It has been suggested that this article be merged with Stab (music). (Discuss) Proposed since January 2025.
An orchestra(l) hit or stab is an isolated staccato note or chord synthesized from the sounds of many orchestral instruments together.[1] The orchestra hit sound was propagated by the use of early samplers, particularly the Fairlight CMI's ORCH2 sample.[2] The sound is used in pop, hip hop, jazz fusion, techno, and video game genres to accentuate passages of music.[3]
The orchestra hit has been identified as a "hip hop cliché".[4] In 1990, Musician magazine stated that Fairlight's ORCH5 sample was "the orchestral hit that was heard on every rap and techno-pop record of the early 1980s".[5] The orchestra hit has been described as popular music's equivalent to the Wilhelm scream, a sound effect widely used in film.[6]
History
Precursors to the popular samples can be found in contemporary classical music, for example in Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird.
Use of short samples (such as the orchestra hit) became popular in the early 1980s with the advent of digital samplers.[7] These devices allowed sounds to be replayed at specific times and at regular intervals by sequencing, which was extremely difficult through previous methods of tape splicing.[7] Samplers also began to allow sections of audio to be edited and played by a keyboard controller.[7]
Anne Dudley and Trevor Horn used an orchestra hit with the Art of Noise as a sound effect rather than a melodic instrument.[9] The sample was used in "Close (to the Edit)", where it was sequenced alongside sound effects of chainsaws, breaking glass and motorcycles.[17] Similarly, the brass orchestra hits in "Owner of a Lonely Heart" are used as a rhythmic device, rather than an effect to evoke a specific environment (in a similar way to samples in Yes's earlier recordings).[7] The stabs in the song may also be substitutes for other instruments in the rhythm section, possibly drum fills, and the use of orchestra hits and other samples is particularly noticeable between the first chorus and the start of the guitar solo.[7] High-pitched versions of the orchestra hit were used in many late 80s and 90s songs in Eastern Europe, for example one notable use there was in the song "S'agapao pou na parei" (Σ'αγαπάω που να πάρει) by Greek singer Thanos Kalliris in 1997.
Orchestra hits are sometimes used in film music to represent loud noises such as closing doors.[18]
The Fairlight CMI synthesizer included a sampled orchestra hit voice, which was later included in many sample libraries.[12] The voice was given the name ORCH5, and was possibly the first famous orchestra hit sample.[20] The sound was a low-resolution, eight-bit digital sample from a recording of Stravinsky'sFirebird Suite[8]– specifically, the chord that opens the "Infernal Dance" section, pitched down a minor sixth.[21] It was sampled by David Vorhaus.[21] Music magazine The Wire suggests that the prototype sample is owned by Vivian Kubrick.[22]
Early orchestra hits were short in duration (often less than a second) both due to the nature of the sound (a staccato note) and the restrictions on sampler memory. A compromise for longer durations would be lower bitrates, which would leave the sample with little timbre.[7]
Fairlight produced a number of orchestra hit samples, including a chord version (TRIAD), a percussion version (ORCHFZ1) and a looped version (ORCH2).[21] Samples ORCH4, ORCH5 and ORCH6 were located on the CMI's disk 8, within the STRINGS1 library.[23]
Best, Curwen (2004), Culture at the Cutting Edge: Tracking Caribbean Popular Music, Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, ISBN976-640-124-1
Di Nicolantonio, Paolo (2004), Famous Sounds, SynthMania, retrieved 22 February 2011
The Wire (2007), Issues 275-280, London: The Wire Magazine Ltd
Warner, Timothy (2003), Pop Music: Technology and Creativity – Trevor Horn and the Digital Revolution, Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, ISBN0-7546-3132-X
A digital synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses digital signal processing (DSP) techniques to make musical sounds, in contrast to older analog synthesizers, which produce music using analog electronics, and samplers, which play back digital recordings of acoustic, electric, or electronic instruments. Some digital synthesizers emulate analog synthesizers, while others include sampling capability in addition to digital synthesis.
Marlon Lu'Ree Williams, better known by his stage name Marley Marl, is an American DJ, record producer, rapper and record label founder, primarily operating in hip hop music. Marlon grew up in Queensbridge housing projects located in Queens, New York. He performed in local talent shows during the early days of rap music, further fueling his interest.
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The Fairlight CMI is a digital synthesizer, music sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight. It was based on a commercial licence of the Qasar M8 developed by Tony Furse of Creative Strategies in Sydney, Australia. It was one of the earliest electronic music workstations with an embedded sampler and is credited for coining the term sampling in music. It rose to prominence in the early 1980s and competed with the Synclavier from New England Digital.
A music workstation is an electronic musical instrument providing the facilities of:
A sampler is an electronic musical instrument that records and plays back samples. Samples may comprise elements such as rhythm, melody, speech, sound effects or longer portions of music.
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The Emulator is a series of digital sampling synthesizers using floppy-disk storage that was manufactured by E-mu Systems from 1981 until 2002. Although it was not the first commercial sampler, the Emulator was innovative in its integration of computer technology and was among the first samplers to find widespread usage among musicians. While costly, its price was considerably lower than those of its early competitors, and its smaller size increased its portability and, resultantly, practicality for live performance. The line was discontinued in 2002.
In music, a stab is a single staccato note or chord that adds dramatic punctuation to a composition. Stabs may be provided by horns —a horn stab—or an orchestral sample—an orchestra hit—and usually occur on a 1-beat. Stabs are used in a wide variety of music genres including jazz, rock, classical, funk, freestyle, trap, EDM, metal and ska.
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"Close (to the Edit)" is a single by the English avant-garde synth-pop group Art of Noise, released in 1984 by ZTT Records. The song appeared on the group's 1984 album Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise? and different versions were issued on various other formats in October of that year. It was closely related to their earlier single (and hip hop club hit) "Beat Box", though the two tracks were developed as separate pieces from an early stage. The single reached number eight in the UK singles chart in February 1985, and its music video won two awards at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards. The song's spoken word "Hey!" has been sampled by a number of other artists through the years.
A synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, which cut or boost frequencies; envelopes, which control articulation, or how notes begin and end; and low-frequency oscillators, which modulate parameters such as pitch, volume, or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments, and may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI.
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