John UM
In the 1990s, the arcade game hall in Japan set off a wave of fighting games, and the youthful teenagers flocked to the first game in the world to play in the first time. The cartoon “High Score Girl” by the original of Katsura Yusuke is a youth story created with this time as the stage background. As the comics ushered in the final return, the animation is about to come to an end. .
The most popular works in the play are undoubtedly the symbol of the era of the famous game “Street Fighter 2”. In the animation, in order to express the various performances in the game, I went to the game machine at that time and imported the picture into the animation. In addition, the composer Shimomura Yuko who wrote music for “Street Fighter 2” joined the game. In this music creation, this fantastic configuration is even more exciting for the audience who indulged in games such as “Street Fighter 2” and “Fast Whirlwind”. .
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“STREET FIGHTER II: THE DEFINITIVE SOUNDTRACK” cover.
ねとらぼ(nlab) also interviewed Yokomura Yuko, and talked about the anecdotes of “Street Fighter 2” created by the “Gaofen Girl” music production behind the scenes, and the animation games of the past. Thing. .
In the previous production, we had a total of Matsukura Yuji. 采访 Zhong has said that the opportunity to invite Shimomura Yoko is because of the “extremely alive” in 2005. Xia Village was hesitant when he received the invitation. The works received by the village in the past two years were the most important. It was difficult to draw the time for composing, but he finally nodded, but the village said that it was too busy. After the village promised to compose the “High Score Girl”, the producer immediately sent the information, but I did not expect it to be finished in one breath. It’s very interesting, and when you look at the second time, you can still feel like a deer. After the release date of the single-line book, the village will buy it on the same day. .
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“The esoteric meeting” OST1 cover.
In the order given to the village, the main requirements are “daily”, “the situation of two people together” and “Chunxiong fanaticism” and other short requirements. When I first composed music for PV, I asked for the music that I can recall “Gu Lie”. In order to make people look at PV, they are all full of “Gu Lie”, so the next village is also in the time of arrangement. A lot of effort. .
The piano music written by Shimomura Yoko is very impressive. The daily music in “High Score Girl” is mainly based on piano and string. Because it is a game-based “High Score Girl”, the animation of the game and the sound of the game often appear in the animation. If the electronic instrument is used, it is likely to overlap with the sound in the game. The songs used in daily life are easy to create a soothing atmosphere, so in addition to special requirements, the lower village excludes electronic musical instruments as much as possible, using piano and violin. .
Although the game music is not used, the background music in the animation still makes people feel that this is the music of the game. The village is often troubled by this. Although everyone said that the song “Taixia Village Yangzi”, but the village itself does not quite understand what kind of song can be said to be “the style of Shimomura Yoko.” Shimomura himself went to check Wikipedia, which said “16bit battle songs” and “harmony to tears” can be called “under the village.” However, when the village was writing, he did not deliberately write, “This is the feeling of writing under the village of Yoko.” .
下村 said that it may be because the usual battle songs and tears are mainly used, so it is natural to write such a habit. However, there are many daily songs in “High Score Girl”, so try not to go closer to the style of these two types of songs, and write “a song that people can’t tell who wrote this,” or even “feeling people.” There are songs that are not in the background, but there are such songs that are not deeply impressed, and there is a feeling of “leaking out”. .
“In the song, deliberately eliminates his own style.” The village beliefs that in everyday scenes, it can even be said that in the real environment, there is no need to express the existence of music. Just like in reality, in the dialogue, there is occasional music, not so much music, it is more like a voice that symbolizes an atmosphere. Xia Cun completely can’t imagine Chun Xiong. When they go to school, there will be music behind them, so try to write a song that represents the atmosphere.
However, Shimomura said that the songs that he wrote on the daily theme are often used in the “mood”. Shimomura also laughed at himself. “Is it really impossible to write such everyday songs?”
Speaking of the battle song, the lower village said that it is a tired one to do it, laughing that “every time you make a BOSS song, you must reduce the life of five years.” When you write BOSS songs, your mood must also rise. Especially when writing the final BOSS song, the mood of the village is exactly the same as that of the game player, worrying about whether the game itself will survive or die, and whether the world can be saved. When you write your daily songs, you should let your mood relax. If you encounter 10 cases in the battle, the village will propose to join the 3 venue songs. .
Recently, although the village is busy with the world tour of the “Kingdom of the Heart” symphony concert, the animation of “High Score Girl” has not fallen. The music of “Street Fighter 2” has been written by the village in the past twenty years. Now I can hear the music of “Street Fighter 2” in other works of my own composition. This feeling is particularly fresh. It’s not because I’m listening to the song itself. After all, Shimona’s recent arrangement for the “Nintendo Star Wars Special Edition” still has a chance to hear it, but it can be heard on TV, and it’s still the effect sound of the year. And the sound quality, I feel very much nostalgic. .
Speaking of the effect sound, when I was composing “Street Fighter 2” in the past, even the part of the effect sound was arranged by Shimomura Yoko. At that time, the village did not have experience in producing sound effects, and it took a lot of effort. The village recalled that, for example, the electric shock sound from Blanca, when recording, the village tried to hold the end of the shielded audio cable with one hand and let the other end make a “squeaky” sound. At that time, after all, it was not as developed as the current network. These sound effects did not need to be explored by themselves. For example, the wind of the tornado whirlwind foot is also very difficult to do. At that time, the sound of the FC effect sound editor was mixed with an electronic musical instrument. At that time, although there were two sound recording tapes in the company, there were three kinds of sound effects for each character, which was not enough. .
When the village was still in CAPCOM, the main composing tool MSX computer, the music data written at that time had to be inserted into the MSX for storage. At that time, the sound of the tape was like the sound of a fax, so now when I heard the sound of the fax, the brain of the village could still recall the memory that the already preserved song suddenly disappeared. I went down to the village and remembered that because the data of the song was not saved, I saved it about 3 times and then went home. However, there was a clear deposit of 3 times. When I read the sound of the tape, it was similar. The sound of the fax, until the sound was completely discharged, issued a “squeaky” sound, and the village realized that it was not saved. It seems as if the game is playing halfway, and the record is as desperate as disappearing. .
Nowadays, unlike the past, the village is now replaced with a Mac, the composition software is Digital Performer, and occasionally the electric piano and software source are used to compose music. Equipment that is as expensive as it used to be no longer used. .
The venue music in “Street Fighter 2” was basically the responsibility of the lower village, and the venue song of Shagat (and two system background music) was composed by Abe Gong. There is no special reason for Shimomura to say that there will be such a distribution at that time. At that time, mainly CAPCOM hoped to have new people to help the village, write a song or two. I hope he can remember how to communicate with the planner and how to communicate with him so that he can be independent in the future. Therefore, Abe Gong and Shimona, who were still newcomers at the time, were the three songs that were passed to the planners. CAPCOM often uses this method to train new people. The “Dragon King Warrior” after “Street Fighter 2” is also co-operated by Iwai Yuki, Nishi Jun and Shimura in the same year. .
The music team of the village under the CAPCOM period was called “ALPH LYLA”. Since the network was still not popular at the time, there were very few opportunities to meet other teams, almost once a year, that is, every summer from 1990 to 1995. At the Game Music Festival, talents such as Shimomura have the opportunity to meet with the music teams of other game companies. For example, the former KONAMI rectangular wave club’s Furukawa Yuen and the predecessor SSTBAND’s Guangji Mengxiu are in the game. I knew it at that time.
Shimomura left CAPCOM in 1993 and transferred to SQUARE. At that time, I was mainly responsible for the music of the arcade game. I occasionally wrote music for the console game. After all, the village was born as a classical music composer. The most influential in my life was the teacher (椙山浩一) written for the “Dragon Quest III”. The song has always wanted to be able to use classical music to write. At that time, the music used in classical music in the game was only RPG, which made her decide to transfer. .
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“LIVE・A・LIVE” OST cover.
After entering SQUARE, the first work received by Shimomura was the famous RPG “LIVE・A・LIVE” (Hurricane Knight) released on SFC in 1994. Shimomura recalled that what he wanted to do at the time was Wang Dao’s medieval style RPG song. I didn’t expect to go to SQUARE and found that it was completely different from his own impression. However, after that, I received the “Sword of the Legend of Mana” in 1999, and it was a hard time before I received this work. .
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“The Legend of the Sword of the Legend of Mana” OST cover.
Shimomura also revealed that the production environment at CAPCOM and SQUARE is completely different. SQUARE offers a personal studio for each composer, and it doesn’t matter when the company comes. At CAPCOM, the music team and the screen team are completely separate. There is basically no chance to communicate with the people on the screen team. In SQUARE, it is different. No matter what works, each team is always composed by the screen team and music. The team made it together. And SQUARE will call everyone to drink together from time to time. .
2003 The village was independent from SQUARE ENIX, partly because of having children. In addition, at that time, I just finished the “Heart of the Kingdom”, and I have already completed a lot of projects in my own mind. I hope that the village will continue to follow this path in the future, so I will review my life with the withdrawal of society. So after leaving SQUARE ENIX, the village did not intend to completely give up his composer career, just thinking that after independence, he can appropriately ease his work pace. .
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Kingdom Heart Symphony Concert World Tour.
The year of leaving SQUARE ENIX was also the year of Nintendo’s release of “Maliou and Luigi RPG” on GBA. When the village was determined to leave, the “Super Mario RPG” on the SFC and the people working in the village found the village, and hoped that there would be opportunities to cooperate together in the future. The village agreed, and the next one was taken. Shimomura did not expect to receive a new job just after stepping out of SQUARE’s door. .
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“Super Mario RPG” OST cover.
After leaving SQUARE ENIX, in addition to music games, Shimomura Yoko also began to provide music for the opera and animation fields. For example, this year’s Takarazuka Opera Troupe’s “The Sky is Red River Bank”, last year’s animated film “Napping Princess ~ My Office” Do not know the story ~”. When leaving SQUARE ENIX, in the future, the village only wants to continue to create music in the future, and does not consider expanding its field of activity. “As long as I want my songs, even if I haven’t tried the field, I will pick it up.” This is the principle of Shimomura Yoko. .
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The Breguet Opera Troupe “Heaven is the Red River Bank”.
After becoming a freelancer, the village feels more about the contact with external companies. In the past, it was mainly the task assigned by the top. After independence, it was more necessary to let the work come to the door through his past resume. In addition to these composing work, business transactions, including the payment of orders, are also responsible for themselves. In the past, they concentrated on the company’s concentrated composition.
In February of this year (2018), Masako Shiramura joined the Japan Music Copyright Association (JASRAC). Shimomura said that the famous composers almost all joined JASRAC, and if they joined, they would become famous. Of course, it is more important to add a sense of “oneness” after joining JASRAC. I was invited when I was independent, and I was often asked “Why not join?”, just like after independence, you must add the same feeling. All in all, for the village, it is a must-have. .
In other interviews in the past, Shimomura once said that the biggest difference between an animated music and a game music is whether it will cycle. When composing for the “Upper Life”, you must let this song have an ending. This thing was considered by the village at that time to be a sense of mission. “It is okay to end this song gently?” The way to let the song end naturally. .
Finally, whether it is game music or animated music, Shimomura believes that his duties as a composer are all the same. If you are composing for animation, you must conform to the animation. If you are composing for the game, you must be responsible for the game. You must not disturb the atmosphere of the work itself and the world view brought by the picture. You can’t take the lead. If you stick the cooperation product, there is no big difference in essence. . .
For Xia Cun, one of the great attractions of game music is that the concert changes with the player’s operation. For example, when the BOSS begins to transform, the song will change. When something starts to approach the player, it will sound horror music. The player’s operation and game are interactive. .
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“Nappy Princess ~ Story I don’t know ~” OST cover.
The animation is the opposite. The music in the animation is determined according to the playing time, which is unidirectional. In a fixed time, using a fixed kind of music to make a fixed world view, this is a great charm of the animation of the village. The “Napping Princess” is an animated film, and the TV version of “High Score Girl” is different in terms of production techniques. “Nappy Princess” is a composition based on the already drawn animation, and “High Score Girl” must be composed according to the instructions of the sound supervision and supervision, and then the sound supervisor is responsible for putting the completed music into the animation. In the scene. Therefore, when watching animation, the village as a composer often has unexpected discoveries, which is also an interesting learning for the composer. .
Instead, when playing a game, as a composer, the village often composes a particular scene. I didn’t expect that the music I made for a certain scene could be used in other places. For the village, the experience of “High Score Girl” was an eye-opener, as if I saw a new world.
