Yasunori Mitsuda

Yasunori Mitsuda (光田 康典, b. January 21, 1972) is a Japanese composer and musician best known for his soundtracks for various video games.

Biography

Mitsuda was born in Tokuyama, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, and raised in Kumage. As a child, he took piano lessons, but he was more interested in sports and so never took music seriously. He also took to computers at an early age, and he taught himself to program simple songs and games. After a brief infatuation with golf, Mitsuda rediscovered music in high school, inspired by the scores of movies such as Blade Runner and by the works or composers such as Henry Mancini.

After high school, Mitsuda moved to Tokyo and enrolled in the Junior College of Music. Despite the school's low prestige, Mitsuda received solid instruction from his professors, most of them practicing musicians who would take Mitsuda to gigs with them to help carry and set up equipment. Despite being used for free physical labor, Mitsuda got a first-hand view of the Japanese music world and valuable training both in and out of the classroom.

One of his instructors had worked in video games, and he showed Mitsuda an advertisement for an opening in the music department at the software developer Squaresoft. Mitsuda sent a demo which won him an interview at the game studio. Despite the "disastrous" interview (as he describes it), Mitsuda was offered a position on the company's sound team in April, 1992.

Although his official job title was "composer", Mitsuda found himself working more as a sound engineer, a person who takes compositions by other people and adapts them to the technology used in making video games. In 1995, he finally gave Squaresoft's vice president, Hironobu Sakaguchi, an ultimatum: let him compose, or he would quit. Sakaguchi assigned the young musician to the team working on Chrono Trigger. Mitsuda was allowed to compose the majority of the tracks for the game under the watchful eye of veteran composer Nobuo Uematsu.

The Chrono Trigger soundtrack proved extremely popular with fans. Mitsuda worked on four more titles for Squaresoft, the last being Xenogears in 1998 (he also composed the soundtrack to Xenosaga : The Will To Power, which is believed to be set in the Xenogears universe, although released by Monolith rather than Squaresoft.) He then went freelance, though he continued to work closely with Squaresoft on projects such as the Chrono Trigger sequel, Chrono Cross. He has also released non-video-game music, such as his CD Sailing to the World.

Musical Styles and Influences

Yasunori Mitsuda's music often shows strong Celtic influences. This is particularly evident in his soundtrack for Chrono Cross in songs such as "Another Termina" and "The Dream Starts" as well as in his Xenogears arranged album, Creid. Mitsuda's style is difficult to pigeonhole, however, since he is able to compose music in several different styles depending on the demands of the project. For example, the Chrono Cross track "Chronomantic" sounds Caribbean, while the song "The Great Sneff's Troupe" from that same soundtrack is East Asian in flavor.

Mitsuda has always acknowledged popular cinema as a strong influence on his work. This is particularly evident in various battle themes he has written, such as "The Brink of Death", which is used in both Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross. The main theme from Chrono Trigger is another example of Mitsuda's cinematic side.

Mitsuda's music translates surprisingly well to jazz, as well. The album The Brink of Time consists of several arrangements of his Chrono Trigger soundtrack performed by a live jazz band called Guido.

Sound Designer Credits

• Mix Beat Attractions (1991)
• Wolf Team Co., Ltd (1991)
• Half Boiled Hero (1992)
• Final Fantasy V (1992)
• Secret of Mana (1993)
• Romancing SaGa 2 (1993)

Video Game Soundtracks

• Chrono Trigger (1995)
• Radical Dreamers (1995)
• Front Mission: Gun Hazard (1996) (with Nobuo Uematsu)
• Tobal No. 1 (1996) (with Masashi Hamauzu, Junya Nakano, Yasuhiro Kawami, Kenji Ito, Noriko *Matsueda, Ryuji Sasai, and Yoko Shimomura)
• Xenogears (1998)
• Mario Party (1998)
• Bomberman 64 2 (1999)
• Chrono Cross (1999)
• Shadow Hearts (2001)
• Tsugunai (2001)
• Legaia 2: Duel Saga (2002)
• Xenosaga (2002)
• Shadow Hearts II (2003)

Other Works

• Xenogears: Creid (1998)
• Street Fighter Zero 3 Drama Album (1999)
• Biohazard 2 Drama Album: Sherry (1999)
• Biohazard 2 Drama Album: Ada (1999)
• 2197 (one song) (1999)
• Ten Plants (one song) (1999)
• Square Vocal Collection (three songs) (2001)
• Sailing to the World (2002)
• Hako no Niwa (2004)

Yasunori Mitsuda's Homepage: http://www.procyon-studio.com/

From: Wikipedia

Compendium Supplement

This is the Chrono Compendium's extra information complementing the Wikipedia entry.

Liner Notes on Chrono Trigger OSV

These appear on the Chrono Trigger OSV. Rebecca Capowski has translated Yasunori Mitsuda's liner notes for this album, and has allowed them to be posted here.

"In my life

I don't know whether it's a good or bad omen, but I write these notes while celebrating my 23rd birthday. But when do you think I made up my mind to compose music? Even though I didn't have much contact with music (save for a few piano lessons when I was young), something got a hold of me, and I decided to go into the field. I guess I wanted a reason to leave home as soon as possible. But I wanted to study from the moment I left, and I always thought there was nothing sweeter than to be able to eat my meals with music, so I talked to my parents about entering a new school. I can see it clearly even to this day - me, fearful and timid, hearing my father's words - "Go to Tokyo! This is your chance!" I don't think I'll ever forget it in my entire life.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that my life was changed from that moment on. My mere two years at the music school were hectic. I never realized that if this didn't work out, I couldn't just go home, for there'd be no place at a corporation for someone stupid like me. I did not learn, however, how to compose at the school; instead, I was led to think of music as a living organism. At that time, such a thought always proved staggering to me.

Thus I obtained my current job "composing" for the company called "Square". Next time, however, I suppose I'll have to take the first step and initiative in following my dream.

There are two sides two everything

Do you know which is the front and which is the back of a 10-yen coin? Either choice is the right answer! Whichever side you chose as the front can also become the back. Similarly, the human race has both good guys and bad guys. But if you look a little more closely, you'll see good and bad in every individual. Whichever side constitutes one's "front" is up to personal circumstance...

Music too has "fronts" and "backs"; if the "Major" is made the front, the "minor" becomes the back, and a composition has a front beat and a back beat. In short, if you have an understanding of both sides, you strike a good balance between them. Conversely, if one side is lacking, the balance collapses. I suppose that this's most vital to me, for it's what weighs most in my mind. I think I like grappling with the various factors of fate and chance that determine success or failure; it proves useful to me afterward, and I think it's intertwined with music.

What is composition?

Whenever I hear the question "What is composition?", I am always stumped for an answer - I wonder if "the means for my own search" is the most appropriate response? It's strange that my music could end up reflecting the conditions I was working in at the time, isn't it? Of course, that could say something about my psychological state of mind, but...(ha). I wonder if this isn't one of the most overly harsh jobs in the music industry? There's an extraordinarily high number of compositions, yet since the fans are in a broad age bracket, you have to have a knowledge of so many different musical styles, and the considerations of the screens and scenarios override the music you'd like to use. It's easy to fall prey to anything from a problem to a slump. These particular circumstances brought on a slump for me. (I must've tried to start writing the music 4 times!) I was stumped for a month and a half. I would think, "I've got to do this", but when I would set about going to work, nothing would come to me, and I'd lose my will to work. Mired and immobilized in my unease and dismay, I was brought to a standstill and felt that I'd never be able to get things done. I am incapacle of "Self-Control". What opened my eyes at that time and became the most important key to escaping my slump were the many opportunities I had to draw "Power" from speaking with others who had different ideas than I did and to see things from new perspectives. (Of course, that's not the only way to pull yourself out of a slump.) I strongly felt that my other obligations factored very little into my problems with this job. The reason for my slump boiled down to one issue.

With each composition I write, I feel I can learn a little more about myself. It's interesting! And so, I don't think I'll ever be able to stop composing, and I think that it's a miraculous thing that I can live my life through doing so. The age in which I was born. The environment in which I grew up. The people with whom I've come in contact whom I wish to thank from the depths of my heart.

And, in closing, to all those who supported me in this CD set's release - Uematsu-san, Sakaguchi-san, all the numerous staff members who gave me strength, and all those who bought this album - I would like to say one word - "thanks".

1/21/95, from the Brink of Time, Yasunori Mitsuda"

Q&A On Procyon Studios

From: Music