Japanese Composers Say Western Game Music is "Dry"

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Japanese Composers Say Western Game Music is "Dry"


A group of Japanese game musicians recently talked a bit about soundtracks in North American videogames, which Tekken composer Nobuyoshi Sano described as "pretty dry."

Nine Japanese videogame musicians took part in a roundtable discussion for the most recent issue of Famitsu, among them Keisuke Ito (the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series), Nobuyoshi Sano (Tekken, Ridge Racer), Takenobu Mitsuyoshi (Shenmue, Sega Rally), Takayuki Nakamura (Lumines, Virtua Fighter), Hidenori Shoji (Yakuza), Masato Kouda (Monster Hunter) and Shinji Hosoe, who created the music for many Namco games in the early 90s. The group answered a number of questions posed by the users of Noisycroak [http://www.noisycroak.co.jp/], including one about their opinions of music in Western videogames.

"You see a lot of first-person shooters put huge budgets into the music, hiring full-on orchestras and so on," Sano said. "They basically make games like they make movies and they use vast sums of money on it, so if you're asking me what I think about it, I'd respond that I'm jealous!"

"In the US they'll borrow a tank just to record sound off of it," Hosoe said. "We just can't do that here."

Despite the huge budgets for music in many American games, however, the Japanese developers weren't entirely uncritical of the result. "A lot of it does a gorgeous job at creating atmosphere, but what you never see is really unforgettable melodies -- like you see in Kouda's Monster Hunter, for example," said Mitsuyoshi. Sano concurred, saying, "That's what makes Monster Hunter so great. There's real warmth to the music, where I think the Hollywood orchestral sound has this image of being pretty dry in my mind."

And while the participants expressed good-natured envy at the amount of money their American counterparts had to work with, Nakamura pointed out that having a big bankroll doesn't necessarily add up to much. "They're great technological achievements and they're made with big budgets, but that isn't what it takes to produce good music," he said.

Source: 1UP [http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175178]


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D_987

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Jun 15, 2008
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They have a point, you listen to music in JRPG's and then compare it to WRPG'S and the difference in quality is astounding. Oblivion has great music, but as they said it has no memorable melodies - Lost Odyssey has a fantastic soundtrack with a number of song's I still can recall.

(Bad examples yes, but I used them because they are great examples of the two types of RPG)
 

RebelRising

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Jan 5, 2008
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Really? I think that Jack Wall, Jesper Kyd, and Jason Hayes/Matt Uelmen, to name a few, are amongst the most exceptional game composers out there. That composer for the Final Fantasy games is pretty good, I guess, but I don't ever remember anything that's ever quite stuck with me in a Japanese game, though I've probably fewer than most people.
 

cartzo

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Apr 16, 2009
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what about the soundtracks in the wipeout series, you cant possibly call that dry.
 

CoverYourHead

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Dec 7, 2008
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RebelRising said:
Really? I think that Jack Wall, Jesper Kyd, and Jason Hayes/Matt Uelmen, to name a few, are amongst the most exceptional game composers out there. That composer for the Final Fantasy games is pretty good, I guess, but I don't ever remember anything that's ever quite stuck with me in a Japanese games, though I've probably fewer than most people.
Bingo! I was just thinking that. Jack Wall is a genius.
 
Jun 11, 2008
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CantFaketheFunk said:
And yet, MGS had an awesome soundtrack done by a Western composer, no?
Yes thats true(I think) but in fairness in the majority not to generalise the music in Japanese games is much better than the music in Western games at least in my opinion as I am a JRPG fan so I'm a tad biased.
 

Rath709

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Mar 18, 2008
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Sonic Mayhem and Rob Zombie collaborating for the soundtrack of Quake 2 remains one of the most enduringly brilliant examples of game music to this day.

And if by "dry" they mean "less of a tendency to launch into a tedious Jansen/Ming music video in the middle of the game", then yes, I suppose thet are correct.
 

TheFacelessOne

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Feb 13, 2009
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Must I shove the Halo soundtrack down their throats?

By the way, what is their soundtracks like?

"Do do, da do doot"?

(Martin O'Donnell rawks!)
 

PedroSteckecilo

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Feb 7, 2008
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Maybe if Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill 1-5) or Shoji Meguro (Persona) had made this claim I'd be more inclined to listen.

As well, The Halo Soundtrack, The Metal Gear Soundtrack and the Mass Effect Soundtrack do prove them a little bit wrong.
 

RollForInitiative

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Mar 10, 2009
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I'd have to say I'm generally inclined to agree. For all of the games that I've played over the years, there aren't many pieces of western music that have stuck in my mind. I'm not sure I'd use the word "dry" as much as "forgettable."
 

tenlong

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Apr 26, 2009
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Both are good in general. But japanese game music is more memorable in general. It reminds me of the boss theme from streets of rage. I can not hear it for 20 years. But when i hear it the first thing i think will be. "Boss time"
 

AzureWrathHal

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Jan 16, 2009
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Call me crazy, but if the game play is utter shit I could care less if the music is fantastic. They honestly couldn't have picked a worse choice than monster hunter for that very reason.
 

Neosage

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Nov 8, 2008
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Damnit if that guy hadn't of done the music to monster hunter, I would be giving them a piece of my mind.
 

Goldeneye103X2

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It's actually ironic, madworld has a great western soundtrack, and the game's made in japan.

Next thing i know they'll be running over people in their ambulances.
 

Neosage

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AzureWrathHal said:
Call me crazy, but if the game play is utter shit I could care less if the music is fantastic. They honestly couldn't have picked a worse choice than monster hunter for that very reason.
I take it your one of those guys that can't kill a kut-ku right?