Music: Interview with video game composer Monish Corona

This talented video game composer has shared a little about his life and music with us. He's developing music for a new video game and it sounds very exciting! Read on to find out more about his career and musical skills!

Please tell us a little about your background and where you are from.

I was born Downey California, and was then raised in the Hawthorne/Lawndale area. Music has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. I actually used to have fantasies about growing up and becoming a singer as a child. When I decided to learn how to play music I joined a rock band in middle school, where I learned how to play the drums and started singing. However, when I got to High School I began studying video game music in freshmen year. Since video games were a big part of my childhood, this seemed to be the natural progression. During that time I really focused on learning percussion in different forms, and began playing the piano towards the end of high school. After that, I studied music composition at Santa Monica College for 3 years, and then transferred to Berklee College of Music in 2016.

You mentioned you learned to play instruments. How many, and what’s your favorite?

As I mentioned, my main instruments of choice at this point would be my voice, percussion, and the piano. However, I also learned how to play a little bit of guitar and bass from the bands I played in growing up. In high school, I dabbled in the flute for marching band. I actually became pretty good at playing the Ocarina at some point. I was really inspired by the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time to learn it, and to this day, I love picking it up every now and then.

Sounds like you really have a talent for music. Who was your greatest influence to follow in the music career? Why?

I’ve actually had quite a bit of influences growing up. I can definitely say in my early years learning music, I was into a lot of rock and metal bands, however I enjoyed a bit of everything. A few of my favorites growing up were Led Zeppelin, Avenged Sevenfold, Deftones, and Linkin Park. If I were to go on, there would way many to mention in this article. However, as I fell in love with video game music, I found my biggest influence to be Yoko Shimomura. There was just something about the way she brought very classical elements and made them sound modern that I loved. I discovered her music when listening to the Kingdom Hearts series, which to this day holds a very special place in my heart. I also fell in love with composers like Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Jeremy Soule, but in terms of pure influence, I always come back to Shimomura.

That’s great. So many great influences in music! What drove you to start composing scores?

I actually started off by transcribing some of favorite music from the video games I played. One day realized that I could use the knowledge I learned from the techniques I saw from the composers and started to create my own music. After that point, I wrote a lot of original music through high school in the style of my favorite composers growing up all the way up. When I started college I met up with few other students who were also trying to get into the game industry. We started making short games for fun, and I learned a lot more about the programming side of game audio. At some point, I started going to local Game Dev meet ups, just to meet other people who appreciated video games as an art form. I actually started writing music for a few games since than as well, and I always become excited to work on new projects!

That’s exciting! What's your favorite movie/game score? Why? Has it helped shape your work in any way?

Monish with his favorite composer Yoko Shimomura

I mentioned how my favorite composer was Yoko Shimomura, and while she composed the music for all the Kingdom Hearts games, my favorite soundtrack of hers so far have been her work on Kingdom Hearts 2 and most recently, Final Fantasy 15. However, I have to give an honorable mention to Uematsu’s soundtrack for Final Fantasy 8, Mitsuda’s soundtrack to Chrono Trigger, and Chrono Cross, and Nick Arundel’s work for the music in the Batman Arkham series. When it comes to movies however, my favorite soundtracks include Howard Shore’s work in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and I actually really love the music in Hans Zimmer’s “Man of Steel” soundtrack as well! I think everything that Hans Zimmer does is really well done. I can’t get enough of that man’s work!

Hans Zimmer is great and “Man of Steel” soundtrack is one of my favorites too! How do you draw inspiration to compose?

It really depends on the game and what the emotion the development team wants to convey. I usually will ask devs for a screenshot, or script of the game to convey those emotions and see what fits then mood. When composing scores, it’s really important to focus what’s best for every game because you want the music to immerse players and not become a distraction. Music can still be noticeable, and the one I love about game music is that they have a strong focus on melody, but you never want to distract the player too much from the game. There are many aspects to video games, and music is just one of them.

That’s an interesting side of composing! Do you prefer to compose at night or during the day? When are you most creative?

I really prefer to compose at night since I’m a natural night owl. I feel like some of my best “hoorah” moments happened when I was up late, and didn’t want to stop composing until I couldn’t stay awake anymore. However, as I got older, and time became more valuable, I learned the value of getting up early in the morning to get work done. Now, I really enjoy composing after a morning workout, and a good breakfast. I know I will become a night owl again at some point in the future, but for now, most of my creative moments happen in the morning, when I am the most focused and energized.

What's the favorite music you've created? What inspired it?

Actually, the most favorite music I created at this point is for my soundtrack for an upcoming game called “Bindstone”, as well as a few solo pieces I’ve made in the last year that pushed me to experiment a lot with my sound. I think when it comes to the music on Bindstone, the reason why this project is different from others I’ve worked on is because up until this point, is because the team is really great at critiquing my work. It’s also a project that pushes me out of comfort zone, and forces me to experiment with new musical ideas. I’m used to writing music for RPG’s, Platformers, and Puzzler games, and I never wrote music for a online multiplayer game before. I’ve loved the ideas that have been coming out of my head, and it also seems to be some of the most polished work I’ve made since I’m going through many rewrites for some tracks.

I’m sure it’s a great soundtrack. What are you working on now and what are your plans for the future?

Well, besides the soundtrack for Bindstone, I’m actually working on creating content for my YouTube channel, where I release a lot solo music, and video game music analysis videos. I will also be working on my first RPG soundtrack next year when further developments come further along.

Congratulations on your accomplishments. Is there anything else you'd like to add?

I would just like to thank you for taking the time to interview me, and giving me an outlet to share my musical history so far! It’s always nice to have a conversation with someone about a composer’s story, since everyone’s journey will be different.

Thank you so much for telling us a little about you and your music. We wish you a lot of success in your musical career.

To connect with Monish and hear more of his music:

Website: http://www.monishcorona.com/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF9BdzFX-Lemi6NTLpfgamg

BandCamp: https://monishcorona.bandcamp.com/

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/mosenko

Music: Interview with US Composer Chris Porter

It's time for music again and we love to find out new sounds. Today we're excited to introduce an awesome composer. Read on to find out more about his music and career!

Please tell us a little about your background and where you are from. 

I’m originally from the state of Michigan in the U.S., but I currently live in Okayama, Japan. I spent a year studying abroad at Kyushu University in the city of Fukuoka in 2009/2010. After returning home to graduate from university, I decided to move back to Japan. I’ve been living here since 2011.

How cool that you've adapted so well! Do you play any instruments? Which ones?

I’m most proficient at guitar, but I also play a little piano. I must say that my performance skills have taken quite a hit since I’ve become so focused on composing. Back in high school and the following few years, I was constantly in bands and was performing shows several times a month. I had lots of reason and opportunities to practice guitar because of that. Now the bulk of my music work is composing and arranging, so I don’t have the time I once did to dedicate to playing. I'm also married and have a son now. However, I still look up guitar tabs just about every week and jam out to some old favorites when my wife and son aren’t home (sometimes even when they are...).

I'm sure they enjoy hearing you jamming the guitar! Who was your greatest influence to follow in the music career? Why?
My biggest influence is definitely the Japanese video game music composer Yasunori Mitsuda. Hearing his score for the Playstation RPG Xenogears was a revelation and it’s where my love affair with game music began. I had enjoyed game music in the context of the games themselves since I was a little kid, but Xenogears was the first soundtrack that I actively sought out and purchased. In fact, I didn't even know they made physical soundtracks to video games until then. After several years of listening to game music, I started to experiment with digital audio production and began composing my own music in the style of video games.

That's great that videogame opened a window to your other musical talents. So besides Mitsuda's influence, what drove you to start composing scores?

After many years of casually writing music in the style of the video game soundtracks that I loved so much, I decided one day that I really needed to try to compose for an actual game. The way I found my first composing gig was actually quite interesting. I posted a status update on Facebook asking if anyone was making a game, or knew someone who was making a game, and needed a composer for it. A friend of mine who I studied abroad with replied that he had a classmate who was getting their degree in game design and was working on a game. He put us in touch and his friend brought me on to write the soundtrack to his game “Why is the Princess in a Magic Forest?!”

Wow, how exciting! What's your favorite movie/game score? Has it helped shape your work in any way?
As I mentioned above, my favorite game soundtrack is Xenogears. Choosing my favorite movie score is a bit difficult. I’m going to break the rules and choose four. I’d have to say it’s a tie between Jurassic Park (John Williams), The Last Samurai (Hans Zimmer), The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Howard Shore), and Swallowtail Butterfly (Takeshi Kobayashi). I’ve probably listened to those four movie soundtracks more than any others and all are very special to me in their own way. I can’t say that I’m influenced as much by film music as I am by game music, but I enjoy listening to it immensely.  

I'm a huge fan of John Williams and Hans Zimmer too! How do you draw inspiration to compose?
When I’m composing for a game, I get the most inspiration from the game itself; either from scripts, sketches, screenshots, conversations with the developers, gameplay footage, or actually playing the game myself. I feel like nothing can inform the direction the music should take more than your own intuition as a composer while interacting with the game itself.

That's very interesting! And do you prefer to compose at night or during the day? When are you most creative?
I used to prefer composing at night, but my schedule changed a couple of years ago and now I get most of my work done in the morning. However, during particularly busy periods, I’ll find myself utilizing both ends of the day equally.

The muse is always present, then! What's the favorite music you've created? What inspired it?
My absolute favorite type of music to write is RPG-inspired World/Folk/Orchestral, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at my discography! I have seven published albums, including six video game soundtracks, but none of them are for RPGs. Don’t get me wrong, each and every one of those was a joy to create, but I’ve always dreamed of composing for an RPG. A few years ago, I wrote over thirty tracks for an indie RPG, but due to unforeseen circumstances, development has been on hiatus for a long time and I’m not sure if it will ever get finished. Fortunately, you can hear all of that music as I was able to post it on my SoundCloud account. You can find it in the playlist called "Turn Back Time Soundtrack". I wrote approximately thirty tracks for another RPG called “A Story of the End – Revere” that is on track to being released, but it’s still in the post-production stage.

However, just because my published albums don’t reflect my composing preferences doesn’t mean I haven’t been keeping myself busy composing music in that style. My favorite collection of my music is for an album that’s releasing on June 5th called “Leaving Home: An RPG-Inspired Journey”. It’s an album filled with RPG-style town, city, and exploration themes that I compiled into a kind of grand journey. My good friend, the amazing artist Jonathan Griffith, created the cover art and absolutely nailed it. He really did an amazing job with it! As you listen to the album, you can more or less look at the album art and follow the adventurers on their journey from place to place. I’m so excited for the release and can't wait for everyone to hear it.  
 

I can't wait to listen to it. Sounds fantastic! Besides your new album release on June 6th, what are you working on now and what are your plans for the future?
I’m currently working on an arrangement for an upcoming video game tribute album being put out by Materia Collective. After that I have another huge project that I’ll be co-producing (but that’s top secret for now so I can’t divulge any more details). There are also a few soundtracks that I'm working on for games that are still in development. 

Is there anything else you'd like to share with our readers?
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share some of my story and music with you and your readers!

Thank you so much for your time and we wish you much success in your career!

To connect with Chris Porter: www.cportermusic.com

Follow him on twitter: https://twitter.com/CPorterMusic 

Make sure to listen to some of his albums by clicking on the links below. They're great!

https://chrisportermusic.bandcamp.com/album/leaving-home-an-rpg-inspired-journey

https://soundcloud.com/christopher-porter-7/delilahs-theme-from-turn-back-time

https://soundcloud.com/christopher-porter-7/falkner-town-1 

 

Music: Interview with Musician and Composer Chris Weatherwax AKA Ultrabeast (Classical electronica)

We're really excited to welcome another very talented musician and composer to our blog today: Chris Weatherwax (Ultrabeast), who I first met through Twitter, and listened to his amazing work on SoundCloud. Make sure you visit his pages (listed below) and sample his music! Here's a little bit of what he has to say about his work.

Tell us a little about yourself, where are you from and what is your background?

I am a 35 year old guy from the US. I've been playing piano/guitar/bass my whole life and composing. Have a Bachelor's in Classical Composition and Piano Performance. My graduation piece 10 years ago was a variation of Beethoven's Egmont overture I played on my piano. http://www.macjams.com/song/79115

What an incredible musical education! So, you play piano, guitar and bass! What is your favorite instrument, and how to you incorporate them into your music? 

Definitely piano because I've played it for so long I can sit down and my hands do their own thing while my brain figures out chord progressions and melodies while I'm playing. I incorporate them to counterpoint other things but only if the song needs it. Sometimes a song with just piano is great by itself if it's something I've never heard before and not boring.

That's some talent! What genre do you consider yourself and who is your greatest influence?  

Definitely classical chord progressions and improvisations. I combine classical chord progressions and melodies with modern sounds and instruments like electric guitars and synths, kind of like Wendy Carlos from the 70's.  My biggest influences are Beethoven, Mozart, Bach (Especially his Brandenburg Concertos I love their energy), Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Hans Zimmer, Samuel Barber (platoon),  Barry De Vorzon (Composer for The Warriors theme), Klaus Doldinger (Das Boot theme), Brian Eno (Dune theme). Hopefully I'm not boring you to death here :)

Not at all! I also love classic music and you mentioned several of my own favorites! With such great influence, what is your source of inspiration to compose? 

Source of inspiration is I practice very hard on my instruments and work on chord progressions in the back of my head while I do other things, then when the feeling strikes I sit down and improvise it out in my head while I'm playing. Sometimes I am up  for 3 days at a time until the song is finished. I'm kind of a freak, I also write poems for the songs and lyrics and love learning and doing everything myself. I get really excited about my music and love to share it with people!

You should be, after all this is a lot of work and the result is beautiful! What do you enjoy the most between the interaction with your fans? 

I get really excited about songs I'm working on and love sharing them with my Twitter/Facebook followers instantly when the song is done. It's great! Also I get some really amazing feedback from people on Soundcloud and Macjams and other places. They give me some really awesome ideas for things to add to my songs I never would have thought of!

It's exciting to know your fans are enjoying your music and can also give you feedback and ideas. When I heard some of your music, there are some vocals as well. Do you also sing? Who does the vocals for your music? 

I do sing yes. My mother was an opera singer so I guess I have some of her genes in me. I do my own vocals for my songs and just got a new blue yeti mic which I love. You can hear me singing in "Enter my dreams" https://soundcloud.com/chris-weatherwax-1/enter-my-dreams and "I am Unyielding". http://www.macjams.com/song/79804  

How fascinating, you are a product of a music family! So what are your plans for the coming year? 

I am working on a couple composer competitions for AAA games like Bioshock Infinite and Star Citizen. Just working on always getting better. Working on getting my vocals and guitar better and finishing learning the new version of Ableton Live 9 Suite, also exploring some new vst's. I also perform my songs live in concerts/recitals and improvise new songs from scratch as I play my main ones like Beethoven's Pathetique/Moonlight Sonata and Mozart's K. 545. 

Great plans! Now tell us, where can we find your music? 

All over the place. Soundcloud, Macjams, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter. Following me on Twitter is the best because I always tweet new songs I'm working on every week and when they're finished as well. They are all free for download but if you want to support me I suppose you can buy some stuff on Bandcamp!   
 

Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzKr8eBxyh5KQpFtrKx7SxA/videos

Facebook artist page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ultrabeast-Harkonnen-ComposerMusician/672061689530500?ref=hl

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/chris-weatherwax-1

Twitter: (The best way to follow what I'm working on) : https://twitter.com/WeatherwaxChris (@WeatherwaxChris)

Macjams: A great old site where I do works in progress a lot of great knowledgeable people there: http://www.macjams.com/artist/Ultrabeast

Bandcamp: where you can buy high quality finished stuff to support me if you wish: http://ultrabeastharkonnen.bandcamp.com/releases

My website where you can find all of these links and updates: http://www.chrisweatherwax.com/

Great suggestions. Would you like to share anything else with the readers? 

Yes, I spend most of my time working on songs and practicing them, so I don't have much time or energy to promote myself, so if you would share my songs with people that would be great! All of my songs on Soundcloud are from the past year some are works in progress but there are many really good finished ones as well. Also I enjoy doing slow builds where the song starts out slow and the best part is in the last 2 minutes so if you don't listen to the whole thing you might be missing out on the best part. I am an audiophile and love listening to my Sennheisers. I do record with them occasionally so if you are an audiophile you will appreciate the subtle details in the pans. Anyway thanks for this interview it's nice to see people having an interest in composers! :) 

Thank you, Ultrabeast, for sharing a little of your musical talent with us! We wish you good luck and success in your career!