Hello, my name is Hiroshi Yamaguchi, and I am in charge of composing the music on Bayonetta. I’d like to share some of my experiences crafting these sounds with you all.
The first thing that really needs to be covered is:
Who is Bayonetta!?
1. Bayonetta is an unmatched beauty (witch).
2. Bayonetta is fast, agile, and has powerful attacks that spell instant death to monsters (and heaven to guys).
3. Bayonetta is cool and collected, sassy, and a real princess (who just happens to like implements of torture).
4. Bayonetta is concerned with looking good (glasses, heels, piercings), loves candy, and can show hints of being cute.
With this in mind, I set off to make music that was both indicative of Bayonetta, and also music that could only appear in Bayonetta, and am still working hard at it today. Some of these tracks have been used in the trailers we have released so far, so for those who haven’t seen them please watch and especially listen!
What do you think?
These have a few special things going for them:
1. A nice up-tempo beat.
2. To express the idea of femininity, I used “beautiful” instruments like pianos, electric pianos, organs, vibraphones, flutes, double bass, and a female chorus.
Since we decided on witches, one would tend to imagine a dark, fantasy air about things; however, Bayonetta, as a witch living in the present day, is more of an uninhibited, modern conception of a woman. As music is one way to express these characteristics, I’m focusing on making music that makes you feel this modern femininity.
When we started production, we established a style based on these traits, but it still took a long time to get used to producing. It is difficult to establish both the feeling of femininity and get the intensity required of an action game soundtrack right. For me, once I made the track used in the background of the TGS trailer last year, I finally felt like I had found my footing in making these “Bayonetta-esque” tracks.
Those types of tracks aren’t all we have though, as there are also pure orchestra tracks in the game. If you look at the Japanese Bayonetta homepage (www.bayonetta.jp), the track playing in the background is one of these. We even have a few tracks which make use of ethnic instruments. It all comes down to matching our various tracks to situations, will still keeping them situated on the “Bayonetta-esque” axis.
I’ve said plenty here, but with Bayonetta, seeing is truly believing. I can’t wait until you all get the chance to enjoy the world we’ve created for you.
Until then, I’m going to give it my absolutely all to make the tracks in Bayonetta pieces of music that will stay with you for a long time. I hope you all look forward to hearing them!!