No single audio cue in broadcasting history carries greater recognition than the two-beat scene transition that Dick Wolf famously dubbed "The Clang." In network cue sheets, it is officially classified as a sound effect, but Mike Post conceived it as a miniature musical chord.
Post designed the signature to hit precisely at the commercial cut or scene transitions, functioning like a judge's gavel striking mahogany. Achieving that dry, mechanical violence required stacking nearly a dozen disparate audio sources on a digital sampler:
- A sampled jail door sound slammed shut inside a reverberant municipal holding cell.
- A heavy metal anvil strike recorded with a close-microphone technique to preserve transient impact.
- A dozen studio assistants stomping their boots simultaneously on a hollow wooden riser.
- A muted Japanese Kabuki drum strike, lending a deep low-frequency thump without muddying the sub-bass.
- An electric bass chord played with a heavy plectrum, tuned slightly flat to induce subtle auditory tension.
The entire event lasts fewer than 1.8 seconds. Yet, because Post carved out a deep EQ notch at 500 Hz, the punch cuts cleanly across dialogue, siren foley, and city street ambiance.
