Modern engines are embracing the age of lip- synching fakery
Yes, your ears are deceiving you. That sonorous vroom- vroom you’re hearing is probably a sham, writes David Booth.
Is it possible that we owe Fab Morvan and, God rest his soul, Rob Pilatus an apology?
For those not familiar with Fab and Rob, they were, quite literally, the faces of Milli Vanilli, the poster boys for the- then seminal sin of lip- synching. Spearheaded by the German producer- singersongwriter Frank Farian, who created Boney M, Farian’s genius lay in realizing that presentation mattered more than content. His only mistake lay in being about a generation early. When it was revealed that Milli’s greatest hit, Girl You Know It’s True, was not quite what it seemed, the scandal was unimaginable. The group’s Grammy Award was rescinded, lawsuits were filed and Pilatus committed suicide.
Today, of course, lip- synching is considered standard industry practice. Indeed, music producers now count on the fact that we really don’t care whether the vocal track emanating from our woofers is real or just an artful digitization of the same type of screeching all of us hear when we’re alone in the shower.
The automotive industry — at least the sports car side of it — is counting on the very same indifference. Yes, after more than 125 years of worshipping exhaust music au naturel — immortalized by everything from the original W. O. Bentleys to the current Ferrari 458 — it turns out that some of our most cherished sports cars can’t carry a tune either.
And the fakery goes all the way to the top. McLaren’s mondorapid original MP4- 12C, hoping to compete with the Wagnerian opera that is Ferrari’s 458, piped the intake manifold directly into the cabin for greater theatre. Flip a simple toggle and the 12C’s Intake Sound Generator instantly renders the cabin the Bolshoi of internal combustion symphonics.
At least, the McLaren’s soundtrack is based on real, if somewhat attenuated, chords. Ford’s latest EcoBoost Mustang, on the other hand, is a complete canard. Most enthusiasts were worried that the new Mustang turbocharged four would be an economization too far ( and they had plenty of reason for worry, Ford’s previous attempt at a four- cylinder ’ Stang, powered by a Pinto motor, was a disaster). As it turns out, the 2.3L EcoBoost’s 310 horsepower is entirely convincing. Its soundtrack, on the other hand, is counterfeit.
More high- tech than the McLaren fakery, the Mustang ’s music is completely manipulated. Not only does a computer- controlled active noise cancellation system eliminate discordant notes, but Ford then amplifies the remaining “good” sound waves to create its overdubbed sportiness. Pull fuse 27 — disabling the car’s sound system as well as the electronic active noise cancellation system — and the once sonorous ’ Stang sounds as flatulent as your granddad’s old Toro lawn mower.
Nor are the McLaren and the Mustang the only perpetrators of this musical sham. Porsche’s Cayman, like the MP4, has a pipe connecting intake manifold to cabin. VW’s legendary GTI uses a more complicated “Soundaktor” electronic system ( basically a speaker mounted to the firewall) to bump up the music. BMW’s M5 pipes in “vroom” engine noises via the sound system.
It’s a forgery that is only likely to increase in the future. Andrew Pontius, the chief exhaust engineer for parts supplier Faurecia, told Automotive News that the powertrains of the future will emit “the kind of drone that makes you wish you were deaf ” producing “an agricultural sound” like a tractor. Nor is this revisionism limited to in- cabin sonic trickery. With the magic of digitization, Pontius told the industry tome that “we could make a four- cylinder turbo sound like a two- cylinder Harley!”
Pontius blames modern emissions and fuel savings technologies. The rapidly expanding proliferation of turbo engines in the performance arena is especially troubling to the fans of exhaust music, turbochargers able to boost power output without a corresponding fuel economy penalty, but damping engine tonality and volume severely.
And there appears to be little recourse but to fake it. Even Formula One impresario Bernie Ecclestone has complained that his series’ new turbocharged V6s lack drama. Can you imagine if F1, the ultimate in motorsports music, has to start lip- synching racy engine noises?
More importantly, does it matter? Are we so jaded that we no longer care that much that what we hear — from our stereos or our cars — is digital fakery? If so, then we really do owe poor Fab and Rob an apology.