I would continue to buy and collect the occasional instrument if I found something I liked, so today I’ve amassed a considerable collection of them, which is a bit of a problem… (laughs) My knowledge of the equipment and my experience with programming timbres would turn out to be useful in my job later on. I subsequently went into unravelling the methods of jazz, and while I was going to college, I studied jazz piano and the Berklee method.Īround high school, I quickly went about acquiring all kinds of tools, including a synthesizer, an effector, a sequencer, and a multi-track recorder, and I took on the challenges of programming timbres and recording in earnest.

With music, I didn’t get the urge to drop everything and study it at university.

Even art, which I loved, is based on acquiring the basics of drawing. That way you’ll know the joy of unravelling the mystery and progressing to the next stage. My basic stance is that when it comes to what you love, you should begin by digging into it as far as you can without learning from others, and only then study the things you still don’t understand with specialists. When I reached middle school, my interest in rock and pop music won out over my interest in classical piano. When I reached the fourth grade, I developed a fascination with the methods used in the pop and rock music that I heard in my everyday life, and I started to study the basics of contemporary music theory by attending music classes intended for adults. Hiroyuki Kawada: I studied classical piano from when I was 4. First of all, could you tell us about your musical background, education, and influences? Stephen: Hiroyuki Kawada, thank you so much for doing this interview and giving the West the opportunity to hear about your works. Translation & Localisation: Ben SchweitzerĬoordination: Don Kotowski, Go Shiina Interview Content Interviewer: Stephen Burkett, Chris Greening He goes into particular details about the various musical and technical innovations that brought his soundtracks to titles such as Winning Run, Galaga ’88, and Valkyrie no Densetsu to life.

In the first part of the interview, covering the years 1984 to 1989, he discusses his path to becoming a video game composer, the creative culture of Namco at the time, and how he led the Namco sound team. In this two-part interview, conducted with our Patreonsupporter Stephen Burkett, Kawada gives an indepth insight into how he composed, implemented, and disseminated music for various Namco titles. He recently departed the company to work as a freelancer, but continues to collaborate with them on new projects, such as the recently released Pac-Man Championship Edition 2. He was also responsible for bringing the series’ music to soundtracks, arranged albums, and even a theme park. Ace Combat, Valkyrie, Time Crisis). For each title, he brought fresh styles and technical innovations. Galaga, Pac-Man, Xevious) with new properties (e.g. During his three decades at the company, he balanced work on classic properties (e.g. Hiroyuki Kawada is Namco’s longest-serving musical innovator. Hiroyuki Kawada Interview: Namco Sounds in the 1980s

Galaga 88 voices