Kohta Takahashi
Kohta Takahashi 高橋 弘太 高橋 コウタ | |
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Also known as | Kohta Kohta "SOLIDSTATE" Takahashi |
Born | Kanagawa, Japan | October 5, 1972
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Years active | 1989–present |
Kohta Takahashi (Japanese: 高橋 弘太, romanized: Takahashi Kōta, usually spelt 高橋 コウタ; born October 5, 1972) is a Japanese composer. He is best known for his work on Namco games, including multiple Ridge Racer and Klonoa titles, as well as Ace Combat 2 and the console version of Tekken 5.
Early life
Takahashi grew up with a father who was the drummer of a jazz band and a mother who particularly liked classical music, which led to him growing up with a wide variety of music. As a young child, he attended a classical piano class which developed his initial understanding of music. He wrote his first composition aged 6-8, titled "Umai". He later became interested in video games and their music, where he programmed his compositions on various computers. During his high school and college years, he composed for various doujin game projects and created an album of video game music arrangements and original compositions created using a
Namco work (1995–2001)
Originally, Takahashi had aimed to enter the game industry as a programmer, but he decided to send demo tapes of his college music work to Namco, whose games he had enjoyed since childhood. At the time he could not play guitar, so after submitting the tape he practiced guitar for six months. Much to his surprise, he was accepted into the company; while he wanted to work in the arcade division, he was assigned to the home console division much to his disappointment, fearing that he had lost his chance to work on Ridge Racer and Air Combat games. However, he was allowed to perform guitar on the opening theme of Ridge Racer Revolution. Nobuhide Isayama, his senior, taught him to play jazz fusion-styled guitar phrases.[1]
His first major project as a composer was for Ace Combat 2, where he served as the lead composer, with much of the soundtrack comprising funk rock music heavily inspired by Top Gun.[2][3] Takahashi wanted the music to be "stimulating" and intense to convey a sense of anxiety, while making sure it had a distinct flare. In addition to rock tracks, there are also a handful of drum and bass and techno tracks to express the science fiction elements of the game;[1] this direction was further explored for the soundtrack of Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere, which Takahashi did not work on. He also contributed tracks to Klonoa: Door to Phantomile.
In 1998, he composed for R4: Ridge Racer Type 4, which he found difficult due to his relative unfamiliarity with dance-oriented genres, which were outside his musical tastes at the time.[4][5] He found Hiroshi Okubo, the game's sound director, to be "the gatekeeper to club sound hell" as he frequently rejected his contributions due to them not fitting his musical direction. Despite this, he was able to heavily incorporate electric guitars and breakbeats in some of his tracks.[6]
Takahashi subsequently served as the sound director and lead composer of Ridge Racer V, released in 2000. Aiming to take the game's music in a different direction from previous games, he brought in Japanese electronic music duo Boom Boom Satellites, Takeshi Ueda and German DJ Mijk van Dijk as contributors, along with Namco composers Nobuyoshi Sano, Yuu Miyake, and Yoshinori Kawamoto; the former two worked in Namco's arcade division at the time. This resulted in the game having a diverse soundtrack, encompassing genres such as trance, death metal and breakbeat.[1] His final project at Namco was contributions to Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil in 2001; he left the company shortly after the game's release and temporarily ceased his activities in the game industry.
Freelance work (2001–present)
Takahashi resumed his game music work in 2002. One of the first games he worked on as a freelancer was cutscene music for
Eventually, Takahashi's interest in writing music for games declined. He was contacted by Makoto Asada of
Since the 2010s, Takahashi has published various solo albums of original music, including Core and Everyone, both consisting of tracks he composed in the early 2000s. These tracks have been compared to his work in the Ridge Racer series.[8] In 2022 he released Reiwa Type 4, a concept album imagining how a new Ridge Racer game's soundtrack could sound.[9] This led to the release of another Ridge Racer-inspired album in 2023, titled Reiwa Type V. He also uses Patreon to share work-in-progress and unreleased tracks.[10]
In 2024, he created a remix for the upcoming rhythm game Friday Night Funkin', intended for the game's Erect difficulty.[11]
Works
Year | Title | Role(s) | Ref. |
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1989 | Zankokushi | Music | [12] |
1990 | Ninja Striker | Music | [12] |
Curly Battle | Music | [12] | |
1992 | G-Radius IV | Music | [12] |
1995 | Ridge Racer Revolution | Guitar (attract music) | [12] |
1996 | World Stadium EX | Music (newspaper theme), guitar (opening music) | [12] |
Rage Racer | Guitar ("Rage Racer") | [13] | |
1997 | Ace Combat 2 | Music with Nobuhide Isayama, Tetsukazu Nakanishi and Hiroshi Okubo | [12] |
Klonoa: Door to Phantomile | Music with various others | [12] | |
1998 | R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 | Music with various others | [12] |
2000 | Ridge Racer V | Music with various others; sound director | [12] |
2001 | Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil | Music with various others; sound director | [12] |
2002 | Space Raiders | Cutscene music | [12] |
2004 | Beatmania IIDX 11: IIDX RED
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Arrangement ("Resonate 1794") | [12] |
Ridge Racer | Music ("Synthetic Life" and "Night Stream") | [12] | |
2005 | Tekken 5 | Console version; music with various others | [12] |
Ridge Racer 6 | Arrangement ("Galactic Life") | [12] | |
2011 | Bullet Soul | Synth programming, mixing, guitar | [7] |
Pop'n Music 20: Fantasia | Arrangement ("The First Space Fight from Falsion") | [12] | |
2013 | Gitadora
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Music ("Awaken Ver.G") | [12] |
2014 | Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U | Arrangement ("Title (Metroid)") | [12] |
2017 | Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours
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DLC; remixes ("Skies Above Ohta-ku" and "Descent into the Clouds") | [12] |
2021 | Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise | DLC; music ("Evolution") | [14] |
2024 | Friday Night Funkin' | Remix ("High Erect") | [11] |
References
- ^ a b c d e f Greening, Chris (June 15, 2011). "Kohta Takahashi Interview: Cutting-Edge Namco Scores". VGM Online.
- EMAP Images. Computer and Video Games. pp. 36-39. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
- ^ Greening, Chris (August 1, 2012). "Ace Combat 2 Music Collection". VGM Online.
- ^ R4 / RIDGE RACER TYPE 4 / DIRECT AUDIO (CD) (in Japanese). January 27, 1999.
- ^ "ナムコ「リッジレーサーズ」 サウンドチーム大集合(前編)". GAME Watch (in Japanese). December 22, 2004.
- ^ Greening, Chris (August 1, 2012). "Ridge Racer Type 4 Direct Audio". VGMO.
- ^ a b Greening, Chris (November 2010). "Interview with Kenji Ito (November 2010)". Square Enix Music Online.
- ^ Sorlie, Audun (October 14, 2013). "Ridge Racer composer releases new original album". Destructoid.
- ^ Yamanaka, Tajiro (July 4, 2022). "『リッジレーサー』新作を"妄想"して制作された非公式サントラが配信。シリーズの楽曲を手がけた高橋コウタ氏の最新アルバム". AUTOMATION (in Japanese).
- ^ Takahashi, Kohta. "高橋コウタ Kohta Takahashi". Patreon.
- ^ a b @FNF_Developers (March 20, 2024). "FNF Erect Mode Sampler (1/2) Visualizers by @peepo173 Music by @kawaisprite , @kohta09 , and @siximpalasix" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Takahashi, Kohta. "Works". SOLID STATE JAPAN.
- ^ Takahashi, Kohta (December 3, 2023). "Memories of the 12/3 Ridge Racer series of projects". Patreon.
- ^ "「Fit Boxing 2 workout BGM ~My instructor~」楽曲作家コメント". note. November 4, 2021.