Forum - View topicAnime Soundtrack Production
|
|
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Ai no Kareshi
 Posts: 561 Location: South Africa |
|
||
|
Does anyone know where I can find information on the production of the typical anime soundtrack? As an amateur composer who does all of his music electronically, I'd really like to know more about this subject.
Obviously, companies will approach the issue differently depending on their budget, but I hear a lot of orchestral instruments (strings, woodwind, brass, etc). I somehow doubt the average studio hires a private orchestra for its soundtrack. There are often synthetic sounds involved, which rhymes with my theory that they make use of sequencers, and yet some of those sounds are too realistic for me to believe they were produced with a software sampler. If you need specific examples of the kind of anime soundtracks I'm talking about, let's say I listened to the OSTs of Utawareru Mono, Shakugan no Shana and Code Geass. Last edited by Ai no Kareshi on Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:17 am; edited 1 time in total |
|||
|
|||
|
Ai no Kareshi
Posts: 561 Location: South Africa |
|
||
|
Odd. I somehow expected greater interest in this subject. After all, background music is at least a third of what evokes emotion from the viewer in any given television production.
Doesn't anyone have any speculations to share? |
|||
|
|||
rti9
 Posts: 1241 |
|
||
|
Sincerely speaking, people rarely talk about background music. When the subject is music in anime, what usually comes to mind to the average non-musician is the OP or ED song. Unfortunately.
The best DVD extra I've seen on the subject is in Project A-ko. It does a short interview with Joey Carbone and Richie Zito who composed the soundtrack in America during the 80's. Still, it would hardly satisfy you. The only person who comes to my mind who might have a good amount of knowledge on the subject is Justin Sevakis, who worked for CPM, but is always super busy. |
|||
|
|||
Mushi-Man
 Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
|
||
|
I've always wondered about this as well, but I've found very little info on the matter. I do know that third party music studios are often involved in the music for an anime series. I say the most notable music studio in anime is Victor Entertainment. They've been involved in music production for anime like Cowboy Bebop, Big O, Ghost in the Shell, Samurai Champloo, Code Geass, ext.
|
|||
|
|||
|
Ai no Kareshi
Posts: 561 Location: South Africa |
|
||
|
Thanks for the responses, guys. I'd love it if ANN could manage an interview with someone who worked on anime soundtracks, though for this I suppose there has to be ample interest. So please keep posting!
I've had a run through the encyclopedia and Victor Entertainment does seem to be one of the most prominent soundtrack producing companies, along with Lantis. Other companies involved with music production include VAP, Avex Trax, Starchild Records, TV Tokyo Music and Mellow Head. I guess I'll search the net and see what I can learn about them, but I somehow doubt they would give away their production secrets in response to an email. |
|||
|
|||
eyeresist
 Posts: 995 Location: a 320x240 resolution igloo (Sydney) |
|
||
From the soundtrack CDs I have and series I've seen, this is my opinion: a few triple A titles will spend big for a proper orchestra all the way through (Giant Robo a great example), but then they usually go overseas for as cheap a deal as possible (Poland's crummy economy is the reason Giant Robo's soundtrack sounds so great). At the other end, some series are just one guy and his synth collection (usually "cheap and cheerful" harem comedies). But it's usually a mix, varying in different ways according to where the composer wants to spend his budget. Sometimes they'll do a couple of epic tracks with a small orchestra, using effects and synths to boost the sound, and do the rest of the BG music with synths. Or they'll bring a small string section into the studio and multitracking them to make a bigger sound. Or they can do the strings part with a synth and feature a couple of real instruments (horns, winds, electric guitar) to make a more natural sound. You can use a bit of reverb and compression to disguise the different sonics. For more chamber-sized music, the modern synth-sampler can almost perfect emulate a piano or accordion, even a banjo or guitar (if you don't listen too closely), but again you might want to add a real guitar, violin, whatever, solo to give the track life. (Also, when emulating instruments, you need to have a good idea how the real instrument works in order to produce a convincing fake, e.g. when programming drums, always remember a drummer has only two hands!) So if you want to produce quality anime-style music, you'll need some real instrumentalists to give your tracks some 'zing'. Most composers can manage some basic piano and guitar themselves, but if anyone you know plays something like violin or oboe, stick them in front of a mic for half an hour to really improve your sonic texture. If their skills are good, you can try multitracking them to produce a quartet or even small orchestra (but if you want an orchestral sound, don't put the mic too close or it'll sound unnatural). |
|||
|
|||
Xenofan 29A
 Posts: 378 |
|
||
|
Most anime, to my knowledge, are scored with small groups of live instruments (a strings group combined with 2 or so of each major wind instrument plus a piano). See here. It's less expensive than hiring a full-time orchestra, and probably easier to coordinate, too. I don't know if you've ever purchased an anime OST CD (I have) but if you have access to one, check the credits.
And Victor Entertainment would handle coordination and production for these types of things, rather than having its own studio orchestra (this used to be the case, but not anymore.) I'm a fan of anime (but more VG) BGM myself, so I'd field any questions I can about these things, but rti9 is right: few people really even consider the BGM, unless it seems distracting. |
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group