Best 10 tracks for evaluating in-car acoustics
When you see someone singing along to their car stereo at the top of their voices it may look funny, but you know they’re enjoying their journey. As such, car manufacturers take the subject of vehicle acoustics very seriously indeed.
But, to get the most out of your drive, how do you make sure your car is more Albert Hall than tin-can? From the Black Eyed Peas to Johnny Cash, iconic car maker Chevrolet (itself immortalised in over 600 songs) has put together a playlist of the best 10 tracks for evaluating in-car acoustics.
“Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box” by Radiohead: listen for the punch from the percussive bass, and the ring of the steel drums
“Bird on a Wire” by Johnny Cash: listen for the clarity in Johnny’s distinctive voice, and his guitar to sound natural and free of any colouration
“Don’t Know Why” by Norah Jones: listen for Norah’s voice to sound natural, and centred in front of you
“Diamonds and Rust” by Joan Baez: listen for strong vocals, and for the instruments to be set across a wide sound stage
“No One” by Alicia Keys: listen for clarity in Alicia’s vocals and spacious background sound
“Hotel California” by the Eagles: listen for the clarity and dynamic range during the opening guitar solo, and of course the powerful drum beat
“Boom Boom Pow” by the Black Eyed Peas: listen for powerful, accurate bass beats, even at full volume
“Rock that Body” by the Black Eyed Peas: listen to clear, intelligible lyrics over the powerful, persistent bass beat
“Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap: listen for the enveloping ambiance of the song, building on the openness and dynamic vocals
“He Mele No Lilo” by Mark Keali’i Ho’omalu from “Lilo and Stitch”: listen for the ambience and staging as the children’s chorus is offset by powerful bass
The list has been produced by Matt Kirsch, lead audio engineer at Chevrolet, who spends almost all of his working day carefully listening to thousands upon thousands of songs through radios, CDs and MP3 players routed through Chevrolet’s fleet of vehicles.
“It’s definitely not an easy job. We spend a huge amount of time tuning sound systems for ambiance and clarity, so that sitting in a car like the Chevrolet Cruze sounds like sitting in the front row at a concert hall. Test driving the sound system when you’re car shopping is an important ‘buy button’ that can be as key to your long-term satisfaction as checking out how well the vehicle handles. We set out to deliver a far better audio experience,” he explains.
Matt’s Top 10 can be downloaded from iTunes