The story behind the 'dun-dun' sound on Law & Order
The multi-Grammy-winning composer Mike Post has written some of TV’s greatest theme songs
Mike Post, 79, is a producer, musician and composer who's kind of like the Forrest Gump of music and pop culture — he's been everywhere.
He was part of the legendary session band The Wrecking Crew, played guitar on I Got You Babe for Sonny & Cher, produced Van Halen III and Classical Gas, and discovered Kenny Rogers — all before he started writing some of TV's most recognizable theme songs for series like The A-Team, Magnum, P.I., Doogie Howser, M.D., Law & Order and dozens more.
With the release of his new bluegrass and blues album, Message from the Mountains & Echoes of the Delta, Post joins Q's Tom Power to share a few stories from his incredible career, including how he came up with the famous "dun-dun" sound on Law & Order.
It all started when Law & Order creator Dick Wolf sent him a script for the pilot.
"I said, 'Hey, Dick, talk to me about the music,'" Post recalls. "What do you think it will be? He goes, 'Look, it's all in New York, so it's wet streets and steam coming out of the manhole covers and cops and trials and the majesty of the law — but it's all in New York, so you got to sign a signature for New York. I go, 'I hate to tell you this pal, but there was this guy named George Gershwin. He had this thing called Rhapsody in Blue and it sort of signs the signature for New York. I can't beat that.'"
Using Rhapsody in Blue as his inspiration, Post decided to add a clarinet to his composition, which Wolf loved. But just as he was about to move on to his next project, the phone rang.
"[Dick] goes, 'Hey, I got this idea that I'm going to date stamp scene changes and say where we are … so I need a sound for that,'" Post says. "I said, 'Great, terrific. Call sound effects. I'm your composer, I don't do sound — I just do music. He said, 'Oh, come on, we're friends!'"
Working with composer Danny Lux, Post started "banging around on stuff" and collecting samples of noises like a jail door slamming or men in Japan stomping on a wood floor.
"It took us five or six hours," Post says. "Four or five years later, Dick sends me a note. It says, 'Isn't it funny after all the music that you've written that people really love and care about, on your tombstone is going to be 'dun-dun' — two notes that you didn't even want to do!'"
The full interview with Mike Post is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Mike Post produced by Ben Edwards.
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