Resi 5 team: Music production at Western devs is ‘ahead of Japan’

Recently, it seems like nary a day goes by where some Japanese development luminary doesn’t self-effacingly say that they think Japanese development is being overtaken by the West.

In an interview with music4games, Kota Suzuki, composer on Resident Evil 5, has said that he feels that it’s music production that the West is leading in – although Japan will catch up, he believes.

"I get the impression that production at western, particularly American developers is ahead of those in Japan," he said.

"But, I think that more and more in Japan, the process of making video game music is becoming specialised. More and more Japanese production companies are working together with foreign companies, and sound production quality in Japan is approaching that of the west."

His colleague Tetsuya Shibata, senior manager of Capcom’s sound management division, agreed with him, adding: "You don’t notice much difference in the quality of the tracks themselves, but when it comes to post-production elements like recording and mixing, Japan still lags behind overseas operations."