Zimmer frames new soundtrack for BMW EVs

BMW has teamed up with Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer to produce IconicSounds Electric – a range of synthesised tones for the German car-maker’s electrified vehicles.

Fitted as standard in the all-new BMW iX (pictured here in silver) and available via Remote Software Upgrade for other EVs such as the BMW iX3, which will also be released in Australia late this year, IconicSounds Electric will be available as an option for BMW i4 Gran Coupe (pictured here in white) due here in early 2022.

BMW says its new EV sound spectrum, which includes a ready-to-drive sound, a stop sound and a drive system sound, “enriches electric mobility with a fascinating and unmistakable sonic experience”.

What’s more, future high-performance electric models from BMW M, including the M version of the i4, will be available with their own unique sound.

BMW IconicSounds Electric is a collaboration between film music creator Zimmer and BMW Group’s creative sound director Renzo Vitale, who co-developed the drive system sound for the 2019 BMW Vision M NEXT and the 2020 BMW Concept i4.

This is its first application for BMW production models – both fully electric and plug-in hybrid.

“Every BMW has its own character, which is reflected in the sound it makes,” said composer and curator Zimmer.

“So for the electrically driven BMW M models we have developed a drive system sound which accentuates their emotional driving experience particularly vividly and ensures their performance can be felt with even greater intensity.”

According to BMW: “In the future, electric driving pleasure will be enhanced by acoustic feedback to every movement of the accelerator. Like the on-board driving modes selectable at the touch of a button, the drive system sound also takes its cues from the driving situation at hand and the driver’s personal preferences.”

While there’s no sound in ECO PRO mode, in its basic setting BMW IconicSounds Electric employs “a strikingly transparent timbre with spherical components to convey the basic character of an electrically driven BMW brand model”.

In COMFORT mode there’s “an immersive and pleasant atmosphere… But when the driver steps on the accelerator, the direct relationship between how the car is being driven and the sounds it makes is immediately revealed: the sound experience deepens as load and speed increase”.

In SPORT mode, “the car’s aural spectrum is more dominant and powerful, the sound providing a constant commentary on the driving situation. Drive system processes are registered within milliseconds and acceleration, load changes or recuperation given a suitable acoustic accompaniment”.

BMW says the soundtrack developed specifically for electrified M models, meantime, “is charged with extra energy” and offers more differentiation between COMFORT and SPORT mode.

It claims the drive system note for its M cars is “less harmonious but engagingly rousing” and acceleration is accompanied by “a rich intensification of the soundtrack’s development, authentically reflecting the car’s performance character”.

“When you press the pedal of an M car, you suddenly get goosebumps all over your body,” said sound designer Vitale. “We translated this feeling into a drive sound that expresses a fusion of superior power and flowing energy.”