Shirley Song and Jina An Score Netflx’s Exploding Kittens with Orchestral Tools’ Metropolis Ark

LOS ANGELES, CA, July 31, 2024 — Netflix’s Exploding Kittens was designed from the onset as a study in extremes. The series — inspired by the best-selling card game — depicts an epic battle between supreme beings trapped in the form of overweight house cats. The unique tone of the show, which pulls absurdist high comedy from the juxtaposition of divine warfare and low-stakes domestic drama, required a musical approach that could balance its moments of epic grandeur with inspired silliness. To bring the series’ musical soul to life, series co-creators Matthew Inman and Shane Kosakowski turned to composing partners Shirley Song and Jina An to give it the proper musical scope. Seeking a sample library to deliver the appropriately gigantic sound, Song and An wrote extensively using Orchestral Tools’ Metropolis Ark series of sample libraries.

Serious composition for absurd comedy
​Song and An have been composing together since their time as students at Berklee College of Music. They have collaborated on many different projects since then, including The Breadwinner, XO Kitty, and A Tourists’ Guide to Love. With Exploding Kittens, they found themselves drawing from their shared love of epic orchestral scoring to craft the sonic identity of a very unusual series. “We could tell how crazy the show was going to be just based on how wildly varied the musical reference points the creators had when we were initially brought in to discuss it,” says An. “It became immediately clear that the show needed a totally straight-faced orchestral approach at its core to balance with the more comedic elements of the show, while also serving as a juxtaposition to the other types of music we’d be creating on an episode by episode basis.”

“Having all those style clashes in music made this an extremely fun project for us.”

Recalling the symphonic scoring techniques of animation composers like Looney Tunes Carl Stalling, the main score of Exploding Kittens is grandiose, theme-driven music that wouldn’t sound out of place being performed by a classical orchestra. This was very much the intent of Song and An who, drawing from prior acting experience, knew that playing it ‘straight’ with the music would add additional comedic emphasis to the series. “The funniest comedies are always when the actors are totally serious and the comedy is derived from the clash of sensibilities,” Song explains “By having an epic score that takes itself extremely seriously, we were able to draw out those moments in the show and really drive home that absurdity.”

“The key to making that happen on a sonic level was using Orchestral Tools’ Metropolis Ark libraries,” she continued. “They have a reputation as being a slightly tongue-in-cheek take on the ‘epic sound’ of dramatic trailer music. That sensibility was a perfect fit for Exploding Kittens!”

Speed, quality, and massive sound
​Like many shows in the modern era that have to contend with strict budgets that preclude real orchestras, Exploding Kittens’ score was recorded using sample libraries. Song and An, both long-term users of Orchestral Tools collections for previous projects, went all-in for Exploding Kittens once they realized that the scope of the Metropolis Ark series was exactly what they were looking for. “We needed a lot of choral layers and big bombastic brass clusters for the score, and Metropolis Ark excels at those,” says Song. “It was just perfect for that big epic sound, and having all of those playable runs and flourishes makes the score sound extremely realistic.”

“That’s always part of the challenge with scoring with libraries — you want to add that human feel even when it might not be in the budget. With OT, it’s very easy for us to do that and they layer so well together that it sounds totally authentic.”

Once they had achieved the sound quality and playability that they were looking for, Song and An dove deeper into the offerings of Orchestral Tools’ SINEplayer for additional inspiration. “With a lot of other sample libraries you have to spend a long time browsing to find the sounds that inspire you,” explains An. “OT understands the film composer mindset really well, so it was super quick for us to find the sounds we needed and get to work. That aspect can’t be underestimated in the TV composing world because the project turnarounds are so quick. You really need something that sounds ‘done’ as quickly as possible, and having high-quality libraries that let you work quickly are key to that.”

“Having that fluidity ultimately had an influence on the score too, because it drove us to delve deeper into their OT’s more specialized offerings — stuff like Whisper, or the Igudesman Violin — and we could add those flavors to SINE and get them into the score without any issue. It really allowed us to work at the speed of our imagination”

“If you’re going to be a professional, 9-5 composer, your sample libraries really are your instruments and you have to invest in them as part of investing in your craft,” adds Song. “It impacts your demo reels, your composing workflow, and the final recordings that you send to producers.”

“Orchestral Tools has proven to be a great investment for us, and having these libraries absolutely made a difference on this project.”

“It really is the best sounding stuff,” concludes An. “They’re like the Chanel of sample libraries — premium quality that if you’re serious, that’s what you want to have.”

Exploding Kittens is streaming on Netflix now. 

For more information about Orchestral Tools, please visit http://www.orchestraltools.com/

About Orchestral Tools
​Orchestral Tools makes premium-quality sampled instruments for professional composers. Notable libraries include the Berlin Series, Metropolis Ark, Tallinn, Tom Holkenborg’s Brass and Percussion, created in collaboration with composer Tom Holkenborg, and Phoenix Orchestra, created in collaboration with composers Harry Gregson-Williams and Richard Harvey. Originally founded in 2005 by Hendrik Schwarzer, Orchestral Tools operates internationally from its base in Germany, with offices in Freiburg and Berlin.

Steve Bailey

Public Relations, Hummingbird Media, Inc.

• steve@hummingbirdmedia.com

• www.hummingbirdmedia.com