Q&A with Naoki Tsuchiya (Adventures of Little Ralph)

Naoki Tsuchiya (Former composer at New Corporation)
Works: The Adventures of Little Ralph, Victorious Boxers: Ippo’s Road to Glory, Houkagono Lovebeat, etc.

This is a brief Q&A interview with Naoki Tsuchiya about his career
and the composition done for The Adventures of Little Ralph
Interviewed/translated by Pixelated Audio on 2018.06.06 for Episode 99

PA: How did you get your start with game audio?

When I was a student I was in love with game music and I poured my heart into creating it as a hobby. I worked really hard in school and kept tuning my skills and eventually after vocational school I joined up with a company as a sound creator.

PA: How did you end up moving over to work for NEW?

It kind of just worked out timing wise. New (Corporation) was undergoing some changes and had a few job posting listed. I applied and was given the job offer.

PA: Tell us your memories about the music for Ralph.

For both versions, I went into it with the notion of what fans would want to hear. I had a ton of respect for game music of the 80s. The delicate, often simple tones that would still take you into a place of mind. So aiming for what fans would want (and also what I would want) brought me a lot of enjoyment and I’m pleased with how it turned out.

PA: What was the process like for composing?

It was a pretty straight forward process to me at the time. I first came up with the tones that we wanted to hear, tones that even in a more modern light would give us the feeling of that “80s” sound and when we’d find something we’d like, we would then continue on the next. Afterwards we would start using those tones (instruments) to create the music.

PA: Can you give us a detailed explanation of why the PSG version was created and how you made it?

It was created simply because I felt PSG was a real representation of game music in the 80s and I wanted to respect that history. For the sound in the PSG version, I created the samples from a synthesizer then brought those over to the PlayStation internal sound source (sequencer). The internal workings of the driver aren’t much different from the driver in the instrumental version and I’d like to keep that as my own secret. Sorry!

PA: That’s okay! However, we are curious about which sequencer use used at this time.

I believe during The Adventures of Little Ralph I was using both the Roland JV2080 and Korg 01W.

PA: How did you work with other composers who also worked on these soundtracks? Meaning, did you split up the tracks evenly, or did you pass the tracks back and forth, composing together?

All the music was written cooperatively. It was great to work together and bounce off ideas. Not only composition, I was also responsible for the arrangement, tone shaping, and incorporation with the PlayStation hardware. I also did all of the sound effects myself.

PA: Lastly, what direction has your career gone in recent years? What are you doing now?

These days I’m primarily working on stuff for pachinko and slot machines but also doing some work on smartphone games/applications as well.

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Interviewed and translated by Pixelated Audio on June 6th, 2018.

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