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| Liner Notes |
Masashi Hamauzu (Composer) x Ryo Yamazaki (Synth Programmer)
On Finishing Production
MH - Thank you for all your work.
RY - No no, thank you.
MH - We sure did a lot again this time.
RY - The pace was rough, but it was very interesting!
MH - Before we look back on the production, let's explain what you do as a "Synthesizer Programmer."
RY - Basically, after receiving the MIDI data from the composer, I find equivalent sounds to match each instrument and begin programming. People are always wondering what exactly it is I do (laughs).
MH - As a sound specialist, you could say you have a very close working relationship with the composer.
RY - Now that I think about it, almost all my work after joining Square has been with you. Starting with Saga Frontier 2, I think we've done at least 200 pieces of music. This time, with Unlimited Saga being Square's first all streaming audio RPG, it was an extremely exciting environment for the sound team to work in.
MH - Streaming originally meant that you didn't have to substitute synth for acoustic instrument sounds. That sort of process happened a lot, but...
RY - The process of writing the original music is just us creating sounds, but studio recording schedules are limited, so up until the day of recording you have to keep shaping up the data to get it as close to ideal as possible.
MH - Once you've recorded at the studio, you can hear all the parts clearly and you can't make any corrections, so you can't tolerate mistakes in recording. So up until now, it's been essential to sequence everything.
RY - You need scores for live musicians, and I have to record each part separately onto the hard drive.
MH - I think we worked at the pace of one song a day, but now I think about it, that's a lot!
Full Orchestra Music
MH - I wrote 3 pieces for full orchestra, I think they matched up to the images well. They went through various stages of synth simulation until they closely approximated the real orchestra's sound.
RY - Usually one's impressions of a simulated piece are quite different from hearing it genuinely performed. But these 3 pieces sounded pretty much as we expected when they were finally played.
MH - It's easy to wind up with a bizarre effect if you're not conscientious about each stage of a synth mock-up. Because "March in C" is something I wrote long ago, there were naturally some very poor parts left over in the sequenced data, but I was much more careful about "Finale" in that respect, and so the performed result matched my expectations.
Sequenced Full Orchestra
RY - On the other hand "Judy's Theme" doesn't use a single live instrument, it was all done via sampler, and your demo wound up as the finished product. I guess we've come to an era where it's possible to achieve such expression without actual performers.
MH - In my sequencing of orchestra music until now, I would increase the number of instruments I was using while writing the piece, but this time, I sampled all the instruments I thought I would need beforehand, then began composing. So each instrument's sound was neatly clarified and I was able to try out various phrases just as I wanted to hear them. It's often simpler to write orchestra music without MIDI (laughs). When working with MIDI, in trying to provide a sense of realism it's essential to keep every instrument's characteristics in mind. No matter how good the instrumental sample you have, if you write in an unidiomatic effect you'll betray the mechanical nature of the music.
RY - Like if you have a flute play in a bass clarinet's register, or have timpani play a full scale.
MH - MIDI lets the composer hear whatever he wants (laughs).
Chamber Ensemble Recording
MH - On the other hand, we did live recording of small ensemble pieces, because isolated solo instruments are actually very hard to simulate! After all, if you want human expression, the best way to go is to get humans to perform.
RY - If you had to put a genre to the pieces we recorded with live instruments, we had a Latin-style concept in mind. "Anxiety towards a Wonder" and "Battle Theme IV" fulfilled that objective.
MH - Because these pieces involve solo instruments pitted against each other, I was worried how the performances would turn out, but they went quite well. The strings and bandoneon really helped in creating that Latin atmosphere.
RY- "Battle Theme I" was also part of this small groups recording concept. In this case, human performance allowed you to better express the pain and intensity of battle (laughs).
MH - Whether synth or acoustic, I wanted to bring out the organic qualities of each instrument. You know, the transition from "Battle Theme I" to "Victory" is really, um, unique.
RY - That's right. It started out with a straight rock beat, but then you questioned whether bossa nova wouldn't be more fitting. So it sounds like something you'd hear on a Kansai TV quiz show; "You just won a hundred thousand yen!" (laughs).
MH - Yeah, gave me d?j? vu to Saturday afternoons at my parent's house.
RY - The woodwinds used in "The Seven Adventurers" and "Cash's Theme" were also very effective. They might have sounded musical enough if sequenced, but they would have lacked the technique that human performance brought to them.
MH - I selected pieces with strong melodies or obbligato parts for live performance. There would have been a big difference in "Myth's Theme" if I hadn't recorded the accordion live; even on a keyboard instrument, the performer can apply portamento.
Digging Up the Past
RY - This time you dug up a lot of pieces you'd written long before.
MH - The oldest piece I used was "Mysterious Plan," which I wrote 10 years ago. In using old pieces, it seems like you'd eliminate that many new pieces that you have to write, but in truth it's the opposite. Because they were written only with the technique I possessed at the time, there were many structurally weak spots that I had to recompose. It's actually easier just to write new music!
RY - "March in C" is a bit nostalgic too. You wrote it 2 or 3 years ago. That was our first experience with full orchestra simulation.
MH - When I compare it to the new orchestral music I wrote for this project, there are naturally some weak spots. Pieces like "Ruby's Theme" and "BT Ultimate" were also unearthed from long ago, but I felt they held up fine even now.
Respecting Synthesizers
RY - The tracks at the end of disc 1 are all movie tracks, you only hear them once.
MH - Also, "Momentary Respite" on disc 2 was only heard once as a crank-organ piece, so I added it in here afterwards as a real tune. It's like a bonus track.
RY- "In Flame of Mystery," we treated the synthesizer as a synthesizer, and didn't use any real instruments.
MH - Yeah, we wanted to use the "synthesizer" as its own instrument.
RY - Nowadays, synths are used to replace real instruments as a common practice. But originally, it meant that even without any real ability on a particular instrument, you could still get a good performance of it. You could use any instrument you wanted.
MH - In that piece, I had to resolve the mental states of the 7 different protagonists. That delicate harmony turned out to be very effective.
Music Production Format
RY - Because we've worked together so long, we've developed our own unique music production format.
MH - After I finish a rough MIDI cut, I solicit opinions on both composition and sound quality, then together we hammer out the final character of the piece.
RY - "Journey through Time and Space" and "DG Listless" were finished this way. We each had a tacit understanding of what we wanted to do, and basically sat hunched over working for an hour, intently eating amedama candy in silence. And afterwards, like a door had opened, the mood turned festive. If we're able to see the entirety of the piece, where it's going, then to us it's finished.
MH - Right, sometimes the moment we think a piece is done, it's actually still rough; if someone else heard it they'd say "it's not finished, right?" Even if a piece is only 5% complete, if we have a mental picture of the whole thing, the rest is just filling in a puzzle. Getting to that point is the important mark.
RY - It's been tough getting this far, but fun. Lately we've been able to handle almost any kind of music, I think.
MH - That's the best thing about this format. It's a bit like the relationship between a composer and a specialist performer. It's great when the composer and the sound creator can buttress each other's work at such a minute level. On many pieces, Yamazaki prepares groove and sound effects kits, I add melody and harmony, and the music emerges out of this.
RY - The music created with this technique is concentrated on the 2nd disc. "DG Sine" was made with the idea of using sine waves to write a piece.
MH - The melody and chords are sine waves. Applying vibrato achieved different effects of expression. The sounds are very warm (laughs).
RY - We tried getting the most out of a sine wave as a synthesized sound/
MH - We also did "BT Ver.1" in this same format. I was drawing a blank when trying to come up with a concept for this piece. Then Yamazaki suggested, "what if you tried a fusion style?"
RY - Well, there are so many battle pieces, I figured it couldn't hurt to have one track like that. Plus I just personally wanted to work on it! (laughs).
MH - He also gave me the idea for "BT Ver.3."
RY - The image was of a nighttime battle.
MH - With that groove, it just made sense. Using a flute was almost essential.
RY - "DG Mixture" was a little different, we prepared it together. Hamauzu wrote the music, I created the sound effects, then we combined them.
MH - Hey "BT Ver.5" was kind of funny.
RY - Yeah, well, it was supposed to be a police drama kind of piece, but now it's a "prisoner of conscience" theme (laughs).
MH - I was trying to finish up certain spots and, well it's not exactly cutting edge, but I listened to it while watching TV soccer promos on the sports channel, and it matched up strangely well. It was Spanish soccer (laughs).
RY - I really liked "DG Comfort." I'm still disappointed it wasn't longer.
MH- "BT Ver.7" could have been longer too, but, this track was kind of porno (laughs).
RY - Yeah it was porno music wasn't it!
MH - Sax and improvised piano, restless progressions, yeah that's porno music. Hmm, then there's "BT Ver.8"..."
RY - It has the image of a sci-fi manga style future Tokyo; that was your idea right?
MH - I'm usually thought of as a classical-type, but I used to write music like this (laughs).
Wings Flying through the Sky
MH - And now, the song...
RY - When I thought about doing a vocal song, Mio Kashiwabara popped into my head. We happened to see her at the Tokyo University of Art festival 2 years ago.
MH - We weren't involved in any production at that time, but we introduced ourselves to her anyway.
RY - You made me introduce us (laughs).
MH - Thinking she matched the SaGa image well, I started writing the song particularly for her, as if she'd already agreed, and had a demo version done in May.
RY - It took a lot of time getting it from the rough version, to putting in the rhythm track and making the whole thing presentable. That slow, methodical progression is really the Hamauzu style (laughs).
MH - If it wasn't for that, it would have degenerated into a conventional piece. There weren't many harmonious, playful pieces this time so I thought I'd make one here. And thanks to that progression, keeping the image of a really skilled vocalist I mind, I was able to achieve a good effect.
RY - That theme was also re-arranged several times.
MH - I didn't re-arrange themes as much as last time. It's easier for me to write a new piece than re-arrange an old one, but arrangements are more enjoyable. I think music attached to stories should be written like that, the way authors create so much variety out of the same materials, like in cooking. I feel barely using a good theme is a real waste (laughs).
RY - Now in recording, you know, she had habitually sung only classical music, singing this kind of song was a first for her. She seemed a little bewildered at first, but once she started singing...
MH - I wasn't expecting to be so satisfied with her performance. It's a good thing I wrote the piece as a "song for Ms. Kashiwabara" rather than a "song for female vocalist."
RY - You regarded her voice as another instrument.
MH - If I can always have singers this good, I'll write as much music as possible (laughs).
RY - So, time to go?
MH - Oh, we're going?
RY - Let's get yakiniku today.
MH - Oh no...
RY - Well it's cold! |
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