Masaru Yokoyama

Yokoyama was born in Nagano Prefecture.[1] He started to take piano lessons at the age of three,[2] taught by his aunt who is an alumna of Kunitachi College of Music,[1] but became interested in music when he was in elementary school, after playing his own compositions.[1][2] When he was in middle school, he began to compose music using a synthesizer that he bought and his computer,[2] and had also briefly played in a band.[1] Interested in computers, Yokoyama attended National Institute of Technology, Nagano College, studying electronic engineering for five years after graduating from middie school.[1][3]

Influenced by Joe Hisaishi's music in Studio Ghibli's films that he watched when he was young and musician Tetsuya Komuro, Yokoyama decided to pursue a career in music and attended Kunitachi College of Music when he was nineteen,[2] following his aunt encouragement.[1] While in college, he met guitarist Hiroaki Tsutsumi, who would later work with Yokoyama on many projects.[1] After graduating, Yokoyama worked as a freelancer, writing songs for various artists, before joining the music production company Miracle Bus in 2009,[3] where he began to produce soundtracks for television dramas, anime, and other media.[4] His first work as a sole composer was the 2011 television drama series Mitsu no Aji: A Taste of Honey.[3]

He occasionally records his score overseas,[4] and improvises instruments that would match the concept of each work, such as using buckets and decking brushes as instruments when recording the soundtrack for Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans.[2]

• Profile at Miracle Bus (in Japanese)
• Masaru Yokoyama at Anime News Network's encyclopedia