Hirokazu Tanaka
Hirokazu Tanaka | |
---|---|
田中 宏和 | |
Born | anison | December 13, 1957
Instrument(s) | Keyboards |
Website | hirokazutanaka |
Signature | |
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Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka (田中 宏和, Tanaka Hirokazu, born December 13, 1957),
Tanaka's soundtrack credits include
Biography
Early life
Born to a schoolteacher mother who had Tanaka undergo piano lessons, Tanaka recounted that he first began paying serious attention to music while in elementary school, and attempted to form a band during that time. His first band was formed when he was in middle school, a
Employment at Nintendo
In 1980, after graduating from university with a degree in
Everything just stayed the same. From morning to night, we made new circuits and developed software. We had computers for work but they were TTY devices; they had no monitors. Back and forth, morning to night. Sometimes designing hardware, and sometimes creating software. Back and forth, for me at least. ... I'd work from 9AM to as late as 2 or 3 in the morning. They didn't make us do it. It was just fun. We talk about the history of games, but for me, the history of games and computers overlap. If anything, I think it was more of the history of the evolution of computers ... I studied all about computers after I joined Nintendo. I think our generation of Nintendo employees were all the same. We learned as we went, built our own systems, and built them again. For instance, we made our own development tools. So everything was handmade. It was really fun. ... There was a continuous stream of new jobs and you'd go from one to the next.[5]
While working full-time at Nintendo on two or three games a year, and sometimes two simultaneously, Tanaka continued playing gigs in Osaka and Tokyo with the Shampoos. Sometime in the late 1980s,
Tanaka was one of "about five or six" Nintendo-based developers who designed the Game Boy, researching and creating its audio hardware.[5][9] He was inspired to develop the Game Boy Camera from a product called ViewCam that was popular at the time — Tanaka also ran experiments on the possibility of watching television via the Game Boy.[5]
Creatures Inc.
At the advice of
Tanaka succeeded Ishihara to become the president of Creatures in 2001, while Ishihara continued as CEO.[1] Starting in the late 2000s, Tanaka began to perform at Japanese dance clubs under the name "Chip Tanaka". The moniker was suggested by a foreign acquaintance, as Tanaka thought "Hip Tanaka" was too attached to his time at Nintendo.[5]
After the death of Satoru Iwata in 2015, Tanaka wrote a tribute track titled "Dedicated to Satoru Iwata".[10] In April 2023, Tanaka announced he was stepping down as president and executive director of Creatures, but would remain as a Creative Fellow.[11][12]
Influences
Tanaka has said that his tastes in his youth were typical of the time, listening to artists such as the Beatles and the Carpenters. His first exposure to dub music was through the 1978 album Negrea Love Dub by Linval Thompson while eating pasta at a restaurant with live music in Kyoto. It was the record's use of exaggerated tape delay which astounded Tanaka, who stopped eating every time he heard it occur: "I thought 'Is this music sick?' But the more I listened to it, that groove with the bass line and the mixer... I think the mixer takes full control of it, directly and instinctively. When I felt it, I thought 'This is amazing.' I was totally hooked." Tanaka explained his fascination with reggae music and his application for it in his game scores: "It wasn't proactive on my part. I was a music lover that happened to be working at Nintendo. ... The reason I like reggae, especially dub, is because there actually is vocal and guitar on it, let's say, but in the essence, it's strictly driven by drums and bass. That's what I love about it the most. ... I think I like how there's this raw aspect to it. The gritty, raw quality of the sound, let's say. That really caught my ears. And that deep bass sound, the "buuu..." That was something I never heard before in rock music. It drove me like no other genre in music."[5]
Among specific musical influences, Tanaka has cited
Works
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
1980 | Space Firebird | Sound effects[14] |
Radar Scope | ||
Heli Fire | ||
1981 | Donkey Kong
| |
1982 | Mickey & Donald | Programmer[14] |
Donkey Kong II | ||
1983 | Donkey Kong 3 | Sound effects[14] |
Mario Bros. | ||
Pinball | Programmer[14] | |
Mario's Cement Factory | ||
Donkey Kong Jr. | ||
Snoopy | ||
Popeye | ||
Mario's Bombs Away
| ||
1984 | Spitball Sparky | |
Wild Gunman | Music, sound effects[14] | |
Duck Hunt | ||
Hogan's Alley | ||
Urban Champion | ||
1985 | Balloon Fight | |
Wrecking Crew | ||
Stack-Up
| ||
Gyromite
| ||
1986 | Gumshoe | |
Metroid | ||
Kid Icarus | ||
1987 | Ginga no Sannin
|
Music supervisor[14] |
1988 | Famicom Wars | Music with Kenji Yamamoto
|
1989 | Super Mario Land | Music, sound effects[14] |
Yakuman | ||
Tetris
| ||
Mother | Music with Keiichi Suzuki | |
Golf | Sound effects[14] | |
1990 | Knight Move | Music, sound effects[14] |
Dr. Mario | ||
Balloon Kid | ||
1992 | Hello Kitty World
| |
Fire Emblem Gaiden | Supervisor | |
Mario Paint | Music with Ryoji Yoshitomi and Kazumi Totaka | |
X | Sound effects[14] | |
1994 | EarthBound | Music with Keiichi Suzuki, Hiroshi Kanazu, and Toshiyuki Ueno |
1995 | Snoopy Concert | Music with Minako Hamano |
1997 | Game & Watch Gallery | Advisor |
1998 | Game Boy Camera | Director, graphic designer, music[14] |
Wrecking Crew '98 |
Sound director | |
2001 | Chee-Chai Alien | Director, game designer, music[14] |
Machop at Work | Director | |
Kingler's Day | ||
2003 | Pokémon Channel | Supervisor |
2008 | Super Smash Bros. Brawl | Music arrangements[a] |
2009 | PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure | Producer |
2011 | Pokédex 3D | |
PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond | ||
2012 | Pokémon Dream Radar | |
Pokédex 3D Pro | ||
2014 | Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U | Music arrangements[b] |
Pokémon Art Academy | Pokémon Trading Card Development | |
2016 | Detective Pikachu | Producer |
2018 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate | Music arrangements[c] |
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
1997–2002 | Pokémon |
Japanese opening and ending themes[14] |
2002–2006 | Pokémon: Advanced Generation
| |
2006–2010 | Pokémon: Diamond & Pearl
| |
2010–2013 | Pokémon: Best Wishes
| |
2013–2016 | Pokémon XY
|
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2011 | Play for Japan: The Album | composed "HVC-1384" |
2017 | Django[15] | Original album |
2020 | Domingo[16] | |
2021 | Lost Tapes[17][18] | Demo and prototype music |
Domani[19] | Original album |
References
- ^ a b Tanaka, Hirokazu. "Biography". HirokazuTanaka.com. Archived from the original on 14 September 2010. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
- ^ a b c Hadfield, James (14 November 2017). "The music you didn't realize you grew up with: Chip Tanaka's 8-bit revolution". The Japan Times. Tokyo. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
- ^ a b Tanaka, Hirokazu (25 September 2002). "Shooting from the Hip: An Interview with Hip Tanaka". Gamasutra (Interview). Interviewed by Brandon, Alexander. Informa. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
- ^ a b Greening, Chris (23 August 2013). "Hirokazu Tanaka Profile". Video Game Music Online. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Tanaka, Hirokazu (November 22, 2014). Hirokazu Tanaka on Nintendo Game Music, Reggae and Tetris | Red Bull Music Academy (YouTube video: lecture) (in English and Japanese). Tokyo. Archived from the original on December 19, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
{{cite AV media}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b "Diggin' in the Carts". Red Bull Music Academy. Archived from the original on October 1, 2014. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
- ^ Tanaka, Hirokazu. "SHAMPOO'S ORANGE /198x". hirokazutanaka. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
- ^ Tanaka, Chip (September 8, 2019). "Thunder Dub". Bandcamp.
- ^ Wiz, Adam (January 31, 2022). "Let's Interview: Father of Chiptune, Chip Tanaka!". Gaming Reinvented. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
- ^ Webster, Andrew (July 13, 2015). "Listen to this beautiful tribute to Satoru Iwata from the composer of Dr. Mario". The Verge. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
- ^ Writer, Jeffrey Rousseau Staff (2023-04-05). "Creatures Inc. sees leadership change as CEO and president step down". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
- ^ "役員人事に関するお知らせ". 株式会社クリーチャーズ (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-05-30.
- ^ Itoi, Shigesato (June 16, 2003). "『MOTHER』の音楽は鬼だった。" [Music of "MOTHER" was a demon]. 1101.com (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 5, 2014. Translation
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Tanaka, Hirokazu. "Works". HirokazuTanaka.com. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
- ^ "Chip Tanaka to release first full solo album". Video Game Music Online. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
- ^ "Domingo". Bandcamp. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
- ^ "Hirokazu Tanaka's Lost Tapes Album Consists of Game Demo Tracks". Siliconera. 17 February 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ "「めざせポケモンマスター」の最初期デモなどを収録。田中宏和氏のデモ音源を集めたCD「Lost Tapes」が発売決定". GAME Watch. 16 February 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ "Domani/Chip Tanaka". VGMdb.
External links
- Official website (in Japanese)
- Hirokazu Tanaka discography at MusicBrainz