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Yasunori Mitsuda

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Yasunori Mitsuda was born in Tokuyama, Japan, in 1972 and grew up in Yamaguchi Prefecture. As a child he had piano lessons, but gave them up quickly, because he preferred sport. At secondary school he wanted to become a composer, inspired by Vangelis's film music for Blade Runner and by Henry Mancini. He studied at the Junior College of Music in Tokyo and in 1992 joined the games company Square, where at first he mainly made sound effects for games such as Final Fantasy V and Secret of Mana.

Music and breakthrough

In 1994 he demanded to be allowed to compose, and so he got Chrono Trigger, released in 1995. He was the only composer and wrote 54 pieces. He worked so hard that he developed stomach ulcers, after which Nobuo Uematsu finished the work. Mitsuda attributes the success to influences from folk and jazz rather than the semi-symphonic style that was then usual in game music. He then composed Xenogears in 1998 and Chrono Cross in 1999. In 1998 he became a freelancer and in 2001 he founded Procyon Studio, with the label Sleigh Bells. Later he also wrote for Xenosaga, Shadow Hearts and the anime Inazuma Eleven.

Influence

His music is regarded as among the best in the history of computer games. It shows that a small sliver of sound from a games console can tell a full, melodic story.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the music of Chrono Trigger and notice the melody, which is built from short, repeated motifs. Can you hear folk or jazz influences beneath the electronic sounds?

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsJRPG and orchestral Japanese game music