I've done lots of car recording of high performance cars. We did things in two steps (I say we, because there was a team of 4 of us).
You CAN use a dyno, but not a drum dyno, like in that picture. You need to use a dynapack. It's a dyno that hooks up to the actual drive axle. You remove the wheels and hook up a dynapack to each drive wheel. This way there is no drum sound, and you can move the dynapack anywhere you want. We even took it out to a racetrack once. You can hook up the dynapack computer to the car's computer and manually put in the RPM's you want to hit. You do need to stop every once in a while to run a fan and water over the radiator so the car doesn't overheat, so keep an eye on the engine temperature.
Now...the actual recording on the dyno:
4 to 6 mics on the engine compartment placed in various sweet spots determined at the time of recording. Every engine is different. We would record on the dyno with the hood up. Then, anywhere from 4 to 10 mics on the exhaust at varying positions. Some were right on the tailpipe. Some a foot or two away. Some ten yards away. This was all done outside, so room noise was a non-issue, and usually the cars were so loud we weren't concerned with sound bleeding in from anywhere else. We used dynamic mics for the most part, accept for the mics we put further back a few yards.
On the track (or street), we'd do 2 to 3 mics in the engine compartment, usually lavs. If the car has a turbo charger, then one mic goes on the intake. One mic on the blowoff, and one up against the firewall. For the exhaust we'd have to get creative with rigging gear that grips usually use. Usually only 2 to 3 mics on the tail end. The sound recordist sat in the passenger seat of the car and we ran all the cables there.
For tires, I developed a cool system of using hardwired lav mics. I would take excess foam from a pelican case, and put the lav in that. Then I would tape that to the inside of a wheel well of the car. This gets amazing tire sounds.
We also had someone getting stereo car bys as well.
The key here is getting a load on the engine. Like Noiz said, using a hill is helpful with a standard car that isn't heavily modified, but if you are using a car that is suped up, that won't be enough. You'll need to run it hard and fast, which means don't even bother using normal streets. You need to do this on a track or empty parking lot with lots of space. Get a professional driver if you can. Make sure everything and everyone is covered by insurance. If production is willing to shoot video of these cars, they'll have insurance for that production. If they want good sound, they'll need to pony up for insurance for the audio recording, as well as the crew and the gear.
You will not be able to get sync sound of the car while shooting picture. Everything will need to be recorded separately and then cut to picture. You need to have a detailed plan of what you need from the car before you do your recording.
You CAN use a dyno, but not a drum dyno, like in that picture. You need to use a dynapack. It's a dyno that hooks up to the actual drive axle. You remove the wheels and hook up a dynapack to each drive wheel. This way there is no drum sound, and you can move the dynapack anywhere you want. We even took it out to a racetrack once. You can hook up the dynapack computer to the car's computer and manually put in the RPM's you want to hit. You do need to stop every once in a while to run a fan and water over the radiator so the car doesn't overheat, so keep an eye on the engine temperature.
Now...the actual recording on the dyno:
4 to 6 mics on the engine compartment placed in various sweet spots determined at the time of recording. Every engine is different. We would record on the dyno with the hood up. Then, anywhere from 4 to 10 mics on the exhaust at varying positions. Some were right on the tailpipe. Some a foot or two away. Some ten yards away. This was all done outside, so room noise was a non-issue, and usually the cars were so loud we weren't concerned with sound bleeding in from anywhere else. We used dynamic mics for the most part, accept for the mics we put further back a few yards.
On the track (or street), we'd do 2 to 3 mics in the engine compartment, usually lavs. If the car has a turbo charger, then one mic goes on the intake. One mic on the blowoff, and one up against the firewall. For the exhaust we'd have to get creative with rigging gear that grips usually use. Usually only 2 to 3 mics on the tail end. The sound recordist sat in the passenger seat of the car and we ran all the cables there.
For tires, I developed a cool system of using hardwired lav mics. I would take excess foam from a pelican case, and put the lav in that. Then I would tape that to the inside of a wheel well of the car. This gets amazing tire sounds.
We also had someone getting stereo car bys as well.
The key here is getting a load on the engine. Like Noiz said, using a hill is helpful with a standard car that isn't heavily modified, but if you are using a car that is suped up, that won't be enough. You'll need to run it hard and fast, which means don't even bother using normal streets. You need to do this on a track or empty parking lot with lots of space. Get a professional driver if you can. Make sure everything and everyone is covered by insurance. If production is willing to shoot video of these cars, they'll have insurance for that production. If they want good sound, they'll need to pony up for insurance for the audio recording, as well as the crew and the gear.
You will not be able to get sync sound of the car while shooting picture. Everything will need to be recorded separately and then cut to picture. You need to have a detailed plan of what you need from the car before you do your recording.
