Interview with Michiru Yamane (Castlevania Music)

[Chepito2846]

Everybody talks about her work from sotn.which to me will always be the greatest soundtrack of all time.but what about her work in bloodlines, that was hot shit too.both scores are amazing.sega and konami forever

[AentikDranikan]

Konami should create a music academy REAAAAAAAAAAALLY ill be there as first student for all eternity

[eadlie24]

she's a legend.. here music, especially on Castlevania SOTN are an instant classic!

[eadlie24]

@eadlie24

*her music

[JonBlizzle2]

Castlevania SOTN is one of my all time favorite games. It would have been a completely different game without the amazing score she did!

[blackandblue85]

Watching this interview... I came in my boxers.

[lavachoke]

what kind of keyboard is she using anyone know

[ChurchBoy0487]

@lavachoke The one she was playing is a Kurzweil K2500X. The "kind" of keyboard it's considered is a workstation. The keyboard above the Kurzweil is a Yamaha EX5. The K2500/K2600's were very expensive and were considered staples in sound production. The EX5 didn't get much recognition back then yet it's considered one of the best/underrated keyboards yamaha ever produced and it has a surprisingly large fanbase that's gradually increasing despite the fact that yamaha abandoned it many years ago.

[HarryFranz]

I would totally marry her :D

[HarryFranz]

THAT'S A HUGE ASS KEYBOARD!

[mruppel2]

Konami-compute-nte- tenimen-totokyo

[Theshark15z]

She left Konami to pursue an idependent composing career.

[TheKrustaceox]

See that woman modest sitting in her chair? Thats a Genius right there.

[Deidaaraartisabang]

this woman is a legend and so underrated !

[bjorn860]

you're forgetting about Shoshiro Hokkai...

[gladeplugins]

Konami has been using her a lot. One of their smartest decisions IMO!

[agetro82]

Thats what it takes, a female japanese composer to make the absolute best in video game music. She deserves much high quality projects for the high end consoles rather than DS castlevania games.

[hotsum0ta]

this woman has made the best music for the best platformer/RPG of all times! CASTLEVANIA: SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT FTW!

[noir0222]

michiru yamane has a good ear 

[luno44]

sure would like to know what they're saying.

[idjoemama]

i cant belive she did contra hard corps as well

[Romansteel13]

Michiru Yamane and Nobuo Uematsu are the gods of composing video game music. Those who disagree know nothing about music or games.

[twotorches]

@Romansteel13 yoko shimomura is also really good ;)

[donbear1983]

@Romansteel13 You forgot Shinji Hosoe and Hamauzu--been making great music for games from 20 years ago to now too.

[juan951236478]

@Romansteel13

(my english isn't good)

i think Michiru Yamane and Yuzo Koshiro are the greatest video game composers. i love their job in Portrait of Ruin, it's AWESOME. but that's just my opinion :P

[TheTragicPrinceAlvin]

WOW! It came to a total shock to me when I saw this because I always thought Michiru Yamane was a male. LOL

[theblckmag]

@TheTragicPrinceAlvin ROFL!

[animanyak29]

agreeeeeed!!!!.. she made music that pleases the ears of us gamers.. love her!!! love castlevania..

[TheAzureKnighthood]

Yamane-sama is one of my personal favorite composers for VG OSTs.

The others are Koji Kondo for Nintendo, and for Square-Enix, Yasunori Mitsuda, Nobuo Uematsu, and Yoko Shimomura.

If I ever had the chance, I would ask these three companies (Konami, Nintendo, and Square-Enix) to allow me to have these 5 composers collaborate on the soundtrack for a game.

T'would be awesome.

[xcaluhbration]

I take back what I said about ALL women being shitty at creating music.

[DenOfVipers]

@xcaluhbration what's amazing is that you're still an asshole.

[xcaluhbration]

@DenOfVipers Girl Power... *rimshot*

[DenOfVipers]

@xcaluhbration yup, still a jackass. Just checking in.

[xcaluhbration]

@DenOfVipers Marry Me.

[serpintis]

quite gifted and talented. I have a huge admiration for her.

[gorry123]

Too bad they shown Harmony of Dissonance as an example of a game with her music. This part had IMO the worst soundtrack of all 2D Castlevanias including the NES ones, and the game was shitty as a whole. SOTN or any of the '... of Sorrow' series would do much better here.

[TheAzureKnighthood]

@gorry123

Another example was Symphony of the Night ("Akumajo Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight" in Japan) so meh.

[penancetb]

I love this woman. I´m a big fan of hers Castlevania Tracks. I hope hear more of her music. She´s amazing

[marvesmarves]

there are games that have a 1 or 2 nice music bg, but in castlevania SOTN most of it is truly beautiful, that you want to learn piano or guitar, this lady is amazing

[SNKFIGHTING]

Her masterpieces=*****AWESOME*****­

[gnahzdivad]

Her cubicle ... O.o

[rage702]

i understood none of this, but am a huge fan of her music. even if alot of it is midi. i still bump it for hours.

[zibeddy]

shes a freakin legend

[SLASHDin]

i love her compositions

[willsoe]

holy shit, I suppose it is my ignorance of Japanese names, but I didn't realise it was a woman. Her music is amazing! Tragic prince FTW!

[vlad0integra]

i thought i was the only one who thought Tragic Prince was hot shit

[amalgamation25]

you're not alone, tragic prince is kick ass, perfect mix of metal and classical, and this lady makes it all come together nicely.

[Neosablenk2000]

If you have listen to Festival Of Servant....OMG..This woman really creates DeathMetal Symphony style music...awesome!!!

[amalgamation25]

fuck yeah! the first riff is killer in that one. its like there's a metal band playing with an organ at the same time, epic.

[stephenwilhoit]

This is like the only thing on youtube in reference to her work or performance. I wish she had a channel with more behind the sceen video footage and maybe even some performances.

[Industriajor]

there are more videos but youtube is not so popular in japan... there are other videoblogs used in japan with a lot of content of Michiru just dont remember, sorry i will try to look and paste here!

[Muffincakeswithsugar]

can anyone dub this please?

[TheAzureKnighthood]

@Muffincakeswithsugar

Or sub it. I don't care.

[bobjones1783]

yeah, this video would be awesome IF I SPOKE JAPANESE.

[nerminest]

I really liked the Lament of Innocence BGMs. Simply cryptic but great.

[ILoveThickChicks88]

I would love to marry a woman as talented as Michiru Yamane. ^_^ Her work is beautiful!

[Karuvitomsk]

Thanks for subbing this.

[crazyiproshow]

i want her cubicle

[Mirrorbeholding]

This old lady is definitevely the composer whose works I like the most.

[denshiblocks]

check out those cubicles! thats my kind of "office"!!

[Fox4Mgs]

Michiru Yamane and Michiru Ochima are The best !!!

[Death1121]

I only liked Yamane's work on SOTN. the music she makes for the DS games, aren't mostly that great.

[RainMan34]

Well, SOTN is arguably one of the best, most diversely stylized video game soundtracks of all time. It'd be impossible to recreate that.

[TubeP2P]

Yes She is superGenius woman, I love music of Michiruu AHHH Yeahhh is the best

[nic0203]

She is GENIUS. :D

[Alucarddevil666]

Japanese? oh no. Anyway i love Castlevania Music :)

[Meteotrance]

she also the composer of the megadrive genesis version and symphony of night on saturn and psx

[takujei]

Most beautiful hands ever!!! :) <3michiru chan^^

[amagadz]

she's a genius

[emailass]

in english, please -.-

[martinstatic]

Learn Japanese......ばかですよ。。。-.-

[albertoalejandro0424]

She might not be what most people call beautiful, but it is what comes outta her mind and her warm smile that makes her special.

I'd like to be able to understand her better -beyond being able to speak Japanese.

[IWillNotConceide18]

I know the feeling. I just wanna to sit down and have lunch with her. Then go back to her house and have an impromptu jam session :P

[Sinistral1989]

Does anybody know how to get autographes of

Ayami Kojima and/or Michiru Yamane? I'm desperately looking for them as a birhday present for a friend. I know, they may be hard to achieve, but...they would be *so* good presents. XD

I am grateful for any help.

[mastah9999]

wow... is girl o_o, awesome.

[Sargey123]

One of the best OST ;3

[cpthurme]

keep on composing!!

[DarkenSlayer]

I like her work, she's awesome...

[demetriorex]

someone pleease translate I love Castlevania soundtracks, best game music ever!

[bajess]

I concur, lol

[slash30000]

translation please

[guitarspectre]

Jesus Christ...... i love it... love her.. the job the game k Damn!!!

[irkiIIer]

Dude her job must b fun, im proud of her.

[pepitobarc]

un genio

[Tabuu101]

Lament of Inocence, Curse of Darkness and SOTN, Had the best Soundtracks to me.

[deathknight246810]

me too

[bajess]

but to bad LoI sucked as a game....

[Julienfun]

LoI was awesome

[bajess]

I didn't think so, the story kinda sucked

[martinstatic]

Screw the story, its a castlevania game...since Sotn, its about gameplay, fluidity, level design and replay value..lament of innocence was good in those respects and the music was one of the best since Sotn :P

Its not like its final fantasy or something, in which the story would be much more of a deciding factor on if it sucks

[TranceCore3]

Too japanese; Didn't listen.

[HRVDNT]

If anyone but her compose music for a Castlevania game, it's blasphemy.

[lund246]

english please

[Blizzardeath]

Undoubtedly one of the top best video game music composers in the universe...every track she produces is famous,especially castlevania,once you listen,you cant stop there...

[uze6666]

I've been playing video games since the first Castlevania and her latest tracks on Portrait of Ruin are simply the best video game music I've ever heard period! Konami have release her original, full quality work on CD...look for it!

[RedvBlue30]

Michiru Yamane is a goddess when she made the Castlevania music.

[Jizu16]

i make daily offerings and sacrifices.

Lets hope some virgin maiden blood can keep her immortal

[takujei]

hell yeah!

[Charlymaumushi]

Amen to that. I'll sacrifice my own kids for her: The goddess of Harmony! (new castlevania title...JK)

[deathknight246810]

Castlevania are my favourite games, but zealots make me laugh XD

[FortuneSeek3rz]

I couldn't understand any of it, but obviously this lady is a genius. I'd like to shake her hand one day.

[AlucardsQuest]

Shake her hand? I'd have her baby!

[OldSchoolGamer1975]

She kicks ass! I will always love the music she composed for Castlevania Symphony Of The Night!! It has some of the best song tracks in video game history!!!!

[RainMan34]

I just finished listening to the Bloodlines soundtrack... and I have chills.

Michiru's music is so sexy. Spellbinding in every sense and it brings so much life to the Castlevania series, as a whole.

What a brilliant musical mind! 3 cheers for the gal!

[rafael2487]

Shes the best,,,,

[zzzra86]

I have no idea what she is saying, but I know one thing: she's a genius

[inuyashalover247]

i agree!

[marvesmarves]

Arigato Kodaimas

[ledsilver]

Can you put english subtiles, please?

[cowboydan0]

she said that when she was younger there weren't video games, so there wasn't video game music. But, she thought thought when she was young that she wanted to make movie soundtracks. Once video game music began to become engrained in Japanese culture, she saw an opportunity to sort of fulfill this dream i guess. She was also quoted near the end as saying that she hopes that video game music will someday be recognized around the world in the same way that movie soundtracks are.

[ncustodio]

Jesus Christ, this lady practically works out of a cubicle! Granted, it's a nice looking office and she's got a crapload of awesome equipment, but this is Michiru Freakin' Yamane, Konami! For crying out loud, she should be working out of a mansion overlooking some waterfall or something! I can't believe this lady composes such masterpieces while working in that kind of environment. Just... wow.

[xXNickPXx]

Just because that's how you'd envision yourself composing music doesn't mean that's what works best for her! Music is a very internal, mental art where the worlds that provide inspiration for your pieces come from inside. That being said, her "office" looks a little cramped...

Your environment can of course help a lot. But for dark scary pieces I'd rather if Yamane was not overlooking a nice peaceful waterfall haha...

[aistisice]

It said that she is a "chief sound designer" - that as well means u have somebody to do all the crappy work for you, but as well u have ppl to guide and look after. I kinda feel it would be hard to do from home. Making a full sound coverage is a team game.

[fettskraag]

maybe her homeis like that and she composes the music there.. and just records it and makes samples in her lil konami cubicle lol

[AlucardsQuest]

In Tokyo, she's lucky to have that much space. But her music is fairly successful so I imagine she has a nice place to live out of town.

[orbit789321]

what the hell are they saying?!?!?!?!?

[Ryosuke1208]

symphony of the night made fall in love with them =o

[teoweiyong]

My Heroine.

[WinterViolet]

No! Mine!

[Industriajor]

wow KONAMI & Michiru Yamane made me fall in love with my symphony of the night game!!!

[ElementalBlazer]

cool!