, better known as sanodg, is a Japanese video game composer, musician and record producer. He is best known for scoring tracks for the Ridge Racer and Tekken series, as well as Drakengard.
Biography
Early life In elementary school, Sano listened to Yellow Magic Orchestra and played Space Invaders, gaining interest in both video games and music. Prior to joining Namco, he had no inclination towards composing video game music, although he did write music with various synths as a hobby. The first synth he bought was a Korg MS-10, borrowing other synths from friends. During his time at university, he studied telecommunication engineering.
Namco (1992–2001) After graduating from university in 1992, Sano found two jobs for Korg and Namco. Disliking the atmosphere of Korg's workplace, he settled with a position as a sound designer at Namco. Sano's first project was Zombie Castle, which he created the sound effects for. The following year, he composed the score of Numan Athletics, taking inspiration from techno. Sano also scored "Rare Hero" for Ridge Racer, a series he has provided music for since. During his early years at the company, he worked closely with senior composer Shinji Hosoe on several game projects, along with Ayako Saso, Takayuki Aihara and Hiroto Sasaki. He contributed several tracks to albums on Hosoe's Troubadour Record label and was also a member of his groups, Oriental Magnetic Yellow (OMY) and Manikyua-Dan. OMY was a group parodying Yellow Magic Orchestra, where he was named Ryuichi Sanomoto, parodying Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Following the transfer of Hosoe, Saso, and Aihara to Arika, Sano composed for Tekken 3 in 1996 with Keiichi Okabe. Serving as the sound director, he took a big beat approach to the music with a slower tempo than the music found in previous games. Some staff, including game director Katsuhiro Harada initially did not understand the big beat direction, but Sano convinced him that it would fit well. Both Sano and Okabe later worked on the PS1 version along with other colleagues, as well as both the arcade and PS2 versions of Tekken Tag Tournament. In 2000, Sano composed two tracks for Ridge Racer V under the direction of Kohta Takahashi, along with colleague Yuu Miyake and various others. This was the first Ridge Racer game he composed for since Rave Racer in 1995. His final in-house work at Namco was sound design for the unreleased game Starblade: Operation Blue Planet.
Cavia (2001–2010) In 2001, Sano left Namco citing unhappiness with its recent developments, and subsequently joined Cavia as a sound director. With Takayuki Aihara, Sano composed Drakengard, which released in 2003. Their goal was to create an experimental soundtrack that reflected the hack-and-slash gameplay and dark atmosphere, as well as the narrative theme of "madness." The music was composed through sampling various shortened pieces of classical music that were performed by a full orchestra. Sano and Aihara also sought to emulate the music of Northern Europe. The soundtrack initially received a mixed reception from users, many of whom harshly criticized it for being repetitive and grating. Sano detailed experiences of reading large volumes of negative comments surrounding the music on 2ch on a daily basis. However, it has also been praised for its unconventional approach. As a result of the initial reception, his role in Drakengard 2 was limited to sound direction.
In addition to Drakengard, Sano composed the soundtrack of Resident Evil: Dead Aim, using a synth-heavy score inspired by Goblin. For 2004's Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Sano created drum and bass music to match the game’s sense of speed. In 2006, Sano released a compilation album titled sanodg works, featuring a selection of his favorite tracks, although legal issues prevented him from including any Namco work. The same year, he produced a collaborative album with the company Melody Clip, titled FM Sound Module Maniax. This features tracks from various video game composers written with FM synthesis, including former Namco colleagues Hosoe and Okabe, and famed composers Yoko Shimomura and Yuzo Koshiro. He also served as the music supervisor for Bullet Witch; he requested then-SuperSweep composer Masashi Yano to participate due to his expertise with Hollywood-inspired orchestral scores. Yano and Sano were originally going to collaborate on the score, with Yano composing orchestral parts and Sano handling breakbeat and bass. After Sano combined their parts together, he was dissatisfied with the results and left Yano to compose the entire score alone.
Sano designed and produced KORG DS-10 for Nintendo DS. He formed a trio of the same name consisting of himself, Yasunori Mitsuda and Michio Okamiya in order to promote the program. The three had spoken about their interest in creating a synthesizer for the DS, to Korg's approval. He chose to model the synth on the Korg MS-10 as he bought this synth during his teenage years, and also felt that the DS vaguely resembled the synth.
Detune (2010–present) Following Cavia's disbandment, Sano established Detune, a music software production company in May 6, 2010. Detune developed a follow-up to KORG DS-10 titled KORG M01, intended as a DS version of the Korg M1 synth. In 2012, Detune released iYM2151, a music program for the iPad based on the Yamaha YM2151 sound chip. In the same year, Sano composed "Algorithm" for the game Orgarhythm using iYM2151. The following year, a Nintendo 3DS eShop version of KORG M01 was released worldwide, titled KORG M01D. In 2014, he released a compilation album titled sanodg's arcade game music works, which features the soundtracks of four Namco arcade games. During 2016 to 2017 he created a series of EDM-styled albums with Hiroyoshi Kato, the first of which was titled EDM IS GAME.
Sano will score the upcoming mobile FMV game Clive is a Good Guy, developed by British game studio Indolent Games.
Works Year Title Notes 1993 Zombie Castle Sound effects Numan Athletics Music Eight Line Music; sound effects Ridge Racer Music ("Rare Hero") 1994 Attack of the Zolgear Sound effects and editing; with Hiroto Sasaki Ridge Racer 2 Music ("Grip" and "Rare Hero 2") 1995 Mach Breakers Music with Hiroto Sasaki, Shinji Hosoe and Ayako Saso; sound direction Tekken PS1 version; arrangements with various others Ridge Racer LD Music with Shinji Hosoe, Ayako Saso and Takayuki Aihara Rave Racer Music with Shinji Hosoe, Ayako Saso and Takayuki Aihara Dirt Dash Music ("Hill") Dunk Mania Music Cyber Cycles Music ("Bahama") 1996 Xevious 3D/G Arcade version; music ("Area 4" and "Boss 4") Tekken 2 PS1 version; arrangements with various others Prop Cycle Music ("Wind Woods") Dancing Eyes Music ("Angel Stage" and "Angel Motion") 1997 Tekken 3 Arcade version; music with Keiichi Okabe Xevious 3D/G+ Console version; music ("Area 4" and "Boss 4") 1998 Tekken 3 PS1 version; music with various others Gunmen Wars Music 1999 Tekken Tag Tournament Arcade version; music with various others 2000 Tekken Tag Tournament PS2 version; music with various others World Kicks Music Ridge Racer V Music ("Paris" and "RareHero2000") 2001 Taiko no Tatsujin Vocals ("Kimi ni, Romantic") 2002 One Piece - Big Secret Treasure of the Seven Phantom Islands Sound direction 2003 Resident Evil: Dead Aim Music Drakengard Music with Takayuki Aihara 2004 Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Music; sound direction Ridge Racer Music ("Chrome Drive" and "Rareheroes") 2005 Tekken 5 PS2 version; music with various others Drakengard 2 Sound director Ridge Racer 6 Music ("Floodlight" and "Radiance") Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Arrangement ("Martial Medicine") 2006 Bullet Witch Sound director; vocal arrangements Ridge Racer 2 Music ("Paris Remix") Ridge Racer 7 Music ("Hard Drive" and "Onyx") 2007 Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles Sound management 2008 Beatmania IIDX 14: Gold CS Music ("Playball") KORG DS-10 Design with Yasunori Mitsuda Beatmania IIDX 15: DJ Troopers CS Music ("Sidechained Threats") 2009 BQLSI STAR LASER Sound design KORG DS-10 PLUS Design with Yasunori Mitsuda 2010 LightBike 2 Music Criminal Girls Music ("I Love You") KORG M01 Design with Yasunori Mitsuda Taiko no Tatsujin 14 Music ("Taiko Time") 2011 Taiko no Tatsujin Portable DX Vocals ("Boku wa Synth") Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Arcade version; music with various others Ridge Racer Music ("Virtuoso") 2012 iYM2151 Design Ridge Racer Unbounded Music ("Down & Under") Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz Music with various othersOrgarhythm Music ("Algorithm") Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Console versions; music with various others maimai PLUS Arrangement ("Space Harrier Main Theme [Reborn]") 2013 Tekken Revolution Music ("Lunar Fringe Theories") KORG M01D Design Drakengard 3 Music ("Exhaustion 3") 2014 KORG DSN-12 Design TorqueL Music 2015 Tekken 7 Arcade version; music ("The Day Before the Glass Matrix") Cosmic Break 2 Music Groove Coaster 2 Original Style Music with various others 2017 Kakuriyo no Mon Music ("Yosen Hirasaka") Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age Sound direction Moeyo! Kung-Fu Lady Dragon Music ("Kokaku Stage (Seiryumon)") 2019 Beatmania IIDX 27: Heroic Verse Music ("Duration") 2021 Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139... Audio supervision 2022 Alice Gear Aegis: Special Space Operation Op. Hellebore Music 2023 Teravit Music with various others 2024 Tekken 8 Music ("Hangar Rules") TBA Clive is a Good Guy Music
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