Hayato Sonoda (#2151)

[Matron]

I've found two interviews on Falcom's website with a member of their Sound Team from 2006. While the interview doesn't mention which his/her name is, it keeps referring to that person as "S", which is the first letter of Sonoda's name (duh). The members of Sound Team jdk around that year were Hayato Sonoda, Takahiro Unisuga and Ryo Takeshita, so that's why I think this is an interview with Sonoda (which also makes sense, since he's the current leader of Falcom Sound Team jdk since 2002/2003).

The interviews in question:

http://www.falcom.co.jp/info/staff/2...ew.html#060324

http://www.falcom.co.jp/info/staff/2...ff.html#061005

It's a shame there's practically no info about ANY Falcom internal composers

[Matron]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNJsRxjfJRw

[jdkluv]

Excellent find! I'm pretty certain it's this guy's music that made me fall in love with Nihon Farukomu... (probably even moreso than Koshiro/Ishikawa) ...despite his ponytail....

You're probably correct to assume it's Sonoda too, for the reason you mentioned (and we already have a picture of Takeshita).

It's a shame there's practically no info about ANY Falcom internal composers

Always frustrated me too. All I know for sure though is what Wataru Ishibashi told me about his contributions a while ago (and one can make reasonable deductions based on them to draw other conclusions). Of course, I'm talking about the "new" Falcom, old school jdk is a completely different story!

[Matron]

LMAO @dat picture.

Originally Posted by jdkluv

You're probably correct to assume it's Sonoda too, for the reason you mentioned (and we already have a picture of Takeshita).

Even if we didn't have a picture of Takeshita, it can't be him since he left Falcom around 2007. Current members of Falcom Sound Team jdk are Hayato Sonoda, Takahiro Unisuga, Saki Momiyama and Tomokatsu Hagiuda, and we already have pictures of the last two thanks to interviews on Falcom's website.

Originally Posted by jdkluv

All I know for sure though is what Wataru Ishibashi told me about his contributions a while ago (and one can make reasonable deductions based on them to draw other conclusions).

Tell me EVERYTHING he said to you!! I want to make deductions and take conclusions. Did he said stuff like "I didn't composed the best three songs of the Ys VI OST"?

[jdkluv]

Originally Posted by Matron

Current members of Falcom Sound Team jdk are Hayato Sonoda, Takahiro Unisuga, Saki Momiyama and Tomokatsu Hagiuda, and we already have pictures of the last two thanks to interviews on Falcom's website.

So presumably Unisuga is the guy to the left of Sonoda? After having nothing but the names for so long, it's so cool to have some of the shroud of mystery slowly fade!

Originally Posted by Matron

Tell me EVERYTHING he said to you!! I want to make deductions and take conclusions. Did he said stuff like "I didn't composed the best three songs of the Ys VI OST"?

With pleasure, my friend. He was a bit vague though, like you thought, lol. Not to mention his English was understandably not perfect, so who knows what he really meant.

He said he made the music of "ZWEI, YS6, gurumin, Sora no kiseki FC." so I asked him about the other games like VM Japan and Xanadu Next etc. To which he replied:

Spoiler:

Originally Posted by mirawi at sideprotea dot net

JAPAN VM was responsible for only two bgm
風の砂子路(A Sandy Road Blown by the Wind)＆乱世の覇者(Master of Chaos)

Dinosaur: Resurrection was that did not.

XANADU NEXT was little^^;

YS6 & Zwei1 is about 70% of my songs.

Thank You.

That's all he brokedown, but it's still helpful though. For example, because we can rule out Ishibashi for some tracks, it's likely that Warriors from VMJ (one of my favourite VGM tracks ever) and Windslash Steps from Ys VI are both by Sonoda because of a shared bit of melody (this ≈ that (albeit at a different tempo)). But I dunno, is that too loose a connection to you? Of course, many assumptions are being made, like one composer per track, and that by "responsible" he means composing AND arranging.

Also when I told him where I was from, he said:

Spoiler:

ohhh,UK! I love London music.
Prodigy,808state,underground resistance

This sounds like the inspiration of an Ys VI track in particular...

Naturally I sent him another email wanting him to confirm some of my predictions, but he was probably too busy to reply.

[Matron]

Originally Posted by jdkluv

He said he made the music of "ZWEI, YS6, gurumin, Sora no kiseki FC." so I asked him about the other games like VM Japan and Xanadu Next etc.

Yes. I remember reading that from you here.

Originally Posted by mirawi at sideprotea dot net

JAPAN VM was responsible for only two bgm
風の砂子路(A Sandy Road Blown by the Wind)＆乱世の覇者(Master of Chaos)

Dinosaur: Resurrection was that did not.

XANADU NEXT was little^^;

YS6 & Zwei1 is about 70% of my songs.

Thank You.

The VM Japan info is indeed REALLY interesting!

According to VGMdb, he composed for those games. I bolded the word "composed" because he also worked on Ys I & II Eternal soundtracks and Dinosaur Resurrection, and yet he says that regards DR. Maybe he said that because he/they (Sound Team jdk from 2002) didn't composed the soundtrack (the original Dinosaur was composed by Mieko Ishikawa and Masaaki Kawai), but rather arranged?

Surprised to hear that he made the 70% (or so) of Zwei!! and Ys VI OSTs. I though Shikarawa was the leader composer of Zwei!!, and so that he composed the majority of that game's OST. Ys VI doesn't suprise me that much because almost the whole soundtrack sounds really close to Zwei!!, so that 70% he's talking about makes sense. 70% or so would be like 22 of the 32 tracks of the Ys VI soundtrack?

Originally Posted by jdkluv

That's all he brokedown, but it's still helpful though. For example, because we can rule out Ishibashi for some tracks, it's likely that Warriors from VMJ (one of my favourite VGM tracks ever) and Windslash Steps from Ys VI are both by Sonoda because of a shared bit of melody (this ≈ that (albeit at a different tempo)). But I dunno, is that too loose a connection to you?

How can you confirm that both 'Warriors' and 'Windslash Steps' were composed by Sonoda? 'Windslash Steps' maybe since it sounds a lot like some recent stuff from current Sound Team, but 'Warriors'? And also speaking of that stuff, I'm really not sure if we can use that to confirm composers because... well, just listen this:

- Mysterious Story (unused track from Ys I, composed by Yuzo Koshiro)
- Wind Emblem (credits track from Dinosaur. This is the Resurrection version, and I have no idea if this was originally composed by Ishikawa or Kawai instead)

Another one even more obvious:

- Crossroad of Sadness (another unused Ys I track by Yuzo Koshiro)
- Trap (The Legend of Xanadu. Guess who uploaded that track )

And here's another one more recent and popular: Masquerade of Lies and 'The Foot of a Mountain of the Lightning' (Falcom Engrish at it's finest.)

But the real problem is I'm not really sure on how's Sonoda's style of music, so I can't assume to much. However, I think both this track and the trailer track from Nayuta were composed by him. Both tracks sound very Falcom-ish, especially the trailer song, which reminds me a lot to Ys VI's intro song. The same goes for this kickass song.

Originally Posted by jdkluv

Of course, many assumptions are being made, like one composer per track, and that by "responsible" he means composing AND arranging.

I just think the composers both compose AND arrange they own tracks. But really, his declarations about Zwei!!, Ys VI, SnK FC are pretty revealing. If he composed the 70% of Ys VI, then what percent did he composed from future games like SnK FC and Gurumin? If he compsed the 70% of Ys VI, what was Sonoda doing meanwhile?

Originally Posted by jdkluv

Also when I told him where I was from, he said:

Spoiler:

ohhh,UK! I love London music.
Prodigy,808state,underground resistance

This sounds like the inspiration of an Ys VI track in particular...

He confirmed he's the composer of Ys VI final dungeon theme? Holy cow!

Originally Posted by jdkluv

Naturally I sent him another email wanting him to confirm some of my predictions, but he was probably too busy to reply.

Aww, too bad! You should try to e-mail him again. Could you post here his e-mail address? I also want to ask him stuff and see if he can confirm some of my predictions too

Thanks a lot for posting that info. Much appreciate!

BTW, I found some weeks ago a YouTube channel that uploaded some Falcom songs. That wouldn't be so strange, if not by the fact that he also puts in some of the video's description the composer and/or arranger! Maybe those are guesses?

[Matron]

...Just uploaded a profile portrait. The VGMdb Staff is going to hate me for this (?)

Someone please delete that other portrait in JPG format.

Now speaking seriously: do those interviews that I posted on Reply #1 say something interesting?

[《J》]

Originally Posted by Jormungand

So if Sonoda is "S" in the interview, this is a confirmation that he composed "Provincial City of Rolent" from SNK FC right?

I wouldn't say it serves as confirmation -- after all, he also mentions Silver Will and Ishibashi confirmed it as his. Sonoda mostly means that even backwater areas like Rolent in Sora look more stylish and urban than Gagharv's towns, and that they wanted Sora to have new elements that are fitting within The Legend of Heroes franchise but musically different from Gagharv.

That being said, Sonoda kinda made it sound like he contributed some to Hoshi no Arika's (The Whereabouts of Light in XSEED's localisation) arrangement for FC. He said that it came from Confession, and that Hoshi no Arika ended up being adapted for an ending theme when they realized they'd have to split FC and SC, to soften FC's ending and make players more excited for SC. From the tracks he mentioned, pretty sure he did Coliseum, Border Patrol isn't Easy, Pride of Liberl, Royal Castle (shows up in Border Patrol isn't Easy and Pride of Liberl too), Grand Arena (uses the Coliseum theme), Release from the Spell, and... and A Cat Relaxing in the Sun. Provincial City of Rolent though... I have no idea who could it be. The acoustic guitar seems rather "sub-par" for Murayama and his sounds were more advanced in terms of timbre and dynamics than Sonoda/Ishibashi's, on top of better at sequencing guitar lines, since he's a bass player. The simplicity would fit the Sonoda from that era, but the flute seems like an outlier for him and the looping in the guitar part reminds me of Ishibashi. A lot of Sonoda's synth in VM Japan (the other Falcom soundtrack from that period with confirmed credits) was more clean in general than what he uses in FC, I don't think his work in FC is representative of everything he was capable of.

Also, the two interviews in the OP have been translated into English.
https://www.esterior.net/2016/08/tra...ton-issue-8-s/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Falcom/comm...lopment_staff/

[Jormungand]

Originally Posted by 《J》

From the tracks he mentioned, pretty sure he did Coliseum, Border Patrol isn't Easy, Pride of Liberl, Royal Castle (shows up in Border Patrol isn't Easy and Pride of Liberl too), Grand Arena (uses the Coliseum theme) and Release from the Spell, and.... Provincial City of Rolent though... I have no idea who could it be. The acoustic guitar seems rather "sub-par" for Murayama and his sounds were more advanced in terms of timbre and dynamics than Sonoda/Ishibashi's, on top of better at sequencing guitar lines, since he's a bass player. The simplicity would fit the Sonoda from that era, but the flute seems like an outlier for him and the looping in the guitar part reminds me of Ishibashi.

Thanks, I kind of felt the same way. Sonoda doesn't use the kind of chords heard in Rolent often. His style is very obvious in general, based on what I've heard within and beyond SnK. Rolent just... isn't that style.