BY CHRISTOPHER LEON FOR LEVEL AND GAIN, WITH TRANSLATION BY ALEXANDER ANIEL OF BRAVE WAVE PRODUCTIONS
Takahiro Izutani has experienced it all in the world of composition.
From his beginnings as a remixer for Japanese pop music, and a rock guitarist with a keen interest in electronic music production, Izutani has forged his way in the world of video game composition. And he’s here to talk about it.
Having worked on classic franchises such as Bayonetta, Yakuza 2, and the Metal Gear Solid series, Izutani continues to use his experience to craft new compositions for upcoming games, and to assist fellow composers on other game projects.
Takahiro Izutani was selected to take part in the APRA AMCOS High Score: Composition for Sound Art and Gaming event (October 5-6, 2019) as a keynote speaker, presenting his work material from Metal Gear Solid 4. It marks his first visit to Australia.
Izutani, you’ve worked on several popular titles over the span of your career. What are the differences between composing for a new game in today’s era, and composing back in the mid-2000s?
The biggest difference would be the development and progression of digital audio, sample libraries, and other things.
During the mid-2000s, the production environment of a composer was considerably poorer than what we have today. That was the case for my production environment as well, but I think I was able to create original sound in spite of having to deal with such an environment. In those days, composers often researched how [to] create high-quality audio like that of a Hollywood composer; I was one of them. Also, YouTube wasn’t around yet in those days, so it was difficult to obtain information on the equipment and software plugins that top-level composers and recording engineers were using.
Everyone had to go through trial and error, but I think on the flip side, that became part of what made Japanese game music interesting.
Nowadays, we can share information through YouTube and social media, and the decrease in prices for PC software and sample libraries has allowed for tools to be unified, even if you’re an amateur or a pro, which may lead to fewer differences between composers. As a result, primarily Hollywood’s top-level composers have developed gradually physical larger and grander production systems, which have created differences compared to other composers.
In other words, because anyone has become able to create music of a certain quality, such top-tier composers try to stay ahead of others by keeping many options open and investing production systems and high-level equipment.
Everyone had to go through trial and error, but I think on the flip side, that became part of what made Japanese game music interesting.
I became an active game composer beginning in 2006, but I think the trend of game music production style going after the Hollywood movie music process was already underway.
On the other hand, these past seven to eight years, I’ve gotten the impression that there is a movement that evaluates video game music within the genesis of video games. I think this is because gamers who were influenced by this music as children have come of age and are joining the game industry themselves. Also, I think this serves as the antithesis to the increasing size of Hollywood music production that I described above.
Moreover, in Japan’s music production within its genesis of video games, there is a strict limit to the number of sounds that can be produced, as well as bitrate. In the context of such a situation, such fancy contraptions have gone away, resulting in the creation of a lot of pure and core music, which I feel has allowed the value of such products to be re-evaluated.
Brave Wave Productions, the label I work with, is releasing the work of such legendary game composers, as well as supporting their activities, and I think reactions from the audience are getting bigger day by day.
I don’t think my position as a game composer falls into either of the categories, but I aim to find new markets by releasing my own work. Brave Wave released my solo project, Lingua Franca by Dugo, in 2017. This gave me the opportunity to form new collaborations with European media and publishing firms.
You often collaborate with several other Japanese video game composers on your projects — such as Yakuza 2. What is it like composing music as a collective? How do you all agree on what approach to take towards scoring a particular game?
I was originally a guitarist for an avant-garde rock band. I am also an electronic music creator, so when it comes to work requests, people want me to be someone else other than a typical game music composer. This also is often the case for collaboration work. For example, I might take a composer’s orthodox orchestral sound and add my electronic sound and/or intricate rhythms onto it, as well as employing innovative mixes.
I’m originally the type of person who doesn’t actively do collaborations, but when another composer or producer feels that a song might not have enough going for it, that’s when they’ll call me. I feel very happy about that and feel a sense of fulfillment and responsibility.
With regard to finding an approach we can agree with, I always pursue the direction and sound that the creators feel is needed, so there are no issues there if everyone is in agreement. This is very rare, but there are times when I’m asked to create music or sound without any specific direction or imagery; such work is just a matter of putting time into it. In such situations, it takes a lot of time before we can come to a final agreement.
Read the full story right here on Level and Gain, a new screen music publication from the creative team behind CutCommon.
Image supplied.
