An orchestra hit, also known as an orchestral hit, orchestra stab, or orchestral stab, is a synthesized sound created through the layering of the sounds of a number of different orchestral instruments playing a single staccato note or chord.[1] The orchestra hit sound was propagated by the use of early samplers, particularly the Fairlight CMI where it was known as the 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
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