[News] Hiroyuki Iwatsuki Omega Five interview

I was contacted by Jeriaska to write up several questions for an interview with Hiroyuki Iwatsuki. I worked with Godai and Jeriaska to finalize the list of questions. Ryojiro Sato did the translations. Iwatsuki seemed joyful to talk about his work. Check out the interview at Siliconera:

Siliconera » Road to the Future: Hiroyuki Iwatsuki Omega Five interview

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Quote:

Having an integrated player ranking list and cooperative network play are great features.

Clearly he did not have Omega Five in mind with this comment... and he didn't, because he was commenting on X-Box Live's capabilities, but I am full of scorn and hatred and yaaaargh.

Nice interview, Kaleb. I did enjoy it. If you ever interview him again, ask him why his work on Gundam Wing: Endless Duel is so awesome. Seriously.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Rotorblade

Nice interview, Kaleb. I did enjoy it. If you ever interview him again, ask him why his work on Gundam Wing: Endless Duel is so awesome. Seriously.

I really would like to talk to him about his older work more, so I will keep that title in mind if I get another chance to interview him. For this interview, we wanted to put focus on Omega Five, so we couldn't ask too many unrelated questions.

Of course, I'm now interested in finding out what he's working on next. I'm glad that Natsume finally pulled him off the backburner and put him to work composing music for some noteworthy games. You don't see that happen too often. Usually when a composer hits a lull, that's pretty much the end.

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

I read a comment on Soundtrack Central that basically said Omega Five was a disappointment in comparison to his past works... and I really thought it was fairly empty regarding the soundtrack. What does his past work have to do with the quality of the soundtrack itself? I think he came out guns blazing for the most part with what he provided. Call me crazy, but I really believe those kind of comments lacks any sort of substance.

As you said, he's been on the backburner, and I think the catchy nature of the soundtrack is a testament to the kind of talent he has. I think Glacial Fortress when I initially played the game snatched by ears to the point where I kept playing stage 1 over and over with the sound effects off. I do hope we see more of him, and I'm happy to see this interview mainly because it gave me a chance to try and get an idea of his thought processes as a creator.

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

The Japanese-language version of this article was posted in full to sweeprecord the other day. Iwatsuki had an extended post on the blog on the making of the soundtrack when the album first went on sale. They have an online store for Super Sweep albums for shipping within Japan, for those who haven't seen it before.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Rotorblade

I read a comment on Soundtrack Central that basically said Omega Five was a disappointment in comparison to his past works... and I really thought it was fairly empty regarding the soundtrack. What does his past work have to do with the quality of the soundtrack itself?

At STC we (mostly me and Daniel K. in the past years really) were talking about Iwatsuki semi-regularly referring to what's known to be by him and readily available. That was nothing official (he afaik never had an official soundtrack before the ones mentioned in the interview) but rather the SNES stuff he was involved in (Daniel K. actually originally suggested doing a Pocky & Rocky SPC set after which we at snesmusic.org tried to get all known Natsume SNES games).

Obviously with most of Iwatsuki's work between SNES and now being unknown and the huge difference between technology, sequencing vs. streaming etc. people expecting a style Iwatsuki did well over a decade ago are bound to be disappointed (Iwatsuki said himself in the interview that he doesn't/"can't" listen to his works prior to PS2 streams simply as he didn't bother to record it).

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'm aware that Daniel K. was referring to his past work, because I know Iwatsuki hasn't had an official soundtrack release, aside from possibly Gundam Wing: Endless Duel (which was a bitch to find, let me assure you). The problem I had with the comment was that it implies that this work is somehow inferior period, as opposed to just a style change. It doesn't outline what was changed, it was made basically assuming that apparently we should know exactly what he's talking about. And frankly, I'm hearing the difference, but it certainly isn't in quality rather than style.

Again, maybe explaining might have helped but I read it and I "got it" and it just seemed like whining.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Rotorblade

(...) Iwatsuki hasn't had an official soundtrack release, aside from possibly Gundam Wing: Endless Duel (which was a bitch to find, let me assure you). The problem I had with the comment was that it implies that this work is somehow inferior period, as opposed to just a style change. It doesn't outline what was changed, it was made basically assuming that apparently we should know exactly what he's talking about.

This kind of criticism is very common as far as I can see. Especially with composers who worked with multiple systems (FM, SNES, Redbook, newer sequencing, streaming) there's often a vocal "population" preferring the older sound outright.

Also: There was a soundtrack of Gundam Wing: Endless Duel? o.O Catalogue number please?

Kaleb.G/Jeriaska, do you have direct contact to Iwatsuki? I'd be interested in following up my "poor man" comment at STC with sending Iwatsuki an actual CD of his past works. ; )

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by datschge

This kind of criticism is very common as far as I can see. Especially with composers who worked with multiple systems (FM, SNES, Redbook, newer sequencing, streaming) there's often a vocal "population" preferring the older sound outright.

Also: There was a soundtrack of Gundam Wing: Endless Duel? o.O Catalogue number please?

Point taken, though I would have at least liked more of a comment than "He's fallen off", it's my personal problem then. I do feel an explanation is necessary if we're talking about multiple styles of composition, if only to add some clarity and substance beyond "This is no good." Plus it means I have music to trace back to beyond Gundam Wing: Endless Duel and that Power Rangers beat em up.

I shall find the Catalogue number. A moment if you please!

Well, I get to have mud on the face. Sorry for misleading you, even saying "possibly", I thought it was official. The torrent wasn't a soundtrack at all, it was a guy from Zaku Nation's personal music project for an unofficial mix. Which you've probably seen already, I might wager. Again, my apologies.

Quote:

================================================== ====
Title: Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing : Endless Duel
Platform: Super Famicom (SNES)
Catalogue Number: ISBN#104017-0049498-7500
================================================== ====
Release Information:
- Released on December 30, 1996
- Japan Release Only
- 1 Player (No Memory Card Function)
================================================== ====
Game Soundtrack Info:
- SPC Rip --> WAV --> Edit --> Encode to MP3
- 15 Total Tracks
================================================== ====


Notes:

> Game

Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing : Endless Duel is a fighting game based on the anime. You can play
a 1-player story mode or 2-player versus with another person. The game was released only for
the Japanese Super Nintendo (Super Famicom) on December 30th, 1996.

> Music

The music in this game was done by Iwatsuki Hiroyuki & Ohashi Haruo. They put together all the
15 tracks found in the game. I used SONY SOUNDFORGE 7.0 to work with all
the sound recording and editing. Exact Audio Copy and LAME were used for encoding.

> Song Information

Each song has a 1-second silence gap before it starts and a 1-second silence gap when it ends.
For every song that takes more than 1:30 to finish, I have given it a 10-second fade out time.
All other songs have a 5-second fade out time. I allowed each song to play out at least twice
so that it did not take away from the musical value and I have applied a fade out where it would
make sense musically.

> Process

I first obtained the SPC file for the game and then extracted the song files from the game itself.
After that, I played it through an mp3 player and recorded it on SONY SOUNDFORGE 7.0. After this,
I simply used EAC and LAME to encode the tracks in high quality VBR. For the remastered edition,
reverb was added and the sound was run through a digital EQ to better shape the sound. It is geared
more towards treble to help bring out the smaller sounds garbled up otherwise and it clears up
the muffled sound in the standard edition. Also, I applied a bass expansion on the bass so that
it would be more effective.

> Track Titles

As for the track titles, I simply titled them according to where the song was played in the game.


End Notes:

I spent a good amount of time to make sure everything turned out right. SNES Music is always
fun to listen to. All credit goes to the composers of these songs and I hope you enjoy.

- Akira

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by datschge

Kaleb.G/Jeriaska, do you have direct contact to Iwatsuki? I'd be interested in following up my "poor man" comment at STC with sending Iwatsuki an actual CD of his past works. ; )

I think that would be great. It doesn't seem that he's implying that he doesn't want to listen to his old work, but rather he just is not familiar with SPCs and their conversion, and doesn't have time to rip the music himself.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Datschge, no need to send a physical CD. Iwatsuki is tech-savvy enough to download the files to his ipod or burn them to a CD if the mp3s are uploaded somewhere.

I'd send the URL and a "Honto ni Arigato" to his last.fm account. My impression is that he does not mind being friended by his listeners. If you have difficulty reaching him, pm me and we can put together an email in Japanese. I'm sure he will appreciate the gesture.

iwadon’s Music Profile – Users at Last.fm

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

Iwatsuki listens to Metroid Metal.

That is so awesome.

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

I sent him a pack of MP3 conversions of the available SPC sets he was involved in. This is what he responded:

Originally Posted by iwadon

Hi,
Thank you for your message and tunes.
They are my memories dear to me.
I am glad if you enjoy those tunes.

Nice!

I was speaking idiomatically.

A job well done, dats =D Could you post the Wild Guns conversion (assuming that was one of them)?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?