The Science of How Car Sounds Seduce Our Brains
Director George Miller and the filmmakers of “Mad Max: Fury Road” had a problem. They had emphasized practical visual effects by building and destroying dozens of vehicles during the 2015 film’s main action sequences: a long road chase and running battles with cars and trucks in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. But the audio recordings of the actual vehicle sounds seemed weak in comparison with the dazzling visual display of vehicular carnage.
To give the “Mad Max” vehicles a larger-than-life sound, Miller and his team turned to Hollywood sound designers for help. The sound designers added sound “cheats” and “sweeteners” — everything from animal roars to jet engine whines — based on a library of sound samples collected over several decades. The result is that the “Mad Max” War Rig, an 18-wheel semitrailer truck, has a husky engine sound backed by menacing bear roars. Roving packs of warriors on motorcycles emit wolf growls as they zoom past. Even the sound of bees is used to heighten the experience of seeing an attack by a swarm of spiky cars.
“Truthfully, anytime you go and record something in the real world, what you record is not super impressive unto itself nine times out of 10,” says Scott Hecker, a sound editor at Formosa Features. “Even though you have this bright, shiny new sound you just recorded, you still have to add other sounds…
