Naoki Maeda Interviews

DDRMAX -DanceDanceRevolution-

The following interview/artist profile was included in the DDRMAX -DanceDanceRevolution- instruction booklet released in 2002.

Name: Naoki Maeda
Artist Name(s): Ω, 8bit, 180, 190, 190', 200, BLUE DESTROYERS, d-complex, D.J. RICHfeat.TAILBROS, DE-SIRE, DIVAS, FACTOR-X, KTZ, Luv UNLIMITED, mitsu-O!, N&S, N.M.R., NAOKI, NAOKI 190, NAOKI underground, NM, NO.9, NW260, RE-VENGE, Stone Bros., UZI-LAY, etc.
Favorite Instrument: Piano, electric guitar and synthesizer.
Favorite Music Style: Dance & Club music, rock, ballad, R&B, etc.
Favorite Music Producer or Artist: PRODUCERS: Dallas Austin, William Orbit, Rodney Jerkins, Jimmy Jam, & Terry Lewis, BABYFACE. ARTISTS: Christina Aguilera, Toni Braxton, Underworld, Limp Bizkit, SASH!, Ian Van Dahl, The Brilliant Green, Hikaru Utada, etc.
Favorite Bemani song you have written: DESTINY, CANDY♥, BALLAD FOR YOU, La'more et la liberte. I love these four songs now.
Songs Created in DDRMAX: AM-3P, Baby Baby Gimme Your Love, Brilliant 2U (Orchestra-Groove), Broken My Heart, Candy☆, Dynamite Rave - Down Bird SOTA Mix-, ECSTASY, exotic ethnic, Healing Vision, INSERTiON, Let The Beat Hit 'EM (Beatmania IIDX Version), Let The Beat Hit 'EM (Classic R&B), Love Again Tonight (For Melissa Mix), Matsuri Japan, MAX 300, MY SUMMER LOVE, PARANOIA EVOLUTION, Paranoia Max (Dirty Mix) (Club Version), Remember You, Secret Rendevous, Silent Hill, Trip Machine Climax, true... (Trance Sunrise Mix).
Favorite Song(s) in DDRMAX and why?: Remember You. I have made as many ballads as I have made dance music tracks, but I think this is a great song that can express a feeling of whirling around yourself.
What do you think about the success of DDR in North America so far?: It is a great honor that many video game players love this game. I think the active passion of the DDR creators has traveled across the ocean to new fans and players.
How did you first get involved making Bemani music?: When the DDR project originally started, I was brought on the project as a music artist for dance music styles.
Did you always like Bemani-style music or did you like those dance styles after you started making songs?: Ever since the beginning of the DDR project, I have always created music with the philosophy that music expresses almost all of the emotions and sensitivity that I have to share. This way of thinking resulted in many of my songs representing different music styles, such as EURO BEAT, TRANCE, ROCK, BALLAD, LATIN, POP, WORLD, CLASSIC etc. My goals in the music creation process are to be conscious of "the times" cover as wide variety of music styles and create music that will leave my personality. Dance music plays an important role in introducing my music as well as my individuality.
What else do you still want to accomplish as an artist with DDR/Bemani song that you have not so far?: To spread R&B and BALLAD sounds and to produce major artists for the mass market.
Have you ever considered using famous artists or a DJ to make a new remix of one of your songs for a future Bemani game? Who would you like to have remix the song?:: In the dance music compilation series called "Dancemania" from Toshiba-EMI, there have been about five of my songs that have been remixed. They were remixed by artists with a Euro style influence. As to the remix of "true..." by Riyu Kosaka, my special request of having the song remixed by a European trance artist came true, eventually releasing as a single CD for the mass market. Generally speaking, however, I do not have any particular requests about remixes of my songs. In video game music, I always enjoy listening to the remixes of my songs. In video game music, I always enjoy listening to the remixes of my tracks done by 2MB.
Have you ever thought about making dance music for official release (I.E. for DJs and consumer use)?: Actually, it is true that I have had such a wish. I have always had a strong desire to work fully on music for use outside of video games.
What kind of hardware and mixing software do you use to compose your songs?: As to the tools, there are way too many to list. However, my favorite synthesizer is SIRIUS and the sequence of software I use is LOGIC PLATINUM 5.
What was the most difficult/challenging situation that you have ever experienced working on a Bemani/DDR games?: Although there are all sorts of difficulties, working on songs with a lot of vocal tracks is always a challenge. Vocal direction is very important and can ultimately make the song sound good or bad. This is especially critical with R&B songs since that style requires giving many directions to the vocalist and compiling all of the vocal tracks after the recording.
Can you briefly describe the initial process/steps of how you determine the direction for a new song?: The basis in determining the music direction is tied to understanding the times and changing styles as music tastes change.
When you are making a song, do you ever think about what some of the steps might be like or do you already know from the beginning that this song is going to be designed to be a difficult song for players, etc?: As to the difficult step tracks such as songs by Re-venG, DE-SIRE, PARANOiA series, and MAX300, I am conscious of the step data arrangement to some extent during the music development.
Do you feel limited as an artist because of the game design and mechanics of DDR?: The fact that BPM is largely related to the game play experience can set some limitations on adapting other music genres for the game. Also the average song length of 90 seconds sets up some limitations in music development as well.
You are credited and responsible for creating almost every Bemani/DDR song. Is that a lot of pressure and responsibility for you and do you feel like you might run out of new ideas? As of July 2002, I think I have written around 100 songs for Bemani games. However, I don't see any signs of running out of new music ideas. For me to be alive, feel and experience all sorts of things, music will play a vital part of my life. As long as I exist in this world, my music will be closely linked with my activities and I will never stop playing music.
Do you have any comments or words to players?: DDR fuses music and video games together to create a whole new interactive experience. As a musician, it is my passion to incorporate the music styles found throughout the music industry into a video game. I want to challenge 20th century notions and views of music by continuing to be aggressive with incorporating music in new and innovative ways in the Bemani series. Overall, I am very positive about the future of Bemani and I look forward to evolving the DDR series further to create endless enjoyment and entertainment. Thank you very much for your support!!