TEXT & IMAGES BY: Scout Motors
e live in a world surrounded by noise — constant, relentless, everything competing to be heard. However, when you are able to harness that noise to make it deliberate, immersive, and part of a story, it becomes something different altogether. This is the concept of sound design.
For the Scout Motors User Experience team, sound is intentional, it’s emotional. It’s treated as a bridge between machine and driver. It shapes how you connect to the vehicle, how you experience the moment when you press the start button for the first time.
So how do you design a sound that makes you feel?
Dré Nitze-Nelson, Director of UX Design and Sound Designer Dexter Garcia, were posed with that challenge. As Dre puts it — “you can think of sound design as creating a new language for a specific function — something that provides a certain atmosphere.”
Dre and Dexter understood the importance of their task. “Sound has an incredible opportunity to create emotional feeling. It shapes how you connect, how you experience the moment. You’re trying to create a bridge between this piece of technology and the driver.”
The team approached sound design not as technical spec, but as the creation of a new language. Every tone, texture, and note had to serve a purpose and have meaning.
The foundation Scout Motors chose for that language, rested on three design pillars — honoring the heritage, connecting to the land, and being humbly American.
These pillars thus guided their acoustic philosophy.
“You can think of sound design as creating a new language for a specific function — something that provides a certain atmosphere.”
Honoring Heritage
To honor the Scout® brand heritage, the team went back to the source. An original 1972 Scout II was wheeled into an anechoic chamber — a soundproof laboratory designed to capture every intricate mechanical detail. The old Scout trucks had what the team called a “mechanical voice.” Knobs. Buttons. Metal-on-metal tactility.
Dre and Dexter discovered something unexpected: a rhythm. The flick of analog relays carried a natural, almost swung cadence, the V8 had a repetitive heartbeat. The team found it to be reminiscent of blues music. That rhythm became part of the DNA of the new sound architecture, subtly woven into the experience.
Connecting to the Land
Scout Motors’ roots are deeply tied to agriculture and the American landscape. The agricultural inspiration came directly from Scout Motors CEO Scott Keogh, who encouraged the team to look toward the brand’s farming roots as a source of inspiration.
So the sound team left the lab and headed to a family farm in Kentucky.
Armed with field microphones, Dre and Dexter recorded the wind moving through cornfields. The texture of it, the movement and stillness, the breath of the land itself.
The two even climbed inside a corn silo, discovering a surreal, almost psychedelic reverberation as sound echoed around the curved walls. That natural delay became another layer in the Scout sound sonic palette.
By anchoring Scout Motors’ soundscape in that key, the team created something subtle but powerful. They created a sense of life.
Designing for the Future
Modern vehicles must comply with strict AVAS safety regulations, requiring external sounds at low speeds. Many electric vehicles respond with synthetic, almost spaceship-like tones. Dre and Dexter chose a different path.
Their external sound blends the resonance of acoustic guitar, the whisper of wind through cornfields, and a hint of the original Scout V8’s authority.
The result is powerful. Grounded. Rugged. When you press the accelerator, the sound design creates excitement and also familiarity. It connects drivers to the story of the original Scout vehicles.
The most important moment in Scout Motors new sound design might be the first one—the instant you press the start button. That sound is layered with heritage, land, and American roots. Analog inspiration meets electric innovation. Regulation meets emotion. It’s subtle. It’s intentional. It’s deeply considered.
And when you hear it, the reaction should be instinctive: “Sounds like a Scout.”
Head on over to our YouTube to watch the latest episode of Forging The Future, for an in-depth look at the philosophy behind the sound of the Scout vehicles.
Scout and the Scout logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Scout Motors Inc. or its affiliates.
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