Thread: Letter from the Producer LIVE Part LVI Digest (12/20/2019)

Special Talk Session “Ask the Devs!”

Guest: Sound Director Masayoshi Soken

(00:55:19)

Q: I'm really enjoying the Shadowbringers soundtrack. Please tell us about your favorite song in the soundtrack.

A: I was really moved when I was composing “Tomorrow & Tomorrow”. Amanda Achen-Keenan provided the vocals for the song, and her singing was full of expression. We recorded the song in Los Angeles, did the audio mixing in Japan, then shared it with Amanda. Our in-house staff who heard this mixed version told us that they were blown away. So I listened to it again myself and I had to agree, it was a good song! (Laugh)

As for Amanda, she was the soprano soloist in the Eorzean Symphony orchestra concert in North America. I remembered her and requested her for “Tomorrow & Tomorrow”.

Q: What kind of situations provide you with inspiration for songs?

A: Regardless of time and place, I often have these moments when an idea comes to me. When I get an idea, I record myself playing it on the piano or humming it into my smartphone before I forget.

Q: Is there someone you consider your musical mentor?

A: My mother was the first to teach me how to play the keyboard, and may have been the person who taught me the joy of creating music.

Q: Please tell us about any recent artists or albums that you like.

A: I watch YouTube videos of a trumpeter named James Morrison quite often. He can play an amazing treble and has wonderful technique.

I also frequently listen to songs by TWEEDEES. One of their members is Reiji Okii, a former member of Cymbals.

Q: I really like the song that plays in the Amaurot area in Tempest, ‘Neath Dark Waters, which has a melancholic feeling to it. Please tell us about any stories you have about when you were composing it, such as specific requests you received.

A: Main Scenario Writer Natsuko Ishikawa had requested me to come up with something that would quietly and melancholically lead up to the climax. We discussed several options and decided to go with just the piano. After creating that song, I started working on the music that would play in the shallower areas of Tempest, Full Fathom Five.

Yoshida: I wasn’t aware of this context when I was checking the music, so I requested them to switch the Tempest music with the Kholusia music that plays right before climax. Then I heard Soken and Ishikawa’s reasoning, and decided we would have the BGM from the cutscene continue to play up to the part where you arrive in Tempest.

Lead Level Designer Arata Takahashi and programmers also worked hard to make this possible. Thanks to their efforts, I think the music and game experience complemented each other really well.

Q: It was really impressive how the BGM in The Epic of Alexander synchronized with the fight. For instance, the B melody of Rise plays during the mechanics phase, and Alexander returns during the hook. Were these coordinated intentionally?

A: In most cases, the sound team and battle team both make adjustments as they test and play. But this time the song data was finished before the battle content, so I believe the battle team made adjustments to work with the song.

Yoshida: The staff in charge of The Epic of Alexander meticulously pursues the art of surprising players through presentation. I think when they ask Soken to make the music, they’re confident that he’ll come back with something great.

Soken: When I was requested to make various sound effects for the Temporal Stasis mechanic, I had no idea what their intentions were. But then I saw the battle when it was released, and realized, “Oh, I see what they were going for!”

Yoshida: They don’t just leave things up for Soken to decide. I think that while they do ask for certain sounds in their requests, they believe that Soken will achieve something even more amazing.

In essence, the final Temporal Stasis is just an indicator that you’re out of time. However, the staff carefully crafted the despair of realizing victory is just beyond reach, despite surviving everything to see that phase. Emotions such as these are crucial when the fight is presented to players and viewers who may be watching them progress.

Q: I hear you're a fan of Rage Against the Machine, and so I have a request! Please add more hard rock and heavy metal songs! Also, are there any music genres that aren't in FFXIV yet that you'd like to try?

A: I am a gamer, and I believe it’s important to make sure the music fits in, so I prioritize the game’s content or scenario. If I were to push what I personally prefer, then I believe I’d create lots of music similar to Rage Against the Machine, but as a game developer it’s important to create music that goes well with the gaming experience.

Q: When creating sound effects for a game, not only do you need sounds that’ll make you feel like you succeeded, but you also need sounds that make you feel disappointed as well. Are there any challenges when it comes to making these type of sounds?

A: In real life, you won’t hear any sound effects play when you’re happy or sad. Sound effects are unique to things like games. For that reason, I always keep in mind the players’ gaming experience, and strive to create a sound that can express those feelings the best.

Q: In terms of ambient sounds, are there any particular differences between the Source and the First? Please tell us if there was anything you wanted to distinguish between the two.

A: The ambient sounds of the First were something we discussed in the sound team, and took special care when creating them. The ambient sound we needed to recreate was the “halation.” In a story about bringing back the darkness, the light is a negative factor. However, generally when you consider an ambient sound for light, you would imagine something radiant with a positive connotation. So how we’d want to express this negative halation was something the ambient sound staff and the rest of the team really had hard time coming up with.

After much contemplation, we decided to try expressing the halation as a feeling of being overwhelmed by some kind of pressure. Our idea was to achieve this by simultaneously using both high and low frequency sounds to give off a feeling of uneasiness.

However, constantly listening to a truly unpleasant sound would make the gameplay unenjoyable, and so we had difficulty to fine tuning the sound to only give off a faint suggestion of uneasiness. This was tasked to our junior staff, and I believe they got the adjustments just right. This ambient sound can only be heard during the Everlasting Light weather, and cannot be heard again after the darkness has been returned to the First. If you've already completed the main scenario, you can go back using the New Game+ feature, so be sure to check it out!

Q: I really enjoy the Piano Collections album and listen to it all the time! Please add more orchestrion rolls of the piano arrangement versions!

A: We have the piano sound data, so we should be able to do this if we can prepare ways for our players to obtain the orchestrion roll items.

Yoshida: However, if we do implement all the orchestrion rolls, it’ll become a problem for us later on, so we’ll need to adjust the timing in which they’re released.

Soken: An orchestrion roll of the Azys Lla BGM has been highly requested from our Western audience, so I wanted to do it somehow. It looks like it’s going to be implemented in Patch 5.2, so I’m glad.

Q: I love the piano section of the Amaurot BGM. Do you have any plans to publish piano sheet music for tracks that were added in Heavensward and later?

A: While I understand that this has been requested from time to time, my honest response would be that we’d need a bit more demand for this. Many of the in-game tracks are difficult to physically play, and arranging the sheet music in a way that would be enjoyable to play requires a lot of effort. This would be hard as we’d need to sell a significant number of copies of the sheet music to cover the amount of resources required to make the arrangements. Of course, I’d like to publish the sheet music; however, if we aren’t able to make any profit, we'd be unable to publish more later on, and that’d be a problem. Also, as a side note, sheet music for orchestral arrangements requires much more work compared to a piano sheet music, which raises the hurdle for publishing orchestral arrangements even higher.

As mentioned earlier, the higher the demand for sheet music, the more likely we’ll be able to make it happen. So please continue sending in those requests!

Q: Additional battle voices were added in Patch 5.1. While I'm very happy that we received additional voices, since we’ve grown accustomed to our characters over the years, there’s several voices that feel strange. Are there any plans to adjust the additional voices based on feedback?

A: First, I would like to answer a question we’ve been seeing from our players. Through various feedback and discussions, there were players asking if we used different voice actors from the original voices; however, this is not the case. There isn’t any voice type that is voiced by multiple actors.

This voice data actually existed in your client data since A Realm Reborn. We were originally planning to use this voice data for something that was to be featured in Patch 5.1, but didn’t due to technical reasons. We then decided we could release them as additional voices, which was why they were added in Patch 5.1.

As with the gunbreaker sound effect changes, there will be those who like the new sounds and those who prefer the original sound. It’s difficult to make an adjustment or change that every single person can agree on. The whole sound team has been looking over everyone’s opinions on the forums and social media, but this is something we’re still trying to figure out.

Yoshida: The additional voices and the voices you’ve grown accustomed to were all recorded by the same voice actors, around the same time, with the same instructions. However, I believe it’s something you may not have gotten used to yet, due to the sudden implementation. For now, we’d like to monitor the situation. If the majority of our players mention that they’ve grown accustomed to the voices, we'll keep them; otherwise, we’ll consider reverting them to the original versions.

As Soken mentioned, it’s difficult to come up with voices that can be accepted by every single person, so I doubt we’ll record from scratch.

Q: I'm itching to see THE PRIMALS. How do you feel about doing a live performance sometime soon? I think it'd be great if you could go on a world tour for the Western audience as well!

A: I'd like to do one. What do you say, Yoshida?

Yoshida: I’ve been receiving this request from Soken, as well as others from the music department. However, our main occupation is game development, and Soken is the big boss for anything sound-related. A lot of people would struggle without him around, so we’re looking for a possible timing where we could do this without putting too much load on Soken.

Q: When will there be a Shadowbringers orchestra concert? I was really disappointed I couldn't attend the recent orchestra concert!

A: When we had our very first orchestra concert, we had no fear! We believed that our Warriors of Light would come even if we held four shows. However, on the day of the concert, one of the staff members from the orchestra mentioned that it’s unusual to start off with four shows, and I was taken aback. (Laugh)

That said, once we opened the doors to the show, the excitement from everyone was overpowering, and it seemed to fire up the members of the orchestra who went on to deliver a superb performance. However, it’s really difficult to hold a show with that scale!

As with the request for THE PRIMALS performance, I’d like to set my main focus on game development, which is the most important thing, then possibly look into a best timing to hold another concert.

Q: When going through previous main scenario quests with the New Game+ feature, there are scenes where I'd like for voices to be added. Would it be possible to add voiced lines to previous main scenario cutscenes?

A: Though it’s possible from a technical standpoint, the development resources required to do this make it very difficult. For example, each applicable scene would need to be voiced in each of our supported languages, and cutscenes would have to be recreated from scratch.