Okay, so I’ve been wanting to mess around with the sound of a 2-stroke dirt bike for a while. I just think they sound so cool, that raw, high-pitched whine. So, I decided to finally give it a shot.
First, I found a buddy who actually owns a 2-stroke dirt bike. That was step one, and lucky me he was totally into the idea and offered to let me get the raw samples.
Getting the Raw Sound
We headed out to his garage, and he kickstarted that thing. Man, the sound instantly brought back memories of watching motocross races. I used a simple audio recorder and positioned it around the exhaust and the engine. I made different recordings to get every angle.
- I held the recorder near the exhaust.
- I moved it around to capture different sounds.
- I even asked the guy to rev the engine a few times.
I tried the recorder at different distances, from super close to a few feet away. I had to play with the recording levels a bit to avoid distortion, because, you know, it’s LOUD.
I also made sure the recorder was protected so it would not get damaged.
Playing with the Audio
Next, I took all those recordings and loaded them onto my computer.I wanted to isolate that perfect “braap” sound, so I listened to all recording carefully.
Once I found some good bits, I started experimenting. For instance, I tried looping a short section of the revving sound to create a continuous engine noise. I got to create the perfect engine hum.
It was a blast! It’s amazing how you can take a simple sound and turn it into something totally different. I’m definitely going to keep messing around with this. Maybe I’ll even try to mix it into some music or something. Who knows!