Ferrari California

I get the 8 microphones in optimal positions, ready the 8 channel multitrack recorder and get in the car. I clamber into the low slung seating, it’s cramped, lots of test dials, computer equipment. I have to hold an 8 channel recorder that’s like a huge brick with tentacles coming out of it and also a test laptop for Michele, our driver. I have headphones on, binaural microphones at the ready. In short, my brain is maxed, no more processing power available, so I tune into the sound and focus on the track ahead. The car starts, the engine growls with that distinctive timbre as we pull away from the pitstop, where my colleagues, test engineers and our Ferrari chaperone all wait and watch.

Michele, our driver turns and says to me in a soft Italian accent, “you tell me, when the thumb goes up we drive faster, thumbs down we go slower”. I’m mentally seeing images of Emperor Nero at the Colosseum giving the thumbs up for execution. I think to myself, well, if you’re going to go out of this world, it will be quick, and what better way to go than in a prototype Ferrari in the middle of the night doing what you were born to do?

We pull out and we turn onto the oval test track, we are off! I’m busy hurrying the sound levels as best as I can, this car has a huge dynamic range, which means one moment it’s quiet, the next it’s a roaring beast. This is tricky. I want to capture the sound from quiet to loud, but have the wind traversing over the car hitting the microphones. We start to pick up speed, I look at Michele and nervously give him the thumbs up, we accelerate, we are now travelling at 100MPH [160 KPH]. I see my thumb going up again, and we pick it up a notch .. after 10 mins at 130 MPH [210 KPH] I start to become accustomed to the speeds and I see my thumb going up again and again. We reach 193 MPH [310 KPH] Top speed. As we sprint round the track the recording is being captured in full fidelity at the highest sound resolution. The experience of recording at such speeds is quite something else, so many sounds all being captured at any one time. We then take the car round various other tracks, from bending road to bumpy road, and afterwards we make straight pass-bys, the car approaches and zips past with the effect of a bullet. The recording session winds down and I focus the remaining time on capturing the car detail of doors, engine starts etc. Later when we listen to the recordings, we know we have something special to work with.