is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

video game composer Video game music (or VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to ...

and bass guitarist. His most notable works include the soundtracks to the ''

Shadow Hearts ''Shadow Hearts'' is a series of role-playing video games, consisting of a trilogy of titles for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) and their predecessor ''Koudelka'' for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation. The entire series was developed by Sacnoth (la ...

'' series. Hirota was previously a sound effects programmer having worked on various

Square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...

titles. His first work as a video game composer was for the 1999

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and Au ...

game '' Bomberman 64: The Second Attack''.

Biography

Early works

As a teenager, Hirota's older brother would play covers of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

and

The Carpenters The Carpenters (officially known as Carpenters) were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen Carpenter, Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (musician), Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinct ...

. Hirota composed his first song at the age of ten. At the age of 20, unsure of his career path, Hirota was invited by composer

Yasunori Mitsuda is a Japanese composer, musician, and sound producer. He is best known for his work in video games, primarily for the ''Chrono (series), Chrono'', ''Xeno (series), Xeno'', ''Shadow Hearts'', and ''Inazuma Eleven (series), Inazuma Eleven'' franch ...

to work at

, and was hired as a sound designer.

Square

Hirota has a friendship from childhood with fellow composer

who he has worked with on '' Bomberman 64: The Second Attack'', ''

Biohazard 2 ''Biohazard 2'' may refer to: *''Resident Evil 2'', a 1998 video game **Resident Evil 2 (2019 video game), ''Resident Evil 2'' (2019 video game), 2019 remake of the above *''Resident Evil: Apocalypse'', the second live-action film in the ''Resident ...

'' Drama Albums, ''

'' and '' Shadow Hearts II''. Under the direction of Mitsuda, ''

Street Fighter Alpha 3 ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', released as in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 2D fighting game originally released by Capcom for the arcade in 1998. It is the third and final installment in the '' Street Fighter Alpha'' sub-series, ...

'' was to have a "hard" sound, and ''Biohazard 2'' was to have an "ominous sound".

Shadow Hearts

Kyoko Kishikawa has worked with Hirota on ''

'', '' Shadow Hearts II'' (although not '' Shadow Hearts: From the New World'') and ''

Rogue Galaxy ''Rogue Galaxy'' is an action role-playing video game developed by Level-5 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. The game was released in Japan in December 2005, in North America in January 2007, and in most Europea ...

Premium Arrange'', providing eerie female scat vocals for a number of his tracks. Ryo Fukuda has been the sound manipulator for Hirota on the ''Shadow Hearts'' games as well as composing and arranging a few tracks for all three games. He also co-composed with Hirota on ''Sonic Shuffle''.

Kenji Ito , also known by the nickname , is a Japanese video game composer and musician. He is best known for his work on the ''Mana'' and ''SaGa'' series, though he has worked on over 30 video games throughout his career as well as composed or arranged m ...

worked with Hirota on the soundtrack of Shadow Hearts II.

Live performance

Hirota has performed bass guitar for Ito's live performance of

Culdcept is a series of turn-based strategy video games developed by OmiyaSoft. It revolves around virtual board game-like gameplay in which the player traverses a map and uses magical, tablet-like "cards" to defeat their opponents by forcing them to la ...

music during the Extra Live Concert. and for Ito's vocal song for

Lux-Pain is a visual novel adventure video game developed by Killaware and published by Marvelous Entertainment for the Nintendo DS video game console. The game was released in Japan on March 27, 2008. It was published in North America by Ignition Enterta ...

, Hirota frequently performs bass guitar with Kishikawa's band. He is currently a member of

Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the ''Final Fantasy'' video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton Jo ...

's band, the

Earthbound Papas The Earthbound Papas are a Japanese progressive rock/metal band performing songs and interpretations of music from video games, notably including the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Nobuo Uematsu, the acclaimed composer of music in the ''Final Fanta ...

Musical style and influences

Hirota's ''Shadow Hearts'' music is notable for its fusion of cultural music with Hirota's personal

Industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

style. Although Hirota is primarily a bass guitarist, he is capable of playing a variety of other instruments: the

Biwa The is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. The is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime duri ...

, the Syami, the Alter Ego Figaro, the Saw Wo, the Son, the

Khene The ''khene'' (; spelled "Can" in English; Lao: ແຄນ; th, แคน, , ; km, គែន - ''Ken''; Vietnamese: ''khèn'') is a Lao mouth organ whose pipes, which are usually made of bamboo, are connected with a small, hollowed-out har ...

, the Old Drum, the Madaru, the

Gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

, the Suzu, and the

Kalimba Mbira ( ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and pl ...

Works

Video games

;Composition ; ;Sound design ;

Other works

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirota, Yoshitaka 1971 births Freelance musicians Japanese composers Japanese male composers Living people Musicians from Kyoto Prefecture Video game composers