"Berang" (berang)
12/08/2015 at 21:02 • Filed to: None
1
16|
"Berang" (berang)
12/08/2015 at 21:02 • Filed to: None | 1
| 16 |
At the start of Kraftwerk’s Autobahn, we hear a car starting up and driving off. I’ve always assumed, as I’m sure many of us have, the car is a VW beetle. But is it? I’m starting to think it must have been a 2cv. I’ve not been able to find any info, reliable or otherwise, about what car was “sampled” for the song.
Does anybody know?
davedave1111
> Berang
12/08/2015 at 21:08 |
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It was a Baja bug. That’s why when the record ends you have to turn it over.
Anima
> davedave1111
12/08/2015 at 21:16 |
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You clever bastard!
Goggles Pizzano
> Berang
12/08/2015 at 21:35 |
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I do not know, but suspect a Model T or the like.
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Berang
> Goggles Pizzano
12/08/2015 at 21:42 |
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Nope. The car sound is distinctively air-cooled. Plus there’s no way a model T would wring through 2nd (direct drive) that quickly.
DrJohannVegas
> Berang
12/08/2015 at 21:43 |
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I’m don’t think it applies to the opening, but other car sounds are all on the Odyssey. See here.
Props for posting the full version. Count me in the “Type 1” camp for “what’s that car?”
Übel
> Berang
12/08/2015 at 21:50 |
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Definitely doesn’t sound like a Type 1 to me. Too tinny/thin. Definitely air cooled, though.
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Berang
> Übel
12/08/2015 at 21:59 |
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It’s hard to find a good video of an earlier 2cv which was a bit rougher sounding than this, but I think this is pretty close.
John_Harbinson
> Berang
12/08/2015 at 22:03 |
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If this source is to be believed, it’s not a car at all! It’s actually a synthesizer. I just spent the past half an hour listening to beetles and 2CV’s starting up for nothing :(
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=…
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Übel
> Berang
12/08/2015 at 22:07 |
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That sounds more right, but I’m not sure about most right. It’s really hard to pick out what’s down to the sound of the car in Autobahn and what’s down to the recording equipment/technique.
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Berang
> John_Harbinson
12/08/2015 at 22:09 |
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The opening is definitely not a synth, even if the rest is. But maybe it is a VW then since that is apparently the car they had on hand.
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John_Harbinson
> Berang
12/08/2015 at 22:45 |
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What if it was a 220se or a 190d??
Rock Bottom
> Berang
12/08/2015 at 23:42 |
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My money’s on post-war 4 cylinder diesel Benz. They’re short-shifting the hell out of it, and that transmission sounds... industrial.
EDIT: My evidence
Raphael Orlove
> davedave1111
12/09/2015 at 00:09 |
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what you did there
I see it
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Raphael Orlove
> Berang
12/09/2015 at 00:10 |
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2cv ain’t a bad guess. I don’t think of bugs as having such a loud transmission, either, though maybe it was an early very muffled model.
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Berang
> Rock Bottom
12/09/2015 at 00:17 |
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That’s a good guess, although I think the car in the song sounds too “chunky” to be an inline four.
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Berang
> Raphael Orlove
12/09/2015 at 00:29 |
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If you listen to early 36hp beetles it sounds much closer. Somebody else pointed out that they had an “old” beetle they used for recording highway sounds before they went to the synths to recreate them. So that may be the source for the sound.
To me the engine still doesn’t sound quite the same though.