► Jean-Michel Jarre composes for Renault
► New Scenic and Megane E-Tech sounds
► Low-speed EV warning speeds by Jarre
Renault will continue to work with Jean-Michel Jarre, who scribed the welcome signature sounds and low-speed warning noise for the new Scenic E-Tech unveiled this week at the IAA Munich motor show. It follows his work on. the Megane E-Tech, unveiled at the same show two years earlier.
The 75-year-old French composer and record producer wrote the welcome sound sequence which plays when drivers get into the car. You can hear it in the video below.
Chief executive officer Luca de Meo told CAR that he was delighted with the results and that Renault would continue to work with Jarre on future products. ‘We would love to carry on working with Jean-Michel on future EVs,’ he said. ‘Nothing is confirmed yet, but it is possible we could design different sounds for different models.’
Jean-Michel Jarre and Renault’s sound engineers
Jarre worked with the group’s sound team to develop the welcome signature, which sounds a bit like Renault’s ad jingle mixed with birdsong overlaid. ‘Every detail was analysed to create sounds that capture the Renault brand’s spirit, are instantly recognisable in our cities’ soundscapes and convey a feeling of movement,’ says the blurb. Quite.
The composer, who rose to prominence in the 1980s with his signature electronic sound and light shows, also collaborated on the low-speed warning sounds that have been mandated on all electric cars in Europe since 2019.
The Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) dictated by the European Union must make a noise of at least 56 decibels if the car is going less than 12mph; above that speed, it is judged that road and tyre noise will make a silent electric car audible so that pedestrians, children and blind people can be aware of their presence.
Watch him in action in this earlier video in French with English sub-titles. And when you see – and hear – an electric Renault Scenic E-Tech drive past you in future, you’ll know exactly where that sound came from…