Akira Yamaoka

Infobox musical artist
Name = Akira Yamaoka


Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name =
Born = birth date and age|1968|2|6
Origin = Niigata, Japan
Instrument = Guitar, keyboard, piano, Drum machine, Sampler
Genre = Rock, Soundtrack , Ambient, Industrial
Occupation = Soundtrack composer, Guitarist, Silent Hill series' producer
Years_active = 1993 - present
Label =
Associated_acts =
URL =

Akira Yamaoka (山岡 晃 "Yamaoka Akira", born February 6 1968 in Niigata, Japancite web|title=Akira Yamaoka's IMDB profile|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1168522/bio|publisher=imdb.com|accessdate=2007-07-16 ] ) is a musician and video game composer, having scored dozens of titles released by Konami. Yamaoka attended Tokyo Art College cite web|title=Interview with Akira Yamaoka|url=http://www.spelmusik.net/intervjuer/akira_yamaoka_eng.html|publisher=spelmusik.net|month=July | year=2002|accessdate=2007-07-16] , where he studied product design and interior design. He joined Konami on September 21, 1993, after previously being a freelance music composer.

Biography

He is most well known for his work for the "Silent Hill" series of video games, for which he composed all the music and sound effects in the whole series (excluding "Silent Hill: Play Novel" for the Game Boy Advance and "Esperandote" in "Silent Hill", composed by Rika Muranaka). Since "Silent Hill 3", he is playing a more important role as the series' producer, also continuing with his music composition working.

Yamaoka's sound commonly contains strong melancholy undertones and generally identifies with the dark ambient, industrial, trip-hop and rock genres. Since "Silent Hill 3", he also started working in collaboration with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn and Joe Romersa for vocal compositions.

Much of his work from previous titles has been compiled for the 2006 "Silent Hill" movie adaptation, directed by Christophe Gans.

His music from "Silent Hill 2" was performed live in 2005 at the third Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany. Yamaoka also performed music from "Silent Hill" at the world-premiere of PLAY! A Video Game Symphony on May 27, 2006 in Chicago, Illinois, and accompanied the orchestra with an electric seven-string guitar. He also composed songs for KONAMI's "Bemani" series, which has also featured tracks from "Silent Hill".

His first original album, "iFUTURELIST", was released in January 2006.

Personal life

Before working as a video game composer, Yamaoka initially sought a career as a designer, but instead became a musician after studying product design at Tokyo Art College cite web|title=Interview with Akira Yamaoka|url=http://www.spelmusik.net/intervjuer/akira_yamaoka_eng.html|publisher=spelmusik.net|month=July | year=2002|accessdate=2007-07-16] .

In 1993 he joined Konami to work on the game ' cite web|title=Interview with Akira Yamaoka|url=http://www.spelmusik.net/intervjuer/akira_yamaoka_eng.html|publisher=spelmusik.net|month=July | year=2002|accessdate=2007-07-16] . When Konami began searching for a musician to compose "Silent Hills score, Yamaoka volunteered because he thought he was the only one capable of making the soundtrack. cite web|title=Interview with Akira Yamaoka|url=http://www.spelmusik.net/intervjuer/akira_yamaoka_eng.html|publisher=spelmusik.net|month=July | year=2002|accessdate=2007-07-16]

Influences

Yamaoka cites among his influences Angelo Badalamenti (best known known for his soundtrack work with David Lynch), Metallica, and Depeche Mode. cite web|title=Interview with Akira Yamaoka|url=http://www.spelmusik.net/intervjuer/akira_yamaoka_eng.html|publisher=spelmusik.net|month=July | year=2002|accessdate=2007-07-16]

When asked if his studies at Tokyo Art College had helped him in his musical career, he replied cite web|title=Interview with Akira Yamaoka|url=http://www.spelmusik.net/intervjuer/akira_yamaoka_eng.html|publisher=spelmusik.net|month=July | year=2002|accessdate=2007-07-16] :

"At that time, Mick Karn of Japan, Steve Strange of Visage, and a lot of other musicians combined the notions of Art and Music with their own new style. I got really influenced by that. Therefore, every time I write songs, I try to combine Art and Music."

Credits

tudio Gear

Hardware

* Roland JD-800
* Roland JP-8080
* Roland TB-303
* Roland MKS-80
* Roland DJ-70
* Roland VP-9000
* Sequential Circuit Prophet-5
* Oberheim OB-MX
* Memorymoog
* Ensoniq VFX
* Akai VX-600
* Korg Prophecy

oftware

* Emagic Logic Audio
* Emagic EXS24
* Emagic amt8
* Phrazer Infinity.

Guitars

* Ibanez UV-777-P-BK

Trivia

* Yamaoka has stated that Silent Hill 2 is his favorite game in the Silent Hill series. [cite web| title= Konami: The Silent Hill 4 Interview| url=http://games.kikizo.com/features/konami_interview_sep04.asp| publisher=games.kikizo.com|date=2004-09-06| accessdate=2007-07-16]

* He wrote the main theme of Silent Hill 2 "Theme of Laura" in just three days. cite web|title=Akira Yamaoka's IMDB profile|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1168522/bio|publisher=imdb.com|accessdate=2007-07-16]

* Made over 200 different footstep sounds for Silent Hill 2 cite web|title=Akira Yamaoka's IMDB profile|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1168522/bio|publisher=imdb.com|accessdate=2007-07-16]

* He also wrote the theme of "101%", the main show of the French TV channel "Nolife".

*His song "Waiting for You", from , is on Karaoke Revolution Volume 3 feat. Mary Elizabeth McGlynn.

References

External links

* [http://www.konamistyle.jp/customfactory/akirayamaoka/ iFUTURELIST (Japanese)]
* [http://www.blog.konami.jp/gs/cat67/index.html Akira Yamaoka - Official Blog (Japanese)]
* [http://www.squareenixmusic.com/composers/yamaoka/ Comprehensive Akira Yamaoka Profile at Square Enix Music Online]
* [http://www.music4games.net/Features_Display.aspx?id=182 Interview] with Music4Games
* [http://www.gogamemusic.com/?id=67 Go Game Music Interview]
* [http://www.ocremix.org/composer/id/5/akira-yamaoka/ Composer profile] at OverClocked ReMix
* [http://www.rocketbaby.net/interviews_akira_yamaoka_sh2.shtml RocketBaby's interview]
* [http://www.monitor-media.com/comments.php?id=166_0_1_0_C Monitor Web TV interview]
* [http://www.spelmusik.net/intervjuer/akira_yamaoka_eng.html Spelmusik.net interview]
* [http://www.spelmusik.net/intervjuer/akira_yamaoka2_eng.html Spelmusik.net interview #2]
* [http://games.kikizo.com/features/konami_interview_sep04.asp Kikizo Games interview]
* [http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200503/N05.0310.1619.39457.htm Game Informer Online GDC 2005 interview]
* [http://www.yamaoka.info/ Akira Yamaoka Archives (Japanese)]
* [http://www.akirayamaoka.com/ Akira Yamaoka - Cradel of Forest (Italian)]
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