John UM
Animation and music are inseparable, and animation works can gain the support of the world, and it is also inseparable from the power of music. Today, Japanese animated songs are just as widely lauded as J-POP, and the quality of the soundtrack is no less than that of a real person. How did the current animated music come into being?
“Keyboard Magazine” Autumn 2019 produced the special topic “Relationship between Animation and Music”. Please visit many people related to animation music and animation songs, listen to the testimonies of the parties, trace the tracks of the masters, analyze the scores of famous songs, and answer animation The process and technique of forming this relationship with music
Mito (ミ ト) is the captain and sound producer of clammbon (ク ラ ム ボ ン), a well-known Japanese alternative rock band. Clammbon’s catchy melody with popular potential, colorful music full of experimental spirit, poetic lyrics full of literary color, and superb performances of members’ flowing music have made them loved by the music industry both inside and outside since their debut at the end of the last century; currently active Many well-known musicians admire clammbon and regard them as their guides
While being a musician at the forefront of the times, mito’s other identity is also a loyal animation enthusiast, a DJ who specializes in animated songs, and a composer who participates in many animated music. He formed the soundtrack group TO-MAS with Ito Makoto and Matsui Yohei to create music for animations such as “Little Peach Oguri”, “FLIP FLAPPERS”, “Alice and Zangliu”. The ED theme song “Everything は 物语” for “Legend of the Wind” is even harder to believe that it was from the same person as clammbon
Is not only a celebrity in the literary arts, but also a hardcore anime otaku; a writer and listener of anime music; both a person and an observer … How does mito, who has multiple identities, view modern animation What about music? In this long article interview, mito speaks freely, from his first experience of animated music to the future of the music industry
Clammbon. The one with hair covering one eye is mito
Juvenile mito is an ordinary animation enthusiast, happily watching animations and buying original soundtracks after watching them. It wasn’t until 1988 that Mori Oshii directed “Mobile Police PATLABOR”, and Kawai Kenji’s responsible music resonated strongly with Mito, leaving a deep impression on him
At the time, it was the heyday of OVA. There are endless streams of animation works that are not broadcast on TV and only sell videotapes. For example, “The Battle of Rhodes” in 1990 is one of them. Composers and soundtrack writers of ballads create theme songs for these animations. The composition of the theme song “Futuristic LOVERS” of “Mobile Police” is also Tanaka Fair. Mito accepted the animated music very naturally
It was about mito’s first year, “Witch’s Delivery Service” was released, he bought the original soundtrack of Hisaishi composition. Since then, he has bought soundtracks for animations such as Mobile Police and Battle of Rhodes. Before he knew it, he bought more soundtracks than J-POP. Therefore, instead of listening to animated songs, mito is more like animated songs. It feels more because of the writer that he entered the world of animated music
As mentioned earlier, Hisaishi Joe later created many original soundtracks for the films directed by Kitano Takeshi and NHK’s programs, which further widened the entrance of mito music
The single CD of the animated song he originally bought should be the theme song “Five Star Story” “Hitomi の 中 %% @ @ の フ ァ ー ラ ウ ェ イ “or the theme song” ブ ル ー ウ ォ ー タ ー “of the” Sapphire Mystery “. In terms of time, he bought the soundtrack before animated songs
On the second day, mito started to play the trombone, and participated in the flute music in high school. So he began to watch Hisaru’s symphony sheet music. At that time, he could hardly understand the notes in the treble part, but he still liked to see the notes in the bass part and the interweaving of the harmonies. He also tried to make an arrangement based on wind instruments with reference to the score. These experiences will help his soundtrack more in the future. However, whether it’s digital tones or real instruments, animated songs must use orchestral instruments. Therefore, studying musical notation in his student days has still come in handy
After graduating from high school, mito formed the band clammbon. However, as early as the establishment of clammbon, the band’s musical style and the music of his dream as a writer have deviated. Mito admitted that he never expected that the band would sell so well. Until now, he was thinking: at the end of the 20th century, a minimalist orchestra with only keyboards, basses, and drums could sell well
Clammbon The main outflow single “ は な れ ば な れ “
So, mito’s vision for the future at the time was that if you could continue to play in the extension of your writer’s career, that would be great. In fact, before clammbon’s debut, he had already participated in the bid as a writer. After his debut, he will also compose for the artists of the Hello! Project. He saw the activities of the orchestra completely separate from his work as a writer. But it was such an orchestra that played unplannedly that it eventually became his top priority, which is also very wonderful
When writing music as a writer, he rightly adds guitar, string or synth sounds. When he composed clammbon’s music, he had no idea about the theme, subject matter and motivation, and first conceived how to write to make the lead singer Ikuko Harada’s singing sound comfortable for the audience. In addition, while the band’s songs are based on the singing voice, they also need to consider how heavy the ensemble can be written with these three members. Mito said that this is a concept similar to fitness. Moreover, clammbon’s composition, even if only one harmony is misplaced, is over. So the third harmonic is too thin, he has to think about how clever he can use the extended chords and continuous bass chords, rely on the piano to write the harmony and orchestration, plus the beautiful bass line. This is completely different from the idea of writing songs for others
Mito Originally participated in the music around animated songs, as a member of clammbon’s Aizo’s solo single “Dill” (2010). At about the same time, the single of the theme song of the TV animation “Cat God Eight Million” included the electric Groove famous song “Rainbow”, which was performed by the voice actors Tomoya Matsushita and Yui Horie, and this cover version is Mito and Niuwei Kensuke Produced by the group “2ANIMEny DJs”. Because of these two pieces of music, he established links with two animated song labels, MusicRay’n and Lantis
As mentioned earlier, clammbon has a high status in the Japanese music scene. So they wrote songs for seiyuu, which became a big event in the music world. In the conversation between Mito and Tian Yuan Zhiye, Tian Yuan described it as “a symbolic event in the anime song industry and the era of writer starring” “Everyone should also be thinking: you asked them to write animation songs, they will write”
Mito met Junto Sasuke, the music producer of Lantis at the time. About 2009, when Lantis was in charge of the second or third issue of the “Sunrise Sketch” in charge of music, mito said on Twitter that he liked it. Sato came to the sound source of the ED band marble. Moreover, at that time mito also liked the TV animation “Easy and Modern Magic” OP (“programming for non-fiction”, ぺ ー じ ゅ ん Compilation), I think this song is very handsome. He went to check who the director and producer of the song was, and found out that it was Sato. That year, Amazon asked mito to pick the best single of the year, and mito recommended the song. Sato also knew about this and asked Mito to come out and meet
“programming for non-fiction” is the first song that Sato Junnosuke is responsible for as a producer, and the singer Natsuko Aso was also tapped into the world of animated songs by Sato. Sato himself writes songs and plays musical instruments. He also mixes himself at every turn. With his keen sense of music trends and technology, Sato sets a new trend in animated songs. He is often mentioned in other interviews with Keyboard Magazine. He himself threatened to create animated songs of new values with writers such as mito, Arte Refact, TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND, and Nakajichi Hirohiro in the 2010s
During that period, many animated songs using very exciting textures suddenly popped up. Mito believes that the first opportunity is probably due to the “ も っ て け !” セ ー ラ ー ふ く “
In this case, mito is going to write songs for voice actors. He did not intend to use an animated song-like texture. An anomalous chemical reaction took place in the animated songs from 2007 to 2008. It is in a very radical transitional period of arrangement. The writers use a lot of textures that “can’t be established no matter what you think” to develop music. Later, animated songs were refined in various meanings, and songs like Tanaka Hideo and those that used many chords, such as the connection point between idol songs and animated songs, appeared. But before that, during the second half of the 2000s to the end, the texture of animated songs was a bit abnormal
“Dill” was inspired by the heat of the industry, and at the same time, the Toyosaki lovers proposed that they write “clammbon music”. Therefore, although mito pays attention to the animated song style, at the same time, it does not use the texture of animated songs at all
At that time, animated songs attached great importance to impact. The writers do not pay attention to which chords are combined to be beautiful, but combine the heterogeneous and heterogeneous things together to produce a very strong emotional sublimation. Mito resonated with this trend and came up with the inspiration for Dill
Generally speaking, it’s hard to imagine that an artist’s single would be written in three beats and so many tunes like “Dill”. But the animated song listeners at that time were used to the exciting music, and you couldn’t move them by writing steady songs. Mito felt the explosive energy of animated songs from the spirit of pursuing the limit, so he did not use the consciousness of the original animated songs to write “Dill”. On the contrary, after animated songs provided him with a refined texture, he began to consciously “write animated songs”
The Mind Wants To Cry Aloud soundtrack was co-produced by Mito and Yokoyama
This change in creative attitude occurred in 2013 when he started participating in the second season of the TV anime Story. And for the animated film “Soul Wants to Shout. “(2015), the soundtrack created is closer to the tendency when writing songs for Toyosaki Aizo, and he intentionally puts exciting and heterogeneous textures into the format of Japanese animation, bringing freshness and Very bold music. Therefore, the episode will use the English lyrics “Harmonia” sung by コ ト リ ン ゴ, and it will be Beethoven ’s “Sadness” and “Over the Rainbow” that are used together in the final reunion Music. He believes that everyone is used to stimulation and wants something more exciting
Mito believes that it is in this foreshadowing that in just 89 seconds, a variety of animated songs that are constantly being expanded are born and become popular. Therefore, it is not so difficult to define the next, saying “animated songs are such things”, and categorizing and organizing them. However, the special format that gave birth to animated songs has its own background. According to mito, the background of this era is exactly after Lantis was founded (late 1999), around 2001. The music that was born in that era with strong impact and high quality led the industry, and only then will there be animated songs with more refined and beautiful style
Songs made by early Lantis, such as the TV animation “What You Expect Forever,” are based on strings and synth sounds, and have a full development of A, B and chorus in just 89 seconds. Since then, the animated songs have continued to evolve, incorporating the structures of Electronica and Gabber Techno, and there have been so-called “electric wave” music written by Masako Ota for Tamura ゆ か り, and Music similar to “Akiba Shibuya Project”. In Mito’s opinion, whether it is the Akiba Shibuya Project or MOSAIC.WAV, there is also the support of the Lantis team behind it, so the innovation of Lantis music is very important. He feels that he also started writing animated songs in this historical process
The interviewer suggested that in addition to Lantis, other teams have contributed significantly to animated songs. But mito argues that animated singers and animated songwriters around Lantis form a team that is firmly included. The system itself is very heterogeneous, and different from other teams. Other teams are established under the IP brand, and Lantis’s singers are too scattered with each other, but they can form the brand image of the Lantis brand, from which “ も っ て け !” セ ー ラ ー ふ く “, gave birth to the seiyuu combination Sphere, making mito think” what is going on with this label? “
Mito believes that he is drawing on this chaotic trend promoted by Lantis, and naturally receives more and more work related to animated songs. He did not intend to change direction to take a different route from the band. He just wanted to do something exaggerated and interesting. He just reached an agreement with the status quo of animated songs. His passion for adventure fits the animated songs That’s it