Dun dun duuun! is a short three-chord
musical phrase, or "
sting
Sting may refer to:
* Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger
* Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself
Fictional characters and entities
* Sting (Middle-eart ...
", widely used in movies and television to indicate a moment of suspense. In modern productions it is often used as a joke effect or to invoke a nostalgic feeling. There are three main variations of the sting, all considered to be the same effect.
History
Its first proven use was in 1942 in
CBS Radio
CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...
's
''Suspense'', where it was played at the end of the introduction of the first episode, ''
The Burning Court
''The Burning Court'' (1937) is a famous locked room mystery by John Dickson Carr. However, it contains neither Gideon Fell nor Henry Merrivale, Carr's two major detectives. It was published in the United States, and was highly controversial upon ...
''. It is used to set the mood when the narrator recounts the protagonist looking through a book of
famous poisoners through history, only to come across an image of his own wife. This version uses three descending chords. It is believed it was already in widespread use by this time, and may predate
radio.
It is sometimes suggested it was originally introduced by
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
in ''
The Rite of Spring'', where a rapid three-note descending pattern is heard at the end of the section called "Glorification of the Chosen One" leading into "Evocation of the Ancestors". This was famously used as the music in the 1940 movie ''
Fantasia
Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...
'' where a
tyrannosaurus and
stegosaurus fight; the sting is played as the stegosaurus falls dead and sounds very similar to the version in ''Suspense''. But this version is atypical, in most performances it does not have the distinct pattern found in ''Fantasia'' and generally does not sound like the sting.
Another famous example is heard in the movie ''
Young Frankenstein'', with the chord progression rising and then falling instead of all three chords falling. The ''Young Frankenstein'' version was made famous by the 2007
YouTube video
Dramatic Chipmunk
Dramatic Chipmunk is a viral Internet video. The video is a 5-second clip of a prairie dog (erroneously referred to as a chipmunk) turning its head while the camera zooms in and dramatic music is played.
Origins
The clip became widely known t ...
which has over 50 million views.
The most widely used modern variation is the "Shock Horror (A)" effect recorded in 1983 by composer Dick Walter as part of a series of four vinyl albums of sound snippets known as ''The Editor's Companion''. This version is inverted from the ''Young Frankenstein'' pattern, using the notes E♭ - C - F♯, with the F♯ being especially discordant. Among its famous uses are ''
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'', ''
Ren and Stimpy'' and ''
The IT Crowd
''The IT Crowd'' is a British sitcom originally broadcast by Channel 4, written and directed by Graham Linehan, produced by Ash Atalla and starring Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson, and Matt Berry. Set in the offices of the fict ...
''. YouTube clips using this widely used version also have tens of millions of views.
Further listening
"Oh My God" (Masta Artisan)- used as an
Audio sample
In sound and music, sampling is the reuse of a portion (or sample) of a sound recording in another recording. Samples may comprise elements such as rhythm, melody, speech, sounds or entire bars of music, and may be layered, equalized, sped up or ...
References
Bibliography
* - the Fantasia version sounds very similar to ''Suspense''
* - from Young Frankenstein
* - the earliest remaining recording, an all-descending variation
*
* - the "normal" playing of The Rite of Spring does not sound like the sting in ''Suspense''
* {{Cite AV media , url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cphNpqKpKc4&t=3s , title=DUN DUN DUUUUN!!! (Dramatic Sound Effect) , ref=CITEREFWalter1983 - the Walter variation
Sound effects