Junichi Nakatsuru 中鶴 潤一 | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1969 Japan |
| Genres | Orchestral, jazz fusion, smooth jazz, electronic rock |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, arranger |
| Instruments | Piano, trombone |
Junichi Nakatsuru (中鶴 潤一, Nakatsuru Jun'ichi) is a Japanese video game composer and sound director employed at Bandai Namco Entertainment. He is best known for his work in the Soulcalibur series.
Biography[]
Growing up, Nakatsuru enjoyed music, playing around with instruments while listening to music on the radio as a boy. His parents provided him with classical piano lessons, and he would always play popular songs with his own arrangements instead of practicing for the lesson.[1] While attending high school, Nakatsuru played the trombone in a brass band, and was a keyboardist and band composer in his private life.[2] He majored in art at the university and studied music theory, acoustics, and desktop music (DTM), although he was more interested in making original songs and playing them in a band.[1]
Musical style and influences[]
For his work on Soulcalibur, Nakatsuru mostly uses composited music, but sometimes incorporates live orchestral elements into his soundtracks. Commenting on the use of a live orchestra, he notes that it is vital for the scenes with a very emotional presentation and sampled instruments are not enough to express the emotion. On the other hand, he has stated that fierce battle scenes may need speed and tension that can only be done with a computer.[1] He feels that "Audio is a key element in making scenes more evocative and expressive, thereby empathizing with the players in various situations." Nakatsuru has said that the orchestral sound of John Williams' soundtrack to Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace has deeply influenced him.[2]
Works[]
| Year | Title | Co-worker(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Soulcalibur | Yoshihito Yano, Akitaka Tohyama, and Takanori Otsuka |
| Time Crisis II | Kazuhiro Nakamura (PS2 version) | |
| 2002 | Soulcalibur II | several others |
| 2004 | Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War | Keiki Kobayashi, Tetsukazu Nakanishi, and Hiroshi Okubo |
| Tekken 5 | several others | |
| 2005 | Urban Reign | |
| Critical Velocity | ||
| Soulcalibur III | Ryuichi Takada and Keiki Kobayashi | |
| Ridge Racer 6 | several others | |
| 2006 | Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War | Keiki Kobayashi, Tetsukazu Nakanishi, and Hiroshi Okubo |
| 2007 | Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation | several others |
| 2008 | Soulcalibur IV | Keiki Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Fujita, and Masaharu Iwata |
| 2009 | Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny | Keiki Kobayashi and Masaharu Iwata |
| Tekken 6 (PSP) | Yoshihito Yano | |
| 2012 | Soulcalibur V | several others |
| 2014 | Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U | |
| 2018 | Soulcalibur VI | |
| Super Smash Bros. Ultimate | ||
| 2019 | Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown | |
| Daemon X Machina |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Van Zelfden, Alex (2008-08-14). "The Music of Soulcalibur IV". IGN. Retrieved 2009-12-10.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Interview with Junichi Nakatsuru". Dolby. Archived from the original on 2010-07-19. Retrieved 2009-12-10.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>