I love music. Specifically, I love the feelings that music evokes. If you don’t believe me, just take one quick look at my music library, where you’ll find playlist titles such as “Sappy,” “Pump It Up,” and “Just Relax.” So when Lincoln asked that I come to California during music’s biggest weekend—at least on TV—to help introduce Lincoln’s new Revel System and talk about how music can shift one’s mood or perspective, I was on the next flight out.
Revel, a very well-known name in home audio from Harman, had been working with Lincoln over the past year to create a sound system like I have never seen in a car. A celebration of the Lincoln + Revel collaboration was the Sound of Luxury Experiment, set up at beloved LA hotspot Henry’s. Upon arrival, guests received a special code to lift a garage-like door, revealing a Lincoln MKX and the Sound of Luxury experience. Once we were comfortably seated inside the MKX we pressed play, and the experience truly began. Through the stunning use of video, paired with music composed specially for Lincoln by composer Paola Prestini, guests were transported through nearly five minutes of pure sound heaven.
The music was so powerful. When I had the opportunity to talk with Paola afterward, I couldn’t help but ask her about the relationship between music and moods—to which she immediately replied that sounds “color the music, which in turn sparks certain feelings.” Inspired, I ended up talking with more than a dozen guests that night, and it was apparent that these feelings seemed to be shared. Common emotional reactions to different sounds spanned happiness to sadness, and feelings of longing and remembrance. When asked how sound can shape their outlook or mood, a few people responded almost philosophically with sentiments like “Sound is perception,” “Sound brings life,” and most simply, “Sound is everything.”
After chatting about the emotions tied to music, I’d have been remiss had I not found out about the science behind it all. That’s where Kevin Voeck comes in. Kevin, a Revel sound engineer, has worked with Lincoln for more than a year to create the state-of-the-art system. And while I know more now about sound and sound systems then I had ever imagined I could, two things really stuck with me after talking with the creators of the system and experiencing it in person. First, the ability of the engineers from Lincoln and Revel to research and place speakers very precisely around the car resulted in the sensation that you’re at an actual concert, since the sound is layered in front of you at a very natural level…rather than pouring out of speakers at knee level. Second, the high-efficiency transducers generate sound with minimal distortion…and that is scientific talk for “the quality of sound doesn’t change no matter how loud I play my favorite pump-up tunes.”
All in all, I was blown away by the people I met, the sounds I heard, the energy I felt. I saw firsthand how music connects people…and the Cali weather wasn’t too bad either. Truly, MKR
