Elden Ring Nightreign's composer on Marilyn Manson, Myst, etc.

The last stop on our first trip to IGN on Software’s first trip was the Sound Room, where frontman Shoi Miyazawa produced a fantastic soundtrack full of hope, melancholy and quarrel. Here is our interview, which involves the reasons for creating the Fromsoft soundtrack, the director’s notes on Nightreign’s musical aspects and what Miyazawa’s own personal influence is.

IGN: So, I just want to start asking how you get stuck in the world of creating music in video games. Are you a big fan?

Shoi Miyazawa – Chief Sound Designer at Elden Ring Nightreign:

I'm a fan of Armor Core Games. So when Hoshino-san recruited hiring at FromSoftware, I was very interested. I am a big fan of Armored Core Music. Also, I like some other titles from my childhood, such as Ganbare Goemon and Mana's Secret. So I've been doing research and trying to find inspiration from these titles. The Castlevania series is also a great musical inspiration.

Again, do you have any composers you like that might also inspire your work? Not just video games, generally speaking.

I've always been a fan of King Crimson and Marilyn Manson. I love this different resonance in the music.

What is the process of switching gears to Elden Ring and Nightreign, what is the process of making up the Elden Ring? Have you given concept art to your boss or location and then used inspiration to sound? Or are you giving specific notes about the feeling or mood the director is looking for?

There are several ways you can take, such as the one you mentioned. Sometimes, the director will quickly describe his mood or where he wants it. Sometimes it is from the existing concept art of the game. Sometimes it is a simple text-based command, such as a description of the boss’s backstory or the stage where they fight or similar.

Is working in NightReign's soundtrack different from experience in the soundtrack of the main basic game?

Of course, this is a derivative of the Elden Ring, so we want it to transfer or carry some elements of the Elden Ring and the atmosphere it emits. I had many direct conversations with the director himself, discussing aspects of Elden Ring and how we should engage with the Nightcrawler. And I think that while he hopes it’s completely different from the title of Soul, he also wants it to attract people in his own way. So, this appeal and providing something different from Elden Ring is very important in our work.

Can you describe some notes that the director may have given in terms of the soundtrack and tone of this soundtrack? Any recurring themes you want to hit?

Yes. Therefore, as an important theme of the night, we hope that this feeling of inappropriate feeling, this feeling of loneliness, this feeling of darkness or nighttime loneliness. These are the elements we want to incorporate into the music.

Of the many projects you have worked on from Software so far, this is your favorite and it is the most challenging one?

Of course, I have a lot of good memories about the game from “from” and it's hard to lock in specific titles. But there was a couple who had been bothering me, especially a few. One of them is when we make up Radahn for Elden Ring. What I like to do is that I actually like to write in a dark room in a dark room. So when I wrote that track, I felt that there was always someone in the shadows, looking at my shoulders. Therefore, this work is provided for Radahn.

The other is that the track takes me anywhere on three discs in the bonus soundtrack of Armored Nuclear VI. I know this is a little different from the fantasy music in our game, but for me, as I said, the Armor Core is a series that I particularly like. When I entered the company, there was a little bit from happening to put the series in the event of an outage. So I have some stuff, some ideas to go there, but AC IV is a long-awaited game. It's a long time. And taking me anywhere is one of the original tracks we made for this bonus full disk set. So it's a memory of a track, it's a track, it's something I've actually thought of since I came and I've started working a little on these titles, but haven't fully developed into these games. So it reminds me of many days and everything we went through with our armor core. So hopefully people will listen.

Several composers are known for their work at Elden Ring. Can you talk about how collaborative the way to create music on games like Elden Ring and Nightreign? Will each of you work completely separately, or will you work closely together despite being responsible for different works?

Usually, when we make music, it's a composer to a track. That's the general approach we take. But of course, we can get advice and exchange ideas with other members of the voice team. But ultimately, you see that the person who is credited to the track is the one who finishes it. But Nightreign is a little exception here. So in some cases we have multiple composers working on a single track.

As part of the visit, one of the bosses we had to check out today is Libra: The Nighttime Creature. I'm wondering if you have any insights or stories about what the track has created.

In fact, using Libra, this is one of the rare cases where a specific musical direction or idea is given in a character summary. So that stands out to me. We have these themes that try to use something as a look and some theme that the boss fights itself suggest, some exotic themes or these crazy impressions or the demonic nature of the boss. Again, considering this duality found before and during the boss’s fight, the elements of victory and failure, trade-offs, this risk and reward are taken into account. We try to contrast with many bosses, but especially in the extreme case where we want to take it to Libra.

The contrast between day and night during the boss’s fight is very eye-catching and is also noticeable in the music. Can you tell us something about how you handle these works?

So of course, we have this day and night cycle and the structure of these three days. So, as we mentioned earlier, we want players to feel this strong sense of danger. As night approaches, enemies and bosses become stronger and stronger. We hope this feeling will be more and more, more and more depth. These are the feelings we try to convey through nighttime music, the feelings we try to convey.

Are there any special songs or any player you are really excited about to experience them when you are engaged in a performance?

So, compared to the music we did for Elden Ring and DLC, one thing really focused on the personality in each boss fight, which players will encounter countless times. So we also want to push the limits of music for every single time in every battle. Sometimes, is this a situation where we can really push this far? I think in the end, we did eventually expand those restrictions and really push the boundaries of music. This is the area I hope players will expect.

Going back to your personal taste, do you have any instruments you like or something you want to incorporate into your work?

It's not an instrument, but in fact, when I first started getting into music, it was using a personal computer, but using DTM software. So this is my first real engagement with making music, especially professional. So as a creator, software like this allows me to really focus on the finer elements and really adjust these parts to the last note and tone. So, I think this is something I want players to understand or want to notice when listening to these works. Because I do like it too, it may be too healthy.

One thing I've been asking everyone I've talked to on FromSoftware is your favorite game. We know we've talked about some of the things we talk about video games in the musical way, but do you have any games that are your favorite games?

One of the games I remember was mystery. There are usually many adventure games like this, and maybe only some readers or viewers will remember it, but this pre-rendered scene is a transition from another. But you are browsing the world and are solving the puzzles in this adventure. It really bothers me to be a player. So, yes, I think Myst is a good example.

Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @jurassicrabbit