a screen near you soon...

Will Cohen, Director, String and Tins