William Ørbit is a name which, if you don't already know it,
you will now! English born William Ørbit has been a pioneering member of the electronic music
scene since the early part of the '80's. A guitarist turned producer programmer, Ørbit has
helped develop electronic music with his expertise and unique style as a songwriter,
producer, remixer, performer, programmer and engineer. His mainstream accomplishment was
his incredible work on Madonna's Ray of Light album, in which he Produced, co-wrote, performed
and mixed almost every track including "Ray Of Light", "Frozen", and "Power Of Goodbye".
In fact Madonna's album exudes Ørbit's personal style, sound and sense of musicality.
He has since followed that up with his own solo release of covers of classical styled orchestral
music, Ørbit style, in "Pieces In A Modern Style". He has also been busy producing
artists like Blur, the All Saints, and Madonna.
William Ørbit is probably most famous for his own solo projects - the Strange Cargo series
which culminated in 1993 with his most famous work, "Water From A Vineleaf". Then there
is Ørbit's lengthy list of amazing remix credits which include Seal, Sting, Peter Gabriel, The Cure
and Depeche Mode to name but a few. Music from Strange Cargo 2 and 3 was used in Michael Mann's "Heat", a
film which starred Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro. Music by Ørbit has also been featured in
"Austin Powers, The Spy Who Shagged Me" and "The Beach".
"Much of the album [Ray Of Light] was done on a Juno-106. You can get so much out of that synth."
Developing musical styles such as Ambient and very listenable electronica, William Ørbit
uses only a few pieces of gear. The Juno 106 is Ørbit's most used synth; he had this to
say about it, "Much of the album [Ray Of Light] was done on a Juno-106. You can get so much
out of that synth." - Keyboard Magazine, July 1998. Ørbit also relies very heavily on his samplers,
often times sampling everything he does and eventually mixing right out of the sampler! Ørbit won't deny
that he is a two-fingered keyboard player. But with clever programming and meticulous sampling, Ørbit crafts
his music to perfection. His fascination with reverb, echo, and delay can be heard in much of his music,
especially his work with Torch Song and on many of his Remixes. Ørbit has pioneered certain techniques now used
by other copycats. Most notable is how he can loop a short sample and speed it up and slow it down complete
with filter and pitch and other effects making it sound like it's coming out of an analog synth or analog tape recorder!
They percolate and ooze into and out of the music, swirling around the stereo image..trademark Ørbit style mixing.
Just listen to the sample below to hear it!
William Ørbit now resides in Santa Monica, California, where he can be closer to Hollywood
and be more involved with making music movies, producing major artists...we should be hearing a lot more music from William Ørbit.
DISCLAIMER: The music and texts presented on this page are the copyrighted property of their respective owners (the record labels or writers noted). Unauthorized reproduction, distribution, public performance or derivative works are prohibited by law (domestic and international). These files are short, edited excerpts at reduced sound qualities and are intended for demonstrative purposes only, presented for Fair Use.
Originally printed January, 1999. Updated March, 2001.
Substitute For Love