Hacking Google

Docuseries

We composed, produced, and supervised music for Google's first foray into episodic content. Hacking Google is a six-part documentary series that shares essential stories about cybersecurity and the digital lives we lead. We scored 89 cues, crafted 2 hours of intricately detailed sound design and developed interactive audio puzzles to engage the next generation of hackers.

Music,Sound Design,Innovation,Process,Long Form

Watch the entire series here.

Throughout the series, we employed music and sound to showcase the empathy, smarts, and courage of Google's cybersecurity teams. The result is a deeply human score that defies expectations in the genre of hacking and cybersecurity and tells the under-appreciated story of the individuals who keep our digital lives safe.

We redefined the sound of hacking by leaning into tactile, acoustic instruments as opposed to the dark, synthetic textures typical of cyber tropes. These interwoven patterns and rich harmonies speak to the humanity behind cybersecurity instead of the technological threat.

Music

We employed a range of styles - from modern orchestral to cinematic synth-scapes - that uncover the humanity that drives each of Google’s cybersecurity teams and to encapsulate the series’ wide array of emotions. It was crucial that our music reflect the humanity of the cybersecurity teams at Google, so in order to capture all of the music we composed in an emotional and authentic way, we recorded a string ensemble, woodwind ensemble, horn section, and jazz combo live in our studio.

Sound Design

We grounded sound design in organic foley and analog sound sources. We also crafted a unique sonic palette for the design language and animation - including custom software to analyze color and motion to generate rich, responsive sound design.

Hackable Audio

We baked audio clues into the series that send viewers on a digital scavenger hunt to collectively solve a multistep puzzle. Messages were encoded into the series using musical cryptography, Morse Code, telephone dial tone signaling, and inverse FFT spectrograms that formed hidden QR codes in the audio realm.