Why musician Ashe tests new music in the Porsche Taycan
Musician Ashe perfects her mix in a Porsche electric sportscar
Man looking out of car window, woman leaning against car
The car test is the ideal way to gauge how music really sounds. Singer-songwriter Ashe and mix magician Manny Marroquin head off on a Taycan road trip to do just that
There are few better places to experience music than in your car – blasting out your favourite records can elevate any drive, even if it’s heading out for groceries or on the school run. It’s why that one of the last things that you’ll find musicians doing before releasing new music is to get behind the wheel and pump up the volume to test out what they’ve created. In a car, music surrounds you like no other place. Intimate and personal, it compels you to hear music on a completely new level. It’s exactly where American songwriter, Ashe, headed to with her Grammy® award-winning mixing engineer, Manny Marroquin, to listen back to freshly mixed tracks from Ashe’s new album. They say that their road trip in an all-electric Porsche Taycan sportscar turned out to be the perfect auditorium.
After a session at Larrabee Studios in Los Angeles, the two of them hit the California freeway in the Taycan to listen to the newly mixed tracks. Their music-filled Porsche road trip would help ensure that the new tunes passed one of their all-important final exams before the album was released.An electrifying track test The words ‘track session’ and ‘Taycan’ in the same sentence conjures up images of the Porsche electric sportscar being put through its paces on a race circuit. But here it meant playing back Ashe’s new tunes – a heady mix of contemporary electro pop with classic influences – in the car and seeing how they felt. How the records moved them. It gave the Ashe and Marvin the chance to hear the songs they’d just given the finishing touches to in a setting that many of us experience our music more than any other. From recent single Another Man’s Jeans to Till Forever Falls Apart, listening to the tracks that make up Ashe’s new album in the Taycan gave them exactly the kind of goosebump moments that they were hoping to feel.“The car test is so vital to finishing a song,” Ashe says. “When I listen to music and really feel it and think about the lyrics – I’m on a road trip. I’m in the zone.” And it’s not just her own work where Ashe sees driving music as being inspirational. “Driving, for me, is such a therapy,” she says. “If I need to let off steam, I get in my car and I drive. That’s when I put on my favourite songs. That’s when the mix shines.”
Man and woman in sunglasses alongside red Porsche Taycan
Mix masters: Manny Marroquin and Ashe get ready to head off to listen to tracks in the Porsche Taycan
For Manny – whose impressive list of previous clients include Pink, Rihanna and Ed Sheeran – stepping inside a car, pressing play and just letting the music work its magic on you is a big part of the recording process. One that takes the music – and, of course, you – to a whole new place. “The car test helps you get a different perspective,” he says. You’ll often hear musicians say that they want their music to ‘take you on a journey’. Driving enhances that, bringing a whole new angle to the music for the listener. Just ask Ashe and Marvin.Driving musicFrom Ashe and Manny to Travis Barker and KennyHoopla, follow more inspiring journeys of music creation with help from the Taycan throughout the Porsche x MARVIN: Sound and Driven series. Watch further episodes here.
Blonde-haired woman looks at camera while playing piano
Whether it’s to help her unwind or rev-up for a road trip, driving music provides Ashe with a chance to escape
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