When it comes to vehicle sound effects, the sound libraries from Sweden’s Pole Position Production are in a league of their own. With decades of experience recording 100s of SFX libraries of things that drive, sail and fly, their content has been used in many of the biggest films and games in existence. For maximum usability and fidelity, their libraries are always captured from multiple perspectives and with extreme high-end equipment, and their catalog features a number of rare recordings not available anywhere else.
Their work goes way beyond just vehicles, with Pole Position Production also offering detailed collections in categories such as nature, wildlife, weapons, and even horror.
Highlighted Collection • Explore the catalog • More about Pole Position Production • What others are saying • Special licensing opportunities
The American 2004 Robinson R44 Raven II light helicopter sound bundle includes 464 clips in 63.99 gigabytes of audio. It shares the sound of a single Lycoming IO-540-AE1A5 6 cylinder, flat engine with fuel injection (245 bhp (183 kW)), with with rotor diameter at 33 ft (10.1 m), and tail rotor diameter 4 ft 10 in (1.5 m).
The collection of 14 synchronized takes showcases both exterior and onboard takes of taking off, landing, hovering, start ups, shut downs, as well as stationary idles. 12 exterior perspectives arrange multiple microphones around the airfield. 9 onboard perspectives include recordings from the interior (including an Ambisonic perspective), engine, and exhaust. Also included are performed effects of switches, doors, and more.
The collection downloads with complete embedded metadata support, Pro Tools and Reaper mixing sessions, metadata keyword import files and 7 languages, and 3 custom mixes of the onboard perspectives.
I’ve known the guys at Pole for years and since I know them as first class recordists, I wanted to bring them in when we started recording effects for Dunkirk. They were one of three recording teams spread around the world. We had a lot of period aircraft and boat recording to do, and they did some great detective work in locating said aircraft and boats, did an excellent job recording them and made an enormous contribution to the production. I’ll definitely work with them again, they do outstanding work.
– Richard King
Sound Supervisor/Warner Brothers, winner of 4 Oscar Awards
During the production of PlayerUnknown’s BattleGround we needed top notch vehicle sound effects and since I’d seen some truly awesome REV presets made by Pole I got in touch. Pole delivered wonderful material for experiments with REV and thanks to them the vehicle sounds in PUBG are realistic and enhances the gaming experience. The guys at Pole are very professional and experienced and they always make a huge effort from sourcing vehicles to delivering. We have always been very satisfied with their work and we look forward to working with Pole in the future when we need vehicle sound effects.
– James Park Kyung-won
Lead Sound Designer at PUBG/KRAFTON
Pole Position has leapt to the front of the line with their high quality vehicle recordings. My show “NCIS: New Orleans” has benefitted greatly from their work. Vehicle action sequences require precision, attention to detail, and multi-perspective coverage help to ensure smooth editing throughout the scene. Pole Position products fill those needs beautifully. Keep up the good work!
– Dave Barnaby
Sound Effects Editor
Pole recorded the Mercedes AMG GTR for us with stellar sound quality, doing a tremendous job of capturing the roaring, almost organic voice of this car down to the finest nuance. With a vast array of carefully selected microphones and an extremely clever method of recording they covered every aspect of this car in record breaking time, while still allowing time for some special requirements we had. Their solid experience combined with a friendly and service-minded attitude will see us returning for future projects.
– Eric Thorsell
Sr VR Sound Designer at MediaMonks
I recently started working on the Feature Film – ROAD as Sound Designer. We had a lot of extensive car chase scenes with exotic vehicles which we didn’t have the budget to rent and record. I chose Pole Position products for their multiple microphone position system and intimate sound. The Director loved the results on the Lamborghini / Camaro SS car chase scene!
– Alex Gregson
Sound Designer at 344 Audio
I’ve been a fan of Pole Position Production for years. So I was excited to contract them to help with sound effects on “Anki Overdrive”. We were overhauling the sound of the entire product, and Pole’s contribution was integral to this. They were a huge help with harder to find vehicle sounds. Tire squeals, vehicle impacts, rattling chassis, engine sounds with character, they had it all. Every file they delivered sounded great. Having Pole do the heavy lifting on certain tasks, like preparing granular synth engine ramps, was absolutely the right move. Their contributions made the product sound better and my job easier.
I again reached out to Pole early in the development of another project at Anki. After discussing creative goals, they provided very unique source material that I would have never thought to try, and it worked perfectly. I should point out that in this case, the sounds were not your typical “run of the mill” engine revs and tire squeals. This batch of sounds was both unusual and difficult to come by. Their unique source material took the sound in a very different direction and the product was better for it.
Pole delivers stellar content every time. They are also a pleasure to work with. For these reasons, they will always be at the top of my list when I need new sounds for a project.
– Jason Wolford
Audio Lead: Anki Overdrive
Senior Sound Designer: Anki Vector
“Max Lachmann at Pole Position was wonderful to work with on our film, “Above and Beyond” which centers around the birth of the Israeli Airforce. Authenticity was the key as we had an airplane consultant to ensure the accuracy of the recordings. Max had previously recorded a whole workup on the Messerschmidt ME-109 which is an incredibly rare plane with the engine variant needed. We used these recordings as a hero plane in the film. The fidelity was excellent as was the fullness and richness of the recordings. With no background noise to mar the pristine tracks, we were able to feature them throughout the film.”
– Larry Benjamin
Re-Recording Mixer “Above and Beyond”
“When working on the vehicles of Just Cause 3, I used Pole’s vehicle recordings. They were all of outstanding quality, with microphones placed in the engine and exhaust (multiple positions), interior and even pass-bys are available. Thanks to the multiple tracks, you can mix them to the perspective you desire, were your game a third person, top-down or first-person. The recordings have both steadies for loop-based sounds, and ramps for the granular sound models, both well performed for easy editing. Pole have worked in close cooperation with game developers for years, so their recordings are well suited for games. With over a decade of experience, the Pole team knows how to rig the microphones, and also how to drive and perform the vehicle to get the best recordings. Highly recommended!”
– Peter Hajba
Senior Sound Designer, Avalanche Studios
“Max and his team brought new levels of realism to our game by coming up with innovative ways of capturing the exact live-action sounds we needed for our game. They spent days outside during the freezing cold winter working with athletes and the resort personnel to ensure that they returned with every possible variation of every possible effect. Their dedications simply cannot be matched.”
– Alexander Bergendahl
CEO & Game Director | Poppermost Productions
“Making authentic sound is never easy. Especially when your game has hundreds planes and tanks of World War II, the originals of which is very hard to find sometimes. The guys from the Pole Position Production literally spread all over the world to record authentic engines of tanks and planes for us. As a result, tremendous work has been done in every sense of the word, and I personally got a few new friends.”
– Pavel Stebakov
Audio Director at Gaijin Entertainment
How does it sound when one becomes invisible? What does magic sound like? Mats Lundgren of Pole Position Production has given us the answers in his work on the feature film ”The Circle”. With a huge amount of creativity and ingenuity, Mats has created the sound effects we did not know existed, which magically enhanced the sound and accomplished the film. I can strongly recommend working with Mats Lundgren and Pole Position Production, you will not be disappointed.
– Cecilia Norman Mardell
Producer RMV Film
We really enjoy working with Pole Position Production. The work they provide for us is always professional and high quality. We fully recommend Pole to anyone who is serious about creating beautiful sound and it is always a pleasure working with these talents.
– Rob Blom
Bröderna Blom AB
The people at Pole are simply amazing. They always do their very best to help out as fast as possible and the quality of their sounds is outstanding.
– Torsten Zumhof
TV sound effects editor
The Essential Primer to Recording Car Sound Effects
Max Lachmann and the team at Pole Position Production have spent a decade perfecting their car recording methods. This is how they do it today:
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Meet the team who creates some of the world’s best vehicle sound recordings
How did Pole Position end up creating one of the world’s absolute top vehicle SFX collections? Get the story here:
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Game audio: Behind the spectacular vehicle sounds for Mad Max
Vehicle engine sounds in games sound better than ever, with the Mad Max ones being particularly powerful – here’s the exclusive story on how they’re done:
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How the stunning vehicle sounds for ‘The Crew 2’ were made:
Get the story on how The Crew 2’s cars, bikes, planes and boats got to sound so good
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Recording and Designing the Winter Sound Effects for SNOW:
How do you create great winter sound effects? Here are the clever ways Swedish sound designer Max Lachmann did it:
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