Yuji Takenouchi

Yuji Takenouchi (竹ノ内 裕治, Takenouchi Yūji, born February 25, 1969[1]), also known as TECHNOuchi, is a Japanese composer, sound designer, and musician.

Yuji Takenouchi
竹ノ内 裕治
Also known asTECHNOuchi
Born (1969-02-25) February 25, 1969
Kyoto, Japan
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Composer
  • sound designer
  • musician
  • arranger
Instrument(s)
Years active1989–present

Career

Takenouchi began his career in the game industry at Konami in 1989, which proved to be challenging as he had no formal musical training. Takenouchi wanted to compose music for the NES, but was assigned to work for PC. He composed for multiple games, most notably SD Snatcher and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Takenouchi considers 1989's Space Manbow to be his best MSX-era work.[2] Takenouchi also worked on multiple arcade games, including X-Men. He found arcade game music and sound design to offer different challenges as arcades are a crowded environment. In 1996, Takenouchi left Konami to join Sony Computer Entertainment after participating in the project "Let's Play Games" ("Game Yarouze"), which Sony hosted.[2]

In 1996 Takenouchi composed the soundtrack for Circadia for the PlayStation, which was his first project for the platform. While unsatisfied with the final product, the soundtrack was positively received, and Takenouchi would arrange songs from the soundtrack 10 years later. In the same year, Takenouchi composed for TomaRunner, drawing inspiration from various genres including techno, rock and roll, and baroque.[2] In 2002, Takenouchi composed the soundtrack of ChainDive with Hideyuki Eto, who previously contributed music for Circadia and sound design for Sky Gunner. After leaving Sony, Takenouchi was approached to compose music for Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception. Takenouchi was managing a school at the time, leading to hectic schedule. He suggested Akira Yamasaki as a composer, acting as a supervisor instead.[2] Takenouchi later joined FromSoftware, where he worked on sound design for Demon's Souls with Hideyuki Eto, marking their fourth collaboration.[3] As Takenouchi was inexperienced with orchestral scores, he brought Shunsuke Kida to compose the soundtrack.[2] Takenouchi would then work on sound design for the game's 2011 spiritual successor Dark Souls. Takenouchi contributed to the Monster Hunter 10th Anniversary Compilation Album, which released in October 2014.[4] After working on sound design for Dark Souls II, Takenouchi left FromSoftware.[5]

Takenouchi later joined Access Games, after a conversation with producer Nobuo Tomita.[6] Takenouchi served as sound director and composer for D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die, working on sound direction from the second episode onwards. The sound team was given reference material by Hidetaka Suehiro and Hiroyuki Saegusa through existing songs from various dramas and movies.[6] In 2016, Takenouchi left Access Games to join iNiS.[7] A compilation of Takenouchi's three house-inspired extended plays, Brand New Day, Southern Paradise, and Parfum was released in March 2017 by Apollo Records and titled after the first EP.[8] Takenouchi contributed to KE-TSU-I kizunajigokutachi, an arrangement album of music from Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi, which released in August 2020.[9] Takenouchi produced Saki Hayash's mini-album, TESTAMENT, which released in May 22, 2021.[10]

Works

Video games[11]
Year Title Notes
1989 Gekitotsu Pennant Race 2
Space Manbow with Tsuyoshi Sekito and Michiru Yamane
1990 Quarth
Nemesis sound design
SD Snatcher with various others
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake with various others
1992 Namachūkei 68
X-Men Seiichi Fukami, Junya Nakano, and Ayako Nishigaki
Hexion with Junya Nakano and Satoko Miyawaki
1993 Gaiapolis with Seiichi Fukami and Satoko Miyawaki
Polygonet Commanders with Junya Nakano
Mystic Warriors
1994 Golfing Greats 2
1995 Crypt Killer with Mutsuhiko Izumi
Tokimeki Memorial Taisen Puzzledama with Yoshihiko Koezuka and Kazuhiro Senoo
1996 Road Rage/Speed King with Akira Yamaoka and Mutsuhiko Izumi
1999 Circadia with Mayuko Kusaka, Hideyuki Eto, and Jun Chuma
TomaRunner with various others
2000 Gekitotsu Toma L'Arc: TomaRunner vs L'Arc-en-Ciel sound producer
2001 Sky Gunner sound design with Hideyuki Eto
Mad Maestro! with Jun Chuma and Mayuko Kageshita
2003 ChainDive with Hideyuki Eto
2006 Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception music supervisor
2007 Another Century's Episode 3: The Final composer
2009 Demon's Souls sound director
2010 Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airou Village composer
2011 Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airou Village G composer
Dark Souls sound designer, character creation music
Instant Brain with Keishi Yonao, Hideki Higuchi, Ryu Umemoto, Tadayoshi Moriya, and Tetsuro Sato
2012 Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor sound design with Hideyuki Eto and Koichi Suenaga
2014 Dark Souls II sound design with Koichi Suenaga and Kota Hoshino
D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die with Tomomi Teratani, Rio Okano, and Atsushi Yamaji; also sound director
2015 Project X Zone 2 arrangements
2018 The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories with kidlit and Keisuke Morita; also sound director
2019 Evangelion Battlefields sound design / sound director
Touhou Genso Mahjong arrangements
2021 Tetote x Connect composer / sound director
Dragon Quest Keshi Keshi! sound design / sound director
2022 Compass Live Arena arrangements/ sound director
Cancelled Project Rap Rabbit lead sound designer[12]

References

  1. @TECHNOuchi (February 25, 2019). "50歳の自分なんて想像出来なかった。仲良くしてくれてる皆さんいつもありがとう。これからも色々楽しく過ごしましょう!" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  2. Greening, Chris. "Game Music: Interview with Yuji Takenouchi (October 2009)". Square Enix Music Online. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  3. FromSoftware (February 5, 2009). Demon's Souls. Scene: Credits. Lead Sound Designer: Yuji Takenouchi / Sound Staff: Hideyuki Eto
  4. "『モンスターハンター 10周年 コンピレーション・アルバム』なるけみちこ氏や山根ミチル氏などが手がけた楽曲の試聴用音源が一部公開". Famitsu (in Japanese). August 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  5. Greening, Chris (March 25, 2014). "Dark Souls sound director to leave FromSoftware". Video Game Music Online. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  6. Greening, Chris (June 13, 2015). "Yuji Takenouchi Interview: New Ventures After Dark Souls". Video Game Music Online. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  7. Greening, Chris (July 22, 2016). "Yuji Takenouchi jumps ship to rhythm game developer iNiS". Video Game Music Online. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  8. Wilson, Scott (January 31, 2017). "Dark Souls sound designer Yuji Takenouchi's '90s house tracks reissued on new compilation". Fact. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  9. "『ケツイ~絆地獄たち~』3アルバム9月30日まで期間限定配信! 新デザインのTシャツも発売". Famitsu (in Japanese). Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  10. "ゲーマートランペット奏者の林沙希さんが,TECHNOuchi氏プロデュースのミニアルバムをリリース". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  11. "GameAudio Index" (in Japanese). Retrieved January 2, 2022.
  12. "『パラッパラッパー』松浦雅也 ×『押忍!闘え!応援団』矢野慶一の最強タッグで完全新作音楽ゲーム『PROJECT RAP RABBIT』を始動!!Kickstarterでクラウドファンディングスタート!". PR TIMES (in Japanese). 16 May 2017. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
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