The Sound of Passion

The long road for Natan Budiono has taken him from his native country of Indonesia to a position as a senior acoustics engineer for Panasonic Automotive System Company of America in Michigan. Driven to pursue his goals and provide for his family, Budiono's life story gives new meaning to the word passion.

Budiono's passion for audio was originally fostered during his teenage years in Indonesia where he installed his first system in his parent's brand new 1978 Honda Civic. After his first successful endeavor, he began installing systems in his friends' vehicles. Once he graduated high school, he enrolled in the electrical engineering program at Milwaukee School of Engineering in Michigan, where he discovered his interests were not limited to car audio but included SCCA SOLO 2 racing and radio control car racing. Eight years later, Budiono graduated and attempted to enter the work force during a tough time for engineering grads, the middle of the Gulf War. When the challenge to find work in engineering became too great, Budiono fell back on the skills he developed in Indonesia and began working as an installer at the local car audio shop. His skillful hands and quick learning ability helped him become the shop's installation trainer.

Looking to further his potential, Budiono decided to open his own business. He and his wife, Emma, opened Enbies' Installation Center, Inc., in Milwaukee, WI. They built a successful business and reputation, serving the likes of Latrell Sprewell and Glen Robinson. Budiono's love for car audio flourished after a vehicle that he built and designed for a customer won three first-place finishes at its first IASCA competition, producing an immediate attraction to car audio competition. Finding the taste of success irresistible, Budiono was compelled to design a system for his personal 1994 Suzuki Swift Gti to compete in both IASCA and USACi organizations. Over the next couple of years, Budiono produced strong results at the World Championships ranging from 7th to 2nd place until he became USACi World Champion in 1999. His elation was short lived as misfortune struck in 2000 when he became a victim of an armed robber at his shop in Milwaukee. This proved to be a turning point in his life.

Budiono's level-headedness and optimism kept him afloat and led him down a new path. He decided to set his hobby aside and pursue his professional engineering career once again. Being the optimist he is, Budiono chose to have his cake and eat it too. Disassociated from his engineering discipline for so long, Budiono worried that he might have to relive his Gulf War job-search frustrations until he applied for a job at Pioneer OEM-Division in 2001. He was able to relate his work experience to the position and landed the job. After settling into his new profession, Budiono ended his two-year sabbatical from competition and focused once again on obtaining a World Championship title. He returned with reckless abandonment in 2002 and captured the third consecutive championship title with his 2000 Toyota Echo in 2004. His stint at Pioneer had lasted for three years when he took a job at Panasonic Automotive Company of America in 2004. Now loaded with two championship vehicles, Budiono, his wife Emma and sons Ari and Timo take both cars to championship events making it one dedicated family affair.

CA&E: Your two competition vehicles are both compact cars; can you comment on your selection of these vehicles and if they were specifically chosen for audio competition?Natan Budiono: The Suzuki Swift Gti was the only car that I owned at that time. I realized that it was a small car, which would make it very challenging to create a great sounding system. This car went through many different design evolutions until I found Image Dynamics and their horn-loaded driver that made the car sound perfect.

The Toyota Echo was actually specifically chosen for my latest audio system because of the layout of its interior. As soon as the Echo hit the market I purchased one immediately. I always wanted to have an up-front subwoofer in my audio system and the Echo presented the perfect opportunity with its dash design. The installation was done with very minor dash modification. Currently I am pretty happy with the way it sounds, but I still have many ideas for improving it, as everyone will see in the near future...

Can you discuss the design intent of the two cars and if the design goal was similar for both?My Suzuki was built to compete in the original IASCA sound quality competition format in addition to serving as a demo vehicle for my car audio shop's showroom. Based on the judging criteria at the time, I needed to install a few gimmicks for the creativity portion of the install in addition to adding a second battery for extended listening and demo sessions. The Toyota Echo was built in 2004 to compete in IASCA's Street class format where installation cosmetics and creativity are not heavily weighted. Both cars are built for the 1 - 600 watt class. I like the lower power class because it is more challenging, requiring more ingenuity on system design. I wish IASCA would bring back the lower power class. Although my goal is to make the best sounding cars for both front seats, the Suzuki seems to work better using the horn setup than the Echo that uses a more conventional kick panel speaker setup.

Do you carry over any of the same techniques from your OEM audio design work to your competition vehicles?NB: One of the many techniques that I have adapted from OEM is the way I tune systems. I tune my vehicles more on a "scientific" process than by just trial and error, as I did in the past. With this method of tuning, the results are much more consistent and it has shown through my accomplishments as a 3-peat IASCA World Champion. Obtaining consistent success was something that I struggled with in the past before I began working in the OEM industry. In addition, I borrowed some of the OEM's installation techniques for improved results.

Can you give us a brief overview of your current job function and your involvement on the ELS project?NB: Mark Ziemba initially designed the ELS systems. I am working very closely with Mark in the sound tuning process along with ELS team members Mike Sutter, Ted Cates and Larry Craig from our Panasonic Michigan office. The central goal of my job is to ensure that we develop and produce a great sounding system. When we tune an ELS system, we also work with the man himself, Elliot Scheiner, who created the "ELS sound." It has been a real privilege to work with Elliot.

In addition to the ELS system, I also work with just about every OEM Panasonic system from base to premium in which Panasonic has a large market share in the automotive audio systems.

It has always been stated that the aftermarket car audio world has a leg up on the OEM market. Do you see this being the case or has the OEM market benefited from the new technology?NB: I think the aftermarket is benefiting from our OEM technology. For example, if it weren't for built-in equalizers in our OEM systems, there would not be any initiatives or opportunities for aftermarket companies like JL Audio to develop their CleanSweep. Same thing goes with other OEM interfaces that are available today.OEMs have forced aftermarket companies to create new products as well as opened the door for new products to be developed in the aftermarket arena.

Do you feel that the OEM market is making full use of the new technology that is now available in the audio market?NB: I have been in the aftermarket business for more than 10 years and when I finally joined the OEM industry, I was really blown away, to tell you the truth. People tend to think that the OEM market is lagging, as was my belief prior to my OEM career. You will be surprised that I found that it is the other way around, regarding the OEM supplier, not the manufacturer. The OEMs are more advanced in the research and development of new technologies and have more resources available than the aftermarket. Engineering-wise, we have more capability than the aftermarket in my opinion. Aftermarket products are focused more on cosmetics than contents. If you look at some of the current OEM systems, you will see that the hardware and software is far more advanced in complexity and its technology. The only reason why aftermarket products look superior is that OEM systems are built on a lower cost profile.

With audio music generally being a subjective function, how do you measure a successful audio system for a car that will be driven by a vast variety of consumers?NB: Many successful sound quality competitors believe that if you tune your system right, it should sound good with any type of music. I also take the same motto. In the OEM industry there are several ways to measure sound quality. Sometimes the manufacturer decides what kind of sound they are targeting and design accordingly. When I was working for Pioneer, I was involved in the development of the Pioneer systems used in the Scion xA and xB. We specifically tuned the sound to match the target demographic resulting in sound with snappy bass and exaggerated highs. Sometimes there is a requirement to have the system evaluated by an independent company like DLC Design in Wixom, MI. This company has a scoring system called LiT score that is similar to IASCA's scoring protocol, in which they judge on the tonality, imaging and staging with an audiophile intent. The main difference in scoring is that the listening evaluation is performed while the car is being driven so they can evaluate the system's performance against road and wind noise along with other driving conditions. It is an intense test including objective measurements such as frequency response and SPL. The metrics are similar to competition along with anxiety with receiving your scores from the judges.

The scores are up to five points for each category. It is always fun and challenging when it comes to getting the scores, just like in IASCA competition.

What exactly is involved in the tuning of the Acura audio systems?NB: Without going into too much detail, we basically tune to get the best sound out of the components in the system. Once the team agrees upon a unanimous decision, we finalize the settings. It is common that there are some hardware and software changes during the development of the system. This process is usually conducted in several events throughout the different stages of the vehicle's development. The whole tuning process may take up to one year.

You are playing a key role in design and implementation of the ELS surround sound audio systems for the upcoming '07 TL and new RDX; can you discuss the concept and technologies used in these systems?NB: Well, the ELS system was designed by Mark Ziemba. My role is supporting the development and the sound tuning of the system. On the new RDX ELS system, we are using all new amplifiers with a total of 10 drivers strategically positioned to achieve the best surround sound image. We are also introducing our new patented subwoofer driver to the system. It is exceptional!! The system also features a built-in DSP for equalization and other acoustical adjustments. In the new '07 TL, there will be some improvements and refinements that you will hear about soon...

You mentioned that legendary recording engineer Elliott Scheiner was involved with the design of the acclaimed Acura/ELS Surround system. What role did Elliot play in the development of the ELS system?NB: Elliot has helped immensely in the creation of the ELS Surround system in the Acuras. He has produced 5.1 recordings, which only he knows how they should play back in the system. Essentially he would also help us in our future system designs, as far as speaker locations and how much information should be going to through individual channels, etc.

Working with Elliot eliminated the hassle of guessing what each channel should sound like. He would give us instructions as to what needed to be adjusted when tuning, such as tonality or level balance in order to achieve the correct sound. Only Elliot knows how his recorded mixings should sound when played back in the system. This is the reason that the ELS Surround system is known in the industry to be the best OEM 5.1 system.

Elliott Scheiner's expertise and audio knowledge is extensive. Can you share any specific points or views that you may have learned from him on this project?NB: He has been very helpful in deciding the proper tonal balance, the amount of center or surround information, image placement, etc. No one else has this privilege to develop a surround sound system the way it was intended to be heard. Perhaps someday we should have Elliot get involved in judging some IASCA events. It would be interesting!!

It is unheard of for an OEM to reach out to a recording engineer to collaborate on an audio system design. What influenced Panasonic to take this step?NB: Since Elliot started producing his 5.1 surround recordings, it was always his desire to bring his creation into an automotive sound system. It happened to be perfect timing and was in line with Panasonic's direction when the Acura audio system was being developed. It is only natural for Panasonic to work together with Elliot to make the concept a reality.

The ELS system is designed to provide studio quality audio in an automotive vehicle. How difficult was this task with the large amount of problems that are encountered in a car such as road noise and reflections? What was done to overcome these acoustic problems?NB: I am going to talk about OEM systems in general. One of the biggest problems in OEM systems is the lack of freedom of speaker location/position. Especially for me who is used to building an IASCA competition system where we have the freedom of mounting speakers wherever necessary to obtain the best staging and imaging possible. It frustrated me a lot when I first started OEM system tuning. After some time I developed an understanding of the limitation and accepted it as part of the challenge! There are several tools that are not normally available in the aftermarket, like an automatic loudness control, Speed Volume Compensation, Compression, etc., to overcome vehicle problems such as road noise and other nuances. When we are involved in the development of the system early on, we are able to recommend or influence the manufacturers to place speakers in more desirable locations. In the end, my goal is to create the best tonal balance with respectable imaging. So the next time you hear my OEM tuning, please understand our limitations if you don't hear the center image in the center of the vehicle, like IASCA cars sound.