GameAxis catches up with Norihiko Hibino, composer for much of the music for Konami’s Metal Gear Solid series, as well as the theme and music for From Software’s Ninja Blade.

GAX: How did you first start out composing music for videogames?
Hibino: I started my career as a jazz saxophone player, playing gigs in hotels and restaurants. I even did a bit of recording. But I realized one day, I couldn’t keep doing that, so I decided to go to Berklee College of Music in the US, to learn more about arranging and sound engineering. Around 1999, I had a chance to come back to Japan. Konami was looking for a composer for Metal Gear Solid 2 who could do both live, acoustic music as well as work inside a studio. This was around the time the Playstation 2 was just getting under way and, as you know, the PS2 allows for audio streaming, so there was a need for a live orchestra and that’s how I got the job.

GAX: What’s your process when you set out to compose music for a game?
Hibino: It depends on the producer. With Metal Gear Solid, Kojima-san brought me some soundtrack CDs of stuff that he liked and we shared some ideas about what direction we wanted to go in. With Takeo-san, on Ninja Blade, he’s very much more open to new ideas. For example, we spent a lot of time talking about what the concept of a Ninja is. For us Japanese, it’s secretive, shadowy and hidden, but in the US, ninjas are about martial arts, and killing people. Since we were targeting the game at the West, we had to include (action) elements, but at the same time, we’re Japanese, the game is made in Japan, so the music has to contain (shadowy) elements too. I always consider the target audience when I compose.

GAX: Are there any differences or advantages when composing for a videogame, as opposed to a TV show or a movie?
Hibino: It’s a completely different approach – at least in Japan. With a TV show, even a commercial, the picture or video comes first. Everything is already done when the music is added. But for a videogame, most of the time we don’t have anything, maybe a storyboard, or a character design, but often that’s it. For example, with Metal Gear Solid 3, we started with the main theme, but we didn’t know anything else. The music gets made very early in the process, and then we share that concept and sometimes it influences where the rest of the game goes. That never happens in TV or Film.

GAX: CG Overdrive is coming up. What are you going to be talking about there?
Hibino: I’m going to be talking about the importance of sound production. There are so many composers out there, but there aren’t enough skilled people on the production side, things like sound effects, mixing, even simple things like how loud/soft the music should be are important. I recently set up a studio in Malaysia, the reason being, I came on tour in this region with my band, through the Philippines and in Malaysia. The equipment here is great, better than Japan actually, the performers are great too, but there’s always a problem with sound engineers. It drags down the quality. I feel like if we can raise the quality of our sound production, there’s a lot of room for growth.

GAX: You’re going to be a special guest at Video Games Live. How did that come about and what are you doing?
Hibino: I met Tommy Tallarico (producer of VGL) at a game development conference in San Francisco where I was giving a talk on the videogame music industry in Japan. He really liked my talk and we became good friends. Since I’m in this region, he asked me if I would like to be involved with VGL. So I’m going to be playing saxophone there, but right now I’m not sure what song I’m playing, it depends on the arrangement.

GAX: What piece of music are you most proud of?
Hibino: Snake Eater, the theme from Metal Gear Solid 3. It’s my most well known work. (GAX – It’s even available on Harmonix’s Karaoke Revolution series!)