Animation and music are inseparable. Animation works can gain worldwide support and cannot be separated from the power of music. Today, Japanese animated songs are as widely known as J-POP, and the quality of the soundtrack is not inferior to that of real people. How is the current animation music born?

“Keyboard Magazine” published the “Relationship between Animation and Music” in the fall of 2019. Please go to a number of animated music and animated songs, listen to the testimony of the parties, trace the footprints of the masters, analyze the scores of the famous songs, and answer the animation. The process and technique of forming this relationship with music

神前晓, can be said to represent one of the composers of today’s animated music. In the early works of the animated music career, “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”, “Lucky ☆ Star”, he used his music to add brilliance to many works. More than just a soundtrack, his songs created with a sense of superior melody have had a significant impact on the animated song community

The pre-God’s road to composition begins with entering the music community in college. Before that, he only improvised to play some songs. The composing community prohibits copying existing music. Students who have just entered the club have no experience and must write a song to publish. However, before God was very good at imitating other people’s music, he was unknowingly trusted by members of the community and began to be responsible for the arrangement. He had studied piano and trumpet before, and he also played his own experience at that time

At that time, I didn’t understand music theory at all. So I bought professional magazines like Keyboard Magazine and books on chords, but everything is always difficult at first. He has suffered a lot. In addition, he will listen to the existing music, use his own methods to analyze and learn skills. It was not until 3 or 4 years ago that he learned the theory. Before that, he did not study theory

Before going to college, God mainly listened to songs, as well as Funk music such as Tower of Power, Earth, Wind & Fire. Into the university, members of the community will have a variety of interests. He listened to the music written by others and was interesting. When asked what the other teacher was, the other party told him: “There is such an orchestra.” Like the salon community, he has grown a lot of knowledge. In his school days, he was not bound by the music genre, imitating a lot of music he had heard. This soft body laid the foundation for him to become a composer in the future

After finishing his studies, God started to apply for a job. He went to visit the musical instrument company, the record company and the game company. God studied science at the university. Some of the seniors who worked with him at that time entered the musical instrument company. So, he might even be a musical instrument. However, we know that what he finally got was an offer to make music at Namco

In Namco, God entered the arcade department, so his musical career began with making music for the arcade. Including video games such as the “Tekken” series, as well as a variety of “Electromechanical” arcades such as “Crazy Crocodile” (no screen, arcades like large electric toys)

Different types and sizes of games have different requirements for music. In general, the music team’s decision-making power is still relatively strong. Of course, there will be requirements such as “hoping that this scene is accompanied by fast-paced music,” but specific opinions like what genre music to write will depend on the composition team. However, the former said that it may only be the style of Namco at the time, which does not represent the entire game industry

In the Namco era, God participated in the music of the “Language Puzzles and Words” series. It was a puzzle game. God tried to add vocal singing to the background music, and also joined the popular Future Pop elements in the first half of the 2000s. I had a great time. He felt that the music he produced for this work was very consistent with the color of the picture

At this time, a high school student in front of God (he didn’t mention the name, but you know who it is) is working on Kyoto animation, and he is looking for someone responsible for making music. Since God was a company employee at that time and was not good at picking up private activities, he participated in the OVA “MUNTO Through Time and Space” with the pseudonym “Ikeda Shinji”

As an ovum, the music production of MUNTO through the Wall of Time is different from TV animation, but like a movie, it looks at the picture and writes music. God also wrote music to the game’s CG film, and the two feel the same. However, compared to the game, the animated music is sinking behind the screen to support the picture. Although many of the recent game composition styles have become cinematic, the melody of game music is still relatively strong. If the animation emphasizes the impression of music as if it were a game, then the music will be too strong. This is especially true for live TV dramas. Therefore, the power control of the video work is not the same as the game. God was still used to controlling this sense of distance until the “God”

After the “MUNTO Crossing the Walls of Time and Space”, Kyoto Animation said that it hopes to cooperate with God in the TV animation. Just before this time, God also had the idea of activities outside the game, so he resigned from Namco and joined the current office MONACA President Okabe Eiichi. At MONACA, he took the Kyoto animation “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” and officially began his career in animation music

“Suzumiya Haruhi” is very rich in music types, whether it is a soundtrack or an episode. The customer’s overall demand for music is to feel the tide of the Shibuya system, as well as soft music such as Soft Rock and Burt Bacharach. To put it bluntly, what I want is the feeling of PIZZICATO FIVE. This is a style that God also liked very much before. Although he claimed that he had limited ability at the time, some places were inevitably unable to get there, but he was very happy

The episode “God knows…” used in the play, the screen completely restored the playing scene, and the position of the finger of the string is very precise, which was shocking at the time. The song was played by the famous guitarist Nishikawa. The Kyoto animation people came to the recording site and took all the hand movements of Nishikawa and restored them on the screen. God is admired again, and it is the hard work of the production staff. For this blessing, the song is also very popular among the audience

Another predecessor of God, “Lucky ☆ Star”, and “Suzumiya Haruhi” belong to the same campus theme, but the style is completely different. It is a daily funny animation. The concept of the piece of music in this work is more clear. At the beginning, he was asked to make Beatles’ tune and old record-like sounds. God believes that as long as the time is spent, everyday animation will be suitable regardless of the music; but this unconventional approach is very interesting. The girls in the Heisei era were chatting, and the music of the 60s was originally two things that the Eight Diagrams couldn’t get together, but the effect was amazing. In addition, God tried to add Funk elements to this animation

“Lucky ☆ Star” theme song “もってけ!セーラーふく》, was also a sensation during the broadcast. God smiled and said that he himself was somewhat confused about this song. The lyricist Yu Yagui, the producer of the record company Lantis, and others, used his music as a foundation and piled up new ideas on it. It eventually became a perfect mess of various elements, a miraculous song..

In addition, “Lucky ☆ Star” also has songs of electric pop style, lyrics, and even songs. The animation team as a whole has a strong idea of “try it all out,” which encourages the meaning of Hu. And because it is an animation in the second quarter, there is a lot of music in the music. There are about 80 songs in the soundtrack, and the songs may be around 50 songs. Among them, there are twenty (or) thirty songs in front of God. Together, he made a total of hundreds of pieces of music for this animation

When you start composing, God is always very confused and groping in troubles. His basic composition style is to use the piano sound to play the keyboard and explore the melody of “calling”

When creating music for an animation, the general script is complete and you may get a split. In addition, there will be a single picture and a background picture with the character set. God would like to know how much the painting of this work is realistic and based on it

An animated soundtrack will rarely give you a reference track, but God will still look for existing music that has a similar style to his heart, as a reference. However, he mainly refers to the tone. For the soundtrack, the image that the sound has is especially important

When selecting a timbre, the actual playing instrument has a limited playing method, and it is inevitable when making a choice. As long as the national musical instrument is used, it will show the individuality of the instrument. So the hard choice is the synth-related tone, because it’s hard to explain why you want to use it. Fortunately, there are predecessors who work hard, and God listens to a variety of film music before, citing the combination of sounds

The music created by God, even the soundtrack, the melody is very prominent. He is not born of classical music, so he naturally uses the “melody + accompaniment” way of thinking, and composition is also a melody first. He said that in fact, he is not the kind of person who can keep melody in his mind. When composing, he wants to play the piano and sing. If you flash a piece that feels good, use a synthesizer to input it into your computer and save it. The melody that appeared at the beginning was often twisted and twisted, and it was not smooth. He had to constantly adjust the combing during the production process

In the process of composing, he basically has been hitting the wall. The most troublesome thing is that the idea of “must rely on the melody to make the songs set up” has bound the hands and feet. With the arrangement of songs and lyrics, the song has the potential to become a famous song. If you feel that you must write a good song by melody, you will get stuck and cannot move forward. In the final analysis, a song is difficult to become a famous song only in the state of the piano, drum and bass input in the computer

When this happens, God often waits until there is no time to start composing, only to find “ah, there is no problem.” However, sometimes, when he edited the song and saw the overall image of the song, he realized that “it will be more natural to go down here” and figure out why he is too late to move forward

Among the much music that God knows before, brass instruments are a bright spot. Because God used to play the trumpet when he was in high school, he mastered many trumpet themes. The musical instruments that make people feel comfortable, the way to insert the door, and so on, all depend on how many past songs you know. In addition, the life of the brass instrument lies in the sound method. If you do not consider this, you may not feel it when you blow it. And before God can write the score with the feeling of playing the trumpet, this is his advantage

You can see a video on YouTube, and God talks to another well-known composer, Masahiro Yamada, about the use of the blow controller. With the blowpipe controller, it is easy to give changes to the volume, fully expressing the sound, smooth lines and continuous sound. After all, “哒哒哒哒” and “哒哒-哒哒” are completely different. The experience of actually playing music is also used in computer music

God admits that he can’t play the guitar at all, and the guitar is entirely based on the wisdom of the guitarist. The important thing is to guide the musician’s “vocabulary” and borrow it.The same is true for

Bass. God said that what he is least good at is to write the bass spectrum, which is completely handed over to the bass player. However, although he can’t play the bass, he likes the bass, so he will go to the dynamic bass player to play

As for the keyboard instrument, it is the predecessor of the piano that started learning piano at the age of 3. He sometimes adds solo to the organ or synthesizer in the music, which is sometimes his own. When he was playing the team, he had music with the organ, so he also contacted. As for what keyboard instrument is used in the music, he decides with the “star chase”: he wants to add the flavor of a song he likes to the song, and he will use the instrument of the song

Although I will play keyboard instruments, in fact, God does not know how many keyboard players. In his student days, he often listened to the songs of Nishiwaki, and he felt that the arrangement of Nishiwaki was very handsome

Nishiwaki Maki is a music producer and composer. Many of the songs written by Okazaki’s lyrics were arranged by him. In recent years, there have been many cooperations with Nakajima. In the anime songs, Lin Shuyuanめぐみ”梦を抱きしめて” (arranged), メロキュア”Agapē” (Arrangement), Valkyrie “ようこそ!ワルキューレ・ワールドヘ” (for arrangement). At the same time, he is also proficient in a variety of musical instruments, not only playing keyboards and pianos in his own arrangements, but also as a harmonica player in “Heart of Love”, “Mobile Suit Gundam THE ORIGIN”, “Space Battleship Yamato No. 2202”, etc. The soundtrack of multiple animations. After God entered the music industry, he often asked Nishiwaki to play for his music

In the “BEASTARS” ED “Le zoo”, which was arranged before the gods, Nishiwaki Chenmi played piano and chromatic harmonica

He also likes Sanchai

Sanchai is a member of the pianist, guitarist, fascinating girl band and special photo. The lead singers of the two bands areケンヂfor “Welcome to NHK” and “Goodbye” ! He also participated in the performance of the theme songs such as “Desperate Mr.” series. In addition, he is also good at making and arranging songs. The soundtrack of GONZO’s famous OVA “Battle of Leprechaun Snow” is created by his group “ザ蟹” composed by bassist Yan Yedao Xuan

Although the music of Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock is often heard, the world of this music is a little far away. For the performance of jazz and classical musicians, even if he feels high, he can’t judge whether it is really good. So he still prefers the random play of rock and roll. In addition, the keyboard performances of composers such as Nishiwaki Hiromi and Kobayashi Takeshi are also very attractive to them: these people have added the most suitable piano to the song after they have the song, and God likes this practice before

Readers who care about Japanese pop music and rock music should be familiar with Kobayashi’s history. He is a famous music producer. He used to be the producer or arranger of many musicians such as Sang Tian Jiayou, Mr.Children, Salyu, etc., and served as the “Swallowtail Butterfly”, “About Lily Zhou’s Everything”, “After the Future” and many other departments. Music supervision of the film

The indispensable part of the music is the string. The string music in front of God is for work needs, and it is learned by the gourd painting. He also said before that he is a pop music person, the feeling of music is “melody + accompaniment”; while the string is formed by combining the lateral movements of the voices, so for the gods, the idea Strings are more difficult. Strings in his music are generally conservative

He also likes to listen to strings, especially the arrangement of Yoko Kanno and others. However, although he has a heart to imitate, it is difficult to learn. He chose an excellent piece of music, specifically analyzing chewing, digestion and absorption, and accumulating knowledge

God is usually making music in his own home, using a Windows computer, and the software is Steinberg Cubase. The sound source is basically a software synthesizer. Although there are many hardware synthesizers in the past, the Total Recall function of the software synthesizer is so convenient. When he wants to create multiple songs at the same time, the software synthesizer has an overwhelming advantage

For the sound source, the most used is the Native Instruments Kontakt sampler, because the sampler can mimic the sound of any instrument. Specific to the instrument, the drum is Toontrack Superior Drummer 3, the bass is IK Multimedia MODO BASS, and the sound source libraries of Spitfire Audio and Native Instruments. Recently, he also liked Spectrasonic Keyscape. The original piano sound of this one is completely unreal, but it is very elastic, which is closer to the kind of Korg SG series

After finishing a song, the accompaniment should be replaced with a real instrument recording. How many real instruments are used depends on the budget, but basically the three drums, bass and guitar must be replaced. Conversely, these three instruments are written on the premise that they are to be replaced, so you don’t have to buckle too thin when writing. Strings are often also recorded in real time, so God will write the score very carefully before; but when he enters the computer, he will not simulate the performance of the string instrument very carefully. It’s just that he can’t simulate how to write the music in the brain, so it’s very convenient to let the computer make a sound confirmation. The recently simulated source library is therefore very valuable