Kondo and Miyamoto observe during a live orchestra recording session.

Whoa. It sounds terrific. I looked at some of the game clips and it also looks amazing. Man, I want a Wii...

Wow, that's way better than any music I was expecting this game to feature.  Very impressive.  Maybe it's the intro or ending theme.

Awesome! I can only hope the full soundtrack will be this good.

Who wrote that? Sounds like Iwadare...but it's wonderful. If the rest of it is this good....WOW...

-Joshua

"Mario's music has come along way from the 8-bit blips and bloops of his original adventure."

Hmm...

Other than that comment on the way to the feature, it was cool.  It seems evident already that the music will be more epic than SMS's was, which is good to know considering the outer space settings.  I'm sure that Kondo's Star Fox 64 experience will prove invaluable.

Koji Kondo...right?  Or was there someone else slated to do the music as well?  It does seem that there's been a trend of hiring other composers just to do one primary theme in a game while someone else handles the majority of the standard BGM.

The music is decent enough, but what really got me in that video was Miyamoto and Kondo watching. I would not be able to play anything (or even speak) with them in the room.

Either Koji Kondo, who's doing four tracks for the game, or some fellow named Mahito Yokota, who's doing the rest. Yokota did the music to DK: Jungle Beat and orchestrated the teaser music to Twilight Princess. Apparently 28 tracks in the game are getting the full orchestral treatment, and the rest of the tracks in the game, however many that will be, will be synthesized.

This video came from an interview on Nintendo's Japanese Wii site between Satoru Iwata and Kondo, Yokota, and someone else named Masafumi Kawamura who's doing the sound effects or S.E. programming or something like that. There's another video in the article (in the loosest sense of the word, since the visual portion is a still musical note with some text under it) which shows off the theme of "Egg Planet."

That's pretty cool.  I love this stuff.

A word of note to Nintendo:  THIS is a game that literally cries out loud or a soundtrack album release, along with Twilight Princess.  C'mon, Ninty, give these games the recognition they deserve on CD!

-Jon T.

It's different for a Mario game.
I welcome the change for the Mario series.
But I still do love those catchy happy tunes.

I love these backstage footage clips.
I can't find this on the main site so I'm wondering how/where they got it from.

To Jon:
Would you rather have a CD soundtrack or have the whole sound test on the game itself (ie: SSB: Brawl)?

Either one is a satisfying option.  Just waiting for an answer is infuriating to me.

This is absolutely beautiful.  Another example of Japanese game composers who write excellent orchestral music that is fun and doesn't sound like a film score.  After playing this at E For All, I can't wait for this game.

I'm going to love writing this audio journal.  Also watch for a surprise similar to what we did for Metroid Prime 3...

Yeah God forbid it sound like a film score, cause they're not fun at all.  Especially if they're not written by Japanese composers.

"Another"? What was the first?

Another thought..I'd buy a Wii for this game vs. Buying an Xbox for Halo 3...easily.

Yeah, definitely God forbid.  A film is a static experience.  You're guided through a series of images that are predetermined, and the music always follows the image and responds to cues that are always going hit at the same time each time you watch it. 

In this case, since I doubt this Galaxy piece is going to be an interactive track, it still focuses on melody and sounds fun compared to the moody music that I often hear from Western game composers.  Film music isn't supposed to be fun, it's supposed to enhance the experience without getting in the way.  You're saying you don't think Western game music has a film music quality to it?

Anyway, now that you mention "another," off the top of my head, it is hard to think of other examples of orchestral music used by Japanese game composers that wasn't orchestrated after the fact (OGCs, etc.).  Off the top of my head, I'd say Dragon Quest and the orchestral Zelda:TP tracks, which definitely don't sound like film music or Western game music.

Grandia and Sakura Wars come to mind. Otherwise, lots of games where likes like one or two, FFs, Kingdom Hearts, etc.

-Joshua

Were FF or KH recorded with an orchestra for the original soundtrack though?  I don't recall.  I mean, a lot of the music is sample-based orchestral, but I'm referring to the fact that live orchestral music for the original score (not for arrange albums) seems to be less used in Japan than in the West.

There's no question that there are differences in style between Japanese and Western game music, but it seems to be the case that Western composers make use of live orchestral recordings more frequently for the original score.  Metroid Prime 3 used what sounded like General MIDI for the Theme of Samus and other tracks, which was really disappointing.  There was even a huge thread about Zelda: TP and the use of synthesized instruments as opposed to live orchestra for the majority of the score. 

All I'm saying is it's good to see distinctly Japanese-style game music receiving the orchestral treatment for use in the game as opposed for an arrange album.  I'm not saying anything controversial.

True, although I do have to admit that if the MIDI is top-quality, then the initial disappointment about the lack of orchestral instruments IMO becomes less so.  In the case of those two game scores, I didn't notice any sample that seemed grating, and I was fine with those scores.  (Still wishing TP gets an official OST...)

Either way, if Nintendo refuses to release one for Super Mario Galaxy, I'm gonna be extremely pissed.
-Jon T.

Jon, maybe if we ask enough, they'll cave in?  I asked Yamamoto-san, and he sort of dodged the issue.  If I get the chance to ask any of their other musicians, trust me, I will!

(and for the record, the MIDI orchestral/rock Theme of Samus I was referring to was pretty pathetic sounding compared to the quality of the rest of the soundtrack)

Sure. Remember FFVIII? Liberi Fatali, End Theme, etc. FFIX had a even a good deal more.
KH...IIRC only KH2, I'm not positive as I didn't play the game, but it's on the OST.

-Joshua

Although he might not be a main composer, Kondo hiring a real orchestra sounds very odd to me. Didn't he explain how he preferred sequenced music to pre-recorded one because the former could be more interactive, eh? I know composers still can make attempts at interactivity if music is streamed (e.g. First Klonoa and more recently, Okami), but they are pretty primitive and basic. A live orchestra could render Kondo's music better in term of musicality, but makes it less interactive, imho.

Or maybe I’m missing what Kondo meant. To tell the truth, I’ve not played any Mario / Zelda game for good 17 years and don’t know how his music interactively works in those games

From the sound of it, there is a backing recorded / sequenced 'track' for the Mario Galaxy tune.  The playing is very 'tight' however, and it's great to see 'everyone' into it.

I don't think "static" is a very appropriate word for film, seeing as how you're watching a series of constantly moving images, the same as games.  Perhaps "non-interactive"?  I would argue that the majority of game soundtracks, especially the popular ones, still lack interactivity or feature only a very minimal amount of it.  That certain film composers can create entertaining music that also closely follows the on screen narrative is a considerable feat in my opinion.

And regardless of which, the act of listening to any music is by your reckoning a "static" experience isn't it?  The same cues are going to be hit in the exact same place each and every time you listen to a CD or MP3 - whether it be the sample above, another game soundtrack, a film soundtrack, polka, whatever.

I would be surprised if most game composers and directors didn't tell you the same thing about game soundtracks.

Both film and game soundtracks are meant to enhance the experience, obviously without getting in the way.  The fortunate side-effect being that they can also be enjoyable and "fun" to listen to on their own.

I didn't say anything of the sort in either direction.

Yeah I was hoping the somewhat controversial implication that "fun" and "excellent" orchestral music equals not being being like a film score was only due to ambiguous wording, but your following post seems to be compounding the implication

You're right, tha's exactly what he meant.  However, even with the emphasis on interactive chip tunes, his scores still had plenty of pieces that weren't interactive at all.  So I believe those are the types of tracks being pre-recorded.