The new Need For Speed movie has released to mixed reviews, many hung up on the over-the-top action we’ve been groomed to expect from car action movies. But if there’s one thing the Need For Speed movie got right, it’s the sounds of the plethora of performance cars that make their way across the big screen in this new car flick.

So how did the Need For Speed crew capture the sounds of real racing cars? First, they went to a local Cars and Coffee event to set an auditory “baseline”, as the video explains. From there, Hollywood movie magic took over, translating these sounds to the big screen.

While we tend to focus on the visuals of the movie in front of us, the sounds that occur in the background really bring the scene together. One way the Need For Speed movie brought audiences “into” the scene was by using spatial differences to give you a real sense of what the vehicle sounds like from that particular vantage point. This puts you, the viewer, into the movie.

A big part of the movie was the use of real cars for the action, rather than using CGI-developed hero cars to take a brunt of the destruction. This also required gathering the sounds of cars like the Bugatti Veyron and, of course, the Ford Mustang hero car. Up to ten microphones are taped to the outside of the Mustang to get an authentic sound, and the car is put through its paces to ensure the sound editors have plenty of range to work with.

Sounds like a fun job doesn’t it.