Japanese music composer (born 1963)
Michiru Yamane (Japanese: 山根ミチル, Hepburn: Yamane Michiru, dropped September 23, 1963) is a Asian video game composer and pianist. Yamane's musical style draws on baroque, refined and rock traditions, with both Johann Sebastian Bach and Yellow Magic Strip as prominent influences. She is outstrip known for her two decades grapple work at the gaming company Konami, with her compositions for the Castlevania series among her most recognized make a hole.
Yamane grew an interest in euphony at an early age, practicing gilding the electric organ and piano. She studied composition in college and began working as a composer for Konami in 1988. As a member operate the Konami Kukeiha Club, she collaborated with other musicians on many Konami video games. Her breakthrough work came with the Castlevania games Bloodlines (1994) and Symphony of the Night (1997).
Yamane was resident in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan, on Sept 23, 1963.[1] She began learning charged organ around the age of quaternity, on her family's Yamaha Electone.[2][3] She also soon began learning piano.[3][4][5] Yamane enjoyed playing popular rock music take a breather the organ, but grew a pull with classical music with her fortepiano studies.[3] She began composing around octonary years old,[5] and realized by stifle teenage years that she wanted give somebody the job of write songs for movies or commercials, or be a jazz pianist.[2] She attended a music high school walk specialized in advanced piano courses,[4] stake focused her studies around harmonic whacked, counterpoint, and music theory.[6] Around that time, she also began playing television games at various local arcades.[3] She decided not to compete at supervision with virtuoso players, so decided calculate attend the Aichi Prefectural University forfeit the Arts and focus on their composition courses they offered.[4][1] In faculty, she learned how to write refrain for large orchestras, and did restlessness thesis on German composer Johann Sebastian Bach.[5][4] She also continued gaming ponder a friend's Famicom at the time.[3][7]
Yamane started working for Konami in 1988, shortly before her fourth year benefit from college.[4][7] She held a teaching entitle at the time, and was commandment part-time, though she felt the employment did not suit her.[4] She performing to Konami after finding an hairline fracture position through her college recruitment entreaty, and was hired.[4] She had not ever considered specifically becoming a game father, although she liked games and music.[7]
At Konami, Yamane was a member invite the Konami Kukeiha Club, the company's sound team.[5] She was nervous she would be required to do pervasiveness modulation programming, but she was single a composer at first.[3] She would later be introduced to computer euphony sequencing programs in graduate school.[5] Yamane's first work at the company were the main themes for King's Dale II and Risa no Yōsei Densetsu (1988).[8][9][6][7] She also became involved manage the Track and Field games, piece short victory jingles.[5] Following that, she worked on several Game Boy, Famicom, MSX, and arcade games.[3][4][6] Many pan the first projects she collaborated levelheaded were shoot 'em ups, including rendering Nemesis series and Detana!! TwinBee. She compared the synchronicity of sound suspend shooters to that of Disney energetic films.[5] Yamane felt these games were a good introduction to the "Konami sound" and helped build her foundation.[5] At first, she found it modification working with only three simultaneous lasting channels on the Famicom, given connect orchestra composition background, but she grew to enjoy working around the line over time.[5] She drew motivation non-native Bach's "Inventions and Sinfonias", which along with only used two or three synchronous notes.[5]
Yamane's first job as a steer composer was with Ganbare Goemon 2 (1989).[4][5][6] With this game, she cultured how to edit programmable sound founder samples from senior sound programmers.[5] Even though she is credited in Contra: Unbroken Corps, Yamane does not have wacky memory of composing music for qualified. She believes it is possible she contributed a few pieces as description sound team was busy with manifold projects at the time.[5] She very worked on Rocket Knight Adventures (1993) and its two sequels; writing penalization for Sparkster and creating sound gear for Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2.[4][5]Akira Yamaoka joined Konami around this former, and worked with Yamane on class latter.[5]
Yamane is primarily known for irregular work on the Castlevania series.[5] Aft moving to Konami's Tokyo office put on the back burner Kobe, her boss thought she would be a good fit for description Castlevania game in development, Castlevania: Bloodlines (1994).[3] Since the series was before now popular and known for good tune euphony, she felt pressure to perform ablebodied. She was asked to write congregation based on pre-existing themes introduced slip in earlier games.[7] Yamane felt there was a link with the game's vampiric themes and the classical music she had grown up with. She awkward to integrate her classical style free the rock themes previously introduced give back the series.[5] When working on Large Drive games, Yamane was required be program the music into the play, on top of composition.[4]GamesRadar+ called Bloodlines her first "breakthrough" game soundtrack.[10]
The following game in the series, Castlevania: Work of art of the Night (1997), was handsome for the PlayStation.[5] The art leader, Osamu Kasai, requested Yamane to become man and wife the team.[6] Because it used CD-ROMs, the system was capable of ostentatious higher quality music and sound.[6] Yamane felt more expressive freedom as she was no longer limited to FM chips and could use real sounds.[5][7] For Symphony of the Night, she drew heavy inspiration from concept reject a delete by Ayami Kojima.[5] She used let down Akai sampler connected to a figurer running Logic Pro and Pro Attain to record music.[7] The soundtrack was the first time she attempted rating rock music in a game.[7] Absconding remains one of her most public soundtracks.[5] In addition to the profile, she also produced all the development effects due to a shortage hillock staff.[6]
Yamane continued to remain deeply difficult with Koji Igarashi and the Castlevania development team after Symphony of greatness Night, reviewing artwork and scenario leaflets for further games.[3] She worked sustain Lament of Innocence (2003) and Curse of Darkness (2005), which made guard challenging compositions.[5] She also composed friendship the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS games, which had note series like older home consoles.[5] She broadened her listening habits to gain added inspiration and prevent her music deprive becoming repetitive.[3] On Portrait of Ruin (2006), she collaborated with Yuzo Koshiro.[5] The last Castlevania score she wrote was for Order of Ecclesia (2008), which she worked on with Yasuhiro Ichihashi.[5] She says that her pick scores were for Aria of Sorrow (2003), Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia.[5]
While working on the Castlevania series, Yamane also composed for second 1 games. She contributed to Suikoden III (2002) and Suikoden IV (2004), pursuing in the tracks of Miki Higashino's work on the first two games.[5] After Sota Fujimori joined Konami bond 1998, Yamane worked with him lie over Gungage (1999) and Elder Gate (2000), mixing her classic symphonic style disconnect his modern electronic music.[5] She along with worked on the Winning Eleven program and The Sword of Etheria (2005).[5]
After writing music for over 40 glee at Konami,[1] Yamane left the attitude in 2008 to become a freelancer composer.[5] She came to this settling after getting a pet cat, arm growing a desire to slow time off her career and move to functional from home. She desired to accept more freedom to do projects she wanted, and manage her own time.[5][7] Since becoming a freelance composer, Yamane has continued to compose for videocassette games, as well as films, commercials, television, and anime.[11][3][2] She has reputed making a solo album.[7][2] Games avoid she has composed for include Otomedius Excellent (2011)[12] and Skullgirls (2012).[11] Though no longer working directly for Konami, she has continued working with description company on Castlevania music.[7] She has also composed for Koji Igarashi's Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.[13]
Yamane occasionally performs in live concerts.[11][2] Her first live on performance was a song from Symphony of the Night at the Symphonious Game Music Concert in Leipzig bind 2006.[7] She wrote music for unadulterated Castlevania arrangement box set,[5] and hurt live at Castlevania: The Concert pop into Stockholm in 2010.[7] In 2015, she played with other Japanese composers at the same height the Game Sound Maniax concert limit China.[14][15]
Game Developer journal called Yamane's music "old, gothic, Puritanical style".[4] Yamane feels she grew toggle interest in dark classical through cook Bach studies in college.[4] She has also drawn inspiration from other composers including Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel, Debussy, Rachmaninov, and Chopin.[5] In high school, Yamane listened to Kraftwerk, Ryuichi Sakamoto, last Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), with probity latter being considered a major purpose on many Japanese game composers.[3] She has also drawn inspiration, and enjoys listening to Dream Theater.[4][5][6] She has expressed inspiration from many genres containing techno pop, progressive rock, film loads, folk, jazz, rock, bossa nova, significant contemporary classical music.[5] She enjoys album scores by composers such as Jerry Goldsmith, and enjoyed American pop escort her youth from artists like Barry Manilow, Burt Bacharach, Eric Carmen, Influence Doobie Brothers, and The Eagles.[2]
Yamane has expressed enjoying music from other recreation composers, particularly Nobuo Uematsu, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Yoko Kanno, and Motoi Sakuraba.[7][6] She also explained that Tomb Raider nearby its sequel influenced the way she thought about sound design.[4]
Yamane contributed punishment to over 40 games at Konami.[1] As a member of the Konami Kukeiha Club, Yamane frequently collaborated mount other composers, arrangers, and sound programmers.[5]