Philip composed and recorded the soundtrack for the character, Kara, in Sony PS4’s and Quantic Dream’s highly acclaimed video game, DETROIT: Become Human, which released on May 25, 2018.
DETROIT: Become Human is the brainchild of video game designer, David Cage, who has been working on “multi-character” storytelling for several years. The game features 3 main characters, androids: Kara, Markus, and Connor.
David wanted to push the idea of multi-character storytelling as far as he could, by having three different composers (one per character) with radically different musical styles, three different moods, three different cinematographies, so that the player has a sense of playing three different games as they move from one character to another. Philip described the experience of writing Kara’s soundtrack with the Quantic Dream team as incredibly unique and rewarding, and he is so proud of the final result.
Kara’s score was performed by the English Session Orchestra and the music was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in the legendary Studio 1. Sound Engineer extraordinaire, Andrew Dudman, worked tirelessly with Philip on creating the final mix. The music, however, would not live the way it does in the game without the musical witchcraft of Mary Lockwood, music supervisor, and Aurelien Baguerre, audio lead. Enjoy a live performance by Philip of Kara’s main theme:
Philip performs and breaks down his process of writing and recording Kara’s them in Spitfire’s Under The Hood series:
Philip goes deep with Spitfire Audio in their September 2018 Masterclass Journal in his writing and recording process for the emotionally charged Dark Night Scene:
For a sneak peek into Philip’s musical process for Kara and for the other characters in the game, check out Sony’s behind-the-scenes film above.
DETROIT: Become Human is available now with the Digital Soundtrack, or the Collector’s Edition Soundtrack (Upgrade) within the Digital Deluxe Edition. You can read more about the game at its official game site.
The soundtrack for DETROIT: Become Human is available now for streaming on Spotify and Apple Music. Please enjoy a Spotify Playlist we created of the various works of the soundtrack’s 3 composers – Philip Sheppard, Nima Fakhrara and John Paesano.
“If that’s the case, and we’ll soon be living with walking-and-talking Artificial Intelligence: fuck our lives. But still, if our lives must be fucked, then please can we have Philip Sheppard’s beautiful compositions playing in the background – all the cellos moving in wonder together as the final sequence of our life plays out in slow motion like a scene from a science fiction film. That’s a dark image, sure. If we’re going to go out that way though, then that’s the way I want to go.” – Noisey / Vice Music Review
Behind The Audio Listen: Composer Philip Sheppard On His Music For Detroit: Become Human
Soundworks Collection Composer Philip Sheppard and the music of DETROIT: Become Human
Music Respawn Philip Sheppard's Cello Gives Kara a Voice in Detroit: Become Human
The Annotator Philip Sheppard - Detroit: Become Human (Ep. 28)
Spitfire Audio September Masterclass Journal: Under the Hood
Noisey / Vice I Hope Our Bleak Future Resembles the Music in ‘Detroit: Become Human’
Game Informer From Bowie To Cage – The Music Of Detroit: Become Human
Cut Common LONGREAD // Composing for video game with Philip Sheppard
Cog Connected Quantic Dream Says DETROIT: Become Human Is Their Most Successful Title Yet
PlayStationLifestyle.net DETROIT: Become Human Has Inhumanly Great Scores
Gaming Bolt New Video Highlights Trifecta of Composers Bringing Music To Detroit: Become Human
Newsweek ‘DETROIT: BECOME HUMAN’ IS A GORGEOUS, THOUGHT-PROVOKING SCI-FI TREAT WITH OODLES OF POSSIBILITIES
The AU Review Games Review: Detroit: Become Human (PS4, 2018): Quantic Dream goes back to the future
OnlySP Bringing Androids to Life in Detroit: Become Human – An Interview With Philip Sheppard
Spitfire Audio Under The Hood: Detroit Become Human - Kara's Theme
Spitfire Audio Interview: Philip Sheppard
Detroit: Become Human Soundtrack Behind The Scenes
DETROIT: Become Human Launch Event Philip Performing Kara Theme Live
Playstation Italia Interview at Detroit: Become Human Launch Event
Playstation Detroit: Become Human - TV Commercial Kara | PS4
