Blind Buy Composers and Music Units

[Porter]

Maybe this topic was discussed before, but I am curious if you have any favorite video game/anime composer or music units which soundtracks you are buying blind without listening of samples.

I have few:

COMPOSERS:
Masashi Hamauzu
Noriyuki Iwadare
Hayato Matsuo
Takayuki Negishi
Keishi Yonao

MUSIC UNITS:
Angel Note
Barbarian On The Groove
Elements Garden
ZIZZ studio

I am curious of your choices.

All the best and sorry for my english
Porter

[Xenofan 29A]

I would buy anything by Yasunori Mitsuda or Masashi Hamauzu blind. For pretty much anything else, I would want to check to see what it sounded like first, but 30-40 second samples don't always give you a good idea of what something's going to sound like, unless it's generic pop/rock.

[LiquidAcid]

I would put on my list:
Yuki Kajiura
Yoko Shimomura
Masashi Hamauzu
Yasunori Mitsuda
Akiko Shikata (especially when she actually composes/arranges)
Akira Yamaoka

For everything else it kinda depends on whether one can predict from the game type what the music may sound like. E.g. I would instantly buy when Joe Hisaishi decides to again score a videogame. Or when Haruka Shimotsuki continues the Tindharia series with a third album. Or when Riei Saito (FRAGILE ~Sayonara Tsuki no Haikyo~) releases a second official soundtrack album.

[Don]

For me:

Manabu Namiki
Yuzo Koshiro

[dancey]

I think it's safe to say that I blind buy pretty much everything since I don't actually play console games. I may hear some sample musics if it's a reputable game with a trailer or something.

[Phonograph]

blind buying is a bad idea, for any buyable stuff (I could develop, but too lazy and some people can guess why it's a bad idea, regardless)

Originally Posted by LiquidAcid

Yuki Kajiura, Yoko Shimomura, Masashi Hamauzu, Yasunori Mitsuda
...

kajiura only can do few good tracks per album, her last stuff were hell boring (but some tracks are good in puella, I hope she won't fail fate/zero anime)

shimomura, hamauzu, mitsuda, uematsu, sakuraba, sakimoto, etc. were good 10 years ago, imo
now it's boring and always the same predictable stuff (sure a lot of "blind (or deaf)" people will disagree that)
I only like their old stuff

for example, about sakuraba, I can remember SO1, SO2, VP1, BK tracks, but I'm well unable to remember tracks of SO3-4, VP2, and recent stuff tracks (too forgettable, same with other composers)

[LiquidAcid]

Yeah, yeah Phono, go back to your table

[Phonograph]

don't use that tone with me

[Porter]

Originally Posted by Phonograph

blind buying is a bad idea, for any buyable stuff (I could develop, but too lazy and some people can guess why it's a bad idea, regardless)



kajiura only can do few good tracks per album, her last stuff were hell boring (but some tracks are good in puella, I hope she won't fail fate/zero anime)

shimomura, hamauzu, mitsuda, uematsu, sakuraba, sakimoto, etc. were good 10 years ago, imo
now it's boring and always the same predictable stuff (sure a lot of "blind (or deaf)" people will disagree that)
I only like their old stuff

for example, about sakuraba, I can remember SO1, SO2, VP1, BK tracks, but I'm well unable to remember tracks of SO3-4, VP2, and recent stuff tracks (too forgettable, same with other composers)

I don´t think that predictable stuff is something bad...I think that we could call it composer´s style. For example I really like what did Hamauzu for Sigma Harmonics(remember that piano passage from opening track - that is pure piano geniality in video game music composition - I can hardly think about something similar even in film music) and FFXIII ( music for both games are like twins) and I hope that he will compose music in similar vein for FF XIII-2 and from few examples on youtube he capture the same magic.

So this is maybe what is about blind buying - hoping in music with composer style which we like.

All the best
Porter

[Xenofan 29A]

Having a style is one thing, predictable is another entirely. Composers tend to favor particular sounds or progressions (like Mitsuda's ubiquitous Vsus-V7-I cadence), but that doesn't mean that their music is, as a whole, predictable.

An entire song based around the repeated chords I-vi-IV-V is predictable (what day of the week is it again?). The varied output of a classically trained composer, such as Hamauzu, is not, despite surface similarities between pieces.

[PSIRockin]

The only time I've ever bought blindly is if it's a game series I like, it's a great deal for something I've heard good things of or if it's something that intrigues me for reasons I'm not sure of. Hooray!

[Carl]

During my first few years of VGM collecting, it was about 90% material that I remembered from the games themselves. It didn't take long before the "known" material was exhausted though, but I was still on the hunt for more....

So during the next few years it naturally shifted to about 90% Blind Buys, based on Publishers / Record Labels (King, Pony Canyon, Victor, etc..) and trying to complete certain series and genres (shooters), etc...

[Raizen1984]

I stopped blind buying after Seiken Densetsu 4. I always try before I buy now. Always.

[Teioh]

When I do blind purchases, they're completely blind and most of the time I don't even know who composed it. If the game looks interesting enough to possibly have good music and it justified a soundtrack release, that's the only reason I need.
When I know the composer (especially the ones I like the most), I'm usually more careful, since I'd hate to be disappointed.

[the_miker]

Akira Yamaoka
Yuzo Koshiro
Naofumi Hataya
Jun Senoue
H.
F/N

Ten or so years ago, this list would have had more names on it, namely the big Square guys.. Uematsu, Sakimoto, Mitsuda, and Nakano. They have all let me down at least once in the past decade though.

[PSIRockin]

When I first read this, I thought it said "Blind Guy Composers..." So I thought it was a thread dedicated to blind composers. HA!

[Xenofan 29A]

Originally Posted by PSIRockin

When I first read this, I thought it said "Blind Guy Composers..." So I thought it was a thread dedicated to blind composers. HA!

Oh, you mean like him?

Originally Posted by the_miker

They have all let me down at least once in the past decade though.

What has Junya Nakano even done in the last decade? I'd definitely agree that Uematsu and Sakimoto have let me down recently though...