Are There Any Up-And-Coming Composers?

Yeah, the industry is mostly ruled by people who have been around since the late 80s / early 90s even though many are now freelancers. But there is some new talent for sure.

Focusing on Japan, I'd definitely agree with Masafumi Takada and Jun Fukuda. Though Takada dates back quite a way, he's now often talked about. Same goes for Shoji Meguro and Takeharu Ishimoto that orient their music towards the mainstream sector. Others to look out for are Norikazu Miura, Sota Fujimori, Asuka Ota, Kimihiro Abe, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, Hideyuki Fukasawa, and Osamu Kubota.

Also, look out for more Norihiko Hibino. He's becoming a powerhouse of the industry with music production company GEM Impact and his international affiliations. Amazing this guy hasn't been around that long.

Personally, I'd describe Masashi Hamauzu as a fully fledged composer (he's been around for 13 years!). Pretty sure Shota Kageyama won't be back, though Procyon Studio has potential to be an important game audio developer. It's achievements with the DS are very impressive.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

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retty much all the Basiscape mini-composers (except Iwata, who's been around for ages) have the opportunity to be up and comers if they get more solo work. In a way, it's not unlike Hans Zimmer's studio, which saw composers like John Powell and HGW work as understudies before branching off on their own.

I'm not sure if Basiscape intends to see its composers branch out. Masaharu Iwata, who used to do a LOT of solo works in the NES years and to a lesser extent subsequently, now practically always works in a secondary collaborative role. Mitsuhiro Kaneda, who has been at the company since 2004 now, works on more high-profile projects but essentially never in a solo role. I personally think it is a shame as Kaneda, Abe, and Iwata are so talented although projects like Odin Sphere and Deltora Quest definitely served to increase their profile among the observant. But for the time being it looks like the whole 'Main Theme by Hitoshi Sakimoto, Other Composition by Masaharu Iwata, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, Kimihiro Abe, Noriyuki Kamikura' approach will continue.

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Takayuki Mitsuhara, whose work on Deep Labyrinth was rather impressive

As far as I know, Takayuki Mitsuhara has only arranged two tracks on Deep Labyrinth. That was a couple of years ago so, like Shota Kageyama or Tomoko Imoto, I think he's someone that probably won't return.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by orion_mk3

Perhaps not, but that doesn't preclude them from leaving the company to strike out on their own.

Most of the composers are in Basiscape because of security. Masaharu Iwata's career was essentially dead until he joined Basiscape, limited to just sound effects and sound programming jobs aside a cancelled project and Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis. Mitsuhiro Kaneda had even less prominence at Opus and similarly Azusa Chiba wanted more than just being a hentai / doujin composer. Noriyuki Kamikura and Kimihiro Abe are both university-trained salary men for the moment. (Manabu Namiki is an exception who has used Basiscape mainly to increase his workload and connections while remaining quite independent.) I think these composers will all have to establish individuality within Basiscape before having a chance of making it big as freelancers. At the moment, most employees work on five to ten projects a year and secure a decent salary in doing so despite not being exactly famous.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Not that small. Masaru Shiina has been active since 1997 and has worked on a large number of projects. As well as his Tales of Legendia, Kyo Kara Maoh!, and Mr. Driller projects, he has contributed to Ace Combat 3, Klonoa of the Wind, Tekken Dark Resurrection, The Idolm@ster (whose inflated discography puts me off ever trying to cover him), and quite a few other works. I think he is a colourful versatile composer, though a tad overrated.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by -=SeRaPH=-

I dont know how he could be overrated Mr X. I work with him often, even on a project that is currently progressing and I get extremely positivve comments from everyone I work with. That includes people like Mr Koh Otani who claimed he is one of the most talented "younger" stock of composer in Japan to engineers at Fox Studios.

To be honest, I don't know his reputation "punlicly" but I do not believe, freom all the people who I have seen comment about him, that he is overrated. I am pretty impressed with his latest work I did, although you won't hear it till September as it won't be released till then.

It's excellent to know he's so well critically received. I find his works can be occasionally superficial, but as I said I think he's a very colourful and consistent composer. By overrated, I was more referring to the fact that he seems to get a lot more individual credit than a lot of his Namco contemporaries. I have a lot of respect for the works of Keiki Kobayashi and Yu Miyake, for instance, but they don't seem to have acquired much of a fanbase despite having many well-received works.

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Anyway, I'm pretty scared of your reply Mr X, you usually come up with a devastating reply.

I think I'll take that as a compliment. There was a time when I was nice and fluffy, but then dark things happened to me.

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Agreed. We're going to be publishing something with Kubota-san in the near future, so be sure to watch for it!

Lookin' forward to it!

I was speaking idiomatically.