Wednesday, December 25, 2024
Car AudioNews

PROPPER DROPPERS NEDERLANDS TO GO FOR BASSQUAKE RECORD

I have been at this malarkey of car audio reporting for a ridiculously long time. Thus some have used the term ‘˜Legend’ on me, which only means you are really old, like Ian Pinder and Steve Meade. But I DO claim to have fed certain things into UK car audio culture. The thing about 150dB being as loud as Concorde upon takeoff was a trend for a bit that faded after she was grounded. That was after I wrote about it in Max Power as part of a car audio review of a mad bass system.
Then, there was the thing about the erotic power of bass. Done before by Howard Stern but I put the salt upon its tail and labelled the frequency.
33Hz, also known as the CRF.
The second and third words are Resonant Frequency and the first? .clitoral! It was revealed to me by Todd Ramsey, now a respected consultant, who had a chum who’s girlfriend had done the empirical research with a system comprising nine fifteens in a van and a frequency track disc. It went deep into the culture.
Then, there was ‘Fuck SPL GIMME Richter!’ A feature in Max Power magazine, I drew upon my degree level geology and seismology and scientist-speak and the fact that I was fascinated by American writers calling boom systems ‘Pavement Shakers’ and ‘Ground Pounders’. And I hired an earthquake meter and measured how well we could shake the very sod at Santa Pod.
Three years later, I did it again at Fast Car and then four years on from THAT, I did it again, also at Fast Car. But this time, I got risk assessments (‘The grass will be slippery, may contain nuts.’) and bearded explosion scientists and witnesses and TV crews and well, everybody. And created a brand new Guinness World Record.

I can tell you that when I got the certificate, I was thrilled ( I also have the one they sent Fast Car, as Slim Jules reckoned it was mine to keep..) yet when I saw it in the red hardback 2014 edition of THE BOOK, I nearly died of happiness!
Then, a nutter called Marcos Barnes created the competition format I had been ranting about wanting to see for years. One where they win by going LOW as well as loud. It was called Propper Droppers and I went to a good few of the early shows and put them all over the Presenterbloke YouTube channel. Thanks entirely to Marcos’ awesome levels of coolness and general brilliance, along with huge social media efforts, it took off and soon, Marcos was fielding enquiries from as far away as Trinidad & Tobago with questions about running PD contests in their area.
But it was the mad Dutch who have really gone for it and dare I say it, have run Propper Droppers competitions on a more fancy scale than the originators. They have been pure support for the burgeoning Propper Droppers format and are wild and crazy guys.
And now, they are to challenge the Bass Quake Record!
It is to happen on 1st, 2nd and 3rd July 2016 at a car show called WKND, with the Guinness attempt on the Sunday.

It’s all very well having fun career stuff like that in one’s past and creating a record is supposedly way harder than breaking one but I really do hope that conditions are great for them and the devices reveal a greater shake to the ground than we managed in 2008. Right now, I gather they need a scientist to attend the attempt, in order to ratify its accuracy of application as per the Guinness World Record rules – as yes, we had to have rules, or a ground mine would win.
Rules for Largest ground vibration caused by car sound systems
1. There is no limit to the number of cars to use in the record attempt.
2. All vehicles must be legally drivable and must be able to be driven to the event on publicroads in the configuration in which they will participate in the record attempt. They cannotbe modified or altered further in any way once they arrive at the venue where the eventtakes place.
3. All sound systems must be powered by the cars. It is not permissible to operate or toenhance the sound systems with other external power sources.
4. The attempt must happen outdoors.
5. The vibration’s reading must be sourced of and operated by qualified and independentprofessional witness who must submit a statement on company letterhead confirming theexact equipment used, that it was calibrated correctly, the set up of the attempt, the resultof all measurements as well as the final average reading.
6. This statement must also include confirmation that the vibration is not, partially or totally,the result of other activity apart from the sound vibration generated by the cars.
7. The seismograph must be placed at the centre of the ground where all cars are parked.
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