Designing Sound Characteristics :: Motorcyles Papers

Designing Sound Characteristics Early on a unclouded July morning in Americas Great Plains, a farmer, clutching his warm cup of coffee, walks toward hotshot of his tractors as he begins his work day. Before he reaches his goal, he hears the crease exhaust note of a motorcycle, and out of the corner of his eye he notices a single headlight cresting the hill of the U.S. High personal manner that runs adjacent to his field. ache before the motorcycle gets close enough for him to read the name on the gas tank, the farmer knows that he is sharing this early morning instant with a rider aboard a Harley-Davidson, simply because of what he is hearing. The Harley-Davidson aim Company has re-emerged as the leader in the heavyweight motorcycle exertion because of countless stories of concise product recognition similar to this cardinal. term astir(p) the quality of their product line, the Motor Company has remained faithful to the styling cues that it was built upon, and in doing so ha s created an identity by which the rest of the cruiser genre is judged. good what are some of these styling cues? Many of them are visual, like Springer apparent motion suspensions, peanut-shaped fuel tanks, and finned V-twin engines. And some are audible, for as Jon Thompson explains, An essential element of the H-D equation is the charismatic feel and sound of the Harley engine--a sound one Honda spokesman characterized as, no kidding, potato- potato-potato (Thompson 44) While this may not sound like the most flattering of descriptions, it is one that Harley has embraced completely, and takes very seriously. It is a cornerstone of their marketing strategy, for even their product drive exclaims Potato, Potato, Potato. . . A Harley-Davidson at Idle. Has the wind ever carried a more(prenominal) refreshing sound?...The sound is unmistakable. The signature of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle... you instinctively know this is the way a motorcycle ought to sound... This did not happen by accident... when we find something more pleasing than anything else, we stick with it. Like the exhaust note of a Harley-Davidson 45 V-twin, the sweetest sound ever carried on the wind.Clearly, Harley believes that their V-twin exhaust rumble is instantly perceptible and discernible to the trained ear, and believes that it is a vitally important component of their self-colored product identity. Because of this, their design engineers are asked to create products that are technologically free-enterprise(a) and yet wonderfully nostalgic -- essentially, they are asked to design with an eye toward the future day and an eye toward the looks and sounds of motorcycles long past.