There is an interview with Masa on Sonic Team's website:
http://sonic.sega.jp/project.html
Can anyone translate it?? ;_;
Interview with Masa
Q: Sonic The Hedgehog's music composition, can you talk about that time which was just after your "debut".
A: Yeah... With DCT we hadn't debuted yet, so I was very surprised when I was asked 'why don't you try to make the Sonic music'.
That I was allowed to do the music was pure joy, but as for when I thought I really wanted to do the Sonic music, in reality the Sega people had the expectation of 'Wanting to beat Mario', really. At that time, Mario was already the game world's giant... already INCREDIBLY big. I was impressed by the Sonic development team's enthusiasm to want to beat that. I got the impression that for this team I'd want to do anything.
Q: Weren't you confused with this being your first project of game music?
A: As for game music, as you might expect/fear at first I remembered Space Invaders-style "PIKO PIKO" [beeps] sound (laughs). But I didn't feel confused. At that time, music creation stuff was at a turning point, from my era, we just started getting into using a computer music creation system, this was just starting then. Really I the timing for me to be given this project was perfect... Not just art but entertainment started moving in the heart of computers. At that time, Sonic was born.
Q: So, you really got into Sonic's music to create?
The real composition was done on Atari computers.
The hard part was the limited number of sounds. At that time, "number of simultaneous voices" was our limit (laughs). The hardware capability only so many sounds could be produced at the same time, that number was fixed. "4 simultaneous voices" would mean only 4 sounds could be produced at the same time (bitter laugh).
Q: So you couldn't have the same quality as today's CD quality...
A: So, we really had to roll up our sleeves for game music. We had to use all the sounds, up to the limit (laugh). so if the limit was 4 voices, for example when the base drum is playing, after that 2 chords and 1 melody tune was necessary to complete it... This job required music knowledge and also computer knowledge.
Q: When composing, what kind of image were you thinking of?
A: Having received a demo machine and development version program ROM, looking at that, the song image was made. In the middle of the screen, Sonic wasn't quite running at the speed of sound (laughs).
For each stage from the developers, I received only an explanation of "this color accent, background, near-future world", from that the song image was created... ah, for that, I also received picture draft collection, and backgrounds (laughs).
Q: Was there a concept for Sonic when you were composing?
I wanted to make Sonic like a movie. While you're playing, humming the melody, have dramatic music flow for exciting scenes, music like the last scene in a movie for when the boss character comes out, then finally "whew" music, the usual scrolling credits connected... I thought most certainly that I wanted to do all that. Now, with eg. RPGs, this kind of system is popular, but at that time I think there wasn't this kind of game music for Sonic's kind of action game. So, while watching the screen closely, so as to not deaden the game tempo, I composed the melody to not be unnatural. After, I took care so that the groove feeling wasn't lost. Because Sonic's feeling of speed was most important.
Q: What was the first tune you finished?
A: I first finished "GREEN HILL". Next was the opening... in actuality, Sonic's composition was going on at the same time as DCT's album recording.
Q: In the same studio?
A: Yes. When the album's recording was being wrapped up, I would compose Sonic. And when Sonic was winding down I'd do Sonic (laugh). I first considered only being able to use 4 or 5 songs, but, to the contrary, the great string melody concepts came out, and after the string arrangements were laid out, more than the simple Sonic music work, it felt good to alternate like that, in my head, totally different, I was composing while working out the concept exactly opposite. After making the check sheet for each stage, entering the checkmark for when each song was completed made me feel really good (laugh).
Q: On the other hand, at that time, after finishing the songs, how was the delivery carried out?
A: Now when we finish a song we can just send the data by mail, but at that time we recorded on cassette tape (laugh). The sound technicians play the songs on the Genesis system for me. After that I'd get the chip development stuff delivered to me and then I'd check-listen to the sounds. Can't really comprehend this now, but remembering about that time, at last we'd delivered the commercial product.
Q: Did you play the final product Sonic?
A: When it was finished I was very very happy, as much as I could when playing the game I wanted to try to listen to the songs. But, I suck at games, so I couldn't do that. After I finally cleared the first stage, I wanted to have Sega give me the invincible-mode command for me (laugh). So since I was that bad, it fell on Yoshida to perservere. Yoshida really likes games. She can clear Sonic and Mario first stage with just as fast as a blink. (laughs). That wasn't a figure of speech, she really clears that fast. So, thanks to Yoshida clearing Sonic for me, I enjoyed listening to all the music.
Q: There's talk that the Sonic character was first disclosed at a DCT concert, do you know about this?
A: That would be the WONDER3 concert, yeah. The sign trucks, at that time we were receiving support from Sega, all the concert equipment was carried in 11t trucks with the sides having Sonic on them.
Q: At the concerts, the Sonic character, that hadn't made its appearance in magazines, but leaflets were distributed.
A: That's right, that's right. Now that I think about that it was a very momentous thing. At that time a band that wasn't widely known, to have sign trucks come out with a game character on them, Sonic came from the Dorikamu concert to the whole world, to think about that is deeply impressive, huh?
Q: Even up to the concert's control room, development staff were there getting in the way, to do the soundcheck, this story is being heard, is it true?
A: I remember it clearly, it's true (laughs). Since Sonic's development team was really a "from now..." young team, I say it many times, but their enthusiasm was amazing. No matter where, they are there (laughs). After, we ran out of time (bitter laugh).
Q: As you said earlier about recording, when you were composing Sonic 2 I'd like to hear about any episodes from that.
A: The time for Sonic 2 was when we were recording our 4th album in London. As you might expect/fear, while we were making the Dorikamu album, Sonic2 I was making too (laughs). I had already finished the compositions for Sonic2, but the album recording wasn't finished (laugh). So when Sonic2 went on sale, Sonic2 music started flowing all over town. After I said "I wrote that", the studio engineers and staff who before I couldn't get any reaction from were suddenly very respectful...
When I heard Brits hum the Sonic melody that I had made it gave me goosebumps...
While I was seriously shooting for a Grammy, at that time I was impressed by the beginnings of the "world music thing". It's obvious that games have become now the "world common" word, to take music born from the center of Japanese culture and deliver to the world is still difficult. So, still at that time, it was in fact my purpose to want to taste beloved feelings from all over the world with Sonic.
Q: As for Dorikamu's music, it has been asked that lyrics were added to Sonic's music, won't you introduce us to this.
A: For example, the song SWEET SWEET SWEET was Sonic 2's ending theme with lyrics. My concept was from movies, in the middle of the game the melody flows, but upon clearing the game song with vocals could be heard perhaps, or it would be great if the composition could be included on the album. So, I thought about the concept of collaborating of putting the ending theme on our album.
For the completeness of a game, the ending theme when you finally arrive at the summit, this was the perfect item for a song to include on Dorikamu album, so I wanted to do. It was revolutionary I guess (laugh).
From that, there are other Sonic melodies that became Dorikamu songs other than SWEET SWEET SWEET. MARRY ME? uses part of Sonic's phrase, SWEET DREAMS was made the english version of SWEET SWEET SWEET. Because Sonic is loved all over the world...
More important than anything the melody created for Sonic is my most important creation.?I still have feeling of wanting to put that motif into one song. So, it's still possible that a Sonic melody will appear in Dorikamu in the future.
Q: Next year will be the 15th anniversary of Sonic, are there any Sonic-related episodes?
A: Ah, 15 years, huh. Sonic, just as it was requested from that team, has become Sega's signboard character. In these 15 years Dorikamu activity has widened its horizons from London to New York, when I introduce myself I always say "I'm the guy who wrote Sonic's music" (laughs). With that, it's like my passing my business card. Everyone likes that. Talking about communication overseas, everyone in the studio's enthusiasm for doing, and even for myself more than this or that with Dorikamu, to be able to communicate and they recognize music that they themselves love. That is the most persuasive thing.
When I say I did Sonic 1 and 2, everyone starts singing with "to to, to to to to, to-ru, to to to to to to to ru" (laughs).
With that meaning, these 15 years, thanks to Sonic, communication with various folks became smooth. The power of music is amazing, isn't it. I say it a lot, but it's really wondeful hearing people hum my tunes.
When walking by a game center, the Sonic theme can be heard from UFO Catcher, right? When that happened, as it might be expecteed I end up stopping and standing, various memories are recalled in my tears.
Q: Finally, I humbly request a message to Sonic fans
Sonic, or Sonic the Hedgehog as he was initially called, popularized the word "hedgehog" itself. But really Sonic...
I think Japan can be proud of that bit of culture. Of this culture, one part I got to have a hand in, it was really a great honor. But that's just my feeling. So, this, how to say it, the English for this is "I'm proud of it" [trans: actual English words], to say it in Japanese, it might be a little incorrect in how to get it across, but I really think I'm proud.
A: Yeah... With DCT we hadn't debuted yet, so I was very surprised when I was asked 'why don't you try to make the Sonic music'.
That I was allowed to do the music was pure joy, but as for when I thought I really wanted to do the Sonic music, in reality the Sega people had the expectation of 'Wanting to beat Mario', really. At that time, Mario was already the game world's giant... already INCREDIBLY big. I was impressed by the Sonic development team's enthusiasm to want to beat that. I got the impression that for this team I'd want to do anything.
Q: Weren't you confused with this being your first project of game music?
A: As for game music, as you might expect/fear at first I remembered Space Invaders-style "PIKO PIKO" [beeps] sound (laughs). But I didn't feel confused. At that time, music creation stuff was at a turning point, from my era, we just started getting into using a computer music creation system, this was just starting then. Really I the timing for me to be given this project was perfect... Not just art but entertainment started moving in the heart of computers. At that time, Sonic was born.
Q: So, you really got into Sonic's music to create?
The real composition was done on Atari computers.
The hard part was the limited number of sounds. At that time, "number of simultaneous voices" was our limit (laughs). The hardware capability only so many sounds could be produced at the same time, that number was fixed. "4 simultaneous voices" would mean only 4 sounds could be produced at the same time (bitter laugh).
Q: So you couldn't have the same quality as today's CD quality...
A: So, we really had to roll up our sleeves for game music. We had to use all the sounds, up to the limit (laugh). so if the limit was 4 voices, for example when the base drum is playing, after that 2 chords and 1 melody tune was necessary to complete it... This job required music knowledge and also computer knowledge.
Q: When composing, what kind of image were you thinking of?
A: Having received a demo machine and development version program ROM, looking at that, the song image was made. In the middle of the screen, Sonic wasn't quite running at the speed of sound (laughs).
For each stage from the developers, I received only an explanation of "this color accent, background, near-future world", from that the song image was created... ah, for that, I also received picture draft collection, and backgrounds (laughs).
Q: Was there a concept for Sonic when you were composing?
I wanted to make Sonic like a movie. While you're playing, humming the melody, have dramatic music flow for exciting scenes, music like the last scene in a movie for when the boss character comes out, then finally "whew" music, the usual scrolling credits connected... I thought most certainly that I wanted to do all that. Now, with eg. RPGs, this kind of system is popular, but at that time I think there wasn't this kind of game music for Sonic's kind of action game. So, while watching the screen closely, so as to not deaden the game tempo, I composed the melody to not be unnatural. After, I took care so that the groove feeling wasn't lost. Because Sonic's feeling of speed was most important.
Q: What was the first tune you finished?
A: I first finished "GREEN HILL". Next was the opening... in actuality, Sonic's composition was going on at the same time as DCT's album recording.
Q: In the same studio?
A: Yes. When the album's recording was being wrapped up, I would compose Sonic. And when Sonic was winding down I'd do Sonic (laugh). I first considered only being able to use 4 or 5 songs, but, to the contrary, the great string melody concepts came out, and after the string arrangements were laid out, more than the simple Sonic music work, it felt good to alternate like that, in my head, totally different, I was composing while working out the concept exactly opposite. After making the check sheet for each stage, entering the checkmark for when each song was completed made me feel really good (laugh).
Q: On the other hand, at that time, after finishing the songs, how was the delivery carried out?
A: Now when we finish a song we can just send the data by mail, but at that time we recorded on cassette tape (laugh). The sound technicians play the songs on the Genesis system for me. After that I'd get the chip development stuff delivered to me and then I'd check-listen to the sounds. Can't really comprehend this now, but remembering about that time, at last we'd delivered the commercial product.
Q: Did you play the final product Sonic?
A: When it was finished I was very very happy, as much as I could when playing the game I wanted to try to listen to the songs. But, I suck at games, so I couldn't do that. After I finally cleared the first stage, I wanted to have Sega give me the invincible-mode command for me (laugh). So since I was that bad, it fell on Yoshida to perservere. Yoshida really likes games. She can clear Sonic and Mario first stage with just as fast as a blink. (laughs). That wasn't a figure of speech, she really clears that fast. So, thanks to Yoshida clearing Sonic for me, I enjoyed listening to all the music.
Q: There's talk that the Sonic character was first disclosed at a DCT concert, do you know about this?
A: That would be the WONDER3 concert, yeah. The sign trucks, at that time we were receiving support from Sega, all the concert equipment was carried in 11t trucks with the sides having Sonic on them.
Q: At the concerts, the Sonic character, that hadn't made its appearance in magazines, but leaflets were distributed.
A: That's right, that's right. Now that I think about that it was a very momentous thing. At that time a band that wasn't widely known, to have sign trucks come out with a game character on them, Sonic came from the Dorikamu concert to the whole world, to think about that is deeply impressive, huh?
Q: Even up to the concert's control room, development staff were there getting in the way, to do the soundcheck, this story is being heard, is it true?
A: I remember it clearly, it's true (laughs). Since Sonic's development team was really a "from now..." young team, I say it many times, but their enthusiasm was amazing. No matter where, they are there (laughs). After, we ran out of time (bitter laugh).
Q: As you said earlier about recording, when you were composing Sonic 2 I'd like to hear about any episodes from that.
A: The time for Sonic 2 was when we were recording our 4th album in London. As you might expect/fear, while we were making the Dorikamu album, Sonic2 I was making too (laughs). I had already finished the compositions for Sonic2, but the album recording wasn't finished (laugh). So when Sonic2 went on sale, Sonic2 music started flowing all over town. After I said "I wrote that", the studio engineers and staff who before I couldn't get any reaction from were suddenly very respectful...
When I heard Brits hum the Sonic melody that I had made it gave me goosebumps...
While I was seriously shooting for a Grammy, at that time I was impressed by the beginnings of the "world music thing". It's obvious that games have become now the "world common" word, to take music born from the center of Japanese culture and deliver to the world is still difficult. So, still at that time, it was in fact my purpose to want to taste beloved feelings from all over the world with Sonic.
Q: As for Dorikamu's music, it has been asked that lyrics were added to Sonic's music, won't you introduce us to this.
A: For example, the song SWEET SWEET SWEET was Sonic 2's ending theme with lyrics. My concept was from movies, in the middle of the game the melody flows, but upon clearing the game song with vocals could be heard perhaps, or it would be great if the composition could be included on the album. So, I thought about the concept of collaborating of putting the ending theme on our album.
For the completeness of a game, the ending theme when you finally arrive at the summit, this was the perfect item for a song to include on Dorikamu album, so I wanted to do. It was revolutionary I guess (laugh).
From that, there are other Sonic melodies that became Dorikamu songs other than SWEET SWEET SWEET. MARRY ME? uses part of Sonic's phrase, SWEET DREAMS was made the english version of SWEET SWEET SWEET. Because Sonic is loved all over the world...
More important than anything the melody created for Sonic is my most important creation.?I still have feeling of wanting to put that motif into one song. So, it's still possible that a Sonic melody will appear in Dorikamu in the future.
Q: Next year will be the 15th anniversary of Sonic, are there any Sonic-related episodes?
A: Ah, 15 years, huh. Sonic, just as it was requested from that team, has become Sega's signboard character. In these 15 years Dorikamu activity has widened its horizons from London to New York, when I introduce myself I always say "I'm the guy who wrote Sonic's music" (laughs). With that, it's like my passing my business card. Everyone likes that. Talking about communication overseas, everyone in the studio's enthusiasm for doing, and even for myself more than this or that with Dorikamu, to be able to communicate and they recognize music that they themselves love. That is the most persuasive thing.
When I say I did Sonic 1 and 2, everyone starts singing with "to to, to to to to, to-ru, to to to to to to to ru" (laughs).
With that meaning, these 15 years, thanks to Sonic, communication with various folks became smooth. The power of music is amazing, isn't it. I say it a lot, but it's really wondeful hearing people hum my tunes.
When walking by a game center, the Sonic theme can be heard from UFO Catcher, right? When that happened, as it might be expecteed I end up stopping and standing, various memories are recalled in my tears.
Q: Finally, I humbly request a message to Sonic fans
Sonic, or Sonic the Hedgehog as he was initially called, popularized the word "hedgehog" itself. But really Sonic...
I think Japan can be proud of that bit of culture. Of this culture, one part I got to have a hand in, it was really a great honor. But that's just my feeling. So, this, how to say it, the English for this is "I'm proud of it" [trans: actual English words], to say it in Japanese, it might be a little incorrect in how to get it across, but I really think I'm proud.
Last edited by tachikaze on Thu Aug 04, 2005 3:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Thank you Tachikaze, it is wonderful to hear some insights on Sonic's music.
I like it so much!
I knew about these limitations because my brother is a programmer, sometime ago he got involved with emulation and started to code for Genesis (for fun) so I asked him all details about Genesis' sound.
It actually uses the same FM sound chip that vintage synthetizers like Yamaha's DX7 uses to make the samples but Genesis has only 4 FM channels which is quite limiting. Only one digital channel, usually used for drums sounds.
I will keep on dreaming about the day DCT will release *ALL* Sonic tunes sang by Miwa. Just imagine Green Hill Zone or Chemical Plant Zone tunes with vocals...
I like it so much!
I knew about these limitations because my brother is a programmer, sometime ago he got involved with emulation and started to code for Genesis (for fun) so I asked him all details about Genesis' sound.
It actually uses the same FM sound chip that vintage synthetizers like Yamaha's DX7 uses to make the samples but Genesis has only 4 FM channels which is quite limiting. Only one digital channel, usually used for drums sounds.
I will keep on dreaming about the day DCT will release *ALL* Sonic tunes sang by Miwa. Just imagine Green Hill Zone or Chemical Plant Zone tunes with vocals...
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Jei
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Just read an English Sonic interview with Masa and I thought it looked familiar...
http://www.sega.com/sonic/content.php
Click on Masa and see Sega's version of the interview ^^
http://www.sega.com/sonic/content.php
Click on Masa and see Sega's version of the interview ^^
excellent. Get to see how rusty my xlation skills are getting...
ooh, missed some major nuances;
uchi-komi can mean more than "input", apparently it can also be used to mean "really get into something".
What I translated as "refined" apparently means "wind down".
Miwa didn't clear the stages with her eyes closed, she cleared them fast as a blink...
I guessed right that he was talking about "humming" in several places, at least.
(edit: oh yeah, I also misread "guru-pu" for "guru-bu"... the difference is like exactly two pixels at screen resolution...)
Fun reading someone (who's competent) translate the same stuff...
ooh, missed some major nuances;
uchi-komi can mean more than "input", apparently it can also be used to mean "really get into something".
What I translated as "refined" apparently means "wind down".
Miwa didn't clear the stages with her eyes closed, she cleared them fast as a blink...
I guessed right that he was talking about "humming" in several places, at least.
(edit: oh yeah, I also misread "guru-pu" for "guru-bu"... the difference is like exactly two pixels at screen resolution...)
Fun reading someone (who's competent) translate the same stuff...
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