I have, mostly because he was shitting on homecoming for not being on silent Hill saying team silent wouldn't have done that when the sh game he directed doesn't starts on the town and 4 isn't set on it either
Bruh, I'm a trained composer and stuff and also do more eletronic stuff, let's be reasonable, sampling is only an art when done creatively. There is really bad sampling practices out there. Sure, not gonna ban, but if you use unaltered 30 second+ long samples, you're stealing the sample, no way around it, you have to give credit to the original. Meanwhile, if you chopped up whoever singing, even if it's recognizable to some degree it should be totally OK. In this case it's an art, but not always. Arguable about music in general as well tbh, how much of an art is it if you are really really bad or just steal the music?
@@musicfriendly12 Well sampling is not always about sampling from others songs and artists, you can sample your own instruments with effects and then create something completely new with it.
My friends and I met Akira Yamaoka and Mary McGlynn at the St. Petersburg airport in 2015. Their performance was scheduled for the evening, so we decided to come early in the morning and wait for them to arrive. It was like some kind of little meet-n-greet. Although there was a couple of guys from the club who were all-serious about it and said something like “No photos, no autographs” to us, when they realized why we were there. But when Yamaoka-san and the others arrived, they didn’t give a shit about those guys and were very friendly towards us. We gave them presents, took a couple of photos and received autographs. Mary even tweeted about it later, and also they placed our handmade flag which we gave them at the airport on the scene during the concert. It is one of the most memorable moments in my life. And I still have my guitar signed by maestro himself.
Pst hey guys have you heard of a guy named Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails? To be fair though, Nails is more of a making the sounds to make sounds while Yamaoka APPLIES said ideas and sounds in such a tasteful way during the super spooky nightmare fuel for days parts
Describing the tracks as breathing perfectly puts into words the effect of Yamaoka's music. It feels organic, alive, sometimes tired and melancholic, other times angry and violent. The music doesn't emulate or describe emotion, it is emotion.
it's what made me a fan of Yamaoka, I was playing SH2, went into the "moth room" and thought, "why the hell don't I have this in my music collection? It fits perfectly!"
Also, SH1 has references to PTV drug.. PTV>Psychic TV. Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, there were connection between members. It adds additional charm to atmosphere.
I don't know if I'm too out of touch from the Silent Hill fanbase (I was a massive fan in the PS2 era after all), but this is the first time I hear there is people who hate Yamaoka.
I really like the experimental feeling of those songs, i belive its a hell of a good way to compose video games sound tracks and stuff. While i was playing the SH games, several times i stoped and started to wander with my thoghts if what i was listening was enviromental sound, music or a fucking monster coming towards me haha, all the sounds blended so well most of the time. In that area where those horse like sounds could be listened, i remember feelling uneasy all the time, in fact all that prison area was something terrible to play considering the sound aspects, there were several diffents sounds fucking up my mind, and in the end there were no new aberrations to fight, just a cleaver move to scary the players.
I had never known that sampling was so pervasive yet well done in game scores back then, let alone from Yamaoka. This actually makes me appreciate his creativity even more. And I loved how u used the arrows. Great vid!
It was mostly due to limitations (doing full orchestras were not cheap) or file size constraints. Yet it's always so cool to see how composers like Kojo Kondo, Akiria Yamaoka or Grant Kirkhope used them to create some of the most memorable music of all time.
@@KimStennabbCaesar That is true. Maybe it's more accurate to say that these studios could simply not afford to blow so much money on an orchestra when a lot of games would not be able to make use of it due to hardware restraints. And while it does require a different level of ability to manage an orchestra a lot of the great composers of the 90s have shown they can do it. Nobu Uematsu being one of the best examples of these composers. However, I'd say a lot of these composers did was create amazing melodies that still resonate with people around the globe.
@@Wexter0083 I agree with your points. Though, a lot of the games from that era would not really benefit from a full orchestra anyways. The hardware restraints were definitely a problem, irregardless of what kind of style they were going for (been going back to trackers lately). Most of the (Nintendo) composers of that era were working with leitmotifs/hooks rather than ambient pieces like Yamaoka did, so it's not really fair to compare their works. Thanks for the thought and input though, gonna open another beer and gaze down the streets from my sunny balcony.
*Claw Finger* is one of the finest, greatest, tracks ever made for a video game, and I won't change my mind about it no matter what anyone says. And Akira Yamaoka is one of my all time heroes.
Been listening to silent hill soundtracks for studying, driving and relaxing for 10 years. But i’ve never played a single silent hill game for more than an hour. I get too scared to play through it.
I knew about Portishead years and years ago. Back then in school, I had a notepad with all these band's names from rock to trip-hop and among them it was mentioned Portishead and Sonic Youth. Eventually when people pointed out about Silent Hill's references and stuff, just at that moment I made the connection to the band songs which Akira got inspired the most.
Akira Yamaoka's music is an important part of the Silent Hill experience, my favorite monkey business tracks are from the third game. In Silent Hill 2 the song that really stuck with me and kicked me in the balls was ''Ashes and tears''. It happens when James watches the tape and realizes Mary is gone. The song plays when you're walking through the charred and leaky hotel, it really captures the devastation and sadness James feels and makes you empathize with his character, powerful stuff ruclips.net/video/FmZ3WIzai0E/видео.html
Marko Ashes And Tears is a made up name though, there's really no official track title. I do get what you say though, the music in SH2 is probably the best part of the game and it compliments the story and mood perfectly.
Holy shit, your analysis of these songs is amazing. I never thought of Silent Hill as a creature and the more anxious music being the protagonist's feelings of being trapped inside it.
Wow I never knew Yamaoka was inspired by Portishead. That band is amazing. I've always just been under the assumption that he was just on the Nine Inch Nails trains.
I wouldn't be surprised if he was inspired by NIN as well. All of Team Silent was high on 90s alternative & electronic music, if Masahiro Ito's tweets are to be believed anyway.
What the hell, there's people who don't like his stuff? Never seen anyone say anything bad about Akira Yamaoka. EDIT lmao, that Daft Punk section was hilarious. Subbed.
My dads favorite album of all time was Endtroducing and I remember it was the first album I listened to constantly. Its so satisfying hearing it get brought up still.
Yeah, sampling is an art not to be overlooked, and ties into the creativity through limitations evolution of games design and art, as you mentioned. Eric Brosius's Thief: The Dark Project soundtrack, which uses sound sampling (which he himself created rather than taken from another's archive, I believe) to achieve an electronic ambient which I think recalls the early output of Tangerine Dream. I highly recommend both if you haven't experienced them yet. Also, this video reminds me that I still need to play Silent Hill 3 and 4. This was an especially great upload - well researched and compelling. Well done!
I actually researched surprisingly little haha. I knew most of this off the top of my head. I guess those years of tracking down video gamey sounding samples & VSTs finally payed off.
Rubycon is awesome. Green Desert has parts very like the Thief OST. Phaedra is my fave, a masterpiece, I think! They did some great movie soundtracks too: Risky Business and Thief. (Nothing to do with the game, lol.)
Yeah, I heard they weren't as good as the first two. But I'm still interested in experiencing the varied history of Silent Hill. I quite liked Shattered Memories, although the running away parts got repetitive and annoying.
I'm so grateful to you for posting and creating this video. I've been obsessing over his soundtracks for about a year, in addition to the years I spent playing his game when I was younger. But I've been trying to break it down and really analyze as much of it as I can but some of the sounds and techniques he used eluded me. Really cool to see him in action with the guitar too. As a musician and gamer I couldn't respect the guy more
As a big fan of _Silent Hill_ and having studied it quite a bit, I must say you did a really good job researching all this, especially the Portishead part. Not many people know all those inspirations of Akira Yamaoka. He had even more sources than all of those, though, consciously or even subconsciously... That's one of the things that made SH1, SH2 and even SH3 so great and special - they had A LOT of 90’s, 80’s and beyond culture in them: movies, music, books, games, paintings...
Akira's body of work for Silent Hill is a diverse one. His music produces antithetical emotional experiences: ethereal peace and suffocating surreal horror. The application of the two kinds of music in tandem works to magnify their effectiveness: the tonal contrast makes the listener more receptive to the emotional content of the music. After enduring the stumbling horrors and bloody industrial decay of the Otherworld, the player is shaken and desperate to bathe in soothing pools of reverberant ambience. And after the player is thereby becalmed and lulled into a sense of dreamy security they are thrust in their soft and vulnerable state back into the Otherworld with all its piercing visual and auditory horrors...
Just found this vid through the recommended bar (because I listen to SH2/3 habitually) I love your humour/breakdowns/and cadence. Especially describing the music without having to rely on theory. Looking forward to many more
His music, especially in Silent Hill 2 is just.. My brain just loves it so much and wants to be envelloped in it as much as possible. I really wish I knew like.. Music theory or terms or whatever so I could try to convey what it makes me feel and maybe even understand why it makes me feel that way, but Silent Hill 2's soundtrack is absolutely god-tier.
Is that some educational documentary in disguise? Anyway, great video. You seem to know quite a few things about how music works. Maybe do something similar on Nobuo Uematsu?
Love the use of music in all your videos! Your breakdown of music here really shows your understanding of how music works. The added comedy is a nice plus, excellent work!
I also wanna point out the understated metal influence that occasionally appears in Akira’s work. And no, not just songs like Angel’s Thanatos which sound like Nirvana mixed with KoЯn being played on a 7 string tuned to B. Akira Yamaoka is like, a massive Metalhead. The song “Killed by death,” on the SH1 soundtrack is literally named after a Motörhead song. Also he’s admitted to being a Metallica Stan before lol.
It fills me with warmth whenever I see one of my favorite smaller channels put out a video that gets a sizable amount of views in comparison to the usual.
man your content is something special watching 24/7 for 3rd day in a row and cant believe its real. music visuals editing and most important your understanding of videogame industry make it really special. if I have to choose something to watch for last time it should be any of your videos. love
I never get tired of silent hill osts specially silent hill 2 and 4 songs. Waiting for you, Tender sugar, Love psalm, promise, Overdose delusion. Masterpieces.
Lol What? Silent Hill 2 music was extremely inspired by Portishead, who, along with DJ Shadow, basically created Trip-Hop. I hope you've found them since you posted this comment.
@@basse9914 I mean, are you looking for strictly instrumental stuff? Did you look up DJ Shadow's "Endtroducing"? Other recommendations are Radiohead and Flying Lotus. Maybe the Talking Heads also. There was one album I listened to heavily when I went through a sad Silent Hill phase. I'll see if I can find that for you when I have free time.
Fuck, the hammered dulcimer on that Portishead song=the bit at the start of the main silent hill theme? Would have never put that together as the inspiration until you mentioned Yamaokas admiration of Portishead. Great vid man
Sadly, it was all I could steal from youtube in decent enough quality. I guess you could say that it would've been better to capture my own footage, and would be right, but ...i don't really have defense, you would just be right.
One thing I've always wanted to know more about but haven't heard anyone speak on(possibly because it's so small) is Akira's choice of titles for his work. The Silent Hill tracks all have very clever, poetic titles that almost tell an incomplete story. I feel like I'm the only person who appreciates stuff like this. I've wanted to see a video of him explaining his choice for these titles and what they mean(as most of them don't even have lyrics). They seem so out of context that they almost come off as a mistranslation...and I love it. Children Kill ...and the angels weep Tears of.... Devil's Lyric Sickness Unto Foolish Death Killed By Death Ashes And Ghost Kill Angels Dance With Night Wind Memory Of The Waters Uneternal Sleep Fermata In Mystic Air Never Endnever, Endnever End Overdose Delusion
I really love this video. You do a great job on explaining what makes Yamaoka’s style great without making it stale. I hope you could do something on other composers, especially one on Masafumi Takada.
To the people who don’t think Sampling is an art, there’s a vast collection of music out there made with presets on synthesizers, almost every 80s song uses these, there’s a large portion of modern music which uses these. The beetles used them. Presets are sounds directly ripped from the synth, no assembly required. Some synthesizer presets are directly samples. If you have a problem with this technique, all physical instruments are technically presets.
Thanks for the info. I have loved and obsessed over the Silent Hill soundtracks and Portishead separately. I didn't play SH1 and never saw the poster for Portishead in game so never knew they were an inspiration. There needs to be a trip-hop revival. I keep channels on Pandora for it but it's a limited realm.
Portishead is the original Silent Hill music ;). Portishead is the reason why I love the Silent Hill soundtrack so much. That dreamy feeling. Love it! PS: I love your channel. Unique stuff. Subscribed!
I tend to think the psychological ambiguity of Silent Hill is the most appealing thematic complement to Yamaoka's music. Indeed, the more "concrete" the worlds of Silent Hill become for both the characters and the player, i.e., as indubitably real, external, supernatural threats, instead of pumping the player's intuitions about how much of the Silent Hill experience is happening inside the characters' minds, the more those worlds resemble, as an example, the "fight or flight" tangibility of Resident Evil's experience. Resident Evil's music reflects the unambiguous threat the player experiences in that world, and those protagonists are, for the most part, competent and neurotypical: an idealized combatant in a life-or-death struggle. As a story about "real" monsters attacking a troubled protagonist in a strange town, in which the metaphysics of the world experienced by the on-screen characters is clearly established and physically real, Silent Hill loses some of that psychological sophistication Yamaoka's music provides (or at least helps suggest). Yamaoka's compositions are like tone poems for states of mind: they suggest a diaphanous separation between the on-screen character's mind and the world as perceived by the player. It's only my reading of the interplay between the music and the overall implementation of the Yamaoka-scored Silent Hill games, but I think Yamaoka's compositions provide another sensory standpoint from which to consider the games' psychological and metaphysical elements.
some of these songs are just so incredibly awesome. I remember being a kid and absolutely loving the music, despite not really being interested in music at that age
Thanks for this more technical insight into Yamaoka's work. Very interesting. The reference to my favorite duo also adds to my overall rating of the video. Pretty good.
I think Yamaoka compositions are my favorite videogame music and i like Daft Punk...using a sample and creating something bigger with it is an art form in itself.
i love the silent hill soundtracks n many other older japanese game soundtracks as i have too grew up on them, so hearing you go over the interesting anatomy of the songs and truly dissect them showed great appreciation for such mastery. gr8 vid, i luv most ur vids
Have you checked out the bonus CD from the Silent Hill Sounds Box? From what I understand, it has a number of tracks that they decided to cut from some of the games. Anaconda fits right in to the Monkey Bonkers category.
That’s where the saying comes in, it’s not how new; sharp and expensive the samurais sword is but, how he utilises the tools he is given.. (or similar, you get my meaning)
Thor did you play 'Let It Die' on PS4? I don't know for sure, but I heard that some of the music for that game is done by Yamaoka, and indeed it sounds like it to me
I haven't yet. So far I mostly like Suda's games for the story and characters, and Let It Die seems kinda barren on that front. But maybe I'm wrong. I'm sure I'll try it sooner or later though.
@@warrioroflight3489 I have? I don't usually delete comments unless someone said something really heinous. so either u did that, or some weird youtube shit happend to it.
I'm sure Yamaoka listened to Swan's "How They Suffer" and "Animus", it's the same sounds as most Silent Hill 2 pieces (White Noiz, Laura Plays the Piano, A World of Madness, etc).
I really love your videos man,you always talk about like the underground games and that kind of subject that is not talked about in the other channels,keep up with the good work (hope you see it) ,cheers from Brazil fam
Always liked Yamaoka's stuff, but when I heard Let it Die's soundtrack for the first time... the sheer scope of it is mindblowing. So many good songs on the in-game radio station from all the bands who collaborated, topped off with Yamaoka's industrial ambience.
Also, I just wanna say thank you. I've been watching your videos for some years now but this one just blew me away. I've been meaning to make music ripping off the OST from the first SH game but I didn't have the balls to do it until I saw this video and I just had to stop it and thank you for inspiring me to finally do it.
Not only is that music featured in RE4 and DMC, (3:17) but if you listen to Silent Hills Battle Drums then it will be in there as well. Which sadly proves more of the point on that side of things.
I have literally never seen anyone say a bad word about Yamaoka ever
TheSnoozeFox Exactly. I've seen people shit on some of the games but they always say "At least Akira's music is still good".
I have, mostly because he was shitting on homecoming for not being on silent Hill saying team silent wouldn't have done that when the sh game he directed doesn't starts on the town and 4 isn't set on it either
@@WisteriaNerium what?
well he took over the director seat, so that's why I heard some people say he's not essential and doesn't understand Silent Hill
I have. In the Silent Hill Forum.
I've literally never heard anyone in my entire life refer to Yamaoka as a hack.
Same.
when it comes to understanding the lore he is #SilentHillMovie
SAME. I do enjoy the budget sam hyde ese editing tho. SUBBED.
morrissey guy rest is piece to Sam Hyde btw
Cause he’s dead
And never coming back
Ever
I think the maker of the video thinks that or at least used to.
Lets just agree on this, Sampling is art. No question about it.
Nah.
@@Hugo_Tate :)
Bruh, I'm a trained composer and stuff and also do more eletronic stuff, let's be reasonable, sampling is only an art when done creatively. There is really bad sampling practices out there. Sure, not gonna ban, but if you use unaltered 30 second+ long samples, you're stealing the sample, no way around it, you have to give credit to the original. Meanwhile, if you chopped up whoever singing, even if it's recognizable to some degree it should be totally OK. In this case it's an art, but not always. Arguable about music in general as well tbh, how much of an art is it if you are really really bad or just steal the music?
@@musicfriendly12 Well sampling is not always about sampling from others songs and artists, you can sample your own instruments with effects and then create something completely new with it.
It's the same as using premixed paint colors
My friends and I met Akira Yamaoka and Mary McGlynn at the St. Petersburg airport in 2015. Their performance was scheduled for the evening, so we decided to come early in the morning and wait for them to arrive. It was like some kind of little meet-n-greet. Although there was a couple of guys from the club who were all-serious about it and said something like “No photos, no autographs” to us, when they realized why we were there. But when Yamaoka-san and the others arrived, they didn’t give a shit about those guys and were very friendly towards us. We gave them presents, took a couple of photos and received autographs. Mary even tweeted about it later, and also they placed our handmade flag which we gave them at the airport on the scene during the concert. It is one of the most memorable moments in my life. And I still have my guitar signed by maestro himself.
Amazing experience!
Akira Yamaoka is a man who dares to wear snake skin pants... that in itself garners my respect.
Why does he earn respect for that?
Max Power because you wouldnt
Link to picture or video of him wearing them?
@@NihilanthNonServiam ruclips.net/video/E1VKvED76WQ/видео.html
The Making of Silent Hill 2, skip to 2:30 to see him in them.
Strongwind em
Akira Yamaoka the only man who can make a scary soundtrack out of him falling down in his garage or down a flight of stairs into empty trash bins.
Daidōji Akira Yamaroka is the only man who can throw a brick into a washing machine and make a song from it
Pst hey guys have you heard of a guy named Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails? To be fair though, Nails is more of a making the sounds to make sounds while Yamaoka APPLIES said ideas and sounds in such a tasteful way during the super spooky nightmare fuel for days parts
Abraham Rendon id say Him and Trent are pretty similar in the way they feel about the music they make
@@abrahamrendon6787 ah yes.
(I say this as a fan of both Akira Yamaoka And Nine inch Nails)
@@gazzz7484 As well as Chu Ishikawa (the composer for all of Shin'ya Tsukamoto's films, including the Tetsuo trilogy)
Describing the tracks as breathing perfectly puts into words the effect of Yamaoka's music. It feels organic, alive, sometimes tired and melancholic, other times angry and violent. The music doesn't emulate or describe emotion, it is emotion.
The music is alive just like how Silent Hill as a place is seen as a sentient being.
Exactly, the music encapsulates a feeling so well, it’s almost like listening to the emotion itself.
Wait my youtube reccomends actually sent me to quality content from a relatively small channel?! Dont tell team youtube.
Your secret is safe with me.
I think they are modifying their algorithms to bring RUclips back from the brink. Bringing it closer to it's roots with small and niche content
The industrial/Noise influences came from "Skinny Puppy", "Throbbing Gristle", "Numb" etc.
It's not a secret that Yamaoka is also a big fan of them.
yeah , also he was in a punk band in his youth
Buck Ovens
exactly!
it's what made me a fan of Yamaoka, I was playing SH2, went into the "moth room" and thought, "why the hell don't I have this in my music collection? It fits perfectly!"
Also, SH1 has references to PTV drug.. PTV>Psychic TV. Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, there were connection between members. It adds additional charm to atmosphere.
KaMui1987 sucks that no one recognizes Foetus these days.
I don't know if I'm too out of touch from the Silent Hill fanbase (I was a massive fan in the PS2 era after all), but this is the first time I hear there is people who hate Yamaoka.
Gab Gallard Same! Sounds like he made it up tbh
@@danielandres1579 *Sounds like he made it up tbh* so you did not bother to read the comment section at all? its full of Armchair composition experts.
Literally nobody does, idk where he got that from
Akira yamaoka sooundtracks are all pure gold!!!
I really like the experimental feeling of those songs, i belive its a hell of a good way to compose video games sound tracks and stuff.
While i was playing the SH games, several times i stoped and started to wander with my thoghts if what i was listening was enviromental sound, music or a fucking monster coming towards me haha, all the sounds blended so well most of the time.
In that area where those horse like sounds could be listened, i remember feelling uneasy all the time, in fact all that prison area was something terrible to play considering the sound aspects, there were several diffents sounds fucking up my mind, and in the end there were no new aberrations to fight, just a cleaver move to scary the players.
The prison is easily my favorite bit in SH2, in terms of sheer horror. It's such a mindfuck.
ballyman Exactly. Those sounds always made you feel a presence or an approach of something really horrific. Something that you had yet to imagine.
I had never known that sampling was so pervasive yet well done in game scores back then, let alone from Yamaoka. This actually makes me appreciate his creativity even more. And I loved how u used the arrows. Great vid!
It was mostly due to limitations (doing full orchestras were not cheap) or file size constraints. Yet it's always so cool to see how composers like Kojo Kondo, Akiria Yamaoka or Grant Kirkhope used them to create some of the most memorable music of all time.
@@Wexter0083 Doing full orchestral soundtracks is not and has never been cheap. It also requires a completely different level of musicianship.
@@KimStennabbCaesar That is true. Maybe it's more accurate to say that these studios could simply not afford to blow so much money on an orchestra when a lot of games would not be able to make use of it due to hardware restraints.
And while it does require a different level of ability to manage an orchestra a lot of the great composers of the 90s have shown they can do it. Nobu Uematsu being one of the best examples of these composers. However, I'd say a lot of these composers did was create amazing melodies that still resonate with people around the globe.
@@Wexter0083 I agree with your points. Though, a lot of the games from that era would not really benefit from a full orchestra anyways. The hardware restraints were definitely a problem, irregardless of what kind of style they were going for (been going back to trackers lately). Most of the (Nintendo) composers of that era were working with leitmotifs/hooks rather than ambient pieces like Yamaoka did, so it's not really fair to compare their works. Thanks for the thought and input though, gonna open another beer and gaze down the streets from my sunny balcony.
*Claw Finger* is one of the finest, greatest, tracks ever made for a video game, and I won't change my mind about it no matter what anyone says.
And Akira Yamaoka is one of my all time heroes.
2 years later and your opinion is still correct.
It's one of the finest tracks made, PERIOD, not just in a video game but in ever
You are awesome, this is better than what was featured in my book. A million thumbs up.
Que haces aqui compañero
Hello there
Debí suponer que Quetzal estaría aquí
Oye men en serio que haces aqui? no esperaba encontrarte aqui y que fueran fan de Silent hill.
Wena compadre quetzal, te amo ❤❤❤❤🌌🌌🌌🌌
Been listening to silent hill soundtracks for studying, driving and relaxing for 10 years. But i’ve never played a single silent hill game for more than an hour. I get too scared to play through it.
Yaay! I'm not alone! :3 HEHEHE
I knew about Portishead years and years ago. Back then in school, I had a notepad with all these band's names from rock to trip-hop and among them it was mentioned Portishead and Sonic Youth. Eventually when people pointed out about Silent Hill's references and stuff, just at that moment I made the connection to the band songs which Akira got inspired the most.
Akira Yamaoka's music is an important part of the Silent Hill experience, my favorite monkey business tracks are from the third game. In Silent Hill 2 the song that really stuck with me and kicked me in the balls was ''Ashes and tears''. It happens when James watches the tape and realizes Mary is gone. The song plays when you're walking through the charred and leaky hotel, it really captures the devastation and sadness James feels and makes you empathize with his character, powerful stuff ruclips.net/video/FmZ3WIzai0E/видео.html
Marko Ashes And Tears is a made up name though, there's really no official track title. I do get what you say though, the music in SH2 is probably the best part of the game and it compliments the story and mood perfectly.
that fucking track haunts me, i love it so much but it also tortures me. ive literally heard it in my sleep
I love his soundtracks. The emotion every song evokes is mindblowing.
Nice to see the portishead mention
You even visit Kim Gordon 's house in first Silent Hill!
Holy shit, your analysis of these songs is amazing. I never thought of Silent Hill as a creature and the more anxious music being the protagonist's feelings of being trapped inside it.
Triphop saved me.
Akira Yamaoka is a genius.
It's very common in electronic music to sample. There's a whole industry for sample packs. We all use them.
Wow I never knew Yamaoka was inspired by Portishead. That band is amazing. I've always just been under the assumption that he was just on the Nine Inch Nails trains.
I wouldn't be surprised if he was inspired by NIN as well. All of Team Silent was high on 90s alternative & electronic music, if Masahiro Ito's tweets are to be believed anyway.
Unmask your heart. Then show us your smile.
That dentist drill shit was the most terrifying audio I have ever been subjected to
What the hell, there's people who don't like his stuff? Never seen anyone say anything bad about Akira Yamaoka.
EDIT lmao, that Daft Punk section was hilarious. Subbed.
My dads favorite album of all time was Endtroducing and I remember it was the first album I listened to constantly. Its so satisfying hearing it get brought up still.
Yeah, sampling is an art not to be overlooked, and ties into the creativity through limitations evolution of games design and art, as you mentioned. Eric Brosius's Thief: The Dark Project soundtrack, which uses sound sampling (which he himself created rather than taken from another's archive, I believe) to achieve an electronic ambient which I think recalls the early output of Tangerine Dream. I highly recommend both if you haven't experienced them yet.
Also, this video reminds me that I still need to play Silent Hill 3 and 4.
This was an especially great upload - well researched and compelling. Well done!
I actually researched surprisingly little haha. I knew most of this off the top of my head. I guess those years of tracking down video gamey sounding samples & VSTs finally payed off.
SH 3 has great graphics but a lame plot and SH4 is very dense, be warned
Tangerine Dream released 158 albums!! Which ones have the best atmosphere? I liked Rubycon
Rubycon is awesome. Green Desert has parts very like the Thief OST. Phaedra is my fave, a masterpiece, I think! They did some great movie soundtracks too: Risky Business and Thief. (Nothing to do with the game, lol.)
Yeah, I heard they weren't as good as the first two. But I'm still interested in experiencing the varied history of Silent Hill. I quite liked Shattered Memories, although the running away parts got repetitive and annoying.
the industrial music is done in most parts with a 90s sample library called "titanium rhythms" by Big Fish Audio, he used both volume 1 and 2.
Do you know where the more ambient stuff is sampled from?
@@Marcusml333I think it was a pack called bizarre guitar or distorted reality
Akira is obviously great, the haters can eat feces
I'm so grateful to you for posting and creating this video. I've been obsessing over his soundtracks for about a year, in addition to the years I spent playing his game when I was younger. But I've been trying to break it down and really analyze as much of it as I can but some of the sounds and techniques he used eluded me. Really cool to see him in action with the guitar too. As a musician and gamer I couldn't respect the guy more
Who the hell would have the nerve to say Yamaoka is a hack? Baka gaijin.
Begone weeb
@@vananandreas3070 "No, no, he's got a point."
@@RexcorJ lol
3:45 is also used in Driver 2: Chicago At Night.
As a big fan of _Silent Hill_ and having studied it quite a bit, I must say you did a really good job researching all this, especially the Portishead part. Not many people know all those inspirations of Akira Yamaoka. He had even more sources than all of those, though, consciously or even subconsciously... That's one of the things that made SH1, SH2 and even SH3 so great and special - they had A LOT of 90’s, 80’s and beyond culture in them: movies, music, books, games, paintings...
Akira's body of work for Silent Hill is a diverse one. His music produces antithetical emotional experiences: ethereal peace and suffocating surreal horror. The application of the two kinds of music in tandem works to magnify their effectiveness: the tonal contrast makes the listener more receptive to the emotional content of the music. After enduring the stumbling horrors and bloody industrial decay of the Otherworld, the player is shaken and desperate to bathe in soothing pools of reverberant ambience. And after the player is thereby becalmed and lulled into a sense of dreamy security they are thrust in their soft and vulnerable state back into the Otherworld with all its piercing visual and auditory horrors...
Just found this vid through the recommended bar (because I listen to SH2/3 habitually) I love your humour/breakdowns/and cadence. Especially describing the music without having to rely on theory. Looking forward to many more
His music, especially in Silent Hill 2 is just.. My brain just loves it so much and wants to be envelloped in it as much as possible. I really wish I knew like.. Music theory or terms or whatever so I could try to convey what it makes me feel and maybe even understand why it makes me feel that way, but Silent Hill 2's soundtrack is absolutely god-tier.
I love when you dive deep into the aesthetic identity of an entire franchise like this. I found your channel off your Final Fantasy fashion video
Is that some educational documentary in disguise?
Anyway, great video. You seem to know quite a few things about how music works. Maybe do something similar on Nobuo Uematsu?
I plan to!
Михаил Кеннеди What is the name of the anime of your RUclips Channel pic?
N3WBIESKI11Z only my railgun
Love the use of music in all your videos! Your breakdown of music here really shows your understanding of how music works. The added comedy is a nice plus, excellent work!
I also wanna point out the understated metal influence that occasionally appears in Akira’s work. And no, not just songs like Angel’s Thanatos which sound like Nirvana mixed with KoЯn being played on a 7 string tuned to B. Akira Yamaoka is like, a massive Metalhead. The song “Killed by death,” on the SH1 soundtrack is literally named after a Motörhead song. Also he’s admitted to being a Metallica Stan before lol.
Worth noting the sample you talk about at 3:12 is also used in Silent Hill Origin's title screen music. Such a lovely sound.
It fills me with warmth whenever I see one of my favorite smaller channels put out a video that gets a sizable amount of views in comparison to the usual.
man your content is something special watching 24/7 for 3rd day in a row and cant believe its real. music visuals editing and most important your understanding of videogame industry make it really special. if I have to choose something to watch for last time it should be any of your videos. love
I never get tired of silent hill osts specially silent hill 2 and 4 songs. Waiting for you, Tender sugar, Love psalm, promise, Overdose delusion. Masterpieces.
I really love silent hill OSTs, especially SH2. Thank you for doing this well researcher video. Keep it up!
Yamaoka is a huge influence on me. Nice to see someone make a video essay about him.
Awesome stuff, I just wish there was an ambient artist or album out there that had that same soft lonely Silent Hill feel, can't find anywhere.
Drackfreeee
Lol What? Silent Hill 2 music was extremely inspired by Portishead, who, along with DJ Shadow, basically created Trip-Hop. I hope you've found them since you posted this comment.
@@Y20XTongvaLand Never heard of Portishead until now, though it's not the similarity of sounds between the two I was looking for.
@@basse9914 I mean, are you looking for strictly instrumental stuff? Did you look up DJ Shadow's "Endtroducing"? Other recommendations are Radiohead and Flying Lotus. Maybe the Talking Heads also. There was one album I listened to heavily when I went through a sad Silent Hill phase. I'll see if I can find that for you when I have free time.
Fuck, the hammered dulcimer on that Portishead song=the bit at the start of the main silent hill theme? Would have never put that together as the inspiration until you mentioned Yamaokas admiration of Portishead. Great vid man
it hurts so much to the SH "HD" Collection footage being used for the original Silent Hill titles.
Sadly, it was all I could steal from youtube in decent enough quality. I guess you could say that it would've been better to capture my own footage, and would be right, but ...i don't really have defense, you would just be right.
One thing I've always wanted to know more about but haven't heard anyone speak on(possibly because it's so small) is Akira's choice of titles for his work. The Silent Hill tracks all have very clever, poetic titles that almost tell an incomplete story. I feel like I'm the only person who appreciates stuff like this. I've wanted to see a video of him explaining his choice for these titles and what they mean(as most of them don't even have lyrics). They seem so out of context that they almost come off as a mistranslation...and I love it.
Children Kill
...and the angels weep
Tears of....
Devil's Lyric
Sickness Unto Foolish Death
Killed By Death
Ashes And Ghost
Kill Angels
Dance With Night Wind
Memory Of The Waters
Uneternal Sleep
Fermata In Mystic Air
Never Endnever, Endnever End
Overdose Delusion
6:19 What is Laura searching in san andreas? Did she became a gang member of the grove street?
I really love this video. You do a great job on explaining what makes Yamaoka’s style great without making it stale. I hope you could do something on other composers, especially one on Masafumi Takada.
thank you for this ive been waiting for someone to make this type of video
To the people who don’t think Sampling is an art, there’s a vast collection of music out there made with presets on synthesizers, almost every 80s song uses these, there’s a large portion of modern music which uses these. The beetles used them. Presets are sounds directly ripped from the synth, no assembly required. Some synthesizer presets are directly samples. If you have a problem with this technique, all physical instruments are technically presets.
Thanks for the info. I have loved and obsessed over the Silent Hill soundtracks and Portishead separately. I didn't play SH1 and never saw the poster for Portishead in game so never knew they were an inspiration. There needs to be a trip-hop revival. I keep channels on Pandora for it but it's a limited realm.
thanks for sending me on a 2 hour journey on Spotify looking for some trip hop. 💕
Please dont stop doing videos dude, you are pretty cool!
Musicians will understand sampling. All that matters is the new context you bring to it.
It really is all about how you use the sound. You can do a lot with not a lot.
Portishead is the original Silent Hill music ;). Portishead is the reason why I love the Silent Hill soundtrack so much. That dreamy feeling. Love it! PS: I love your channel. Unique stuff. Subscribed!
I tend to think the psychological ambiguity of Silent Hill is the most appealing thematic complement to Yamaoka's music. Indeed, the more "concrete" the worlds of Silent Hill become for both the characters and the player, i.e., as indubitably real, external, supernatural threats, instead of pumping the player's intuitions about how much of the Silent Hill experience is happening inside the characters' minds, the more those worlds resemble, as an example, the "fight or flight" tangibility of Resident Evil's experience. Resident Evil's music reflects the unambiguous threat the player experiences in that world, and those protagonists are, for the most part, competent and neurotypical: an idealized combatant in a life-or-death struggle. As a story about "real" monsters attacking a troubled protagonist in a strange town, in which the metaphysics of the world experienced by the on-screen characters is clearly established and physically real, Silent Hill loses some of that psychological sophistication Yamaoka's music provides (or at least helps suggest).
Yamaoka's compositions are like tone poems for states of mind: they suggest a diaphanous separation between the on-screen character's mind and the world as perceived by the player. It's only my reading of the interplay between the music and the overall implementation of the Yamaoka-scored Silent Hill games, but I think Yamaoka's compositions provide another sensory standpoint from which to consider the games' psychological and metaphysical elements.
Dude, this video was excellently produced, edited, and highly interesting. Good job my Dude!
some of these songs are just so incredibly awesome.
I remember being a kid and absolutely loving the music, despite not really being interested in music at that age
this video deserves 7 billion views one for each person in the world
Thanks for this more technical insight into Yamaoka's work. Very interesting. The reference to my favorite duo also adds to my overall rating of the video. Pretty good.
Great timing to put this out, always loved the OST to Silent Hill games!
I think Yamaoka compositions are my favorite videogame music and i like Daft Punk...using a sample and creating something bigger with it is an art form in itself.
i love the silent hill soundtracks n many other older japanese game soundtracks as i have too grew up on them, so hearing you go over the interesting anatomy of the songs and truly dissect them showed great appreciation for such mastery. gr8 vid, i luv most ur vids
I still listen to Portishead on the daily. This video made my heart happy as shit.
Have you checked out the bonus CD from the Silent Hill Sounds Box? From what I understand, it has a number of tracks that they decided to cut from some of the games. Anaconda fits right in to the Monkey Bonkers category.
Nope. I didn't even know the Silent Hill Sounds Box was a thing.
Your videos are so good and just worth watching. So much information and explanations. Great!
That’s where the saying comes in, it’s not how new; sharp and expensive the samurais sword is but, how he utilises the tools he is given.. (or similar, you get my meaning)
As soon as I heard Glorybox in the background, I grinned so hard!!
Never knew the inventiveness of this series' composer. Still it's unbelievable that a dentist drill would be used as a part of a spooky soundtrack.
This vid got me into the producing mood thanks.
Now das a good mood to be in
@@thorhighheels we should collab though.
Another quality video, keep it up.
Also, you're 3 categories of silent hill musics are as follows:
"Breathers"
"Tearers"
and "Immediate panic".
And "End of Small Sanctuary" reminds me of Cuckoo Clock from Lumines II.
*okay I'll shut up now*
The "Monkey Business" bit sounds like Dissecting Table - Camouflage or something
Thor did you play 'Let It Die' on PS4? I don't know for sure, but I heard that some of the music for that game is done by Yamaoka, and indeed it sounds like it to me
I haven't yet. So far I mostly like Suda's games for the story and characters, and Let It Die seems kinda barren on that front. But maybe I'm wrong. I'm sure I'll try it sooner or later though.
@@warrioroflight3489 I have? I don't usually delete comments unless someone said something really heinous. so either u did that, or some weird youtube shit happend to it.
As a dedicated trip hop, Portishead and Silent Hill OST fan, this video is everything. Awesomeness in entirety 🖤👍
hell yeah i love you for making this video.
bro this video is so cool-made! I subscribed
It's harder to make good music with limits than it is to make music with everything available.
How do you not have more subscribers? Your content is excellent! I've been binge watching for the past few days so I thought I would finally comment.
( Not Tomorrow ) music that plays with Lisa scene, is one of the most emotional themes that i ever listen to.
I'm sure Yamaoka listened to Swan's "How They Suffer" and "Animus", it's the same sounds as most Silent Hill 2 pieces (White Noiz, Laura Plays the Piano, A World of Madness, etc).
Ok so now im in love with a new genre. Thank you 😍
I really love your videos man,you always talk about like the underground games and that kind of subject that is not talked about in the other channels,keep up with the good work (hope you see it) ,cheers from Brazil fam
The music choice on these games are top notch , it gives me this weird vibe , a nostalgic one
Good video, but I'm surprised you didn't mention Industrial Music being one of Yamaoka's biggest influences on his work.
3:45 is the EXACT same melody / guitar loop / riff that's in Driver 2's Chicago at Night theme
Glad I wasn't the only one that thought of Driver 2. :)
Zajebiste wideo, świetny kanał. Brawo bracie ! Cieszę się że jesteś :)
Always liked Yamaoka's stuff, but when I heard Let it Die's soundtrack for the first time... the sheer scope of it is mindblowing. So many good songs on the in-game radio station from all the bands who collaborated, topped off with Yamaoka's industrial ambience.
duude your musical knowledge is awesome, i haven't found anyone that analyses on this level, like i do.
Great vid man
Wow, really interesting. I love Akira Yamaoka soundtracks Thank you for this video!
Super informative and well made vid. Probably one of your best. You know wtf you're talking about and it shows :)
This video is the logical conclusion to all content on RUclips. I love you, dude.
Also, I just wanna say thank you. I've been watching your videos for some years now but this one just blew me away. I've been meaning to make music ripping off the OST from the first SH game but I didn't have the balls to do it until I saw this video and I just had to stop it and thank you for inspiring me to finally do it.
Thank you! Glad I could help you find inspiration in some way. Feel free to hit me up when you've made something.
Not only is that music featured in RE4 and DMC, (3:17) but if you listen to Silent Hills Battle Drums then it will be in there as well. Which sadly proves more of the point on that side of things.