This month’s featured MotionElements artist is one of the more active Japanese artists on social media and it’s no surprise given his talent and the fun projects that he helps bring to life. We met Shimokoshi aka Shimokoshi Makoto at our recent Content Tokyo 2015 exhibition last yearvisit. He is a multi-talented, multi-faceted artist whose most recent compositions were for T-ARTS Company Ltd, a consolidated subsidiary company of Tomy Company Ltd.
The compositions, for a series of toys known as “Star Wars Space Opera”, were sounds to go with 6 synchronised dancing bobblehead toy characters including Darth Vader, Yoda, C-3PO, Boba Fett, R2D2 and Stormtrooper. This video on youtube demonstrates the toys and Shimokoshi’s audio arrangement for the Imperial March:
Shimokoshi Makoto, born September 1964, is a freelancer currently selling royalty-free music through MotionElements and stock photography via Pixta. But that’s not all, shimokoshi also assists Makoto Sekiguchi (ex-Coconut Boys band member) for his live recording and internet public relations. In addition, he is helping Amon Miyamoto (producer) with some of his PR (public relation) for his upcoming play to be held in Kyoto, 2015.
As if that wasn’t enough, our prolific producer is recording editor for his radio talk show, Amigo on “1046radio”, sells his original music in iTunes and does PA and recording at various small venues.
Recently we caught up with shimokoshi for an interview to share with you:
ME: Great to finally meet you shimokoshi. Please tell us, how long did it take you to work on the “Star Wars Space Opera” project?
shimokoshi: There were a total of 6 toys for this series and I worked on music dictation of the original track to this arrangement and the movement of the toys. For the “Imperial March” song, I spent a day for dictation, implantation and a rough mix. (This song was relatively easy.) I have also spent another day for the toys’ movement program. Finally, I have spent one more day for final mixing after my working audio was replaced by actual audio for the toys. For these toys, the characters step in time with the music.
ME: Can you explain the process of doing the project a bit more?
shimokoshi: 1) I set the targeted sound source on DAW (MOTU Digital Performer).
2) Using MIDI, I implant monophonic part, up to 8 parts.
3) The length of the music is supposed to be about 1 minute long, so I arrange the ending if necessary.
4) I create the rough mix with existing GM (general midi) sound source.
5) I implant the part where the toy moves using MIDI.
6) I bring them to the programmer’s company to convert into the actual sound which will come out of the toy. Then with the converted sound I go on to complete my mixing.
ME: How would you describe your feelings working on the project?
shimokoshi: Usually it is a fun process. However, it can be hard when you try to reduce the number of sounds without completely getting out of touch with the content of the original sound track. Also, there are some songs where it was more difficult to do the sound dictation than for others.
ME: Whereabouts are these toys sold?
shimokoshi: All over the place! Yodobashi.com, Toys “R” Us, Hakuhinkan, Takara Tomy Mall, Rakuten, Amazon, etc.
ME: Would you do it again?
shimokoshi: Of course! (Smile)
ME: What did you take away from the whole experience?
shimokoshi: I have done a lot of music implantation for orchestral music and musical scores but it took a while to arrange the music from the process of music dictation.
ME: And when was this project done?
shimokoshi: The programming into toys’ IC was completed in February 2015 and they went on sale in July 2015
ME: Thanks for talking with us today shimokoshi! I’ve heard of other projects you’ve done similar to this one. Can you tell us with what those were for?
shimokoshi: Yes, I have also arranged the music for the toys in the Frozen series, Sanrio character series, Snoopy series and the LINE character series. Thank you very much for making me a featured artist on MotionElements!
You can find all of shimokoshi’s works on MotionElements, including over 100 royalty free stock audio & music pieces, here at his profile: https://www.motionelements.com/artists/shimokoshi