Disco Orchestration - Role of Disco Orchestration

Role of Disco Orchestration

The sound of a disco song, as with the sound of a song of any genre of music, depended on the particular tastes of the artists, and - if relevant to the genre - the arrangers, producers, and even the orchestra conductors, and even still the concertmasters dictating the type of stylized playing method of each section of the orchestra, down to the engineers and mixers who assembled all the elements to make a fluid, cohesive sculpture of sound through melodic continuity.

The disco orchestration stylings of different producers can be discerned by most listeners. Van McCoy's The Hustle (1975), for example, uses very different orchestration techniques from those of Silver Convention's Get Up and Boogie (1976). Van McCoy composed, arranged, and produced his song, and also conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The sound of Van McCoy's song was further influenced by the musical influences of concertmaster Gene Orloff.

Silver Convention's song was written, arranged, and produced by Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay, who conducted the Munich Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra sound was influenced by concertmaster Fritz Sonnleitner. Here, one can only imagine the New York sound, as produced by Van McCoy, on Silver Convention's Get Up and Boogie, and the funky Munich sound, as produced by Kunze and Levay, on Van McCoy's The Hustle.