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 ORCH5 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]
Precursors to the popular samples can be found in contemporary classical music, for example in Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird, specifically in the 1919 suite he constructed from the original 1910 score.
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
Fink, Robert (2005), "The Story of ORCH5, or, the Classical Ghost in the Hip-Hop Machine", Popular Music, 24 (3): 339–356, doi:10.1017/S0261143005000553, JSTOR 3877522
GPI Publications (1994), Keyboard, vol. 20, retrieved 22 February 2011
Synthiman (2007), Fairlight CMI IIx, 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
Weisbard, Eric (2007), Listen Again: A Momentary History of Pop Music, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, ISBN978-0-8223-4022-5
February 15, 2023
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This article is about the synthesizer sound For the musical performance technique see accent music and sforzando musical direction 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 ORCH5 sample 2 The sound is used in pop hip hop jazz fusion techno and video game genres to accentuate passages of music 3 Orchestra hit source source Synthesized orchestra hit from Roland s VSC3Other instrumentClassificationDigital sampleDevelopedEarly 1980sMusiciansDavid Vorhaus Trevor Horn Duran DuranThe orchestra hit has been identified as a hip hop cliche 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 Contents 1 History 2 Technical 3 Samples 4 See also 5 Footnotes 6 SourcesHistory Edit Infernal Dance of Kastchei source source track Infernal Dance of Kastchei from The Firebird employs an orchestral hit as opening Problems playing this file See media help Precursors to the popular samples can be found in contemporary classical music for example in Igor Stravinsky s ballet The Firebird specifically in the 1919 suite he constructed from the original 1910 score Owner of a Lonely Heart source source Orchestra hit is used after the chorus in Owner of a Lonely Heart by Yes Problems playing this file See media help 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 The orchestra hit was popularised in Afrika Bambaataa s Planet Rock 1982 8 and used soon after in Kate Bush s The Dreaming 9 Other examples of use in popular music include En Vogue s Hold On 1990 10 and Duran Duran s A View to a Kill 1985 11 Yes s Owner of a Lonely Heart 1983 used an orchestra hit which was sampled from Funk Inc s Kool is Back 12 By the mid 1980s the orchestra hit had become commonplace in hip hop music 13 and its ubiquitous use became a cliche 14 Use in other genres extends to jazz funk where it was used on the title track of Miles Davis s 1986 album Tutu 15 By the mid 1990s the sound had begun to be used in Caribbean music 1 16 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 S agapaw poy na parei by Greek singer Thanos Kalliris in 1997 Orchestra hits are sometimes used in film music to represent loud noises such as closing doors 18 Technical EditOrchestra hit is defined in the General MIDI sound set 19 It is assigned voice 56 in the ensemble sub group 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 s Firebird 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 Samples EditThe following samples are examples of orchestra hit voices on different sound modules Each note is played at C4 see scientific pitch notation Synthesizer Sample WaveformRoland Virtual Sound Canvas 3 source source Yamaha CS1X source source Yamaha MU50 source source Yamaha PSS31 source source See also EditStab music Footnotes Edit a b Best 2004 p 72 The sound that connects Stravinsky to Bruno Mars YouTube Vox Media which owns Vox 15 May 2018 Retrieved 23 February 2020 Fink 2005 p 14 Fink 2005 p 6 Musician 1990 Kopstein 2011 a b c d e f Warner 2003 p 69 a b Fink 2005 p 1 a b Fink 2005 p 5 GPI Publications 1994 p 11 Holmes 1997 a b Di Nicolantonio 2004 Fink 2005 p 15 Warner 2003 p 105 Sabin 2002 p 206 Best 2004 p 73 Weisbard 2007 p 238 Machin 2010 p 157 Rothstein 1995 p 56 Fink 2005 p 2 a b c Fink 2005 p 3 The Wire 2007 p 64 Synthiman 2007 Sources EditBest Curwen 2004 Culture at the Cutting Edge Tracking Caribbean Popular Music Kingston Jamaica University of the West Indies Press ISBN 976 640 124 1 Di Nicolantonio Paolo 2004 Famous Sounds SynthMania retrieved 22 February 2011 Fink Robert 2005 The Story of ORCH5 or the Classical Ghost in the Hip Hop Machine Popular Music 24 3 339 356 doi 10 1017 S0261143005000553 JSTOR 3877522 GPI Publications 1994 Keyboard vol 20 retrieved 22 February 2011 Holmes Greg 1997 Fairlight CMI Examples GH Services retrieved 22 February 2011 Kopstein Joshua 2011 The Fairlight CMI s ORCH5 Is The Sample You Haven t Not Heard MotherBoard retrieved 22 February 2011 Machin David 2010 Analysing Popular Music Image Sound and Text Thousand Oaks CA SAGE Publications ISBN 978 1 84860 023 2 Rothstein Joseph 1995 MIDI A Comprehensive Introduction Middleton WI A R Editions ISBN 0 89579 309 1 Sabin Ira 2002 Jazz Times vol 32 retrieved 22 February 2011 Musician 1990 Issues 135 140 Boulder CO Amordian Press Synthiman 2007 Fairlight CMI IIx 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 ISBN 0 7546 3132 X Weisbard Eric 2007 Listen Again A Momentary History of Pop Music Durham NC Duke University Press ISBN 978 0 8223 4022 5 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Orchestra hit amp oldid 1104736468, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
