Sound recording - SCANIA S and R

We are hard at work on the 3D models of Next Generation Scania S and R trucks. There is still a ton of work left for the two-person team responsible for the interior and exterior of the vehicle, but we are seeing solid progress. In a previous blog post, we have covered the process of 3D scaning and photogrammetry, performed on a research trip to Scania Demo Centre in Södertälje, Sweden. But looks is not everything. In recent days, a small production team set out to record the truck sounds, and to photograph additional specific details of the cabin interior. Our thanks belong to Scania Czech Republic based in Chrášťany near Prague, who let us play with Scania’s new trucks range for 2017 models - V8 S580 and R450. We took four days in total for the sound recording sessions, so you can imagine that it was rather thorough.

We recorded sounds on eight microphones simultaneously. A vehicle's sounds are recorded at once for interior as well as for selected exterior areas and important mechanical parts. We go through various driving modes and workloads to get a wide range of authentic data. We typically dedicate 3 microphones just for the engine compartment, to make sure we acquire the distinctive full sound. More microphones are reserved for the chassis and exhaust. In total, we are talking some 50 GB of raw data in 8 tracks for each vehicle.

In addition to comprehensive sound sets for both S and R models, we also focused on photographing dozens of detailed photos, which will be handy for our vehicle department. For this purpose we had a fat list of items prepared by them for what needed to be further documented. The details were then photographed during breaks in the recording sessions.