Hear Hundreds of Volvo Sound Effects
How many films or TV series have you seen where the characters are driving Volvos? It may be US, UK, or Swedish productions, series such as The Americans, A Handmaid’s Tale, films such as World War Z or Lost Highway… but there are always Volvos! And how many times have you questioned if you have any Volvos in your catalogue, always with the same embarrassing answer?
Well, we decided to do something about it! We spent two days at the Volvo Museum in Gothenburg and recorded 10 cars for a Volvo Library. And we spent another day at an airfield recording a few more Volvos that we believe needed to be in the library, too. And here we are! It’s time for us to release the Volvos!
The complete Volvo collection features cars that span every era of automotive history:
Vintage Volvos:
- 1929 PV4 cabriolet
Antique Volvos:
- 1954 PV831 taxicab
- 1957 PV444 fastback
- 1965 PV544 fastback
- 1966 P1800S sports car
- 1969 142 2-door sedan executive car
- 1970 122 “Amazon” police car
- 1975 242 DL mid-sized car
- 1990 780 “Bertone” 2-door coupé
Modern Volvos:
- 1996 850 SE 2.5 compact executive car
- 2006 V70 police car
- 2008 XC70 III compact crossover
- 2015 S60 “Polestar” compact executive car
- 2017 XC90 luxury hybrid SUV
Industrial Volvos:
- Volvo F12 Fire truck
- Volvo BM L70 tractor
- Volvo F12 truck
- Volvo A30E dump truck
The complete Volvo Library features:
- 18 cars.
- 286.57 gigabytes.
- 6039 sound files.
Each sound library comes complete with synchronized onboard and exterior recordings that capture the sound of the cars driving at fast, medium, and slow speeds with steady RPMs, gearshifts, and ramps. The cars start, idle, and shut off, and depart, pass, and arrive.
The exterior perspectives arrange microphones on straightaways and at corners at multiple distances. The onboard perspectives mount microphones at the engine, exhaust, and in the interior. Every library includes performed effects of doors, dashboard movements, hoods, horns, and more. Selected vehicles also include impulse responses and Ambisonic recordings of the cabin. All recordings are gathered by professional microphones from respected manufacturers Sennheiser, DPA, Holophone, Neumann, and others.
Each car has been recorded by a full team of expert field recordists, diligently cleaned and mastered, and prepared for ease of use. Every clip includes extensive Soundminer, BWAV, and Mac OS Finder metadata totalling over 20 fields of rich comments.
