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[Continuing his 'Sound Current' series for GameSetWatch, Jeriaska catches up with the director of Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu's Dog Ear Records label to discuss the company's diverse set of video game and related soundtracks, from piano versions of game music classics through spinoff projects and solo albums.]

Currently on shelves in record stores in Japan, Dog Ear Records' two most recent releases are Nobuo Uematsu's Ten Short Stories and Pia-Com I, short for "Piano Meets Computer Games."

Performed by Keita Egusa, Pia-Com I marks the first installment of a series of solo piano albums. The collection arranges individual tracks from Final Fantasy II, Mappy, Elevator Action and Mother (the Famicom predecessor to Earthbound).

Hiroki Ogawa, director of Dog Ear Records, has been involved in planning recordings for Final Fantasy XIV, the animated series Guin Saga, and orchestral arrangements of Final Fantasy found on the album CELLYTHM: Those Who Distorted. In this interview coinciding with the release of Nobuo Uematsu's Ten Short Stories in Japan, Ogawa and Egusa offer their perspectives on the making of Dog Ear Records albums.

Ogawa-san, in your work at Dog Ear Records, what kind of jobs do you oversee?

To put it simply, I handle whatever work is not taken by Uematsu-san and Matsushita-san. As director, I am managing CD design, along with the production of game soundtracks. Those are the kinds of roles I'm serving in.

On August 2, Famitsu presented Press Start, a concert of live videogame music. For the encore performance, "To Zanarkand" from Final Fantasy X was performed by Egusa-san. Did you have the chance to see it?

Yes, I did. Dog Ear Records has released a CD by Egusa-san, and so we have worked together closely. However, his performing with the orchestra then was not something we planned for in any way. I was surprised to see him at the piano and to hear that he would play "To Zanarkand." As someone who has worked with Uematsu-san, it was a total surprise when I heard. I asked someone to cover for me at the booth. The hall was so large and the sound so moving... I was very glad to hear it.

On the Dog Ear Records homepage it's been announced that Uematsu will be composing for Final Fantasy XIV. Can you tell us more about his involvement in the highly anticipated MMORPG?

Hiroki Ogawa: There's a lot I can't say at the moment. Square Enix is planning announcements. The last time Uematsu was composing for the series, in terms of writing all the music himself, I had not yet started working in this field. I was familiar with the soundtracks as a player. Now to be involved as a member of the staff, it's a source of tremendous satisfaction. At the same time I feel the pressures of being responsible for working on a series with a long and involved history.

A lot of people are excited about Final Fantasy XIV and Uematsu's involvement as composer. Do you feel pressure to meet their expectations?

Yes, I would say that is accurate. The pressure on me is nothing compared with Uematsu. I observe he's pouring his feelings into it as he works on each of the songs for the game. Of course he's barreling ahead with the score, but not without thinking deeply about each song.

Similar races inhabit the world of Final Fantasy XIV when compared with Final Fantasy XI, though their names have changed slightly. In working on the musical themes for the game, will there be a conscious connection to Final Fantasy XI?

In truth, only Uematsu knows for sure. In terms of what I observe in recording sessions the concern is for creating something altogether new. In listening to Uematsu's previous scores there's always some new element that emerges. I think there will be surprises in the main theme and also in the storyline. Naturally there will be novel components, but that's what everyone expects from Uematsu on a Final Fantasy series installment.

Recently the animated television series Guin Saga has featured a soundtrack composed by Uematsu. In terms of Dog Ear Records' involvement, how did you contribute to the soundtrack album?

Once the music for the series had been completed, a CD soundtrack was released by Aniplex Records, who published the albums for Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. Aniplex was the publisher and Dog Ear Records was responsible for the overall production.

In approaching the sound of Guin Saga, were there any features you wished to emphasize?

Yes, well this is only my personal impression, but the world of Guin Saga is vast. The use of the orchestra is meant to underscore this. There are also sampled instruments on the score and making those two work together naturally was arranger Narita-san's job. We were working on the mixing tirelessly, not even stopping for New Years'.

The most recent release from Dog Ear Records is Nobuo Uematsu's Ten Short Stories, which includes a song that the composer began writing many years ago. Would you please tell us a little about it?

This song originated when Uematsu was in Junior High, and was the first he ever composed. Only two verses were written at that time, and he's completing it at fifty. That was the idea behind the entire project. Seeing as other songs are in the works, we are considering an English-language version. The track will be available online overseas, and we would like people to understand the lyrics.

The first song ever composed by Uematsu-san will be released at 50?

Yes, that's right. We have until March 20 to finish before he turns 51, and plans are for ten songs total.

Dog Ear Records video interview (Part One of Two)

Egusa-san, thank you for joining us for this discussion on the subject of your recent music release. Dog Ear Records has previously published your solo album KALAYCILAR. How would you describe Ogawa-san's role in this process?

There's a short answer and a long answer to that question, but let me explain it to you in some detail. Many of the ideas that went into the title track of KALAYCILAR were in my mind around the time that I first heard Bela Bartok's "Microcosmos" in college. I actually remember thinking at the time that this would make for some great game music. That led me to seek out a lot of folk songs originating from Bartok's birthplace of Hungary, just to get a better sense of their motifs. I thought that one of these days I would try arranging one of these folk songs in my own style.

In 2000, I joined a band performing Turkish and Arabic music. There I encountered a Turkish folk song called "Kalaycilar." We were performing in a very standard Turkish style, but having been reminded of my experience listening to Bartok's "Microcosmos," I went ahead and wrote an arrangement for the band that was reflective of my memories from college. Those are the origins of the album KALAYCILAR.

This Turkish folk song is performed at auspicious events, like wedding ceremonies. I had the opportunity to play this piece at Ogawa-san's wedding, and he fell in love with it. Uematsu-san had the chance to hear the recording, and that's how it was decided that this would be released on the Dog Ear Records label.

It became necessary during the course of releasing the album that two further tracks be recorded. For that reason, I arranged a Moroccan folk song called "Aisha." It's become a favorite of Ogawa-san's as well. In addition to this, after considering a number of prospects, I decided on adding a more popular selection, an arrangement of "Simoon" by the Yellow Magic Orchestra. It turned out to be a remarkably smooth process with few complications.

Earlier this year you performed on the piano at the Press Start Symphony of Games Concert, which we reported on for several articles on this website. What was your experience playing famous themes from videogames together with the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra?

It was an extremely exciting experience. The skills of multiple arrangers were vying for the attention of the audience, while the source material has a deep meaning to so many who play videogames. The choice of songs on the set list and their presentation amounted to the highest form of fan service you can imagine.

I think you can't help but feel a sense of whimsy in hearing a musical performance comprised of songs originating on computers, involving none other than a full orchestra. It was a lot of fun. It's the kind of event that I think is not only interesting to those immersed in the culture of games, but even those who feel a bit alienated by it. It's just an immensely enjoyable concert by any standards.

Your father performed on the soundtrack to Anata wo Yurusanai for the PSP. Are games something that the two of you are able to enjoy together?

My father belongs to a generation that primarily missed out on the joys of videogames -- (he's 70). When I was a kid we played board games together... primarily shogi, Othello and baseball pinball. This might be stretching the meaning of "gaming," but if there was anyone who taught me how to enjoy its pleasures in the larger sense, it was my father.

Pia-com is an album that takes a variety of classic game themes and arranges them for the piano. When you were younger, did you ever experiment with performing such arrangements?

I certainly did! I was in elementary school when Space Invaders became all the rage. In music class during the break I would sneak over to a piano in the corner and play music from the game for my classmates. This was how I discovered that performing music for others could be a source of enjoyment, and that set me on the course toward my present-day occupation.

How did you go about choosing the track list?

Mappy is one that I've had the chance to perform live previously on several occasions. When the concept for this album first came under discussion at Dog Ear Records, this was one of the tracks whose background music I sent in as a demo. As soon as they heard it they said, "This is it!" Also, a cover of "Snowman" was one of the candidates I was considering for KALAYCILAR. That was the result of taking a look at "Eight Melodies" from Mother, which was requested by director Ogawa-san.

At Press Start you played "To Zanarkand," which is Uematsu's opening theme from Final Fantasy X. You're also arranging one of his tracks from Final Fantasy II for Pia-Com. How would you describe the experience of working with the composer?

The moment I begin to play any music by Uematsu, I immediately am given a very particular sense of that world, a mysterious sensation. I've also performed at the Distant Worlds concert and it's given me the chance to become familiar with a number of his songs. The rendition of "To Zanarkand" that took place at Press Start was not my arrangement, but it did involve a lengthy piano solo at the outset. You could say there's a certain pressure involved in playing solo in a sold out concert, but it was a great relief to hear that I lived up to the audience's expectations.

Dog Ear Records video interview (Part 2 of 2)

[This article is available in Japanese on Game Design Current. It can be read in French in two parts on Squaremusic: [ Part One ] [Part Two]. Cellythm, Pia-Com I and Nobuo Uematsu's Ten Short Stories can be imported from Amazon.co.jp. Interview conducted by Miyu and Jeriaska. Images courtesy of Dog Ear Records. Photos by Jeriaska.]

Dragon Quest's "Overture" is instantly recognizable to almost anyone with any familiarity with the franchise, as it's used prominently in dozens of main series games and spin-offs starting with the very first release. There's even a Dragon Quest Best Dance Mix album that you can grab with a Trance remix version of the music!

In a recent interview with Famitsu translated by 1UP, Dragon Quest composer Koichi Sugiyama, who was already a celebrity in Japan for his TV/film work long before he began working on video games, reflected on his 24-year history with the series and revealed that he came up with the melody for the iconic overture in just five minutes.

"It took about five minutes between getting struck with the idea and coming up with the melody [for the overture]," Sugiyama said. "People get surprised when I say I did it in five minutes, but I'd like to think I did it because I had fifty-odd years of living experience up to that point. You could say it really took me fifty years and five minutes."

The veteran composer also shared an interesting story on how Enix initially sought him out to work on its game soundtracks:

"I've always liked video games, and long ago I played a game called Morita Shogi which Enix released on the PC-8801. I wrote down my impressions of it in the little questionnaire postcard in the box, and my family sent it back to them without me realizing it.

Whoever received the note recognized my name and gave me a phone call asking if I could compose some music for them. I said yes, and that was how I began making game music."

See? There really was a point to filling out those silly questionnaire cards that came with your games. You could've been a renown video game composer if only you'd sent yours in!

[Taking a look at the Japanese fan-based Comiket (Comic Market) convention and its gigantic cache of video game music-inspired cover albums and even books, Jeriaska continues his 'Sound Current' series for Gamasutra by interviewing many of the intriguing Japanese musicians selling their unofficial tributes to classic and modern game soundtracks.]

Comic Market, which takes place twice a year at the enormous Tokyo Big Sight convention center in Japan, defies comparison with any other hobbyist gathering in the world.

Over the course of its three-day run "Comiket" attracts hundreds of thousands of amateur artists from all over Japan. As with the comparatively intimate Music MediaMix Market, booths are set up for individuals and groups called "circles" to sell their homemade doujin collectibles.

This winter's 77th installment was host to all manner of retro game revivals, particularly in the sphere of videogame music: Freelance writer Ryota Musha helped publish a book on the contemporary use of retro game consoles in the creation of original chip music.

Meanwhile the delightfully named Magical Trick Society looked to a Western game series for their latest remix album, paying tribute to Kentaro Haneda's influential game soundtracks to the Famicom ports of the Wizardry series.

This in-depth look at the remixed videogame music of Comic Market 77 includes interviews with the participants and embedded video Q&As with band takrockers!! and two industry game composers frequently in attendance.

Freelancer Ryota Musha and the expression of his 8bitlove

Drawing staggering numbers to the Tokyo Big Sight building not far from Kokusai Tenjijo train station, Comiket is widely popular among gaming enthusiasts for featuring a varied mix of the familiar and the unexpected. Crowds grow so large prior to the 10 o’clock opening each morning that the event staff equipped with loudspeakers are constantly directing the giant, snaking lines around blocks and up stairways. Admission is free, while event organizers recoup costs by selling program catalogs whose girth calls to mind the Yellow Pages.

One of the biggest surprises for chiptune enthusiasts this Comiket was the coffee table book 8bitlove, independently financed and on sale for 1000 yen. While several of the writers contributed anonymously to avoid potential conflicts with employers, Ryota Musha was on hand to field questions about the publication. A freelancer and frequent contributor both to Kotaku Japan and Gizmodo, the writer says that embarking upon publishing the book reinvigorated his love for writing, a process emphasizing fun over business.

8bitlove offers Japanese readers a window into the overseas chip music scene, compiling photos and URLs in a visually dazzling layout of low-fi phenomena like the band Anamanaguchi, video jockey Paris Graphics and filmmakers 2 Player Productions. Also featured are Japan's chiptune luminaries, among them Hally's VORC Records label, Saitone and Kplecraft. The custom pixel art depicted on the cover comes courtesy of illustrator ta2nb.

Comic Market: takrockers!! interview!!

Having explored the history of Japanese games through musical arrangements, Magical Trick Society chose Comiket 77 as an opportunity to pay tribute to an influential Western series. Wizardry was first released by Sir-Tech for the Apple II computer in the early 1980's, and was treated to background music by Kentaro Haneda upon being ported to the Nintendo Famicom. Orchestral performances of the 8-bit music were recorded and published as part of the Suite Wizardry series as early as 1989.

"I notice the number of traditional videogame cover albums decreases each year," says music director Gunzy of the experienced doujin circle. "It's a motivation to keep delivering the kind of music that people like me have come to love."

Sound in Labyrinth -The World of Wizardry- can be sampled in a nine-minute YouTube video. The music CD, combining electronic and orchestral aspects of Haneda's Wizardry releases, comes in a DVD box with original artwork depicting the series' iconic green dragon.

Similarly prolific, Excelsia of the EtlanZ circle previously released the elaborately titled "EtlanZ Best Collection Series Vol.16 Ever Green: Tapestry of Mana and Time." A compilation remixing celebrated Super Nintendo titles by Squaresoft, the album adapted compositions from the World of Mana series by Hiroki Kikuta, Yoko Shimomura and Kenji Ito. Sample mp3s for the album on the theme of nature and time are available on the artist's site.

This time out, EtlanZ had with him a retro shooter installment entitled STG: Shooting Best Collection: 1st Stage. A nod to the three-letter genre demarcations like ACT and RPG that were popular in the days of the Famicom, Excelsia says the album was in part a response to the waning popularity of console game arrangements that Gunzy observes. STG's track list runs the gamut from '80s shooters like Gradius II and Star Soldier to Hitoshi Sakimoto's Radiant Silvergun score.

One reason these days fewer artists are covering the kinds of console games the West is familiar with is that Touhou shooters have taken over. Their creator, a polymath programmer and musician named ZUN, embraced a Creative Commons-esque license broadly permitting derivative works, giving Touhou an edge among doujinshi over the more strictly enforced intellectual property of console titles. Excelsia mentions that as Touhou mania has expanded to encompass several rows at Comiket, his favorite remix circles have fallen victim to often incompatible pursuits, like married life. Holding his own as a champion of the retro shmup, he already has plans for Shooting Best Collection Volume 2.

Nijeil with a copy of his F-Zero hard rock album

Nijeil of the circle earth Japan says of F-ZERO The Graded Driver 2201 that the project was inspired by the inflated game soundtrack budgets of the '90s bubble economy, when the CD-ROM format first arrived on the scene. The material was chosen by earth Japan's otaku culture connoisseur Hao-san and primarily arranged and performed by Nijeil, though Toshinori Hiramatsu can also be heard on the guitar solo passage of the BIGBLUE demo.

Earthbound fans might be interested in United Daft Attack's YouTube samples of Mother 1-3 remixes. The circle's two EPs, featuring Mr. Saturn cover art by Mr.Gin, follow an Etrian Odyssey arrange album, and subtly reflect the quirky sentiment of the original Nintendo game series, particularly on instrumental samples like the off-kilter, warbling saxophones.

On another end of the emotional spectrum, Dangerous Mezashi Cat's metalcore remixes of Shin Megami Tensei tracks reinterpret early Atlus game themes. Promotional posters sporting Beelzebub on the drums were part of the group's successful bid to draw attention to the fan tribute. While the pre-Persona games energetically covered are decidedly niche, ten contributing artists turned out to lend a hand on the cross-fade sample.

The story behind Innocent leaves & Aggrieved cry is a familiar one among enthusiast arrange albums. The collection of Final Fantasy XI music by the circle m_box was an expression of admiration for the massively multiplayer online world, borne out of two conflicting impulses. Musician obstinate_A says, "One side of me didn't want to break from the original, while another wanted to introduce my own personal tastes." The collaboration with artist Sarumotto strikes a balance between aggressivity and repose, and can be sampled on YouTube.

Further treatment of Square Enix soundtracks can be found on the Final Fantasy and Romancing SaGa vocal collection by little white snow, titled REFLECT. Arranger Ebisupa says, "The album seeks to approximate the sound of film scores by layering sound recordings on top of one another. At the same time, I dispensed with the ideal of a clean mix by inserting snippets of dialog in the middle of tracks and stylistically incorporating passages intentionally sung out of tune." For certain Square Enix devotees, taking a listen may well kick-start some deeply engraved game-related memories.

Shin'ya Mitsuda and his 7th Dragon classical arrange album

A group of musicians participated in the compilation PORTRAIT, arranging music from Wild Arms 2, known in Japan as Wild Arms: 2nd Ignition. The album comes in cardboard packaging, complementing the earthy tones of Michiko Naruke's game soundtrack. Kotukimiya of Allegory Works contributed the theme song "Miracle," which expands upon the tune found in-game by adding a second verse. The vocalist says attending Comic Market and meeting people who have enjoyed her singing has given her the motivation to produce more music. A sample of the track "1st Ignition" has been uploaded to YouTube by organizer Hiro Shiomi of Sound Team LAYER-0.

When Yuzo Koshiro wrote the music for the as-of-yet unlocalized Nintendo DS RPG 7th Dragon, he gave listeners contemporary and retro mixes of the game's themes on the soundtrack release, while also commissioning classical arrangements for a piano and strings arrange album. Having received three interpretations of the same melodies ranging from low-fi to orchestral, the doujin scene was quick to elaborate on Koshiro's compositional foundation. It should come as no surprise that two ambitious 7th Dragon arrange albums made their debut at Comic Market.

The concept behind Studio IIG's release was to gather seven musicians for a numerically appropriate tribute to the Nintendo DS title. However, failing to find friends who had cleared the cart, the album ended up as a duo collaboration with musician ziki_7. The arrangers contacted an artist called Tanu through pixiv, Japan's deviantART equivalent, to help with the cover. Only later did they find out that the illustrator had won an art contest held on the 7th Dragon official website. More can be viewed on Tanu's site, while samples of each track from the album can be heard on the official webpage.

Meanwhile, Smalt Erz explained that his collaboration with Shin'ya Mitsuda of Music Pandora was originally slated for release at a 7th Dragon fan festival called Akai Hana no Oka II. "We were both so emotionally involved in the original that we became self-conscious during the arrangement process." Though the project took longer than planned to complete, both musicians are satisfied with the results. Samples of tracks 1, 8 and 12 on the live orchestral album can be heard on the Smalt Erz blog.

Tracking down copies of albums sold at Comic Market oftentimes requires taking a trip to Akihabara. Among the stores to check for doujin releases are Toranoana, MelonBooks and Messe Sanoh.

Comic Market: Shinji Hosoe & Hiroki Kikuta interviews

[Photos by Jeriaska. Translation by Yoshi Miyamoto. Video interviews by Miyu. For more photos from Comic Market, see the photo sets: C76 & C77]

[In the latest in his 'Sound Current' series for GameSetWatch exploring notable video game musicians and soundtracks, Jeriaska sits down with the composer for Ace Combat 6, Keiki Kobayashi, discussing the soundtracks for the Namco Bandai flight combat series.]

Earlier today Namco Bandai Games released Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation Original Soundtrack on iTunes stores worldwide as part of their Namco Sounds series. A new installment of the series for the Playstation Portable, called Ace Combat: Joint Assault, is due out this summer.

The downloadable soundtrack release follows a live performance in 2009 of the track "Zero" from the Playstation 2 title Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War at the 2009 Press Start Symphony of Games Concert in Tokyo.

In this interview with musician Keiki Kobayashi, the composer of "Zero" offers his perspectives on contributing to musical scores for the series. Kobayashi also discusses the process behind adapting in-game themes for the stage and his collaborations with guitarist Takanori Goto.

Having written for Tekken 6, Ridge Racer 7 and other intense, gripping game soundtracks, the musician's comments offer an informed perspective on the state of composing for action titles today.

Kobayashi-san, thank you for taking time for this discussion on the subject of your music for the Ace Combat series. The music of Ace Combat is known for being written by a team of composers at Namco Bandai Games. How do you find being part of this collaboration?

Keiki Kobayashi, Namco Bandai Games composer: It's very interesting, as each musician's personality is totally unique. This series includes music by Hiroshi Okubo, Tetsukazu Nakanishi and Junichi Nakatsuru, among others. Recently, Ryuichi Takada and Katsuro Tajima have joined the team. Each approach is different. Ace Combat has a dynamic storyline, so you find there's real variety to each scene. What's so interesting is that on the side of the sound team everyone is interpreting the scenes from a different viewpoint.

As a music composer, what has attracted you to the storylines of the Ace Combat games?

While this is a story that takes place in fictional locations, you can still imagine it playing out in real life. It’s a fantasy, but one that's not too far from reality. That's what I love about the story.

There are some gritty aspects to the storylines, in terms of how people respond to wars between nations. That can compel the game's scenarists to choose their own stances and have them reflected in the ways the stories unfold. You find there is always the element of human relationships, though in Ace Combat you don’t get a glimpse of the main character's face. You're the hero of the story, an important factor decided by the design team.

It can be difficult to design a plot around this convention. How do you convey to the player what the in-game surrogate is going through when you never see the face behind the visor? Ultimately it makes the music all the more crucial in portraying what emotions are stirring within the main character, his reaction to the events unfolding around him.

The sound team has to consider the subtleties of the story and be in close communication with the director while also maintaining an independence of vision. Sometimes you are left to interpret the emotions of a scene on your own.

Your song “Zero,” which was arranged for the orchestra last year, is characterized by passionate emotions, and there are many music tracks brimming with energy in the Ace Combat series. Do you need to make special preparations to get into the mindset of writing these high-energy compositions?

It's enough for me just to take a trip to the airport. I am honestly just that excited about planes. Ever since I was a kid I’ve always been inspired by the world of aviation, and never more than working on these games. I have gotten to go to military bases and talk with personnel during air training, soaking up the atmosphere of the real thing. It's all practice, but the tension is still palpable there, as if a red alert could sound out at any moment.

As a man, it's kind of a fantasy occupation. While I can never say for sure that I've been one hundred percent successful at capturing the intensity of that lifestyle, I have gone through every effort of imagining what it must be like to live that kind of life. I guess that's also why I enjoy outdoor sports and exercising, climbing mountains even though I might be risking breaking something. (laughs)

Do you a have favorite scene from among the Ace Combat games?

Since we’re talking about Ace Combat Zero, there's a scene that takes place just after the song "Zero" plays. There are two pilots who have covered each other's backs their entire lives, until one is betrayed. Each character has certain ideals in life and they come into violent conflict. They face each other in battle, and you wonder what’s going through their minds in that moment. One of them is victorious and the other fails, but neither comes away from it without having been damaged.

When did you first hear that "Zero" would be performed at the Press Start Symphony of Games Concert?

I think it was around March or April this year. They asked me if I would have any objection to their performing the song on stage. It sounded good to me. (laughs)

The 2009 Press Start Symphony of Games Concert

Who was responsible for choosing the song for the concert program?

The concert organizing committee somehow came to agreement on the decision. They did not provide an explanation for why "Zero" was selected, but one reason might have been that a successful stage performance had already been demonstrated at the Pacifico Yokohama in 2007.

How would you compare this recent orchestral arrangement of "Zero" to the previous one?

For one there was a considerable difference in scale. A greater number of musicians performed this time, and it took on more of a classical style. The use of percussion underwent some significant changes as well. For instance, the in-game track has more of a rock style, but at Press Start the woodwinds were emphasized in place of drums. Of course the biggest difference from the 2007 performance was the fact that the guitarist featured on the game soundtrack was present to reprise his role.

That would be Takanori Goto?

That’s right. To be honest with you, I became concerned as the concert approached that "Zero's" Latin flavor was in danger of disappearing completely. The drum set was being removed and a classical music formula was being favored. For that reason, I requested Goto-san be invited back.

The organizing committee gave it some thought, Goto-san met with them and he later called to tell me everything had worked out. We went together to the studio and rehearsed before meeting with the orchestra. It had been years since the original recording, but Goto-san recalled every nuanced detail of "Zero's" guitar solos. We nailed it on the first take without a hitch, and since there was a little time to spare, we spent the rest of the rehearsal time in casual conversation.

When did you first meet Goto-san?

That would be on Ace Combat 4.

What in your observation would you say are some of the distinctive features of his musical style?

For one, he's proficient in a number of genres. The way his fingers move over the strings is simply amazing. However, perhaps the most extraordinary ability he has is his ear for music. Once he hears something, he never forgets, as was the case with “Zero." He can play anything without so much as glancing at the sheet music. That’s really a godsend in recording for game scores.

Goto-san was required to memorize the guitar solo on “Zero,” and on the day we recorded we only had until the end of the day to finish everything. To tell you the truth, we were both dying of hunger from having worked ourselves without pause, but there just wasn't time for a breather.

It was around 10:00 at night when we recorded his solo, both of us feeling the pressure to finish. Even in this state, he was able to incorporate all kinds of ideas from the demo tracks and the results came out perfectly. This experience convinced me that I can always rely on him to bring out the best in the material.

What was your impression of conductor Taizo Takemoto and the performance by the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra?

Takemoto-san is exceptional. As highly distinguished as the members of the orchestra are themselves, they could hardly be expected to have been led by a more capable conductor. When it comes to capturing the melody, harmony and fine-tuning all the minute details, his skill defies comparison. I learned a lot listening to his comments during the rehearsal.

At first I thought that the style of "Zero" was too far removed from the specialty of the live orchestra, too rhythmic and percussive. But once they started playing, my skepticism was put to rest. It was fantastic, particularly the string instruments. The vocalists also had a much stronger presence than I was expecting. I guess I just went in believing I would be hearing a routine, conventional take on my music. However, as I was listening I couldn't help but think to myself that this was one brilliant performance.

Outside of Ace Combat, were there any other game themes performed during the concert that captured your interest?

Suikoden! I've always had a soft spot for that game. Honestly, when I listened to the main theme at the event, tears came to my eyes. (laughs)

Having composed for multiple installments in this game series, what would you most like to see in a future Ace Combat title?

That’s a hard question. First and foremost, I think capturing the sensation of flying is critical. The feeling of cutting though the sky is the first thing I look for in a game like this, and the balance between the real world and the imaginary is also important. Now that I've seen for myself how well this series has turned out, I’m confident that the same production team will be capable of creating another great game in the future.

[This article is available in Japanese on Game Design Current. Ace Combat Zero Original Soundtrack can be imported from Amazon.co.jp. Ace Combat 6 Original Soundtrack is now available on iTunes. Interview by Jeriaska. Translation by Kaoru Bertrand. Images courtesy of Namco Bandai Games and King Records. Photos by Jeriaska.]

[In an in-depth round-up from Japan for the GameSetWatch-exclusive 'Sound Current' column, Jeriaska speaks to a number of major soundtrack composers -- from Square Enix through Q Games to Capcom -- to document the major audio-related goings-on at the annual trade show.]

The 2009 Tokyo Game Show, which took place last week in Chiba, Japan, has often served as a platform for announcements related to video game music.

TGS offers a special opportunity for game companies to unveil debut trailers for newly revealed titles, hinting at what to expect from their musical scores. As the enjoyment of game soundtracks has traditionally transcended language barriers, audio-related news from the show tends to spread quickly among those who follow it internationally.

Game companies including Square Enix and Capcom have marked the occasion in recent years by debuting albums of remixed game themes at the Makuhari Messe exhibition hall. There also tend to be live music events, though 2009 proved to be an exception, perhaps a reflection of decreased attendance and economic recession. Nevertheless, a number of game designers and composers were on-hand to relate their views on current developments in game audio.

To focus on a few, Dylan Cuthbert was present at the Q-Games booth, offering news on the music of PixelJunk series installments PixelJunk Shooter and PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe. Dan Paladin provided some background on the process behind licensing tracks for The Behemoth games. Nigoro elaborated on how they are currently remixing their background music for the WiiWare remake of La-Mulana, and sound studio Noisycroak had details on the score for the third installment of Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman.

This report offers some impressions from the designers participating in the event. In addition, Square Enix Music department director Soushi Yoshida provides an outline of the fourth volume of their annual music sampler, while sound director Ippo Yamada, who last year composed for Mega Man 9, introduces his new game arrangement compilation Chiptuned Rockman.

The Square Enix Music booth at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show

Square Enix has consistently led the way when it comes to promoting album releases at TGS. This year the company’s music-dedicated booth had on sale such recent releases as the Blood of Bahamut soundtrack album, Reunion Tracks (songs from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete for Blu-Ray) and the 20-disc SaGa series Premium Box. Those who made a purchase at the booth were treated to a sampler CD of material from upcoming game and album releases, the fourth such volume in consecutive years. Speaking with director Soushi Yoshida, we received an overview of the sampler foreshadowing the fourth quarter music releases from the company.

This year the sampler includes the previously unreleased music from the 2007 TGS promo for Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess, composed by Naoshi Mizuta. The same composer wrote the following track, the main theme of 4 Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden. A Nintendo DS RPG, its score mixes classical music instruments with NES sound card samples. Hidenori Iwasaki's track on the sample, from the Wii action adventure title Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, leads off with a lighthearted hoedown feel that is reminiscent of "Fiddle de Chocobo" from Final Fantasy VII.

Appearing next on the sampler, arrange album Love SQ appears to be positioning itself as a high profile equivalent of the doujin arrange albums made by Square Enix fans. The game company is recruiting popular artists outside of games to remix Final Fantasy, SaGa, Chrono and Mana titles published during the Squaresoft days. While jazz musicians PE’Z can be heard performing a big band rendition of the Final Fantasy IV theme on the sampler, Sexy Synthesizer, note native and others will also appear on the full album.

Following Love SQ, C+D makes an appearance. Revisiting “Calling” and "Déjà Vu" from The World Ends With You, the arrangement throws some old school game sound effects into the mix, likely presaging a retro remix compilation. Another album revealed by the sampler is a follow-up to Piano Collections Kingdom Hearts. Yoko Shimomura’s music from the series will be further treated to live music arrangements, as a result of the greater-than-expected popularity of the original. The song “Sinister Sundown” is present on the sampler. “Senkou,” a battle theme from Final Fantasy XIII by Masashi Hamauzu, rounds out the album, juxtaposing an austere full orchestra recording with metal-style electric guitar.

Square Enix Music director Soushi Yoshida provides a rundown of the Volume 4 Sampler

While the XBox Live Arcade title Castle Crashers may be less well known within Japan than in English-language regions, developers The Behemoth had a booth set up to show off the playable build of their as of yet untitled third game. PixelJunk Eden composer and art director Baiyon dropped by to talk with art director Dan Paladin and exchange illustrations. The Behemoth has been influenced by classic Japanese videogames, fueling discussions at TGS.

Not only was Paladin responsible for the art for Castle Crashers, he wrote the introductory and ending music themes. Asked how composers were contacted for the game, Paladin explained that all the music was discovered via the Newgrounds site. Formed in 1995 to host Flash games and movies, the website has served as a portal for connecting game designers with user-generated content that is available to license.

"Game 3" is currently without a soundtrack, and a similar process of scouring Newgrounds is planned. The art director says, "I wish more people would go to the Newgrounds audio portal and approach those guys, because they would love to work on other games."

WiiWare is currently anticipating several 2D games from developer Nicalis. Recently the company announced that they will be localizing a downloadable title by Nigoro, a small team previously responsible for the slapping-based Flash game title Rose & Camellia.

The team is currently putting the final touches on a full remake of their archeological adventure title La-Mulana, an auteur creation in the same vain as Nicalis titles NightSky (formerly Night Game) and Cave Story. The music is being fully arranged for the Wii by game designers Naramura and Samejima.

Kyoto-based developer Q-Games had a booth at the Tokyo Game Show to demo their upcoming Playstation 3 title PixelJunk Shooter. The game includes music by High Frequency Bandwidth, one half of the techno group The Orb. Company president Dylan Cuthbert has been following the artists' releases for years, and he describes the Shooter soundtrack as a mix of genres, “very modern sounding.”

Also new to the PixelJunk series are ten or so additional music tracks by Otograph, which are being added to the PSP downloadable title PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe. The game became available October 1st on the Playstation Network. Not only are there new songs, Otograph has created several music videos, which can be unlocked by meeting certain conditions in the game. The omake extras underscore artists Takashi Iura and Sachiyo Oshima's history as audio/ visual creators, having made interactive installments for numerous Kyoto art exhibits.

Q-Games president Dylan Cuthbert describes the soundtracks to the upcoming Pixeljunk installments

Nigoro talks La-Mulana music

NIS America hosted an event during the Tokyo Game Show to announce the localization of two new titles. Localizer Allison Walter confirmed that role-playing title Atelier Rorona is scheduled for release in English-language regions on the Playstation 3 with music by Ken Nakagawa. The sequel to Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman is also in the midst of being translated, and is headed to the PSP. Music from the first two titles is available to sample on the official site for the album release published by Aniplex Records.

Proceeding in parallel with the localization, musician Hideki Sakamoto is already in the process of composing the score for the third game in the series, titled Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaiki da 3D. A play on words, the installment does not actually take the retro series into the third dimension. Rather, it features three dungeons as opposed to a single playing field. Members of Sakamoto's sound studio Noisycroak will be performing all the instruments for the soundtrack.

Speaking on the subject of the upcoming score, Sakamoto offered a few details on the music for the series. "In the previous installments, the concept for the score was to limit ourselves only to instruments practiced in elementary school," he said. "These were all performed by our co-workers at Noisycroak, every one of whom has memories of practicing them as kids." In terms of what to expect from Badman 3D, he mentioned, "This time out, it almost sounds as if an adult were providing backup. We have some elaborate use of string instruments for one of the songs, and it's perhaps the biggest departure from the previous games. "

Noisycroak musicians Hideki Sakamoto, Tsuyoshi Yukawa, Keisuke Itou & Hiroyoshi Kato

It has been said that '08 was witness to an 8-bit boom in Japan, a phenomenon linked to the time warp undertaken by the Mega Man series. Last year at TGS, Inti Creates announced Rockman 9 Arrange Soundtrack, and this time at the show a related album was made available for the first time at the Capcom CD shop. "Chiptuned Rockman" compiles various artists’ remixes of Mega Man series music, transformed and expanded upon within the domain of 8-bit Famicom chip music.

The CD divides its playlist on the one hand between SNES or Playstation tunes given retro revisions and on the other, classic 8-bit themes like "Snake Man" and "Air Man" treated to Blip Festival-style improvisatory riffs. Ippo Yamada, sound director at Inti Creates, described it as a natural product of collaborating with chiptune artist hally, opening the doors to the participation of twenty musicians. They include international artists Zinger, from Sweden, and Virt, who this year arranged "Freddie Freeloader" for the 8-bit Miles Davis tribute Kind of Bloop.

Primarily Chiptuned Rockman is a collaboration between composers and chip music artists based in Japan. KPLECRAFT, a duo that last year performed live at the EXTRA Hyper Game Music Event, brings their high octane club music style to the iconic Mega Man 2 intro. Cave shooter music composer Manabu Namiki remixes Mega Man: The Wily Wars, while Akari Kaida, having arranged "Jewel Temptation" last year, makes a return. Also participating are Inti Creates composers Ryo Kawakami and Hiroki Isogai.

While live performances all but vanished from the Tokyo Game Show this year, there appear to have been signs present at the Makuhari Messe of collaborations flourishing among musicians via digital media. Whether through the remixing of classics like Final Fantasy and Mega Man, or the localization of downloadable content, a number of unique music projects are transcending the particularities of geographic location. The economic climate alone appears to be a compelling reason for musicians to investigate what creative opportunities are existing elsewhere in the world.

Ippo Yamada introduces Chiptuned Rockman

[Images courtesy of Square Enix and Capcom. Interpretation by Miyu. Additional translation by Yoshi Miyamoto. Photos by Jeriaska.]

[Continuing his 'Sound Current' series talk to notable game audio creators, Jeriaska sits down with Civilization IV soundtrack co-composer Christopher Tin on his new album, inspired by one of the signature Civ IV songs.]

Musician Christopher Tin made his debut as a game composer with the tracks "Baba Yetu" and "Coronation" for the 2004 strategy title Civilization IV. His contributions to the score earned him two awards from the Game Audio Network Guild, for Best Original Vocal Song and Rookie of the Year.

Music from Civ IV has graced the stage numerous times as part of the Video Games Live concert series, allowing for "Baba Yetu" to be performed around the world. On October 1st the composer is publishing an album of music inspired by the piece.

Called "Calling All Dawns," the collection assembles twelve songs in twelve languages, including a brand new rendition of the celebrated videogame vocal theme. The album represents the culmination of an artist's personal interpretation of a computer software series that has inspired him since his youth.

In this interview coinciding with the release of "Calling All Dawns," Christopher Tin describes being a part of the VGL concert series. The discussion offers a personal perspective on the position of game soundtracks as an art form with international appeal.

As an intersection of Civilization IV and the entirely new material present on Calling All Dawns, "Baba Yetu" is also an example of bringing together ancient musical traditions and modern game software. In your work as a composer, what have you observed about the interplay of the canon and today's videogame industry?

Sadly, on a macro level, there is no interplay between classical music and videogames. This is not to say that the classical world doesn't explore adaptive and dynamic music (Steve Reich, John Cage) and that game music doesn't flirt with the classics (Civ IV had a number of licensed pieces, including 20th-century works by John Adams). But the circles have been wary of each other for awhile.

Tours like Video Games Live are helping to redefine those boundaries, but it's an uphill struggle, and videogames and the classical canon have little to do with one another for now. But really... why should there be any interaction between games and the classical canon? Why can't game music evolve as its own distinct art form? Why should it rely on the Western classical tradition at all?

Videogames (and their music) are complex, evolving, and technologically mediated. Why should the music in videogames rely on a the classical tradition that's centuries old, linear in definition, and based on artifices of 16th-century technological limitations?

Does the idea interest you of writing music that includes an interactive component and responds dynamically to the feedback of the player?

As far as effective uses of interaction in games, I'd have to say that Troels Folmann does this very well in his scores (matter of fact, Troels does many things very well).

I would certainly love to write more dynamic and adaptive music. I've done it for various sound installations and product design applications, but not yet in a game context. I certainly have a lot of ideas as to how it could be done; some of which may extend beyond the limitations of the current generation of consoles.

The key, though, is that I consider myself a highly structural composer; for me, the second most important element of music is form (the most important element is melody). So the challenge becomes how do you maintain a cohesive and satisfying musical form, while still relying on an adaptive engine? How do you have sensible modulations, recapitulations, developments, counterpoint, etc.? Is this possible, practical or even desirable? Maybe someday when the technology catches up, someone will hire me to solve this dilemma.

Prior to contributing to the score of Civilization IV, what had been your experience with the computer game series?

Civ was a huge part of my childhood. The funny story is that it was my college roommate, Soren Johnson, who turned out to be the lead designer for Civilization IV. I ran into him at our five-year reunion at Stanford. We had done an overseas study program together at Oxford. He was studying history and computer science, which is perfect for Civilization, and I was studying music. We caught up and he had just finished Civilization III as one of the co-designers. I told him I had been a huge Civilization fanatic growing up.

A couple months went by and I got a phone call from him saying, “Hey Chris, we are in the process of putting together the opening animations for Civilization IV. I took a track from one of the Stanford Talisman a capella albums recorded back at Stanford, and everyone loved the world vibe of it.” Talisman specializes in African choral music, so Soren came back to me and asked if I would be up for writing something new that was an epic sounding African vocal track with drums. And it was right up my alley.

I spent a month writing the main theme for Civilization IV, which is actually a long time in composer terms. I then recorded it with Talisman a capella back at Stanford. I got it into the game and that was it.

What is it that appealed to you about the series when you played it in your youth?

I’ve always been the type of person that likes to build, cultivate and tinker with things. I get fixated and obsessed on little projects. A game like Civ, where you’re growing a Civilization, expanding your borders and expanding new territories, that all fits into that pleasure center in my brain.

Your music for Civilization IV has been a fixture of the Video Games Live concert series program. What has been your experience working with the event organizers?

Well, Tommy and Jack are great. To me, they’re living the life right now. Having gotten to know them over the years, they have cultivated a great sense of community among game composers.

For example, Tommy has an annual summer barbecue where he invites everyone in the Game Audio Network Guild to his house. I can’t think of another industry where one of the top composers says, “Hey guys, everyone come over and hang out at my place!” It doesn’t matter if you’re an A-list composer, an assistant or an intern, you can come over, play videogames and hang out.

Has participating in the Video Games Live concert series directly contributed to the design or realization of your concept for Calling All Dawns?

I think that any time you're able to take a piece of music out of the context of a game and still have it stand on its own it's a validation that you've written a good piece of music. In a sense, the success I've had with my music being featured in Video Games Live (and the hundreds of other live performances of my music) gave me the motivation to create an entire album of music that would stand on its own, apart from any visuals.

On your blog you mentioned an audio/video experiment that took place at a recent performance of your Civilization IV medley at Video Games Live in Kalamazoo, Michigan. You had attended the concert virtually from your home in California and participated in a Q&A session by being projected on a monitor at the venue. How did the experiment turn out?

It was a great experience! And kudos to the VGL guys for trying to integrate this technology into the concert experience. In this day and age, why can't we do more of this stuff?

I'm relatively young, but I still remember a day when the idea of a 'video phone' was some sort of distant, newfangled technology. Nowadays we can beam anyone's voice and image anywhere in the world (and for FREE, on top of it), so why not have more remote participation events where composers 'virtually' attend concerts of their music? If any orchestra or choir out there wants me to do such a similar broadcast, even if it's just to say 'hi' during a rehearsal or do a Q&A, I'd be ready and willing.

Do you find it rewarding as a musician to interact directly with listeners and hear their feedback, for instance during the Video Games Live series' post-concert meet-and-greets?

Absolutely! I love meeting game music fans in person, and especially getting emails from people who are fans of my music (I usually write back). I'm very 'public' in my composition process. When I have the time, I love to workshop works-in-progress with a trusted circle of friends for feedback. The act of playing your works for people is a very revealing part of the creative process; you can no longer avoid those weak points that maybe you've been turning a blind eye to, but instead, are forced to confront them.

How would you say your academic training, both in terms of your literary background and training as a musician, contributed to your career as a composer?

Well, one can be inspired in the head, and one can be inspired in the heart. My cerebral inspiration, of course, was my study of the musical canon, which in one form or another gets subconsciously translated into the music that I write. But as for what moves me? What inspires the heart? It comes from far and wide.

I suppose that looking at the music I grew up listening to, there's a common thread of good old-fashioned tunefulness, that seems to work its way into what I write. I don't talk about it much, but when I was a tween I was absolutely obsessed with the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Schönberg and Boublil. (In fact, I originally wanted to be a musical theatre composer!)

There's a certain sweeping drama in their works that I loved growing up, AND you can't get their melodies out of your head. Once I entered high school I traded that love for the likes of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, and the rest of the 'classic rock canon'. And again, the sort of repetitive riffs and hooks that you find in their music work their way into the stuff that I write. I write very riffy, hooky orchestral music. Maybe I'm a rock musician trapped in a classical musician's body.

Is "Calling All Dawns" a reflection of your academic training or experiences traveling?

A little of both, perhaps. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Book knowledge and life experience are often spoken of as competing ideas, but really they're two sides of the same coin. In fact, what you learn in school and what you learn in the real world should teach you the exact same thing: that it's important to look at the big picture, to think big, to take it all in, and to be unafraid to make a statement in the world.

Anyone who has traveled has been humbled by the enormity of the world's cultures and landscapes. Likewise the more schooling you have, the more awestruck you are by the depth, breadth and history of human knowledge. So whether you went through years of academia or years on the street, you should graduate with one important lesson learned: respect. Respect for the world, for the people around you, and for the people who came before you.

So what is Calling All Dawns? It's a vehicle of respect.

Christopher Tin conducting 'Baba Yetu' with the Golden State Pops Orchestra

What has been your experience meeting Afrika composer Wataru Hokoyama? You’ve both received GANG Awards for Rookie of the Year.

Wataru and I did a concert together with the Golden State Pops Orchestra at Game Music in Concert (four of the six composers there were GANG Rookies of the Year). He’s a great guy and a great composer. We did joke that when the game community wants something African, they turn to the Asian composers.

One of the songs on your forthcoming album, "Mado Kara Mieru," was recorded in Japan. Did you receive any advice from videogame musicians in the creation of this Japanese-language music track?

Absolutely! Hitoshi Sakimoto (of Final Fantasy XII fame) was instrumental in helping me get the vocals recorded. The song itself was conceived and written several years ago with the help of various Japanese-American friends, but when it came time to record, I didn't have the resources to find the right vocalists on my own.

As it turns out I was passing through Tokyo earlier this year, and decided to see if I could find some leads through the Game Audio Network Guild. One member referred me to Sakimoto-san, who referred me to the excellent singer Lia.

Through Lia's management I met two other excellent singers (Aoi Tada and Kaori Omura), and the three of them are the featured vocalists on my song (entitled 'Mado Kara Mieru'--translated as 'Through The Window I See'). It really speaks to the closeness and camaraderie in the game industry, I think; Sakimoto and his company were amazingly helpful in contacting the vocalists, arranging the recording session, and even helping out with the paperwork. I hope I can repay them in some way, someday.

How did you go about finding lyrics for "Mado Kara Mieru"?

With a lot of these songs, I tried to capture a cultural understanding of the language that the song is based on. There is a tendency to rely on clichés in striving for ethnic legitimacy. Whenever possible, I try to go a step beyond and find a deeper cultural raison d’etre.

This is where the understanding of literature and poetry comes into play. As it is, each of these songs draws from texts about life, death and rebirth. You have the requiem mass in Latin, you have excerpts from the Bhagavad Gita, an excerpt from the Torah, a Catholic hymn, a Japanese haiku, Māori proverbs, Persian poetry by Omar Khayyám. It’s not just sacred material, but also secular. 2009 has been spent recording soloists like the Soweto Gospel Choir performing "Baba Yetu," various singers in Japan, and Anonymous 4 in New York. The Portuguese Fado singer Dulce Pontes also sings a song for me, as does Iranian singer Sussan Deyhim and the legendary mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade.

The dominant poetic form in Japanese is the haiku. In doing research into haiku, I got to understand that basically every classical haiku has a kigo, a seasonal word. They will say something like, “I look up in the sky and I see the moon.” The moon in that case is the seasonal word, because in autumn the moon is its roundest. That grounds the haiku in a particular season. If you see the word “sakura,” --meaning 'cherry blossoms'--it refers to spring, when the cherry trees blossom. Many of these haiku are grounded in particular seasons.

At the time I was writing this, I knew that my overall theme for Calling All Dawns was the cycle of life. Life, death and rebirth are a never-ending cycle. Even our distant ancestors observed this cycle in the turning of the seasons and the crops rejuvenating themselves in the spring.

What I did was take five haiku with corresponding words for spring, summer, autumn, winter and spring. Then I put them in order and treated them as a rondo. The goal was also to have singers at different stages of their lives singing these solos. The spring haiku would be sung by a young girl, for example. The summer haiku, by a young woman.

In the end is this how you went about recording the song?

Not quite. Ultimately, while all this artistic vision is important, the emotional impact of the vocalist is the most important thing. While you can theorize that it would be ideal to get a young girl to sing this, if an adult woman who can sound like a young girl is more capable, you should side with her. In other words, you should always choose quality over strict authenticity.

Looking back at your own experience, is there any personal advice you might offer someone who plans on going to school for musical training and is interested in working in videogames?

I wouldn't encourage prospective students to look *specifically* to get into video games, nor anything else for that matter. Just focus your energies on becoming the best possible composer you can be, and don't worry about what you're going to compose for--that will sort itself out later, and frankly you have no control over what's going to fall your way.

The truth is, though, that if you're a good musician, you'll be able to apply those skills towards any field you wind up working in. One thing in particular is that I've always believed that if you can write a good melody, you'll never go hungry. Why? Look back on history: every single piece that's established in our collective memory has always had a good melody. Even the great composers have pieces that stand out from the rest of their canon, and most often those are the ones with the great melodies.

Beethoven wrote nine symphones. How many people can hum the Fourth? The Eighth? Yet everyone knows the Ninth, the Fifth, the Third, and to a lesser extent the Sixth and Seventh. Why? Because they're great melodies. Even canonical dissonant works like the Rite Of Spring have great melodies. Want to write a piece that everyone connects with, that will stand the test of time? Write a good melody.

[Find more about Christopher Tin, along with ordering information on the album, at the composer's official website. Images courtesy of Christopher Tin. Hear samples of "Calling All Dawns" on Soundcloud.com.]

[Continuing his 'Sound Current' series for GameSetWatch, Jeriaska debuts a really neat indie game music roundtable, talking to the musicians behind PixelJunk Eden, Flower, Night Game, and Jonathan Mak's next project about their attitudes to creating game soundtracks.]

Recently four composers from different walks of life met to share their thoughts on the subject of videogame music. Vincent Diamante wrote the scores to ThatGameCompany titles Cloud and Flower. Teaching at the University of Southern California, while also providing photography for GameSetWatch and Gamasutra during industry events, he displays the skills and interests of an interdisciplinary artist. In the music interview "A Beautiful Flight," he spoke on the subject of the layered, interactive nature of his music for Flower.

Earlier this year Chris Schlarb completed an East Coast tour with his group I Heart Lung. Currently he is serving as the composer of the WiiWare title Night Game, published by Nicalis. He spoke about the challenges underlying the game project, which is in collaboration with Nifflas of Knytt Stories, during the Sound Current series interview "Rolling with the Sounds of Night Game."

Shaw-Han Liem is the musician behind the I Am Robot and Proud album series. In the music interview "I Am Robot Makes Game," he spoke on the subject of his Uphill City tour in Japan, taking place late last year, along with the process of embarking upon his first official collaboration with game designer Jonathan Mak, creator of Everyday Shooter.

Finally, Baiyon is the music and art director of Q-Games' PixelJunk Eden. Speaking during the Game Developers Conference in a session titled Baiyon's CMYK Vision, he offered his perspectives on the creation of new songs and visual designs for the PixelJunk Eden Encore expansion pack.

In a reflection of the international accessibility of interactive audio, the text for the roundtable discussion is appearing online in several languages, including Italian, French, and Japanese courtesy of GAME Watch. English and Japanese interpretation is by musician and translator Ryojiro Sato.

From left to right: Chris Schlarb, Baiyon, Ryojiro Sato, Shaw-Han Liem, Vincent Diamante.

To start off this conversation on the intersection between independent music and independent games, I thought I would bring up a question for the table. I wanted to know if there were any examples that came to mind from the history of videogames where the gameplay has allowed for the expression of musical improvisation in a fresh and innovative way.

Vincent Diamante: I remember a game called Ballblazer. It was by Lucasfilm, back in the mid-80's before they became LucasArts. It was a first-person sports game, and as you played there was this procedurally generated jazz solo. Some reviews at the time said that the soundtrack sounded like extreme John Coltrane solos. It was for PC and for Nintendo, and I remember playing it at the time, being this young music student, and thinking, "This music is different." It was this magical thing.

Chris Schlarb: Ballblazer? I've got to check this game out.

Vincent Diamante, composer of Flower

Chris, during your Night Game interview, you mentioned being surprised by the spontaneity of PaRappa the Rapper when you first encountered the game. Did you feel it was the first time you were able to riff or improvise musically within a videogame?

Schlarb: PaRappa was the first game where I had a sense of wonder about it. I was just talking about it because we were so excited to see the creator of PaRappa at the awards show last night. In PaRappa, you can basically freestyle. You can add extra beats and syllables to play polyrhythmically.

Shaw-Han: You could do that at any point in the game?

Schlarb: Yeah, you didn't have to just play on the beat---you could subdivide all the rhythmic elements in the game and it would start to dynamically change the environment.

I remember there was one time I was playing the level with Master Onion, and I was just going off, and the roof blew off of the room, and PaRappa was in the clouds! It never happened to me any other time. It's that feeling of something special happening. It was absolutely amazing.

Most games are so linear in their approach to composition. I come to composition from outside the game world, and am thinking more like modern composition like Eno, Reich, or Cage, not necessarily looking back at videogames for inspiration.

Baiyon, have you had the chance to listen to the music of everyone here?

Baiyon: I've played Flower. Shaw-Han and I have talked on myspace. I don't know Chris.

Chris is the composer of Night Game, which is coming out for WiiWare. All the music in the game is composed of live recordings and there are no loops. There are several pieces for each world that are from half a minute to several minutes long, and between those pieces there is a silence of a randomly determined length.

Schlarb: Have you seen the art in Night Game? It's all inspired by Chinese shadow art.

Baiyon: Oh, yes. Now I remember seeing it on the show floor.

How do you feel about the idea of adding more content to your games after they are finished? For instance if they were to say, "We want more levels for Night Game..."

Schlarb: That's what happened to me. When I first started Night Game, there was supposed to be ten minutes of music. It was two worlds, five minutes per world. It started off as a freeware game, because Nifflas has done a lot of freeware. It was going to be this simple thing that we were going to put out, and later turned into this WiiWare game. It just got exponentially bigger, and I was saying earlier that the most difficult thing about that was I had already started working on it as a small game and I did not give myself any limits to instrumentation. It then got very difficult afterward. Had I limited myself to a palette of five or six instruments, then I could have breezed through the rest of it.

As it expanded, so did the possibilities. I could use anything, and I was then responding to the stimuli of the visuals, which were changing for each world. It got very difficult because I kept having to bring in more instruments, like the trombone, marimba, mandolin, euphonium... it just kept going and going. I kept strings out of it, thankfully, though I did have upright bass. What was so difficult was deciding where to stop, because it went from ten minutes of music to fifty. I worked on it for a solid eight months in my spare time.

I know now to set limits to orchestration: I can compose for a chamber ensemble. Otherwise, where does it end? Limits can be so good. You choose a set of instruments, and then your mind starts to work within those limitations. I was coming from the perspective that there were really just two options for game music. There was either 8-bit retro-sounding stuff or orchestral stuff.

Diamante: You know, when I think of 8-bit music I think of Japanese jazz fusion. 8-bit music, whether the musicians realize it or not, connects all the way back to guys like Casiopea and T-Square.

Schlarb: I can hear that, definitely. I guess mentally I didn't feel that I fit into either one of those contexts. I really don't program. I feel like my strength is in texture, in writing an arrangement for an ensemble, utilizing instruments and musicians in the right context.

With Night Game, I was thinking the game needs to breathe. In most games you are bombarded with sound, visual input and stimuli constantly. There's no timer in Night Game, so I wanted there to be an ebb and flow. Music would come in, then it would go away, and you would hear the environmental sounds. Then the music would come back in, acting as sort of a subliminal push. Mentally you would not even recognize that the music went away, but you can kind of feel it instead of listening to it.

Ryojiro Sato (right), musician and interpreter

Diamante: In Flower, the music is more gamey, and it's mostly continuous. On level five there are these explicit breaths within the soundtrack that last a minute or several minutes.

Baiyon: Yeah, it's very interesting.

Vincent, could you conceive of how you would respond to a sequel or additional downloadable content added to Flower?

Diamante: Flower already is its own story. In my mind I feel like it is done. I guess it could be its own separate arc at the end. When I think of it that way, it sounds alright. If they asked for additional levels in the middle of things, I'm not sure how it would fit in. The arc is already set for how the music builds over the course of the game. I would definitely have to think long and hard about how to write a new score for this content that sits alongside the arc I have already done.

You never considered the music of Flower as in any way a continuation of Cloud, your previous score for ThatGameCompany?

Diamante: There were elements of Cloud, such as some of the art by Jenova [Chen], that included flowers. I was definitely inspired by that, but I was not thinking of it. The themes that I had sketched out have strong similarities. Cloud is its own thing, especially with the construction of music and how the orchestration builds.

Today, Vincent and I went to Hitoshi Sakimoto's presentation at the Game Developers Conference. Of course, this is among the most famous composers of RPG soundtracks in Japan today. After the talk, Vincent introduced himself and said, almost under his breath, "I just released my first console videogame soundtrack and it's for this game called Flower." Sakimoto's eyes lit up and he said, "Flowery? You mean Flowery? I've played it!" It's one example suggesting independent game musicians might not be fully aware of the level of attention their music receives these days.

Diamante: Yeah, I was kind of surprised.

Schlarb: That's amazing. It's a long and lonely process writing music for these games, so to have that validation really means something. I did work on Night Game for a year and nobody heard it. I got no feedback.

Diamante: And these are games that a lot of people really want to know about. When I first saw Night Game, I needed to know about it. Among both consumers and those who have been making games for years, there are those that want to hear more from the musicians who are really pushing the boundaries and making things that are different.

There are layers to the background music in Flower, and those layers will add up or peel away depending on the circumstances, which makes for an emotionally effective audio technique. You can hear the soundtrack subtly responding to your actions.

Baiyon: As a musician, I think music stands on its own. Contrary to composing for the game, I like to give the music its own individual personality. Interactivity can limit the musical possibilities.

Schlarb: I really understand that. I think it's really an interesting thing about Flower. The music responds to the player, and with Night Game we are making the player respond to the music. I'm really interested in both of those ideas.

Baiyon: Music games are getting closer to allowing the player to actually compose. I think that's really interesting, but if you are able to do some sort of music creation in the game, it does not make much difference whether you actually composed the music. Making music outside the game would be more enjoyable as an artist. What is the value of that compared to the score having been authored?

Diamante: I think they both have their own value. Going through the filter of a performance, whether it is the player playing the game or actual performers performing music, that can expand and encompass all sorts of possibilities. Back in the day, everyone had a piano in their house. People would buy sheet music of popular songs, bring it home, and play it. How would it sound? Well, that would depend on pianist, the singer and their skills. They have a set of instructions, but the music that comes out of it is their own. Maybe if I were to listen to it, I would think it's not how it's supposed to sound, but that's okay. It's their music. With videogames as well, it's their game more than it is the game developer's.

Baiyon: I think there is interaction between the composer's music and player's experience. It does not need to be as simple as pushing a button and hearing a sound. I believe in providing the listener with more musical structure. That said, when I played Flower, it was so fun.

Shaw-Han: I don't believe there is any non-interactive music. All music is interactive. Just as any kind of conversation that takes place, because it is a communication medium, there is the sound that is coming into your ears and then there is what is happening in your brain as you are listening to it. Every person will have a different bunch of chemical stuff going on in their head that is going to color their experience.

Schlarb: I think it's interesting because both are equally valid approaches. I'm interested in both ideas. With Night Game, I was more interested in creating an environment that the player could not affect. Through the visual art design and the puzzles, everything is very structured. There is a randomness to the order in which the pieces can be played, and there is a randomness to the silence in the game, all of which is something the player has to react to. There, the game does not react to the player.

I think it's really interesting, the approach that Baiyon has taken. The music is very separate from the videogame. Then there's Vincent's approach of treating them like one entity. You know, I love both of those ideas. Is there a way as things progress to combine them so that things feel alive, while cultivating a feeling or an environment?

Shaw-Han: I think it's important, whatever position you end up at on that spectrum. When I make music on a CD, that's my music and I'm the boss, right? If I make music for a game, there's this idea that it has to support the gameplay. If the gameplay has you exploring a world with endless possibilities around every corner, then maybe the idea of having the soundtrack be interpretive of your decisions supports the feeling of that game. Whereas, if you are playing a game where it's you against the world, then it makes sense for the music to be more rigid. The music is a representation of the gameplay. For me, it is interesting to play with that relationship.

Baiyon: I also worked on the visual element of the game. For me, it was a single expression. I was letting my inspiration take me where it needed to go.

Schlarb: When it's one artist, it's very easy to do that. It is coming from one place.

Baiyon: Since you all make music, you probably all understand. When it's hard, it becomes less interesting and you are not having much fun. It has to be part of a process where you have a certain facility and you have confidence in your work.

Did you struggle with the score for PixelJunk Eden?

Baiyon: Not at all. I continued the process of making music on my own and never thought about changing the music midway through. The only thing that I had a hard time with were the sound effects. I always make music to allow people to feel comfortable, but often effects in games are disturbing. Explosions or having to rush the game player, that was really new for me. Technically, I don't know if you can define a genre of "videogame music." I don't think it exists.

How would you describe the genre of minimal techno you brought to PixelJunk Eden?

Baiyon: 110 to 128 beats per minute.

*laughter*

In PixelJunk Eden, are there any specific references between the music and the art design?

Baiyon: It might not be very clear but this game project helped put my pursuits in art and music together. It was not necessarily my intention to match the music with the images on-screen. It just came naturally. Providing people with different experiences through the gameplay, that's the goal.

Shaw-Han: Did you start with the artwork or with the music?

Baiyon: I worked on them both at the same time. Actually, I was doing them simultaneously while talking on the phone, and I used the other ear to listen to someone else's music.

*laughter*

Baiyon: I was very sad to realize that when you are making your own music, you can't listen to other people's music, because you only have two ears. It was startling to realize that. With visual art, you can look at a picture and write at the same time. The process is almost simultaneous. However, there is not the same kind of analog with music. Hearing is not the same as seeing.

Chris Schlarb, composer of Night Game

Diamante: For me there are two ways of thinking of game music. There is obviously videogame music, but while I was in school I did a lot of research into this field called "game music," where instead of scores orchestras were given a set of instructions. On the sheet it would say to the clarinetist, something like: play this motif if you hear the violinist do something over this note.

Whenever I write my music I kind of personify the Playstation 3 or the computer and imagine it to be this set of performers inside the machine, and I want them to enjoy the music just as much as I am. I feel connected to technology and I want it to enjoy what I am giving it to do.

I'm always considerate of the performer. Sometimes the performer is the Playstation. I might decide to push myself a certain way, or push a studio musician or my friend, so I cannot compose without thinking about the performer, whoever that performer may be.

Schlarb: Have you guys played Bloom for the iPhone? I have an eleven year-old and a seven year-old, and I let my children play Bloom when I'm driving with my them. They will play it for... an hour. They come up with the most interesting ideas, things that I would never do.

How has your background in programming, Shaw-Han, figured into the I Am Robot and Proud albums?

Shaw-Han: Well, I spent my high school years playing in punk bands and then went to school, learned how to use computers, and those two things kind of crossed over. I think everyone here will say that the computer is probably one of the greatest musical tools to come around. It was invented to crunch numbers, but it also became this amazing musical tool, right?

I can imagine you and Baiyon performing in some of the same clubs in Kyoto. Do you remember where you played during your Uphill City tour?

Shaw-Han: I can't remember. It was like subway...

Baiyon: Club Metro?

Shaw-Han: Yeah.

Baiyon: That's where I have my event every month. We met there, but maybe you don't remember. My friend introduced me to you at the bar after your set. You looked so exhausted. I asked, "Are you tired?" You said, "Yeah, I'm tired."

Shaw-Han: I think my set time was 4:00 AM. It was crazy.

Shaw-Han designs the visual element of his live performances. Could you tell us a little about that work?

Shaw-Han: The visual aspect of the live performances involves a MIDI translator. Everyone who is playing an instrument is hooked up to a MIDI box, and then there is a computer that takes all that information and will translate it. I use processing, so it is basically interpreting things like the velocity of my playing the keyboard.

Schlarb: You're generating all this data...

Shaw-Han: Exactly. Everyone on-stage. The drummer is generating triggers, and so the idea is I've been performing my own music live for awhile, and I have always thought there is this element, like when you see a guy playing rock guitar, there is this big, physical, visual connection as someone in the audience that you get. You see their arm and then you hear the sound from the speakers.

Schlarb: There's cause and effect.

Shaw-Han: Yeah, and with an electronic performance you don't always get this connection. I play keyboards, but I'm only moving a small amount. The idea behind the visuals is to introduce this element which creates that visual connection. It's kind of a reverse cause and effect. With a guitar, what you see is causing the sound.

Baiyon, how was it having completed PixelJunk Eden, then discovering that more levels would need to be designed for the Encore expansion?

Baiyon: I got a better understanding following the release of PixelJunk Eden of what programmers are capable of. For the Encore pack, the thinking behind the music has not really changed, but for the visual design I was able to specify things in greater detail to the programmers. Little things like having a plant flash if you jump onto it, that has been implemented in greater detail.

How does working in a team change the process of writing music from working alone?

Baiyon: Of course there is teamwork involved and you have to have communication with people. Before the production of PixelJunk Eden, I would draw and make music. If you are a solo artist, you focus on how much you can control the artistic medium. As I was doing that, I got tired of it because I found exercises were too easy to master.

For that reason I started these exercises to challenge myself. I went to an art supply shop one day, closed my eyes, and randomly picked out colors of supplies without looking. Even if it turned out it was all green, those were the colors I took home to paint with. That threw some randomness into my work.

However, that got boring. Back then I was in school and what I did was, whenever someone was about to throw out some art supply, I would ask to have it. If a student finished a painting and left some paint behind that was going to go unused, I would use that in my own work.

Schlarb: That comes back to limits and to a certain degree how they can inspire you creatively.

Shaw-Han: I think that as soon as you get to the end of the tool, that is when you start to be creative. Actually, the simpler the tool, the faster you get to that point where you have done everything and that is when you start to use your brain. Before that you are thinking about "How do I do this?" Once you get to that point, you start to think, "Well, what do I want to do?"

Baiyon: It's actually a new experience for me to get feedback from game players. People have their own feeling when they play the game. I had the chance to witness the difference between how I imagined people would interact with the game and the reality during the playtesting. The players would have a different impression from what I intended, and that experience was very interesting.

Diamante: How do you change in reaction to that feedback? Do you go back to the drawing board and do something entirely new, or do you make slight changes here and there?

Baiyon: The first time the testers played, they said the plants did not look alive. It seemed like a mistake, so I talked with the programmers about it in order to change the layout and colors of the plantlife.

Schlarb: Did you have to deal with that, Vincent?

Diamante: Yeah, I got feedback both from players and the programmers. I could not edit my music. Once I was done with a piece of music, I really believed in it. If they wanted something else, I did not want to disrupt the music itself, so I gave them a different piece of music.

Shaw-Han Liem, I Am Robot and Proud

Baiyon: I think there is a strong connection between music and technology. Nowadays, just about everyone has home studios and can make music. However, the reality is that not everyone is making music.

Schlarb: You have to develop a vocabulary.

Baiyon: For example, if you are selecting saxophone samples, you are going to enjoy the process more if you know how to play the instrument. You become passionate about music in making it.

Schlarb: Once you're at the point where you have the facility to create some sort of language on that instrument or tool, it's only at that point of your cumulative experience that you can start to do something that is expressive of yourself.

Baiyon: I think it's kind of dangerous when you find a tool that is so comfortable that you would prefer not to explore any other options. It's not necessarily the technology or any new method of composition that is important.

Schlarb: I think that danger is there for any instrument. You can have anyone sit down with a guitar and play bad music, just as they could sit down with a tenori-on and do something that is just not inspired.

Diamante: I always thought back when I was a kid that there would be a lot of people making music around this time. Instead, it's lots of people blogging and making YouTube videos. It's kind of weird, because video involves more complex technology.

Schlarb: It's interesting that at this point people seem more interested in understanding technology and utilizing it, rather than pushing it forward. There is a lot of disposable content out there. People blog just to say something, not to be the next Hemingway. It's the proliferation of technology that seems to encourage the creation of more disposable content.

Shaw-Han: Yeah, there are sort of two sides to that, right? There are people who at one point were lucky enough to find the thing that they are willing to put all their energy into to create this art, or music, or whatever. Maybe what you make isn't going to be the greatest piece of music ever, you know what I mean? However, probably making a really bad song is better than having thought your whole life: "I could never do this."

It does mean the signal to noise ratio is high, but if it's a choice between thinking your whole life that music is something that other people do, that you have to have a cool haircut and the right clothes, and you're not in that group, and on the other hand just picking up a controller and thinking, "Hey, I can put together a song..."

I think there's something really powerful in that moment where you realize that, instead of thinking that art is something other people do.

Schlarb: That is definitely a positive.

Baiyon: Your given limitations can be the inspiration. After all these experiments, I found I like to incorporate random elements in my art. As long as at the end I can stand by my music, ultimately that is what is important.

Shaw-Han: I think especially when you are doing electronic music, you have to think about that more. With an acoustic instrument the randomness is in the physicality of it.

Schlarb: That's right. How you mic your instrument...

Shaw-Han: How long your nails are that day when you are playing the guitar. All that randomness is built into the physicality of the playing. With electronic tools, it's so sterile sometimes. If you load up the song today, it's going to be the same as when you loaded the song up yesterday. You are going to get the exact same audio input. Sometimes introducing that kind of randomness, you want to hear those mistakes. They are what make it human.

Baiyon: I don't like that I can feel full of myself while playing guitar. That does not really speak to me. You are forced to look at me playing my music, and it should not necessarily be that way. With electronic music equipment, you can cut it off from visual elements that are not necessary to music.

Schlarb: It's like stripping ego out of music.

Baiyon: With oil painting, I always wondered if you really needed all those layers and lines. If you used a computer, that would solve a lot of the challenges associated with oil painting. I question whether it is really necessary, if there is a more efficient solution. If you make a mistake on the computer, you have the option to just undo it. You can keep the ones that you really need.

Diamante: I would say that painting is three-dimensional. There needs to be that thickness to it because there are some possibility for meaning to be placed there. The painter can do whatever he wants, but I really connect with painters that are willing to allow the meaning to be placed in the painting that may not be his own meaning. There are things that can happen in the process, and there is a beauty to the process, which results in this thing that is actually outside of the painter himself and even beyond humanity. The artwork is this thing that exists long after we die and long after people stop listening to it.

Schlarb: You could take somebody like Pollock. There it was all about the physicality of what he was doing. He could not have understood himself the depth and complexity of his work. There is an interesting parallel, where we are getting to the point where that randomness can be simulated electronically, though there's no human spirit to it. There is a value equally in the cleanliness of the electronic world and the messiness of the physical world.

Shaw-Han: I think all these things fall in this spectrum of what we were talking about earlier. Getting back to gaming, various places along the spectrum of having the player control things and having them not control things. Sometimes it can be interesting to not be able to control something and just be in this thing that's happening. Sometimes it's really cool when you have something in your hand and the thing is responding to you.

As people who are designing these experiences, we go through stages where we think, "I just want it to be my song." On the next project you might be more interested in say, collaborating with the player on a song. You can move back and forth along this spectrum, depending on your interests.

Schlarb: I think that idea of "control" is really extremely volatile. I go back to visual art again for some reason, but I think of Mark Rothko. His paintings are so big. He did that, from what I understand, so that the viewer would not be able to control the painting. The paintings were so large that the viewer had to humble themselves in front of the painting. I think in some ways we deal with that back and forth in how people are going to be interacting with music, whether we are going to be dictating something or whether the player will be controlling what we have put out there.

Shaw-Han: Yeah, in Guitar Hero the music is your enemy. Basically, you conquer the music. With something like Flower, your behavior and the music are sort of one. Depending on where you fall in that spectrum for a particular project, that is expressed in those decisions.

Baiyon, art and music director of PixelJunk Eden

Baiyon: What computers cannot imitate in the work of a Jackson Pollock is what kind of color or line is appropriate to him.

Shaw-Han: For me, the whole idea of physicality in music and why that is exciting is tied up in this idea of risk. There is always this chance that it could just be terrible. You see five musicians playing and you know that at any given point the whole thing could fall apart. That risk is part of what is interesting. These five musicians played the same thing last night, but you know it's not going to be exactly the same.

Baiyon: Lacking total control can be interesting, but everyone then tries to control that. There is always the need to move on to some new process once you've achieved that control.

[Interview conducted by Jeriaska. Translation by Ryojiro Sato. This article is available in Japanese on GAME Watch, in Italian at Gamesource.it, and in French at Squaremusic. Images courtesy of Nicalis, Q-Games, Darla Records, Sony Computer Entertainment. Photos by Jeriaska.]